The Kings Son

Chapter 22

The snow came up to the middle of Oliver's calves as he worked his way over to the tent where some of the men were leading a group of twelve horses outside. Talking with the lead man Oliver agreed to accompany them to a small meadow on the other side of the tree line a little over a mile away, accepting a spear from one of the men he was ready to go.

A nudge on his back nearly knocked Oliver face first into the snow; annoyed he spun around to find Goliath staring at him, the horse had pulled up the stake tethering him to the ground inside the tent when he heard Oliver's voice.

Rubbing the horse fondly on his nose Oliver smiled. "Of course, I'd never leave without you, you want some nice fresh grass don't you boy?" Goliath happily tossed his head, grabbing at the rope, Oliver untied it from the horses bridle and left it and the stake laying on the ground near the tent. "Well come on then, you big glutton." Picking up his hooves and prancing along, the large warhorse followed Oliver towards the meadow, easily powering his way through the snow.

Deep in the forest where it shuffled and huffed through a deep drift, a large mountain bear moved his nose searching for any sign of something dead and frozen. A raging hunger gnawed at its belly after having awoke from its slumber. The scent of a dead hare caught its attention and it  froze for a moment, before following the scent leading to the small snack, swallowing the frozen creature in one bite it continued its search for more. A wind gust, pressed against the bear's nostrils and the beast turned lifting its head as it sniffed and snorted, it loved the smell of horses and quickly moved on its way to hunt.

Playfully Oliver threw a snowball that landed on the back of Goliath's head, happily eating the horse paused long enough to shake off the white powder before resuming his meal. Turning back to his designated section of the forest, Oliver scanned the trees for any sign of danger.

"Hey!" Oliver said as a wave of snow suddenly cascaded over the back of his head covering his shoulders, brushing snow from his hair he turned and watched the back half of Goliath who continued eating, the only evidence of the horses barrage was a large bare spot devoid of snow behind the animal.

Shaking his head, Oliver began to turn away from the warhorse when its head popped up into the air, its ears moving back and forth listening to something. Glancing around Oliver clutched his spear tighter, he saw nothing aside from the other men and horse's, rearing up Goliath swung his hooves boxing the air letting out a scream, several of the men turned to look at the horse before they quickly moved to calm the other animals.

Oliver was trying to do the same with Goliath when he saw a large mountain bear charging through the trees directly for the meadow, straight for Oliver; he noticed more importantly for his shrieking and kicking horse.

Transfixed by the monster the Prince just watched as it drew closer, brown and grey spots covered its white fur as its coat began to change color with the coming of spring, soon its coat would be completely brown. Massive paws carried it effortlessly through the snow powered by a ton of muscle, eyes black as coal watched him, what he noticed most was the beasts mouth and its very large teeth.

Seeing the danger Oliver slapped Goliath on the rump with his hand as hard as he could, startling the horse from its warning cries, he hoped the horse bolted. "Get out of here!" he screamed to the men around him, turning Oliver lifted his spear and hollered at the bear drawing its attention. The bear drew closer never slowing it's charge, Oliver had a sudden image of himself being run over by two thousand pounds of fur and muscle before being eaten.

The bear came to a stop only a few feet from him and rose threateningly to its hind legs. Over twelve feet tall at the shoulder the bear towered over Oliver who suddenly wished his spear was as thick as tree and a hundred feet longer. Roaring so loud Oliver was sure he was going deaf, the bear glowered down at the Prince, its eyes hungry.