Sometime before; the location where William had thrown the rock and slipped away from the bear.
The rescue party, led by the hunters who tracked William's trail had just arrived a few minutes ago.
Brian, who now unofficially represented the hunters and after examining the area for clues, went to inform the lord of his findings, "My lord, it appears that your son had taken that tree" he pointed at the tree William climbed to get some sleep, "as a shelter, we found knife marks from the bottom all the way up which he might have used to ease his climb."
He paused to allow lord Ulric to take in all the information.
" We don't know if it was because the colossal bear was after him and he just wanted to hide, or because he wanted a safe place to rest, whatever it may be it was a clever move; is your son an experienced hunter my lord?"
William's actions kept surprising lord Ulric, each one very inexplicable; the skills, the know-how, the cool head, it made no sense. He was grateful and proud that his son could take care of himself, but also completely confused.
"He is my boy; as his father I know him well enough to be sure that William has no knowledge of such skills, I never took him hunting with me before; he never even faced danger from man or beast alike. How can he then do all this? Is it the result of pressure? Is he a diamond that has been rotting away and only now is shining under the strain?" the marquess thought, lost in his own mind questioning much and trying to find an answer.
"My lord?" Brian asked when he received no response from the marquess, pulling him back to his senses.
"You may ask him yourself when we get to him, enough wasted time, where does the trail lead to?" the marquess asked.
"It leads away from the stream and in that direction." Brian answered and pointed to the direction William had fled towards.
"Come on men!!! let's pick up the pace, we have no more time to squander." Lord Ulric commanded as he took the lead followed by the rest.
They followed the trail for a while; made especially easy by the fact that William had made sure to leave scratches on tree barks whenever he could.
They passed by the broken trees that the bear had broken in its pursuit of William and got pretty close to his current location when they suddenly heard a loud bestial roar not far away.
Lord Ulric's expression paled, fearing that the beast had caught up with his son. "HURRY!!! WE MUST HURRY, RIDE NOW, RIDE FAST!!!!" the marquess gave his command as he broke into a full gallop with his horse, which was a very dangerous thing to do at night in a forest with nothing more than the light of a torch to illuminate his path.
The personal guards of house Blackwell, seeing their lord pulling away immediately followed suit and urged their mounts to go faster; the hunters knowing that they will be left alone had no choice but to do the same.
It took them a few minutes to reach the slope, a few minutes fraught with danger as in multiple instances many horses in the group stumbled, almost throwing away their riders; thankfully they recovered resulting in no injuries.
Once they reached the slope, what their gazes saw was simply a sight they could never forget; there he was, the boy they were supposed to rescue standing next to the hulking body of the colossal bear, as the moon gently illuminated the gruesome scene showing William standing there, dagger in hand, bruised and covered in so much blood it could not have been his own, as he screamed to the heavens on top.
To the soldiers, to the hunters and even to lord Ulric himself, it appeared as if William was screaming in defiance, declaring his prey dead as well as his right to it; he looked like a savage beast that had delivered a challenge to the forest, to all its residents with a single clear message, within that roar they hear the Word."ALIVE!!!"
They were speechless and paralyzed; whether they wanted it or not, this image, this moment had itched itself deep into their minds. The image of a survivor who faced the worst the forest could offer and lived.
Respect, all these men can feel was respect.
Only after he collapsed on top of his "pray", did some of them wake up of their stunned state, first among them was the marquess who dismounted his horse and rushed down to his son.
"William, WILLIAM!!! Talk to me son, wake up".
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William slowly opened his eyes, he had had a bad dream, no! a nightmare in his sleep. It was horrible; he had been chased a day and a night by a HUGE bear and only got away because of luck.
His head was killing him, no as he soon found out once he tried to get up his entire body felt like it was about to file a complaint to HR for abuse.
" AHH, what the hell!!! Why do I always have to wake up in this state, at this point it's going to be a habit, back then it was the horse fall and now it was…." It took him a few seconds but, he eventually link the dots.
Once he did though he felt his legs go soft at the thought of what had happened the day before, the only good thing is that he was already lying down on his "bed" so he did not risk falling down.
He just stayed there for a while, processing everything that he had gone through, almost not willing to remember in the first place. In summary, it was hell, just plain hell.
He pushed himself to keep revisiting every step he had taking and frankly, though he had done well with what 'cards' he was dealt, the fact that he had lived was more so luck than skill.
"That was close, too close; at the end there if it were not for that rock I would have died a gruesome death." The more he thought about it the more his body shook.
At that moment, lord Ulric entered the tent and as soon as he saw William awake, he rushed to his side. "You're awake!!! How are you feeling William?"
"I am feeling…. Fine father thank you." He was not fine, he was far from fine, physically he would probably be fine, mentally though; that would be a whole other story.
"I guess you found me huh." William said.
" yes, of course we did, if I had to search the whole forest I would; thanks to you and your clever thinking, we did not have to with all the clues you left us behind." Lord Ulric smiled as he ruffled his son's hair.
William smiled a bit too; he felt some warmth inside at this moment. " Yeah, this is a good father, he cares, he really cares." He could see in the marquess's eyes worry, but he tried to hide it for his sake and smiled instead.
"How long have I been asleep for?" William asked.
"A little more than half a day."
" I see, what about the guards?"
Lord Ulric's eyes dimmed a bit and he simply shook his head.
William knew deep down that it was very unlikely that they had survived, still, he felt immense guilt and sadness at their passing. These men had stood bravely between him and a monster, they had willingly put their lives down for him.
Some might think that it was simply their duty, that it was what they signed up for, that it was a great honor to die for one's liege. William on the other hand thought that it was bullshit, that it was simply empty words the living say to comfort themselves.
Saddened by the news William and after assuring his father that he was ok, simply laid there, looking at the tent's 'roof' and contemplating much about himself and his new life.