The Stranger: Into the Rising Light(Wilbur Arron) THE STRANGER: INTO THE RISING LIGHT

BY

WILBER ARRON

CHAPTER ONE: THE FIRST

Year 10

The old deer was hurrying as fast as he could. His side ached like fire, but he kept going. He had to keep running, time was short. Through the trees and bushes of the Man path forest, he moved. Other deer looked at him, not understanding why he was hurrying, and he had no time to explain. He finally found the large clearing and bleated as loud as he could. A few moments later a deer in his late prime and a nice looking doe the same age came into the open forest. The doe had young a male and a female fawn by her side. He half stumbled into the clearing out of breath and feeling weak in the legs.

"Father, what is it?" Stabo called out.

It took several deep breaths to get the words out. "Stabo, I need for you to go see your mother immediately."

"Is it her illness?" Stabo asked.

He nodded. "It is much worse. Her fever is high and she is getting cold and numb. She cannot even eat the leaves from the bushes anymore."

"Is it that bad?" Stabo asked.

"I do not think she has long. She wants to see you. Please go now and do not wait for me. I will be along as soon as my legs and side will allow me."

He saw Stabo's eyes close in pain. "I will go at once," he said and ran off into the forest. That left him alone with Gena and her two new fawns.

"Stranger," she said and leaned her head into his shoulder. "I should go too with the fawns. She never saw them."

"No, they are too young to travel quickly. Claris knows they were born healthy. Your place is with them."

He leaned over and let the two spotted brown fawns come up to him and sniff him. Then they both started to lick his face. He did the same to both. They were both healthy and alert and both seemed to know that he was part of their family. He looked into their young eyes and wondered what wonders they would see before they got to his age, if they lived that long. He nuzzled them both and then stood up.

"I must get back," he told her and then started back to his clearing.

He was slower going back than coming. His old body was too worn out to hurry. It was injured, broken, and just not working the way it used to. It was a while before he got there. When he did he saw Bambi, Faline, and Young Bambi there. Bambi had gone to get them. He saw Stabo lying beside his mother who was lying on her side. He could see how difficult it was for her to breath. It tore at his heart to see her so sick. He knew soon she pass and again he would be alone. There was nothing to be done for her. The four of them were all old and all would soon pass from the scene. He just thought he would have been first to go with his many injuries. Finally Stabo got up from his mother's side and walked away with his back toward them. He walked over to his son and saw the tears running down from his big black eyes.

"I cannot think of a forest without my mother," he sobbed. "She and you were always here. Now she is going and there is nothing I can do to stop it."

"My Son," he said and rubbed the back of his neck. "That is the Way of All Things as I have taught you. All things pass in time and new things come to take their place. We all will have our time, even you. That is why we have children to carry on after we are gone. "You mother cared deeply for you as do I."

"I know," he sobbed and walked away. "And I cared deeply for her and told her so."

He looked back to the others who were all standing around Claris, all distraught at what was happening. Young Bambi walked toward him.

"I am sorry, Stranger," the Young Bambi told him also showing misty eyes. "I too will have a hard time thinking of her not being here. It will not be the same. Galene would have come if not for Young Veron."

"I know, so would Gena," but we have to take care of what is important and right now those young fawns are important."

With that he too walked away back to his family life that would soon end. He leaned over Claris and nuzzled her.

"Is there anything you want?" he asked.

"No," she said in a barely audible voice. "The only thing I want is for you all to leave now. I do not want you to watch me die."

"No," he said. "I will stay with you until the end. You have always been with me since that first day I came here. I will be with you."

She feebly shook her head no. "I do not want that. I want you to walk away now, please."

Suddenly he remembered what Bambi told him was his father's last words to him. 'In the time I am approaching, we are all alone.'

He leaned over and kissed her on the mouth as passionately as he could. "Thank you for making my life worth living," he told her.

"Thank you for being my mate," she said and then her head fell to the ground as he body started to shake. He could see death was upon her.

He got up and turned away and walked back to Bambi and Faline. "She will be alone, let us go now."

With that they all walked away. With his family beside him he turned his back on the clearing and all that it held for him.

He never went back.

