can't stay. We'll be killed!”
“How do you know?” demanded Jesse.
“I just do. Can't you feel it?”
Jesse didn't argue. The sickening sense of death could not be denied. Just then, he saw the outline of a creature run between two distant trees. He recognized the shape. It ran on two legs. It was human. Hunters!
“You're right, Tayna!” yelled Jesse. “Run!”
Together they flew through the forest. Jesse allowed Tayna to lead, not having a clue as to where they were but still seeming to have the ability to leap through the forest without effort. It was as if he had been a deer his entire life.
Something caught his eye in the blur of the trees as they continued to sprint for their lives. There were tall poles intermingled with the tree trunks. Leaves covered them but he noticed nasty, unnatural points at the top of the poles that curved inwards towards them. The same kind of poles suddenly appeared on his other side. Something was not right. It reminded him of cages he had seen at the Metro Toronto Zoo.
“Tayna!”
She stopped again, panting. “What is it?”
“Look around you. These poles are forcing us forward. We can't turn left or right. I think it's a trap.”
Just then, a low mournful howl tore through the trees behind them. A second, and then another howl joined in.
“Wolves!” screamed Tayna.
“No, I don't think so,” said Jesse, but it was too late. Tayna, panicked by the hated noise of a pack of wolves on the hunt, ran further into the enclosure.
“Come back!”
Jesse bolted forward hoping to catch up to her before it was too late. Around the next tree, the two walls of poles met at a right-angled corner with the only escape being a small, twometre high wooden gap within the fence itself. Tayna froze at the suspicious doorway. Suddenly, from behind bushes on the opposite side of the poles, dozens of whooping, spear-waving hunters ran to the fence. Dressed in leather loincloths, their camouflage-painted faces and chests gave the frenzied men a ghostly appearance as they charged towards them. They pounded the wooden structure with sticks while continuing their ear-splitting screams. Tayna screamed too and, with no other choice, she darted through the doorway and disappeared. Other hunters quickly climbed up ladders on either side of the enclosure behind the doorway, one lifted his bow and fired.
“Jesse!”
How Tayna knew his name was the last thing on his mind. Her painful cry tore through him. Uncontrollable fury filled his heart. He pawed the ground with his front hoof and charged. The hunters were surprised by the large buck suddenly appearing from behind a tree. His charge took their attention away from Tayna. The hunters had never seen a deer attack with such ferocity before.
Jesse bore straight at the gap in the fence. His antlers were down, like the enraged bulls he had seen on TV. The hunters, suddenly realizing the approaching danger, swung their bows away from the pen holding Tayna and tracked him with their arrows, waiting for the moment he entered the doorway. He would then be trapped. At that moment, they would then release their rain of death.
Instead of entering the trap, Jesse put all of his remaining strength into his back legs and launched himself almost straight up. The hunters hollered in surprise as Jesse crashed heavily into the fence above the doorway. With his tremendous speed, he smashed through the fence. Now spinning out of control, Jesse relaxed his body and allowed his massive weight to fall onto the flimsy structure of ladders and supports that angled over the killing pen. Wood snapped and shattered as he tumbled earthward. He could hear the hunters crying in terror as the structure collapsed all around them. His only concern, however, was for Tayna.
Jesse crumbled hard onto the ground, rolling out of control until he crashed against something large yet soft. The scent of her fur crushed up against his nose told him immediately that it was his mate. She was lying on her side at the back of the pen.
“Tayna, are you hurt?”
“My shoulder,” she cried. “It hurts so much.”
Jesse saw an arrow embedded in the smooth flesh above her front leg.
“Don't move!”
He grabbed the arrow with his large, flat teeth and gently, but firmly, pulled it out of her body.
“You have to try to stand up!”
“I'll try.”
Shakily, Tayna made it to her feet. Jesse quickly glanced around at the chaos surrounding the collapsed trap. Many were helping their fallen comrades. Others were now running for their weapons, unwilling to let their quarry escape. They would vent their anger for this disaster on the deer.
“Run, Tayna. Now is our only chance!”
Tayna bolted forward, jumping over fallen wood and several wounded hunters. In a couple more leaps, she would make it to the thick brush.
Jesse rose and attempted to join her, but something grabbed his shoulder. He was pinned! He tried to shake off the restraint, but it held fast. He was captured! At least he had saved Tayna.
“Run, Tayna!” Jesse yelled. “Don't look back! Run!”
“Jesse.”
“Run!” Jesse tossed himself back and forth. He couldn't escape the grip on his shoulders.
“Jesse, wake up. You're having a bad dream.”
Jesse threw open his eyes. His uncle held him by the shoulders. Jason was on the other side of his sleeping bag, looking concerned. Jesse's chest was heaving.
“Calm down now, Jesse. It's all right.”
“Did she make it?”
“Did who make it?” asked Jason.
Jesse bolted upright and looked around the camp-site. Slowly, he began to realize that the whole episode must have happened in his dreams.
“It was all so real… “
Uncle Matthew patted him on the back. “Do you want to tell us about it?”
Jesse sat upright, trying to collect his thoughts and then told his cousin and uncle about his incredible dream. Jason looked at his father, and his uncle nodded, knowingly.
“I think what you had was more than just a dream.”
“Why did I dream that I was a deer, Uncle Matthew? Why didn't I dream that I was just myself?”
“Animals are sacred to our people, Jesse. They are part of us, spiritually. Sometimes, we become associated with one type of animal. They become almost like a guardian angel. They help to look after us and help us grow. Perhaps that is what you experienced. The deer might
