DARBY
Bambi
Chapter One
The forest was still as the snow crunched. Small scared animals from under bushes watched as a teenaged human walked through the forest, crouching down every few seconds to brush the top layer of snow away. They would see her narrow her eyes before continuing on as if she was following a certain path. A few of them recognized that path and bravely followed from the protection of the bushes. The others stayed away but watched curiously. The few that followed could hear strange, sniffling sounds coming from the human. The human shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. Every few minutes she would take out a small, rectangular device and push a small button that lite up the front of it. When she saw four white numbers, military time, she would sigh and put it back in her pocket.
"Half a day more until dinner," She said. "I have plenty of time to find dad."
The animals quickly looked at each other, suddenly realizing who this was. Making haste, they hopped and ran as fast as they could to the one animal that needed to know this human was there. A few of them that knew the path, however, stayed with the human. They hoped that they would not be too late in finding them.
The human took out the rectangular object again once more, only this time, she placed it against her head.
"Hello, this is Darby." She answered stopping so she didn't lose the trail her father had left behind days previous.
"When are you coming back?"
She rolled her eyes, "I need to find Dad."
"No, you are not! You let the Rangers find him!"
The human looked angry. "And you haven't even called them! I have called them every day only for them to say they are too busy! If they won't find him, I will."
"Darby,"
"Mom," The human looked deeply saddened and utterly desperate. "I have to do this."
"Why?"
"Why? He is my dad! Apparently, you forgot he was your husband! You already moved on!"
And with that, Darby, the human, moved it away from her ear and dropped it into the snow like it was the last thing she wanted to touch. Suddenly, she put her hands over her face and fell to her knees, sobs erupting from her in waves, unrelenting and chaotic. She stood after only minutes, bringing her hands to her sides, tears rolling down her cheeks, and face red from the sorrow and cold. She cast a short glance down to the small rectangular object in the snow before closing her eyes and walking forward, going back to tracking her father's footsteps, ignoring the run of the voicemail behind her. This time nothing stopped her from her goal.
She adjusted the backpack straps on her back, zipped up her jacket, and pulled black gloves on. As the snow fell down again, she halted and placed her hand out to capture some of the flakes in the cloth of her glove. She closed her eyes as a gust of wind blew into her face making her dark bangs brush back, and her ponytail dance with it. She remembered the snowball fights her father and she had, the snow forts they made in the backyard as her mother made hot chocolate, and the Christmas days when she would play outside with their German Shepard, Brutus, while her father took pictures. She remembered when her father had taken her out to this forest to show her how to track, and find edible plants to eat. She remembered the thundering of hooves upon the ground and her father's usual emotionless face turn into a small smile. She had never seen her father look so happy, not even when she came back from her first deployment.
Mostly, she remembered the song that she would catch her father singing as he played their piano, never able to understand why he loved it, and he never told her even though she asked. He said to figure it out on her own. Her first deployment, however, gave her that reason.
"I am so high,
I can hear heaven.
I am so high,
I can hear heaven.
Oh but heaven, no heaven don't hear me." She sang. Her voice coming out deep, pouring deep meaning, much like her father would. The animals that could hear her melody almost fell under the spell that spring gave, despite snow on the ground. It was as if spring was singing to them, beckoning to come back. She could almost hear him singing with her. She had come home for medical leave after being shot, and heard her father singing when she walked through the door. It was a surprise to him when she began to sing with him, but she remembered the smile that he had. It was relief. It was sorrow for her reason of being home, having already heard the news. More than anything else, it was love and happiness that she was all right. The first tears that she had seen her father cry fell down his face through the entire song, and it made her tears fall more frequently.
"Someone told me love will all save us.
But how could that be? Look what love gave us.
A world full of killing, and blood spilling.
That world never came."
But like everything good, it always ended. She went silent, sorrow growing on her face. A single tear fell down her cheek.
"Father's stand." She mumbled, her voice brewing with sadness. She laid her hand on the tree next to her father's black handprint, placing her forehead over the handprint itself. She breathed deeply as if trying to smell her father. As a draft of pine entered her nose, a delighted smile grew on her face.
