After school Evan and I run home. It feels good to stretch my legs, to feel my muscles work, after so much sitting. Normally we would go off into the forest, maybe to our favorite cliffs or the big tree with the hollow trunk. Instead we grab our gear from a small shed in the back of our cabin, a bow for me and a club for Evan, and head into the tree line. It barely takes a minute before we lose sight of the clearing. That was quick. “Come on,” I tell Evan and walk a ways back. He sighs and reluctantly follows me, dragging his club on the ground.

Determined to make the best of our new restrictions, I race up to a big oak and start to climb, swinging onto a branch. The rough bark digs into my palms, scratching at callous. When I’m half way up, a blur jumps past me and grabs onto a thick branch. Evan has always been a much better climber. I drop back down and watch as he scampers out on a branch and swings upside down, hanging by his knees. Upside down like this, Evan and I are eye to eye.

“Was it scary?” Evan asks. “Running into the tracker?”

I nod, not wanting to admit how terrified I was.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t get in trouble with dad though. You were home so late!”

“Will you come down from there?” I ask as the tree branch Evan swings on bounces haphazardly.

“Why?” Evan grins widely. Upside down it looks like a grimace. “Am I making you nervous?”

Of course he is. Evan is the daredevil, not me. While I like to climb trees and cliffs as much as most kids from the Forsyth, Evan is on a whole other level. He’ll fling himself off anything that is high enough to hurt.

Evan pulls himself up, grabs the branch with his hands and lets his feet go. He lands next to me with a soft thud. “So why didn’t you get in trouble?” He repeats.

“It wasn’t my fault. Dad knew that.”

“If it was me,” Evan says, “I would have been in so much trouble no matter whose fault it was.”

I don’t answer because I know it’s true. Evan is always up to something. Even if he were innocent, I don’t think Dad would believe him.

“Want to go to the cliffs?” Evan asks.

“Too far,” I tell him.

Evan sighs. “What are the chances of another tracker coming this way? I bet we could take him anyways.” He punches the air, attacking an invisible assailant.

I stifle a laugh. “Just with your fists?”

“We do have weapons,” Evan says. He picks up his club. My bow lies by his feet in the grass. I’m not sure what use it will be. I’m a great shot when it comes to targets, but I can barely shoot an animal. I always hesitate, giving them just enough time to flee. I can’t begin to imagine shooting another human. I told Dad as much. He said it was just as an extra precaution. If a tracker surprises us, perhaps we could scare them off with the weapons. I really doubt it. If I was a trained Kai guard I wouldn’t be scared away by a seventeen year old and his eleven year old brother. Especially not the braided man.

I watch as Evan swings his club at low hanging branches. They break with loud cracks that echo through the trees. It wouldn’t do much against a tracker. They’d overtake him in a second if it came to blows. But a bow? That might stand a chance.

“You want to learn how to use this thing?” I ask Evan, picking up my bow from the ground.

“I know how,” he says stubbornly. Dad taught us at the same time. I picked it up instantly, moving to more difficult targets by the next day. Evan had a harder time. I told him it was because I was older, but that wasn’t true. I’ve always had a knack at learning things quickly. Archery. Riding. Tracking. I absorb the skills. It’s the same with books. As soon as I’ve read the words, they stick in my mind. I don’t think Evan is jealous of this skill. There is a big difference between knowing what to do and doing it. Evan is the daring one, much more courageous than I am. I may know how to aim the bow, but using it in the moment? That’s when bravery comes in handy.

“Let’s just practice then,” I tell Evan. I take my knife from my belt and carve a circular target into a tree. Finding space to practice archery or even hunt in the Forsyth is tough. The trees grow so close together. But in the clearing there is more room. I walk several feet from the target and knock an arrow. “See how I’m standing?” My feet are wide, my back straight. The string of my bow is lightly pressed into my cheek. I take aim and let go of the string. The arrow sails smoothly and embeds itself in the tree. I go and retrieve it.

“You try,” I tell Evan and hand him the quiver. He slings it on his back, selects an arrow and draws the bow. He copies my position perfectly, but right before he lets go of the string his body twitches. The arrow sails past the tree.

“Gods!” Evan exclaims and kicks at the dirt.

“You’re lucky dads not here.” We’re not supposed to swear. I try not to laugh at how frustrated Evan looks. “What are you waiting for? Go get it.”

Grumbling, he hands me the bow and runs past the tree to search for the arrow. Several moments pass. It shouldn’t be taking this long.

“Evan?” I walk past the tree. Evan is standing a few feet ahead of me. His knees are bent, almost crouching down. He doesn’t seem to notice me come and stand next to him.

“What is it?”

“Hush,” Evan whispers. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Evan places a finger to his lips and points behind a thick cluster of bushes. I listen for a moment.

“I don’t hear-” the leaves rustle. A branch snaps. I grab an arrow from the quiver on Evan’s back and draw the bow. I scan the bushes, aiming as I do, searching for any hint of what they contain. The leaves rustle again. I don’t think it’s a Kai tracker. They wouldn’t make this much noise. It has to be some sort of an animal. My instincts tell me to grab Evan’s arm and run back into the clearing. But if it’s a wolf or a tree lion movement would make it pounce.

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The rustling grows louder. A low growl comes from the bushes. I think I can see something. A dark brown in the green. It is moving closer to us.

“Get ready,” I whisper to Evan.

“Okay.” There is worry in his voice. I realize that I am the only one with a weapon. I tighten my sweaty palm around the grip of the bow (another word for this?)

