Red hair flashed through the sturdy oak trees as the boy explored the forest beyond the castle, the sun still projecting rays of light across the branches and giving the acorns a golden glow. His father had told him not to go into the forest alone, but he was curious about the fascinating creatures he had heard stories about. Are there really giant snakes, dragons, and griffins out here?, he thought to himself as he took in the sound of birds chirping and the river flowing over the rocks.
He stared at the river awhile, looking for fish as. Suddenly, he heard a scraping noise from behind him. He turned around, and witnessed a massive brown bear rubbing its back on a nearby oak tree. He had never seen a bear before, but his father often warned him about how fearsome they could be against the weak.
What if he's just like me, just exploring the woods?
The curiosity began to fade as an eerie and familiar feeling crept through him, like when he was left alone in the dark; it was fear. Not understanding why the feeling overtook him, he began to back away but completely forgot what was behind him, the river. He tripped and tumbled into the rushing water, which wasn't cold, but it was moving fast enough to try to sweep him away. With a last desperate attempt, he managed to grab an outstretched root and pull himself up onto the bank.
"That was close," he said aloud to no one.
As he looked up, his eyes met the bear's, who was staring down on him with a look of pure aggression for the invasion of his territory. The boy looked around for an escape route, only to find none. In the distance he could hear the shouting of a search party. He braced himself as the bear raised its paw, revealing it's long, jagged nails which were ready to tear his flesh to shreds.
Suddenly, a loud crack could be heard, like the sound a branch makes when snapping as the branch the bear tumbled sideways. The culprit was a boy with thoroughly tanned skin and black hair, sporting a peasant's clothing and an eerily calm expression. They rolled around on the ground, wrestling each other with a beastly ferocity as they grappled. As it continued, his savior began to start to look more battered, showing different wounds from the bear's large jaws and long teeth.
The red-haired boy shouted, "I can help!" He picked up a rock and threw it at the bear, but surprisingly, it had no reaction.
"Get out of here, I don't need your help!" shouted the black haired boy as he continued to give the ferocious brown creature a run for its money. The shouting began to get closer as the red-haired boy yelled, "Just hold on a bit longer!"
The peasant looking boy was covered in dirt in blood. and The bear was beginning to look very fatigued by the time the shouting got closer. In one motion, the boy with black hair leaped up onto the beast's neck, put one hand firmly on its chin and the other on the back of its head.
Snap!
It was so fast he could barely see it. The bear's head twisted, and its body fell to the ground with a loud thud that should the ground. The shouting had stopped as the search party had caught up to them. All but four men stood in silence at what they had just seen.
The next day, the black haired boy was brought before the king, an average-looking man with black hair and a black beard. He who addressed him with true sincerity in his voice. "You have my deepest thanks for saving my son. I warned the little prince Draco not to go into the forest alone, but he didn't listen, and clearly someone suffered for it. I will make sure your family is well off for the rest of their lives."
"It's just me, and I can work for it," he responded flatly.
The young prince Draco bowed his head as he said, "Thank you for saving me. It was irresponsible of me to be out in the woods like that." The king's glaring stare could be felt from across the room as he continued, "Anyway, I would like to see you again. What is your name?"
"My name is Orion."