"It still smells like him," She spoke softly. A happy tear left her eye as she found her handprint from when she was six, which would have been fifteen years ago. She knelt down to place her hand over her own small hand, smiling the whole day, chuckling softly as memories of her childhood ran through her mind.
She stood once more looking up at her father's stand, noticing something very wrong.
"His rifle is still here. Daddy, why didn't you bring it with you?" Darby sighed softly, moving to climb into the stand to check if anything in the stand was wrong. Upon the last step, she hoisted herself up. It was a precaution her father took in case a wolf or a hog chased him up the tree, they wouldn't be able to get to him because of the large gap between the stand itself and the last step. She remembered when she would use that gap to do muscle-ups and pull-ups when she was preparing for her military training. Even now, the rod that she was used was still bolted through the large tree branches that the stand was planted between. She quickly grabbed the rifle and lifted it to her shoulder to check the scope.
"He never set the scope." Then she proceeded to check the bullets.
"Never shot either. He must have thought it was safe enough to leave it." Her voice drew deeper as her sadness grew. "It was as safe as you thought it was, Daddy."
She sighed, not able to see anything else, she climbed down to reach the forest floor and began to look for footsteps once more to try to track where he went. The animals watched sadly as she brushed over every layer she could see, and then finally a clue was presented.
"One footprint going toward the thicket. Why would you enter the thicket?" She asked looking around to maybe find the answer to that question. She had a sudden thought and quickly turned around to brush the snow off of the areas below and in front of his father's stand, only to see deer tracks. She stood up quickly. "Deer tracks."
She remembered her father talking about a great white-tailed deer, knowing that it brought him great joy from the happy smile he had whenever he saw him. He said the deer was cautious of him at first but after a few months he would approach the straw that her father had left out, and would eat it. Her father would never take pictures of the deer, saying that it was too majestic to be seen by the world and that you had to see it in person. Honestly, she thought it was ludicrous that her father wanted to keep this deer a secret, but she supposed she would find out when she would see the deer for herself.
"But a deer as large as the one father spoke of couldn't get through there. Why would Dad go into the thicket?" She asked looking around once more. She felt hopelessness hit her. Every stump made her feel hopeless like it was telling her to turn back, but she wouldn't. It was the last thing she was going to do. She would find her father whether they liked it or not.
A sudden thought came to mind that she just couldn't ignore and it was shown on her face in a gasp. "Maybe it is what is on the other side."
As she gave the thought a chance, she didn't notice more rabbits coming in with an owl, which upon seeing her 'who'ed in alarm before flying off to find another creature that needed to know about this news. To them, the Old Hunter's daughter was in the forest, and the creature that they needed to report too would find that news alarming and sad. The Owl knew the creature's hooves would thunder through the forest, and hoped that they could find the lone prince before it was too late.
She went toward the thicket, kneeling down to brush the top layer of snow of to see a footprint. She questioned quietly why her father would want to venture through a thicket so dense, but she didn't wait long before moving the brush aside to get through. A few minutes of moving brush aside, getting her hair stuck in the branches, being struck in the face once by a small twig branch that broke upon impact, finally led her to a magnificent sight that made her eyes widened in wonder. A happy gasp left her mouth, putting this place to memory.
"This is beautiful," She muttered mesmerized by the beautiful meadow that stood before her. It would have been a dead trap for any hunting game that went through here. It was clear for miles and miles. Any hunter would have had a stand on the tree line; they would be stupid not too. She hated that the thought had crossed her mind. She was no hunter by any means. Her father was, but then the majestic great deer had made him realize that it was inhumane to want to kill such a beautiful thing. After that, he used his stand to simply watch, taking his gun with him incase anything like a mountain lion, wolf, or bear showed up to try to eat him or anything else he found sacred. She would never forget the bear that stalked her when she was a child; a memory that she didn't want to remember.
A snap of a twig broke her from her memory, and turned around in alarm only to see a rabbit looking alarmed. She placed a hand over her heart, breathing deeply.
"Do not scare me like that." She spoke to the rabbit looking back toward the meadow, not seeing the rabbit panic when she took a step toward the center of the meadow. She knelt down to brush the top layer of snow away, and the sight made her stand up in alarm. Horror grew over her face. The rabbit tried to grab her attention by jumping around in front of her.