He went to the clearing near where he fought Razor and lay down alone. Bambi and Faline understood without being told he wanted to be by himself at this time. He simply could not get it through his head that he would never talk to Claris again, never feel her beside him. Never hear her voice again, and it hurt him. It was not a sharp pain like he gets from his side. This was a deeper ached that felt like his insides were being pulled out. A hurt that was even worse than the pain from his side. He tried to sleep, but that was impossible. Instead he got up and started walking into the deeper forest. He had no place to go. He just wanted to get away.

He continued to walk until his side hurt, then he lay down for a while before getting up and starting to walk again. He felt almost numb on the inside. He continued with his walking deeper into the forest not knowing or caring where he went. He ate what he could find and drank where he could find water. Inside his decayed body, he also felt cold and tired. Part of him just wished he could lie down away from everyone and just pass on himself, but inside he knew he was not ready yet. He continued to walk on and off for two full risings of the greater light. He walked in full daylight, he did not care anymore if Man was here of not. He was slow. He could only move at half the rate he use to. On the third day, he was walking by the end of the forest. He saw no one and certainly no deer were around. As he came near the edge of the forest he stopped. There in front of him he saw it. The Man cave Koren and Young Bambi had told him about. It looked exactly like the one that used to be in his forest before it was destroyed in the fire. It was dark and cold. He walked out into the open to look closely at it.

Even though empty, the cave still reeked of the smell of Man. To the side of the building he could see the remains of a large fire. There was a residual trace of the smell of burnt deer meat. Man had been here and burnt the deer meat he had killed. It chilled him knowing whose meat they might have burnt, but fortunately, he could smell nothing of his daughter or Balo. They were just more memories that seem to be filling up his mind. More deer that had gone, more of his family he never see again. He added the memories of Claris to their memories now. It seem his mind was full of the images of deer that have gone. The dead of the past were outnumbering the living of the present and he again wondered why he had lived this long when he knew he should not have. There were just too many times he should have been dead, and yet he lived. Now if he could just understood why. Yes he had been herd leader, yes he had saved as many deer as he could, and yes he had children to follow him, but most of the others were dead or gone away. Was that enough reason to say why he was still here. Was it his thinking or his skill that saved him, or was it just luck. He did not know. All his knew was that his friends and family were fewer, and he was weaker. Was that the reward of long life; to be given more loss and weakness? It seemed a poor reward for his efforts. He stayed by the side of the Man cave looking until he saw the greater light shine high overhead in the sky. He knew he should go. Man could come back at anytime and if they saw him in the open like this, they might use the killing stick on him. Not that he thought it would matter much.

His instinct took over and he walked back into the protection of the forest and lay down in a patch of grass. He was tired enough so that for the first time in days he fell asleep quickly despite his troubling thoughts. During the day he got up only once to empty himself. He felt tired and sluggish in his moves. He went back to sleep and slept soundly.

"Stranger, is that you," he heard.

He opened his eyes and through the blurry haze he saw a doe in front of him. His nose was clear and he knew the scent.

"Alana?" he asked. "Is that you?"

He got up quickly and faced the now middle age doe. She had a young doe fawn standing next to her. "Alana, I am happy to see you."

He walked over and nuzzled her on the side of her neck. She did the same. He leaned over and looked into the face of the doe fawn who started licking him. He rubbed the fawns face with his own and licked her. It was then he got the scent of the fawn It smelled a little of Young Bambi. Even though it hurt he rubbed her nose and looked down at the little pile of brown spotted fur. She looked up at him looking ready to play with him. Not with his side still aching.

"I am sorry, little one, I am afraid I cannot play with you, my body is too old."

"She will not mind," Alana's told him.

"It is a nice looking fawn," he said looking the young one over. "She looks a lot like you. How are you getting along here?"

"Yes, her name is Tilar, and she is my daughter," Alana said. "I mated with a senior male during the Season. Afterwards he just left. He is nothing like Veron was. Why are you here. I was told by your daughter that you did not travel much anymore because of your injury."

"I don't, but I had to get away. My mate Claris is gone and I just had to get away from the others."

Alana looked shocked for a moment. "Oh, Stranger, I am so sorry," she said and then nuzzled him again. "She was a good deer. I am sorry she is gone."

"Last winter Claris took sick and the sickness remained. I had hoped she get better as spring came, but she got only worse. She died several risings ago. Afterward I felt lost and just started to walk."