When the animal stumbles through the bushes, I am momentarily flooded with relief. It’s a deer. Then I get a good look at it and I’m no longer what it is. Its fur is in patches, almost as if it’s been burned off. Where there should be skin there is something dark brown and rigid. Bark like. I can see puffy, blue veins run up its neck to the corners of its mouth. The animal growls at us, a low, throaty sound. I’ve never heard a deer growl. The most unsettling thing is its eyes. They are wide and bright red. They stare me down.

The animal sways slightly, as if unstable on its legs. I look at Evan, unsure of what to do. A deer is harmless. But why does it look like this?

When I catch Evan’s eye I hear a guttural, growling scream. I turn to the sound and see the deer charge at Evan. I don’t think. I just act. The arrow from my bow speeds through the air and pierces the deer’s chest. The deer stumbles and continues forward. The second arrow imbeds itself in the deer’s eye. Its knees buckle and the animal falls to the ground.

We remain motionless for several moments. I watch the deer for any sign of movement, frozen in my archery stance. I loosen when Evan touches my arm.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yes. You?”

He nods. “What is that thing?”

Guess there is only one way to find out. I knock another arrow and walk up to the animal. It looks even more deformed up close. The patches on its skin have scabbed over in layers of dark brown. The blood that comes from the arrow wounds is black. It stares up at me with one pupil-less red eye. The blue vein on its neck glows with unnatural color.

“A deer,” I say. It has to be. “Some very, very sick deer.” I should take the two arrows from its body. I don’t have that many, but I can’t bring myself to touch it.

Evan comes to stand next to me. He nudges the deer with his foot. “Should we just leave it?”

“No, if it’s sick some other animal could eat it and catch the disease. I’m not sure if we should bury it though. Let’s get Dad. Maybe he’s seen something like this before.”

We head back to the clearing to get Dad. He isn’t the only one that comes. After we tell him what happened, he sends us to get James and Eliza who do most of the hunting for the village.

“Well clearly it’s a deer,” Eliza says after inspecting the animal for several seconds.

Her brother, James, crouches down next to her. He wears elbow length leather gloves. I can’t help but hold my breath as he reaches out and places a hand on the deer. Of course nothing happens. He touches the dark, brown scabs.

“Been burned,” he says, his voice uncertain.

“And what? Survived?” Dad asks. “What about the eyes, the black blood? Why would it attack?”

James traces the blue veins up the deer’s neck. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I guess it was sick, something like rabies. It drove the deer insane, poisoned the blood. Probably got the burns after the sickness. Couldn’t think straight anymore and wandered into another village’s fire. We should burn it. If we leave it here and another animal eats it, the sickness could spread.”

“I’ll get a torch,” Eliza says. She walks into the clearing.

“Are you sure about this?” Dad asks James. “What sort of sickness could cause this? We’ve been around deer our whole lives. You ever see anything like this before?”

“What are you suggesting?” James asks. He takes off his leather glove and scratches his stubble beard.

“Perhaps we should study it,” Dad says.

“You sound like city folk,” James says. “Study it how? We don’t have the equipment the cities do.”

“We could get some,” Dad says. “I have some things already.”

“Too dangerous,” James snaps. “We burn it.”

Eliza reappears with a torch and an armful of kindling. “This won’t be enough,” she says. “Javin, can you get some more wood?”

“Um….” I look at Dad. He nods tensely.

I head into the clearing. We keep a store of logs for the fire near the school house. There is plenty of kindling there too. I take a large armful of the small branches and head back to the deer.

When I get back I see James and Eliza placing stones around the deer’s body. When they are done they take the kindling and place it in the makeshift fire pit. The kindling makes easy work for the flames. Once it’s lit, the fire builds quickly. It grows bigger until the entire deer’s body is engulfed in flames. I half expect the deer to growl in pain.

“You two should get out of here,” Dad tells me and Evan. “You don’t need to breathe this in.”

Evan opens his mouth to protest, but I beat him to it.

“You got it,” I say. I grab Evan’s hand and pull him away from the fire and deeper into the woods.

It only takes a few minutes of walking before Evan can no longer contain his questions. “Why do you think it was sick with? Where do you think it came from? Do you think they should have burned it?” He speaks so fast his words blur together, giving me no chance to answer, not that I could have.

“Enough!” I tell him, half joking. But he doesn’t stop. Laughing I start to run away from him. He follows me through the forest, practically shouting the questions at me.

“Come back here!” He yells. “I’m not done yet!”

I keep running, stumbling over myself as I laugh. I only stop when I trip over a root. Evan dives on top of me.

“Now you have to answer!” He exclaims victoriously, trying to pin my arms down. Above him the dark leaves glisten with just the hint of frost. They weave an intricate pattern, layers of leaves blocking out any light. We are deep in the Forsyth, I realize, and way too far away from home. I push Evan off and spring up.

“We’ve got to get back. We’ve gone too far.” I grab Evan’s hand, but he pulls out of my grasp.

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Evan says, crossing his arms and standing in front of me. “Dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“No, you don’t. You didn’t see this tracker. He’s…scary.”

Evan shrugs. “I’m not scared of anything.”

“Maybe that’s true, but we need to get back.” I hear a twig snap behind me and turn around. A rabbit steaks out of the bushes. A rabbit without any signs of that hideous disease. When I look back to Evan his head is cocked to the side and he is staring past me. His brow furrows. He squints, trying to make out something behind me. “What is it?” I ask, caught up in his expression. Didn’t he see it was just a rabbit?

“Javin, do you…” Evan trails off, his voice quivering with uncertainty. His arm raises slightly. Then his eyes widen. “Javin!” He screams.

This is the last thing I see.