Rand followed right behind Jarold Begguss, the Hunt Master in the Palace of Begma. Every year the royalty went on 'The Hunt'. A day of quick thinking and careful planning all came together in the end when one of the legendary white stags was brought down. The winner of the hunt, the one that killed the deer, was the center on attention at the feast that night. Rand was 15 this year and he planned to be the one to bring down the stag.
As the group rode into the forest the noon sun was blocked by the canopy of leaves and the day was fairly cool. Rand glanced at his father a few riders back then exchanged glances with a few cousins and uncles. It would be his. Jarold lead the group as they all followed the very apparent trail. Wind beat hard in their faces but today was all fun. Suddenly the stags tracks lead off in a rightward curve. Rand pulled his stallion hard to follow the tracks but saw another track leading left.
Rand pretended to have lost his breath while the others rode ahead. They left joyfully with reassurance that Rand would catch up soon. Rand got off his horse and studied the track carefully. It was a deer all right. But was it the right one? This was his chance to win. Rand knew what he needed to do. He had to know if this was the deer or not. He placed his hand on a tree and concentrated. His mind reached out and he was one with the forest. Rand saw the tracks, he felt the tracks, he was the tracks. His mind followed them through the forest. Step by step he was the deer that placed them until finally he caught up with what was running. It was the white stag. Rand broke contact with the forest and jumped on his horse again. In seconds he was off.
Rand led his horse at an unbelievable rate. Rand knew the terrain and he knew where the stag was. He was ecstatic. About a half an hour later Rand 'felt' the stag's mind. The deer was very close and it was running down. All the running had worn him down. Rand had it easy. As the stag stopped to rest Rand got off his horse and drew his bow to his cheek. A few steps and he let the arrow from his longbow fly.
The arrow hit, dead center in the deer's neck and fell dead in seconds. Rand had done it.
Rand then opened his mind to the consciousness of the forest again. He heard every sound, felt every animal, saw every leaf. Rand searched the forest for the others and found them faster than he expected. They were near and following something which Rand could not decipher. It was ... shielded, so to speak, to him. That did not matter though, not now. Now was his time to be recognized. Rand withdrew a curved horn and let ring three long, clear notes.
In minutes the party arrived. "Rand," Jarold began, "Congratulations. We did not know where you went but we assumed you had fallen ill. Apparently you decided to find the stag yourself."
Rand smiled and told his short story of finding the other tracks and following them. He left out the part of sensing the beast's mind.
"So," Rand responded, "What did you all follow?"
"I do not know but it is the craftiest beast I have ever encountered. It seemed to know exactly where we were and just how to avoid us," Jarold explained.
"I know what is was Rand." That came from Terril, his 13 year old cousin. "I saw it."
"You saw only what your imagination made up," his father told the young man.
"I saw what I saw and that's it."
"What did you see?" Rand asked.
"Ohh never mind him son," his father began, "we were chasing shadows."
"Cousin Rand," Terril said, "We were following a white unicorn..."
| Tuesday, September 30, 1997 |
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