"Are Bambi and Faline alright along with the others?" Alana asked.

"Yes everyone else is alright," he answered. "Young Bambi has mated with Galene from the forest across the large open field. That have a new fawn. He misses you."

"I know," she said nodding her head sadly. "After Veron died, I did not see any reason to stay there. Like you I wandered here and lived with the other deer. It is not as good as being with Veron, but here I am a respected doe. I even get along with Delon and Karlene."

"Are they alright?" he asked.

"They will be here shortly. Delon likes to watch the Man cave at night. I expect him here soon."

He again felt the fawn pushing against him, wanting to play. He leaned over and put her head next to the fawn and then pushed her away. The fawn was pushed back several of her small lengths and then stopped, looked at him confused for a moment, and then charged into him. He put his head down and let the fawn push against him. The fawn was strong and liked playing this game. Good, there was no weakness or sickness in this fawn.

"She is a strong little fawn," he told her. "Start teaching her as soon as she is able to understand."

"No Stranger," Alana told him flatly. "I will not lose her like I lost Veron or my other son. She will grow up like a normal fawn. I will not teach her anything except how to avoid Man."

He rose not liking what he heard. "I heard your older son was killed with Balo and Stena," just saying the names was hard to get out.

"Yes," Alana said turning her head away. "When Balo and the others left your forest, my son Tinsen was just a yearling. "He and I were one of the first deer that joined Balo new herd. He admired Balo and looked to Delon as a guide. He wanted to be like Delon and Balo. Delon started teaching him much like you would have."

"Then what happened?" he wanted to know.

"After the last Season, Man came into this part of the forest. Somehow Man and his dogs got on both sides of the herd. Balo was taking the deer and moving with the wind in his face like you taught him. They all smelled Man and heard the dogs in front of them. Balo turned the herd and ran another way thinking he could avoid Man. He told me, Delon, and Karlene to go to the back and make sure all the deer avoided the Men in front of them. As it turned out Man was waiting in a large clearing. Because the wind was on our tails, we never smelled the Men in front of us. Tinsen was helping Balo and Stena. Suddenly, the noise of killing sticks came from everywhere. I saw many deer fall in front of me. I leaped to the side and found myself near Delon and Karlene. We all ran deeper in the forest. We never saw Balo, Stena or my son again," Alana sobbed.

Sadly he understood and saw Balo's mistake. "At the first sign of Man, Balo should have taken his herd and gone far enough away from the Man cave that Man could not have gotten behind him. This is what we did back in my old forest."

"They did as they thought you and Bambi would have wanted them to do, and now they are all dead because of it," Alana told him as a fact. "My son and my mate are dead doing the right thing. I will make sure Tilar will never be trained."

He was going to argue, but decided it would not be worth it. He knew the training worked, but only if you used it properly and then only most of the time. Maybe Alana was right.

"I am sorry," he told her. "I wish I would have been here."

"I do not wish you were here," he heard from behind him. It was Delon's voice.

He turned and watched the two deer come out of the forest. A young doe and male fawn were next to Karlene. He put his head down and the two ran up and started to kiss the side of his face. He was pleased they seemed to be healthy also. Delon coughed loudly and the two fawns immediately stopped trying to play with him and ran back to their mother.

"What are you doing here," Delon spat out. "I thought you were old and sick and did not travel anymore."

"I do not," he said. "I had another reason."

Alana jumped in. "Delon, Stranger just told me Claris is dead."

Karlene dropped her head. "Oh, Stranger, I am so sorry," Karlene said and came forward. She slowly rubbed the side of his neck. "I know you two cared deeply for each other. I am sorry she is gone."

Delon did not approach him but stood straight up. "I am sorry too about Claris," he said showing some compassion. "She was one of the few deer that treated mother, father, and myself properly."

He did not like that comment, but let it go. He looked right back at Delon."Stelar told me you had all survived. I am glad about that." he said calmly. "I am really sorry about your mother"

"I find that hard to believe," Delon snorted.

"Well then here is something else you may not believe," he snorted back. "I am also happy for you and Karlene and your two fawns which I see are both healthy. I hope you are both feeling well."

"Feeling well," Delon almost laughed out loud. "How do you think I should feel. You threw us out of your forest, my mother and father were killed, your daughter goes snooping around, and now you show up. You did not care about me, my Mother, or Father. Why should I care what you think of us?"