"Cougar." The horror on her face nearly sent the rabbit into tears. The girl's hands began to shake and she fell to her hands and knees, staring into the snow as a fearful gasp left her throat which she covered with her hand. The terrified rabbit already knew it was too late. Whatever happened now would have to take its course.
"Daddy, I am so sorry." The girl made the ultimate assumption that the cougar took her father, but unlike any other person she knew by the paw that it was a full-grown adult and without the gun she was useless. Her eyes widened in alarm. She forgot the gun in the stand. She nearly smacked herself on the forehead for her stupidity, and turned to the side so she could see the meadow and the thicket in her peripheral visions.
"What am I to do?" She asked almost helpless. "I can't take on a cougar, but I also can't lose hope that he is alive in a clutches of a lion. Every time sent getting that weapon could lose my father minutes."
The rabbit was excited. The girl was waiting to think. The entire time he was trying to stop her from getting in the cougar's claws. They all knew about the cougar that came down from the mountains nearly scared off the hunters. The Owl has more time now to find the Prince. Suddenly, all hope was lost as he watched the girl go toward the right to crouch and brush the snow away. The rabbit panicked trying to grab her attention. Underneath, she found father's footprint.
"I am going to find you, Father." She turned around and walked to the right. "First I have to find the direction of the cougar." She brushed off the layer of snow and found a set of old cougar tracks but continued to brush snow off until the middle. The newest pair was going northwest, while her father's was along the tree line to her right. "Father was smart about walking the tree line, at least."
The rabbit frantically followed her as she walked crouched beside her father's footprints, unaware of the danger that she was going to be in. Unaware that fate was going to play its hand. The human watched everything going slowly and cautiously, almost like a predator going toward its prey. She would brush the snow off every few steps to make sure she was still on the trail, and then the trail stopped. She crouched down, frantically brushing everywhere around her in case he moved, but instead his stance grew wider and his toe area was pressed into the snow.
Her eyes narrowed in thought. "This must be where he began to run."
Suddenly, a crunch was heard behind and she quickly turned around with her arms up, only to see a small head of a fawn peeking out.
Realization dawned on her as she watched the fawn. Horror grew dormant in her gut. Sadness overwhelmed her mind and emotions. "Father was protecting you."
The fawn only replied with a soft bleat.
"Where is your mother," She asked walked slowly toward the fawn.
A loud roar froze her senses and the fawn bleated in fear, needing help. The fawn was desperate with no protection. No protection from a mother nor father. Nothing to protect itself against the cougar. She knew she wouldn't be able to defend the fawn, but damn well she would try. Fear grew inside her at the prospect of laying her life on the line for a fawn, a baby deer with no home and no parents. Much like herself, since she knew her mother would be of no help. Her eyes widened with that thought.
There was no way she was allowing this cougar to take that baby deer. Her father didn't let the predator and neither would she.
With a new purpose, she ran for the fawn as quickly as possible, not seeing the rabbit ran into the thicket and watched her with terrified and sad eyes. Owl was too late. She heard an angry roar so loud, it rattled her ears but she continued running. The moment she wrapped her arms around the fawn, she threw herself into the thicket not caring that the branches were stabbing into her arms, back, and legs. She landed deep into the thicket on her side, her arms around the small fawn that struggled to get out of the tight grip. She slowly let the fawn go, whispering that it was going to be all right. The fawn gave her terrified eyes, and she moved the snow with her hand to show the grass underneath for the fawn to eat.
An angry growl woke her from her happy moment. When she looked, the cougar was crouched waiting patiently for the kill to leave the bush that was too small for him to enter. She glared straight in the eyes and grabbed a nearby branch, breaking it off. She grabbed the pocketknife in her pocket and began to sharpen it. She was going to show that she was threat; it was the only way to scare a cougar off. Show you were bigger than it. The branch would be perfect for that, mainly the pointy end would be doing its job.
