Twigs creaked and snapped under Rafil's feet causing him to wince. He slowly crept up to the hare currently chewing on the grass and weeds growing beneath the shade of a tree. When he reached within five paces of the hare, he became still. The only sound that could be heard was that of the hare's chewing and Rafil's slight breathing. Muscles of his legs tensed as Rafil prepared himself for lunging at the hare. The hare sensing the slight creaking caused by Rafil, jerked its head towards him, looked into his eyes with its own blood red pupils and dashed for its life. Rafil had once again failed.

After four cycles of his life, Rafil had caught a hare only once, compliments to his sheer luck. He had been taught the world was a place meant for survival of the strong. There were two kinds of living beings; strong and weak. If you are weak, then you do not have the right to choose your destiny. If one gains something, then the other will lose something. This was the basic law of the world around which everything revolved. Sighing in defeat, Rafil tried to find trails for another hunt.

Half a cycle earlier his father had told him that they could stop eating porridge. Rafil's heart had lurched with excitement at those words. All through his life the only food he had known was porridge. He surely wouldn't mind eating something other than porridge. "But you will have to hunt something yourself, if you want to eat it." This one single statement had brought down the excitement from his eyes. He knew that the chances of him hunting something, anything were low. Still, he couldn't give up and kept on trying. On the day he had caught his first hare, his father had told him about the laws of the world. From that day forth his father would every single day eat anything but porridge, while Rafil was stuck with porridge.

Though at first to Rafil, this treatment seemed unfair, he accepted it because the laws said so. He learned from his own mistakes. Every day he would spend four bells of time learning and reciting the runes. He would then go into the surrounding woods and look for animals to hunt. His father had told him to that not all of the forest was open to him, as there were many dangers in the forest. Yet it was upto him to decide the limits for himself. Rafil decided to not venture more than a couple of miles from the pond. Near sundown he would return and watch his father practice with his sword. He too wanted to learn the way of the sword but his father had strictly forbade him from doing so. "Your mind is not strong enough yet." This was what his father would tell him.

As Rafil kept on learning and reciting the runes, he could feel the changes that were taking place. At first his mind was not as focussed as it was now. The time he could endure in silence also began to lengthen. But the most astonishing changes were in his ability to sense his surroundings. As he closed his eyes recited the runes from his memory he could sense the air around him start to vibrate in a mesmerising rhythm. Sometimes when he would immerse himself into the runes, he would feel the heat around him start to rise. This particular detail baffled him but he decided against telling his father. He did not want to get another scolding from his father because he could not focus completely on the runes.

After five cycles of his life, Rafil had become quite able at catching game for his meals. His mind was sharp and could focus on the details of his periphery. He had long ago stopped reciting the runes. He was one with the runes now and didn't need much practice. Everyday at the break of the dawn, Rafil would go for a dip in the pond and then meditate for two bells. Rest of his time was used up in exploring the forest and the mountain he lived on. On one such day when he was still meditating, his father called him.

As he went out from the hut, he saw his father with a knapsack hung over his shoulder. "Pa are we going somewhere?" Rafil said excitedly. He had never left the mountains before.

Basil shook his and grimly said "I am going away. If you want to come with me then leave three bells after I have gone. I will wait at the base of the mountain for three days then I will leave. If you want, you can either stay here or come after me. Remember, I will wait for only three days and no more. If you don't make it by then, return here.

"If I am to take you with me, then I have to be sure that you can take care of yourself. What will you do?" said Basil looking at Rafil.

"I will make it there in two days!" Rafil said excitedly.

Basil's lips parted in a grin. "Here, take this then. Your knife won't help you much if you have to traverse a long distance in the forest" said Basil tossing over a dagger covered in its sheath. In the hands of Rafil, they looked more like a short sword than a dagger. Rafil started grinning with his eyes on the dagger. He just nodded his head as kept on looking at the dagger.

In the eyes of Rafil, Basil handing over the dagger was the same as him telling Rafil that he was worthy of walking the path of swords like his father. He unsheathed his blade and fr the next two bells he practised the forms that he used to see his father practice. For the last bell Rafil went to catch a game in advance for he didn't want to waste time that evening looking for food.