He was suddenly incensed. What this youngster know anything about what he felt. He walked right up to the large deer and glared at him. "How dare you tell me I did not care for your Mother? Your mother was my daughter, in case you have forgotten. You think I wanted her dead?" he told him tersely. "You mother and father were rejected by the herd because all of you, Carie and Stuben included, forgot you serve the herd, not the other way around. When the time came, the herd would have decided which one of you would have followed your father. You did not have to force it on them. The herd made the correct decision to reject you all as it should have done."

"I do not see it that way, Stranger," he said with contempt. "I see someone that should have supported my father and did not. You are not welcomed here nor will you ever be. If you were not an old worn out deer, I throw you out myself."

"Delon," Alana called out. "That is unkind."

"Not as unkind as him," Delon spat out. Even Karlene looked shocked.

He did not move a muscle. "I am not so dead yet, but fine I will go. You really did not learn a thing I taught you. Pity, but so be it."

With that he turned and walked back the way he came. He stopped and turned toward Alana and Karlene. "Thank you both," he told then and bowed his head. "I wish you and your children well." He then turned to face Delon. "I wish you well too, something else I am sure you do not believe."

Delon looked unimpressed, not that he cared. "And you can tell Bambi, Faline, Stabo, Gena and the others that they are not welcomed here also," Delon bellowed out as he left.

"You do not have to worry about me or the others," he said walking away. "Claris is gone, and as far as you are concerned, I am gone also."

He walked away not even bothering to turn around. Although he felt relief that Alana, Karlene and Delon had survived, Delon's words bothered him. Claris dying hurt him deeply, but not as much as this. He tried not to look back with hate on Stena's son, but it was hard to do. He spent the next two full nights walking slowly back to his home, or what was left of it. Again he could walk only a short time, before his side started to hurt again, but he managed to get back to his part of the forest. He reached it just before the rising of the greater light. He picked a small place with no deer around and fell into a fitful sleep.

The next night he found the others eating in a small clearing near the old Man cave. He got onto the open area and started to eat the grass. The others saw him and wondered what had happened. He told him where he had gone and what had happened. He did not leave out any details.

"I can understand Delon not liking what the herd decided about his father," Stabo said. "I can understand him being angry his parents are dead. What I do not understand is his hatred of you. You and Bambi trained him, showed him everything he knows."

"He truly feels it was us who caused the herd to reject his Father and Mother," he said his voice choking up. "What he seems to forget is his mother was my daughter. I watched her grow up. I watched her feed at Claris's side. I saw how she acted when she was hit by Man how she allowed me to take out the Man stone without complaint. I saw her take Balo for her companion long before she took him as her mate. I trained her and watched her own fawns grow up. Delon seems to think all that means nothing to me. I am sorry, but I just do not get it anymore. My only consolation was Claris did not hear it."

"The ungrateful slug," the younger Bambi said. "He does not want us. Fine, we do not want him either."

"No," he said plainly. "Even after all he has done, he is still our family as is Stuben. Stuben at least learned from his mistake. I doubt Delon will. Still, if he asks for it, we still must help him, if nothing else for Karlene's sake and the fawns."

"Why she went with him I also do not understand," the younger Bambi went on.

"She stays with him because for a long time those two have cared deeply for each other much like Stena and Balo did. We can only hope he comes to his senses."

Spring was lonelier than ever. Galin, Young Faline, Koren and the others had all gone back to the forest over his hill across the open space. He had heard nothing since they left last spring. Stabo and Young Bambi had young fawns to take care of. That left him, Bambi and Faline to wander by themselves. There was nothing left for them to do except wait out the time until it was they lying on the ground alone. He found himself spending more and more time in the forest by himself.

It was not the best time of his life.

CHAPTER TWO: RETURNS

It was only days after from his walk that he heard noise coming from the meadow. Just after the rising of the greater light he heard the deep rumbling noises of Man animals traveling down the Man path in their forest. There were many of them. The noise woke him, Bambi and Faline. A short while later he started to hear noises coming from the meadow. There were pounding noises, shouts, and the sound of Man things. The shouts sounded like it came from many Men. There were also many different scents of Man coming from the meadow. Then the banging noises started. It sounded like they were hitting things into each other. There were also several deep growling noises like angry animals. It all sounded far too close for comfort.