"My dad rescued this fawn and you, a cougar, killed him for it." She said sharpening the end of the stick as the fawn munched on the grass happily finally getting good. Every so often, she would reveal more grass and twigs for the fawn to eat. "This time. It's gonna be you. Not me or the fawn."
"Sir!" The Owl repeated loudly trying to find the one creature who would be able to help the girl. By now, she must have encountered the cougar. The wise owl knew that it was only a matter of time, and they didn't have much time left. The animals knew she was smart, and she was agile. That alone could save her. Finally, the great deer was seen with the small fawn named Bambi walking through the snow.
"Friend Owl, what is the matter?" The Great Prince asked looking only slightly worried.
"The girl! The Old Hunter's daughter! Cougar! Meadow!" The Owl spoke loudly trying to catch his breath.
"Bambi, stay here." The Great Prince ordered before he thundered off.
"What?" Bambi asked tilting his head confused.
"Do you know the tale of the Old Hunter and the Great Prince?" The Owl asked landing on a branch in front of Bambi to rest his wings before he began the tale that would distract Bambi until the doe taking care of him came.
The Great Prince's hooves thundered through the forest as he ran with the speed of light. He remembered the Old Hunter's words, the way the old human would speak of a daughter with dark hair, and the tales he would tell. Now, understand, the Great Prince didn't know anything that he was saying, but he remembered the picture that the Old Hunter showed him on one occasion. The picture was of the old hunter and a beautiful, dark-haired young-looking adult; the old hunter sitting at a large, black wood looking stand that he called a 'piano' and the girl was standing behind him looking down while the old hunter was looking up at his daughter with watering eyes. The old hunter explained that he was playing the piano and singing his favorite song when she came home, beginning to sing the song with him. A song he loved because it reminded him of the daughter he loved more than anything in the world.
He remembered when the old hunter brought the video of the same event that the mother had taped when neither of them were paying attention. He recognized the voice of the hunter and then suddenly a deep, pleasing voice was heard that could have only been the daughter coming in. The voice reminded him so much of spring, but had the deepness of the fall. He recognized the Old Hunter choking in a sob as her voice came to him as he looked over his shoulder at her as she laid her hands on his shoulders, finishing the song for him.
And now that same daughter was in the forest, soon to be fighting off a cougar, one of the most dangerous animals of the forest.
Darby left the thicket after waiting half an hour after the cougar left, growling the whole way. She crouched down and stuck her head out before moving out further with her sharpened stick in her left hand.
"Alright, little fawn. We need to get to my father's rifle. It will help us more than this." She said, moving back into the thicket. "We are going to travel in the thicket. I am not going to risk being out there where the cougar is."
She didn't even care that it looked insane for her to speak to a fawn like it was a person, but perhaps the deer had their own weird language and the fawn would recognize a few terms. Hopefully. At least understand. Once they reached the same thicket that lead to her father's stand, she turned to the fawn and turned itself head softly toward snow that was trampled down by the deer herd that went through it. "The moment you see the cougar, you need to run the way your head is pointing. You should be able to recognize the path, yes?"
The excitement that the little fawn had made her smile. However, it also made her sad because somehow she knew she was not going to make it to dinner that night nor any other night. But the fawn would and that satisfied her enough.
"I am going to step out now. Stay here." Darby spoke, using her hands to tell the fawn to stay, sticking her head out to check that there was nothing before stepping out slowly like a predator, keeping herself crouched as she crept toward the tree stand. She looked around cautiously. She kept the spear in front of her. The moment she reached the stand and had two fingers off the spear, a bleat of fear was heard over the clearing and a ferocious roar landing on top of her.
In a fury of cutting claws and sharp glinting teeth, she used her spear to block the canine from sinking its teeth into her neck, pushing the side of the spear into its mouth to hold it back. She finally recognized that she was on the ground and felt light-headed, not recognizing what had happened to make her so, but all she knew was that an adult cougar was on top of her ready to end her life.
"RUN!" She screamed hoping the fawn got the message. Even though her ears were filled with growls and hisses, she heard the soft thunder of hooves on the ground, and let out a sigh of relief until she saw a glint of hunger and mischief in the cat's eyes. That was when she knew she was in trouble as fear exploded inside her, but she was not letting the cat go. She inched the spear slowly to the pointy end so eventually the pointy end would stab into the cat's head, but the cat had other ideas. In one hard bite, her spear was in two. She stared in complete horror, and then in a sad effort she threw her leg up to kick it. However, that is when the pain began.