Rafil picked his way through the woods as he was taught to. He looked up at the sun watching his descent. A season earlier his father had told him that the best way to leave the mountains was through the Lionshold pass which would let him enter the kingdom of Densari. But that was not the way his father had gone. Rafil had been specifically told to go to the mountain's base. If one passed through the pass they would go through a valley, not the mountain's base. This foced Rafil to through the thick of the forest, daring the numerous dangers the forest had to offer.

On the first night of life, when he had to stay alone, his father's voice came to his mind. "Never underestimate your opponents. When you go in the forest you are one of the weakest creatures in there. If a weaker creature meets a stronger one, the most preferable thing to do is to run away. You may lack in strength from some of the savage beasts of this forest but you are far more craftier. You can manage to find a way for yourself to flee.

"If you can't do that, then the next and the only remaining way to stay alive is act pre-emptively, taking the creature by surprise. Only then, you will have a chance to survive." Recalling his father's words, Rafil didn't build a fire that night, and instead slept in chill of the night.

Waking up by the break of the dawn, he broke his fast by the remainder of the previous night's catch. He then started his journey to the base of the mountain. He was creeping down the mountain in silence trying as much as possible, not to make unnecessary sounds. Though he had become adept at hiding himself in the forest in the past two cycles and follow his pray, same could be said of the numerous beasts of the forests. Near the eleventh bell of the morrow, as he was walking slowly and carefully, keeping a watch on his nearby surroundings for some catch, he heard a heavy snort. Rafil turned towards the sound, and found a boar facing him, snorting in arrogance.

The boar was a creature born of arrogant nature. As he saw things, only the mountain lions were allowed to pass through its territory. In front of him, was a human's babe no older that five cycles. It had no place in his territory. The human babe had to be removed its territory. The boar snorted its prey of its presence, daring it to flee.

Rafil's heart started thumping very fast. He had never seen such a creature in many of his excursions to the forest, but he knew the creature. His father had warned him about this creature. A massive hulking mass of brown flesh with large white spikes jutting out near its nose. Those spikes looked terrifying, especially with its hind legs rubbing on the ground and its grumbling snort. A boar! Those are tusks? They are terrifying! with his thoughts in scramble he started to panic. You may lack in strength from some of the savage beasts of this forest but you are far more craftier. His father's words ran in his mind he started to his breathing. He closed his eyes and started reciting the runes. The familiar sensation of the air vibrating and the temperature around him rising filled his sense, magnified in its effect due to his current predicament.

The boar seeing the human babe close its eyes charged forward, ready to ram the child and run over it. Hearing the charge of the boar, Rafil fumbled in his runes, skipping over some of them and altogether mixing some of them. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he lifted up his hands covering his face. In the face of onslaught, Rafil had already forgotten about fleeing and was waiting for his impeding death. A wild sensation ran through his body as the heat around him rose too much for him, scorching his hands. Rafil in a matter of seconds was drenched in sweat. He felt spent and exhausted. After a few moments when the charge stilll not came, he realised that the board had stopped snorting and there was no sound of hooves hitting the ground. He slowly oppened his eyes to find the boar lying five paces from him a pile of scorched flesh. Smoke billowed from its body, its eyes staring in disbelief at its fate.

No longer in fear of death, Rafil ran as fast as he could till he could run no more. His heart was beating fast and blood was throbbing in his head. He felt pain in his hands so he looked at them. They were burnt and his skin at places was completely black and at other places there were patches of pink. He sat and started to cry in terror and pain. For the first time in his life he had known such terror.

As the third day was about to end, Rafil walked to the base of the mountain. He saw his father sitting on a boulder facing towards him. He wanted to run and embrace his father. He wanted to cry in his arms till he was satisfied. He wanted to share his terrified feelings with his father. But his father was not the sort of a man who would sympathise with him. If he told his father about the encounter, his father would only look at him with contempt and send back up the mountain. Whatever he wanted, he wanted to be with his father the most. So he kept silent about his encounter with the boar.

Looking at the leaves wrapped around Rafil's hands, Basil nodded acknowledging Rafil's silence. "We will go to the nearest town and ask for a sister of Freya to look at those wound of yours."

Rafil only nodded slightly and started following his father. There was grim determination on his face.