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Excerpt3 "ONYX" work in progress by R.Dale. Johnson
Rafe lay awake for thirty minutes or so thinking about Annie and the questions the boy had asked that day then fell into a deep sleep where he dreamed of red-haired Annie and Protectors and beaver pelts. Sometime after mid-night a sound woke him. It sounded like a "flyer", but he had never heard one so low. It was gone in an instant and he quickly fell back asleep. He was up next morning two hours before daybreak, grabbed a quick bite to eat, shouldered his gun and pack and headed out. The snow was flying and he thought it was much colder than yesterday. He strode up the slope and into the forest.
CHAPTER 2
The wind howled as Rafe made his way in the early morning darkness, but in had calmed by the time he reached the first of the trap sets and he could see daylight starting to peek over the eastern mountains. The traps on the North fork were land sets for there was no beaver here as on the South fork. Rafe was going after fox and mink and fisher today. He missed the boy and found himself turning his head back to tell him to keep up before realizing he wasn't there. By mid-day he had worked about half the sets and had two red fox pelts in his pack. He decided to walk to the next set, which he knew was in a piney grove, and have his lunch.
The trap was empty so he built a small fire with a spruce at his back to break the wind and started to heat the beans and corn pone. He was eating his food from the hot black skillet when he heard a low sound that caused him to perk up his ears and listen. He sat on the ground; silent with the fork full of beans half way to his mouth. Only his eyes moved. He sat this way for two or three minutes then went ahead eating. The pan was empty when he heard it again. Slowly he put the skillet on the ground and with his free hand reached for the shotgun leaning against the tree. He stood upright holding the gun in both hands diagonally across his chest.
The sound came from in front of him beyond a line of small fir trees. Rafe moved forward as slowly and quietly as he could. He reached the patch of low trees and stopped, cocking his good ear toward them. He couldn't see over them but he could see between them. On the ground beyond the green shrubs, he saw a patch of white, stark against the brown pine needles of the forest floor. At one end of the white shape was a mass of gold that waved gently in the light breeze and shimmered like a rainbow in the afternoon sun. The sound was coming from there. "What kind of animal are you". He thought as he pushed through the trees with the gun pointed ahead of him.
The object was curled up in a ball with its back to Rafe. He carefully knelt and putting his hand on what looked like a shoulder to him rolled it over. As he did so the ball unfolded and gave out a soft moan. "It's a girl!" He softly exclaimed.
He knew that because of the pink nipples and small breasts he could see through the thin, almost transparent, dress she wore. Her only other clothing was a small pair of white shoes that matched the dress. Uncurled, she appeared to be very tall and thin. Her long arms and legs almost snake-like. Rafe chastised himself for looking at her nipples and quickly took off his outer coat and wrapped the frail creature in it. When he picked her up he was amazed by the lightness of her body. "Can't weight more than seventy pounds." He thought. "Must be starved to death."
Rafe carried the girl to the fire, her arms and legs dangling, almost dragging the ground. He placed her near the fire and tucked her arms and legs inside the coat. After building up the fire he sat and stared at the girl on the ground. He had never seen anything like it. Her golden hair was as fine as spider silk and the face was as white and delicate as a china doll. He wondered what he should do now. He could build a shelter and try to revive and feed her but the only tool he carried was the six-inch skinning knife. It would take a long time to build anything with that. Better try to carry her home he thought, Annie will know what to do.
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