Divided: Part 3

Lea crouched behind the sturdy trunk of the tree, eyes fixed on her prey. One of her knives dangled loosely from her fingertips. The deer she was hunting took a couple steps closer to the tree, nibbling at the grass that grew near the stream. She was beautiful, delicate and graceful, but Lea only noticed that she was well fed and healthy. Inching forward, she slowly raised her hand.

The deer's head jerked up as a sudden change in the breeze alerted her to the scent of the human nearby. Gathering her legs under her, she wheeled around, bounding for the safety of the large trees and bushes behind her. Lea leapt out from behind the tree with a wild cry, throwing her knife with deadly precision. The deer crashed to the ground just feet from the thicket, Lea’s knife buried deep in her heart.

The dying animal thrashed weakly as Lea approached and knelt beside her. With gentle strokes she soothed the doe who slowly quieted under her touch, her great heart slowing till it beat no more. Lea said a prayer over the deer, thanking the gods for providing food to feed her people and asking for the doe’s forgiveness in taking her life. Retrieving her knife, she began to gut the doe stopping suddenly as she sliced down the center of the stomach. How could she have missed something so obvious? The doe had been nursing and recently. Somewhere out there in the dark forest was a fawn waiting for a mother who would never return.

Shock and guilt sent Lea reeling to her feet. Turning away, she heaved into the nearby bushes, her stomach giving up what little food she’d eaten that day. She was always so careful during the spring and summer months to make sure that any prey she hunted were not nursing mothers. But today she hadn’t even thought to check. Her people were starving and depending on her and the other hunters to bring back the food they so desperately needed. The rabbits she’d killed two weeks previously were the last fresh meat they’d had. Since then none of the hunters had succeeded in bringing in anything but a few handfuls of vegetation. Still, not even their desperate need would ever have induced her to break the vow she’d made so many years ago.

 Staring down at the doe, she could feel the guilt eating away at her. When her mother’s mistress had beaten her to death, Lea had made a vow to never take away the life of another’s mother either human or animal unless the young were old enough to care for themselves. But she could not give the doe back her life, just as she could not bring her own mother back to life. Perhaps if she could find the fawn though, find it and raise it, then she could appease the gods for mistakenly breaking her vow.

Determination turned to resolve as she pondered the situation. It wouldn’t be easy either to find or raise the fawn, but she would do it. Her mind made up, she swiftly finished gutting the deer and wrapped it in the rough burlap sacking she carried with her. Lifting it onto her shoulders to carry took more effort than usual. She hadn’t realized how much the lack of food sapped her strength until that moment.

Settling the deer more comfortably across her shoulders, she considered where to begin her search for the fawn. As much as she wanted to find it, she had to be practical and she needed to reach the village before nightfall. That only gave her a few hours of daylight to search and with the added burden of the deer, she wasn’t going to be able to move very fast.

Still she could narrow down her option slightly. The deer would not have wanted to lead her back to its young, so it made sense to begin looking in the opposite direction from which the deer had been running. Lea groaned. That meant crossing the stream which was running fast and cold as the snow from the mountains melted. It made the most sense though. She knew of several places that would be ideal for a deer to hide her young.

Her path determined, Lea began the task of crossing the stream. It was not an easy one. The few rocks that poked above the water were rarely stable and the ones that lurked just beneath the surface were slimy and equally unstable. Most of the trees that had fallen across the stream were too thin or too rotten to bear any weight leaving her to depend entirely on her wits and excellent balance to make it across dry which she succeeded in though not without a few close calls. Then it was just a matter of forging through the thick brush till she reached the trees once more.

Time passed swiftly as she searched for the fawn. She knew she was likely on a fool’s errand. There were too many places to search and depending on how old the fawn was, it might choose to move if it heard her coming. Much as she might want to find and help the creature, the later it got, the less hope she had of finding it.

The sky was just beginning to darken when she at last came to the final place she thought the fawn might be hidden. It was quite close to where she had started, too close to the stream where predator and prey both sought the life giving water to be considered safe for a mother to leave her young. Since it was on her way back to the village though, it seemed worth her while to at least take a moment to check.

Despite its proximity to the stream, it was an ideal location to hide. Thick bushes surrounded a little wooded thicket where knee high grasses grew in profusion, the perfect cover for a young fawn. Leaving the deer hidden under several of the larger bushes, Lea pushed her way her into the thicket. And there, tucked back into the trees and almost invisible in the fading light she found it, a young male. It scrambled to its feet as she slowly approached, backing away from her until it could go no farther. Reaching out, she gently touched the frightened little creature, softly stroking its head and speaking words of comfort.

Once it determined that she was not a threat, the fawn was quick to trust and was soon butting up against her legs, asking to be petted and stroked. Drawing a long piece of twine from her satchel, Lea proceeded to fashion a makeshift halter for the fawn which it allowed her to slip on. With gentle pulls she lead it around the thicket a few times until it was used to the strange contraption on its head and no longer fought against her.

Leading it back through the bushes, she re-shouldered her burden and began the slow journey back to the village. When they reached the stream she was forced to make two trips across it, once to carry over the deer and again to carry over the fawn. From there the trip back to the village was easier, but still slow due to the fact the fawn could not travel long without needing a few moments rest.

It was well after dark when they reached the village at last. Anxious faces swarmed around them, demanding to know where she had been and what had kept her out so late. The little fawn, terrified and confused by all the unfamiliar people and sights and sounds, let out a bleat of fear as it fought against the halter. All sound quickly faded as the people became aware of the little creature.

“Move aside. Come, let me through.”

Having left the fire where he so often presided, the leader of the village made his way through the crowd. He took in the scene before him with only a glance. If he was at all surprised to see his best hunter returned so late with a young fawn in tow he gave no hint of it.

“Roann, Neils, take our young hunter’s kill and bring it to Muireen. Tell her to preserve half of it. We’ll feast on the rest tomorrow at noon.”

Cheers filled the air at this news. The two men swiftly relieved her of her burden, easily carrying it between the two of them. Lea groaned softly in relief as the weight was lifted. Her shoulders felt numb from carrying it for so long and her legs were weak. Her focus swiftly turned from her aching shoulders to the frightened fawn. Reaching down, she stroked its head, soothing it until it stood quiet beside her.

Returning his attention the young woman before him, the man gestured toward the fire. “And now, Lea, come and tell us what happened today that you have returned with this little one.”

There, seated in front of a roaring fire, Lea told her story, how she had killed the deer and realized that it was a nursing mother, how she had then searched for the fawn and just when she had given up hope of finding it had discovered it in the thicket near the stream, how she had gentled the creature and led it back to the village. The people listened to her story eagerly, nodding their heads approvingly as she explained her actions.

“You acted as you should,” the man said. “I have no doubt that the gods also approve. The care of this little one falls entirely to you, Lea. You must be mother and father to him. Raise him well, child.”

Lea bowed her head. “I will, sir.”

“Good. Now go, rest. You’ve had a long day.”

Bowing her head once more, Lea dragged herself to her feet and led the fawn to her tent. Collapsing onto the low cot that was her bed, she coaxed the fawn up next to her. Drawing the sheepskin blanket up over them, she lay awake for a while, her fingers tracing the spots on the fawn’s back.

When at last sleep did claim her, she dreamed of the doe she had slain. It faced her without fear, without judgment. Looking into its eyes, she understood that the doe was entrusting her only offspring into Lea's keeping. Lea bowed her head, accepting the responsibility that the doe was laying on her. She would not fail.