"It sounds like it is coming from where the old Man cave was," Bambi said.

"Do you think they are building a new Man cave here?" Faline asked.

He nodded, "It sounds like it, but we should stay still until after the greater light sets and the Man animals go home. Until then we should try and get some sleep. I think it may be a long night."

"Who can sleep with that noise," Bambi grumbled.

They slept in fits and starts all day as the noises continued. They did not smell the scent of Man, nor any sounds of Man that came into the forest. All the noise and smells came from the meadow. It did not sound like Man was trying to hunt. It sounded like the banging noise when Man makes things. As expected, as the greater light set, the Man animals all left. Then there was quiet again. As soon as it was fully dark he went looking for Stabo and the younger Bambi. He found them nearby.

"I am going to go take a look at where the noise came from," he told them. "I think both Bambis and Stabo should come with me. The fawns are not big enough to be left on their own so I will ask the doe to stay here and watch them."

He could see Gena and Galene were angry, but they could also see he was right. The new fawns would be nosier than all of them.

"Can I go?" Stelar his daughter asked.

"Me too?" Kena, Gena's yearling daughter spoke up next.

"Not with your fawn," Helos told Stelar who was with their young male fawn Jolon. "Jena and I will go with you, but Jena you must keep quiet."

He looked at Stabo who shrugged his shoulders. "Very well, but we must all keep very quiet." he told them.

They all walked off together. After a while he stopped and turned around and looked at Kena.

"Come here," he told her.

She came up looking a little shy. "Very well young doe, I have a question from you. We are going to approach Man. How would you do it?"

Kena looked at all of them and then walked away from then by a few lengths and looked around and sniffed the air. She then nodded and came back to them.

"The wind is coming from the hill with the bear's den. We should walk to the other side of the Man path forest near your old forest. Then we should approach the Man cave with the wind in our faces, far enough inside the trees to hide us."

"That is correct," he told her, "What else?"

"We need to be quiet and listen for Man or dogs, but they are most likely not there at this part of the season," she answered.

He looked back at Stabo who was smiling. "Very good, Kena, you have remembered. Now also remember that while it is not usual that Man comes at this time, anytime there is a chance Man may be around, you must be careful. Now go back and walk next to your Father."

They all walked out toward the edge of the Man path near the open space that lead to his old forest. They then did as Kena said and approached the place they heard the noise with the wind in their faces. As they approached the edge of the forest he stopped and motioned from here on out no talking. As they got near the edge of the forest he first saw a Man animal like he had seen all those years ago when the Man cave was first built. It was cold and still. It was the Man animal that had the large piece of armor or scale on its front. They then saw where Man had made a pile of earth. He also saw several holes in the ground. Yes man was going to build something here. So far he could not see any sign of the Man cave, but Man was interested in making something here. He also knew that Man would be back early the next morning. They looked at it a while and then walked into the forest and vanished into the trees.

They walked quietly back to the clearing where they left the doe with their new fawns. All were standing there calmly when they returned.

"Man is building a new Man cave," he said. "That means Man will hunt here in The Season. Man also has a Man cave deeper in the woods that I have seen. That may mean that Man will try and chase us from this part of the forest, toward the other Man cave."

"Or they could try and get behind us and try to force us onto the meadow where they can use their killing sticks on us," the young Bambi said. "This does not look good for the herd here."

"We cannot let them get behind us like they did to Balo and Stena." Stabo said. "One way would be to take the herd deep into the woods at the first sign of Man."

"No it does not look good," he repeated. "We must have a plan what we will do when the time comes."

"The only way to go would be across the Man path into the other part of the forest," the elder Bambi said."

"Could we cross the small open space and run into the Meadow forest?" Gena asked.

"We have to cross the open space," he reminded her. "It is short, but large enough for Man to use his killing sticks on the herd."

"We could run deeper into this forest and hope we do not run into Men from the other Man cave, "Stabo suggested. "Also, if we all run in different directions, Man cannot be everywhere at once."

"True, my Son," he said. "However if you break down into small groups, Man would still be able to find them and kill them. We must find a place where Man cannot find us." He stopped and let them consider that before adding, "There may not be a good answer to this problem. We do have a while to think about it."