Suddenly, a scream of pain halted the Great Prince. He felt something that he hadn't felt in a long while. Fear. With alarm, he ran once more. His hooves thundered on the forest floor as he rocketed toward the scream. He hoped with everything within him that he wasn't going to find another dead human on his patrol from the paws of the cougar no less.
As he thundered, he saw a small shaken fawn running without looking back. He came to a halt as did the fawn.
"Is there a human behind you?" The Great Prince asked, trying to be gentle with the fawn.
All the fawn could do was nod and shake, "She saved me."
The Great Prince's eyes widened. Another scream was heard, but a gun sounded off along with a yowl.
"The girl," He said in horror before he thundered off leaving the fawn to continue its path to the herd.
What the Prince saw made him halt with a silent gasp. He watched horrified as a girl with unruly dark hair tried to stand leaning against a tree. She looked up panting heavily. The cougar laid beside her, unmoving, shot by the very gun her father used to protect himself.
Before her, Darby could see a large, handsome, broad shouldered buck with a large rack, counting ten points. She clearly knew who this buck was the great back. The buck walked with dignity just like a human prince would, or at least that is what the fairytales made it seem like. Everything seemed like a dream. She felt so light-headed and cold. There was snow on the ground but it will still so cold.
"My father was right. You are majestic." She fell on her side heavily as her bloody left leg gave out.
The Great Prince couldn't stop himself from stepping forward, looking down at her sadly.
"You are the one my father went to see every morning. You sure are something." The girl swallowed before rasping out, looking so pale and tired. Her eyes were halfway open. He tried to ignore her bloody back, guessing that was what made her scream the second time. "Why do you look so sad?"
The Prince couldn't stop himself from lying down beside her so the side of her face could rest beside his right leg, and nuzzled her face, not knowing what else to do. He remembered the Old Hunter, the father of this girl. Even though her father was waiting for his daughter in heaven, the Prince knew what he must be feeling. The pain, sorrow, and fear of losing a child, only for one it was true. He remembered when Bambi, his own son, fell from the cliff. He had never felt such terror again until this day as he laid nuzzling this dying girl.
"I was jealous of you." The girl cried laying a bloody hand on his shoulder, stroking it as best as she could, not knowing what else to do. The Prince looked down at the girl in shock as tears rolled down her face. "I could never make my father smile like he did when he saw you. Such joy that I haven't seen since I was a kid. He looked like he was in paradise. He was so happy."
A sadness crept upon the Prince and laid his head upon the girl's, trying to comfort her, nuzzling into her hair where there were no injuries. Before he could stop it, a tear fell from his eye as his eyes closed. Helplessness filled inside him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to save this girl.
"Thank you for listening to him." She sobbed out, moving her hand over the Prince's coat, chuckling softly suddenly making the Prince open his sad eyes.
"Thank you," The Great Prince uttered, feeling helpless as he watched the life leave this girl's eyes, trying to thank her for saving the young female doe that his son fell in love with. He knew the human couldn't understand him, and wished that she could, especially at that moment. He wanted to say so much to the girl. To let her know that her father was proud of her. As was he. She protected his forest and his herd from the only cougar to come down from the mountain. It may have been one female fawn, but it meant more to him then she or anyone would ever know.
"He spoke of you often, every day in fact. A sparkle would light up his eyes when he told me of your adventures; a glint that I see in my own son's eyes when he gets excited. He sounded very proud of you." The Prince spoke sighing at the end. "You protected my forest from a cat of the mountain. He would be very proud of you for defeating a foe such as that, as am I."
He looked down at the girl, not feeling her stroking his coat nor hearing her sobs. All he saw was her unmoving chest and closed eyes. Sorrow filled his heart, distressing him greatly. He laid his head back upon her, sighing in sorrow, closing his eyes, nuzzling the girl, almost hoping with all his heart that she was just asleep.