The wind
still gusted from time to time, momentarily, then faded.
Tree leaves fluttered as the evening breeze began its soft
caress. In the eastern sky a single star began to shine. One of
the heaven's wanderers, not unlike himself on the earth below.
He halted. In the copse ahead a creature moved. Sensing his
presence it froze in position. A tawny hide, revealed
momentarily between the leaves, brought a gleam to Demo's eye.
A buck!
Demo notched his arrow, waited silently.
The antlered head extended above the bushes. The moist nostrils
sniffed the air. Then the buck bounded across the trail.
The arrow flew, and without glancing at the prey he unstrung
his bow.
As he moved toward the copse a falling leaf drifted down,
dressed in the yellow-brown of the coming season. His eyes
followed it, then he glanced toward the copse. In astonishment,
he noted that the buck was no where to be seen. Quickly he
rushed forward. Nothing! No buck, and no sign of life!
"Not possible, not possible that I have missed! Now, where is
the deer," Demo wondered aloud.
The light glinted on an object. He saw, lying on the forest
floor, that object. An object that caused him to freeze in
place. A beautiful white feather. And beneath it on the ground,
his arrow. Athena will not be rejected!
Uncertainly he stared from side to side, hesitated. Finally he
picked up the feather, pressed it to his heart.
"It is the will of the Gods!"
He returned the arrow to its pouch, rushed through the
darkening forest to the mountain hut far below.
Pages:
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45