"I think I am still a little hungry," Kena said. "I think I will go into the next clearing and eat something."

"I am hungry too, we can think about this another time," Gena said and got up with her. The other doe followed. He went with them and started to eat until his side hurt again and then he stopped. By then the greater light was rising.

Gena spoke up after she was done eating and feeding her fawn. "I think we should go deeper into the forest to get away from the noise. I like to try and sleep today."

"That sounds like a great idea," he said and followed her along with the others.

The noise continued for several more days. Each night they looked, the Man cave got bigger and bigger. There were also other things built that were not there before. He noticed a hole in the ground surrounded by red stone. The same red stone was being used to construct part of the Man cave. This cave looked much bigger than the last one. It soon became clear to all of them that the new Man cave would be about twice as big as the old cave. That meant more Men in The Season and more killing sticks. Poor Stabo looked at it and his heart sank.

"If there are twice as many Men and they are come into the forest to hunt, then we are all going to end up like poor Balo and Stena," Stabo told him and both Bambis privately.

"We are going to have to flee across the Man path and hope Man does not follow us," the elder Bambi repeated.

"Or go deeper into the forest and hope you do not run into the other group of Men,' the younger Bambi told them.

"I do not like either idea," Stabo said.

"What we need is a safe place like we had on the top of the hills in the old meadow forest. Some place where we can hide the herd and it will be difficult for Man to find us."

"I do not know of such a place here," Stabo said.

"Then perhaps we need to find one," the older Bambi said.

It suddenly became clear to him how to do this. "We will have to send deer out we trust to look for one. Young Bambi, I am afraid that will mean you and Helos. You will have to go deep into the part of the forest past the Man path and there look. I would do it, but I cannot walk far enough or fast enough."

'Now until the fawns are older," the younger Bambi told them. We will have to leave our doe here in order to travel quickly and quietly."

Stabo just nodded his head in agreement. "Mid-summer will be the right part of the season to go. Also remember that soon I am handing herd leadership to you."

They all knew that was going to happen this summer. Young Bambi was old enough now and ready. This would be his first problem.

They left it there and hoped a solution would show itself before long. He went back teaching Kena.

The work on the new Man cave continue for a while. It was taking longer for Man to make this new cave than the one that burnt up in the fire.

It was in late spring that something unexpected happened to them. They were feeding one night on the edge of the open meadow where the grass had grown back. They were eating when he saw a black shape come down from the hill. He recognized it as the bear, but he was usually over the hill at that time. A short while later a smaller black shape came down, but did not come onto the meadow. He then remembered what the bear had told him before.

"All of you stay here," he told them. "This time I will go alone. I am not sure about the other bear."

"Maybe I should go, Father," Stabo said. "I can still run."

"No," he told them."This is my problem. Something is wrong or the bears would not be here at this part of the season."

He walked out past the new Man cave and onto the middle of the meadow. The spring grass was less than before, but still enough to feed the herd. The bear walked out alone and met him.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

"I wanted to tell you that Man is building a cave over the hill at the end of their meadow," the bear told him. "I also heard the noises from here," the bear said and looked the Man cave over carefully. This cave looks much bigger than before."

"He also has another cave deep in the Man path forest," he told him. "That is three new Man caves. This means Man is going to hunt in much greater numbers than before."

"I think you are right," the bear told him. "My den may not be safe anymore."

"Our herd does not feel safe anymore," he replied. "We are looking for a new place to hide."

"I am afraid we are going to have to do the same thing," the bear said and looked back. "I also wanted to bring Uttral back."

"Is she learning like you did?" he asked.

"Yes, but like me it was slow," the bear told him. "It will take time. It is not natural for one of my kind to be friends with one of your kind."

"Understood," he said. He then looked around and saw the hill he used to live on before the fire. No deer went there, it was too barren still. There was no food. "Suppose you put a den on the other hill," he said and pointed his nose toward there. "No deer goes there. Maybe no Men will go there."

The bear looked carefully. "That might work for now and this season," he muttered. "It is bare there, so no place to hide. Might be a good place for a den." The bear then looked at the rest of the deer standing many lengths away. "Are they still concerned about me?" the bear asked sounding disappointed.

"Not you, your daughter," he answered. "She is still large and powerful enough to kill one of us easily."

"Yes," the bear admitted then looked at his family. "I do not see Claris, nor do I smell her on you."

That brought the pain back, but there was no way his friend would have known. "She is gone," he said simply.

The bear looked genuinely pained. "I am sorry," he said in a low voice.

He explained quickly what had happened recently.

"This has not been a good season for you and your family," the bear said. The bear then looked back at his daughter still at the edge of the woods. "I must get back. Thank you for the information and advice," he told him.

"Thank you, for telling me about the other Man cave," he said. "Keep well, my friend."

With that he nuzzled the bear and went back to his family. They were not pleased at all with what the bear told him. The need to find a new hiding place suddenly took on much greater importance.

It was few risings of the greater light later when they were all eating in one of the clearings. It was evening when he suddenly smelled several scents of deer coming toward them. It took his nose only a moment to recognize the scents. He looked up, Gena looked surprised.

"Karlene?"she said out loud.

Five deer walked into their clearing: two doe, and three fawns. For a second he wondered where they came from until he caught a scent of them.

"Mother?" Young Bambi said out loud.

All of them approached the new group. It was Alana and Karlene and three new fawns. They all ran and greeted all of them.

"Why are they here?" Stabo asked.

He suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Why would two doe risk a long trip with young fawns. Something bad must have happened.

"What has happened?" he asked both of them.

"I left Delon," Karlene said almost in tears. "He has changed. Stranger, after you left he argued with everyone. I tried to talk to him, but he would not listen. Finally I left. Alana, and her fawn came with me."

"I cannot be around him anymore," Alana said. "He said I cared more for you than his herd and he was right. He does not like you, Stranger. He does not like any of you. He orders the deer around and if they do not do what he says, he kicks them until they do. He is a bad leader and I fear he will come to a bad end like Geno did. I do not want to be there when that happens."

He looked at the elder Bambi who swallowed hard and then turned away from all of them, his head hung low to the ground. The big deer started to walk away suddenly looking very old. He staggered for a moment and made a strange face. The others looked at him with worry. It was if he was suddenly in great pain. He and Faline ran to him think he was going to fall, but he stopped and steadied himself. He took several deep breaths before he could speak up. "I am thinking Alana is right, he is just like Geno," he said, his voice labored. "Now it is Delon too that I failed to reach."

"I did too," he told his old friend. "I feel as bad about this like I felt about Balo and Stena."

"Where did we go wrong?" Bambi asked as if still in pain.

"You did not go wrong," Young Bambi spoke up loudly. "Stabo did not go wrong, your daughter Gena did not go wrong. My Father did not go wrong. Gorro did not go wrong. "No, Bambi you and Stranger did nothing wrong. What this shows is that some deer can learn what you taught and some deer cannot."

"He is correct, my mate," Faline said nuzzling the back of Bambi's neck. "Other than Geno, our children came out fine. Even Geno's children are good. The failure is with Delon, not with you."

It was then he saw Faline stiffen like something had hit her. The others noticed it too.

"Faline," he said, "Are you alright."

She looked normal again. "No it is just a pain I get in my chest at times. Sometimes is goes down my left front leg and left side. Like you, Stranger, I am getting old."

"Faline are you sure?" Bambi asked and kissed the side of her face with affection.

"Yes," she said. "We should not be sad that Delon has failed. "We should be happy we have our family back."

"I agree," Gena said. "I am happy to have you all back."

"Karlene looked at Stabo, "Father, can we stay here?" she asked.

"Of course you can," Stabo said. "All of you can stay."

All of them agreed. In a way he was happy. He liked the idea of his son's children running around and playing with them. One of the things he missed most about getting old was not playing with his children again.

"I have something to say about that," they heard from a distance.

"Onto the meadow walked Delon, big with a full rack growing He looked furious at them.

"It was not bad enough you threw my mother and father out so they could die, but now you take my mate and my children. No, that will not happen. She and Alana are coming back with me if I have to drag them back."

What happened after that was so fast he never had a chance to say a word. Young Bambi's eyes flashed red. Without saying a word, he dropped his head and charge straight at Delon, who put his head down and charged. They both met head on with a crash. Both of them flew back. Young Bambi recovered first and charged again. Delon dropped and tried to trip Young Bambi by bringing his rear legs around. Young Bambi saw it and leaped up into the air coming down and kicking Delon in the side of the head. Delon managed to move aside and so the kick just grazed his head. Delon raised his head and let out a kick that caught Young Bambi in the side of the head knocking him sideways. Young Bambi went down, but rolled out of the way. However he did not get quickly to his feet. Delon saw the advantage and charged as he did Young Bambi lurched forward and brought his velvet covered rack up underneath Delon plunging them into his chest. If they had been out of velvet, that might have killed Delon right there. At the same time he lifted with his powerful legs. As he did, Delon went flying through the air. Delon hit the ground hard and was stunned. They could all see the welts on his chest and belly bleeding, but not seriously. Young Bambi was on him in a moment and raised up to pound him on the side. If was then they are saw Young Bambi was going to killed Delon.

"NO!" both he and Bambi yelled out at the same time.

He tried to move to stop them, but Bambi was much faster now than he was. Young Bambi came down hard on the side of Delon with his front hoofs. He raised up to pound him again when Bambi ran forward and hit him in the flank with his shoulder. That knocked him sideways and then off his feet. He hit the ground rolled once and then got up quickly. Bambi stood between him and a Delon just getting to his feet.

"Enough!" Bambi called to both of them. "This family will not kill each other while I am still alive."

Bambi then turned and shoved his face into Delon's face like he had done to Krono all those seasons past. "You leave now, before I kill you myself. You have no place here. You have no claim on Karlene, her fawns, or Alana. You turn up here again and I will let him kill you. The Stranger was right. You have learned nothing of what we taught you. You are as bad or worse than my own son Geno. I threw him out of my forest; I am now throwing you out also. Go and do not come back."

Delon got up and was limping slightly. He was breathing hard looking to attack Bambi, but Bambi was ready for him. By now Stabo had come up and also looked ready to pound him. Delon turned and without a word started to walk back into the forest.

"Do not come back, Delon," Stabo repeated. "You are no longer welcomed here."

"What is new about that," Delon blurted out. "I will come back if I feel like it."

"You come back and you are dead," Stabo said emphatically."I will follow you to make sure you go."

Stabo followed Delon into the trees and they both disappeared.

Bambi then turned to his namesake. The young male was on his feet looking not much worse for wear. "I am sorry," he told him. "I could not let you kill him. If he comes back, then you do what you want."

"I am sorry too," Young Bambi said. "I lost my temper. I was not going to let him harm my mother."

"That happens at times to all of us. I know all about that feeling," Bambi said. They all smiled.

Stabo came back just before the rising of the greater light. "I followed him until he went past the clearing we found Razor's males in. I told him again what would happen if he came back. He said nothing. I do hope he listened because next time, I will kill him or I will let Young Bambi kill him."

"I know and again I should not have done what I did," Younger Bambi said bowing his head. "That was the duty of the herd leader."

"Do not worry about it," Stabo said "I was not offended."

"I am only sorry that now I will have to raise those fawns without a Father," Karlene said. "I had hoped when they were old enough Delon would teach them. I had hoped he would remember what you taught him and maybe change. As it was, I was too hopeful."

"And I also was too hopeful," he added. "Other than Delene, nothing much came out of that part of my family," he said. "Like you I had hope for Delon, like I had so much hope for Stena."

"I know," Stabo said. "I knew she was most like you, but in some ways she was different. She let Carie cloud her judgment. "I just hope we have seen the last of her too."

"Do not worry about training your fawns," Young Bambi said. "I will be training mine and they can learn with them."

"Thank you, Bambi," she said and nuzzled him.

"Speaking of hope," he said. "It is getting toward light. I hope we can get some sleep today."

They all agreed and slowly walked back into the shelter of the forest.

CHAPTER THREE: ACTIONS AND REACTIONS

At first they did not notice it, but shortly after Delon was chased out of their part of the forest, other new deer started to show up. It was Stelar who noticed it first and started asking questions with the deer. Although she and Helos usually ate and slept in the deep forest clearings, one night they brought themselves and their fawn into the clearing where the rest of them were eating.

"Stabo, can I talk to you for a while?" she asked respectfully "There is something going on in the forest you need to know about."

They all stopped eating and started to gather around them. "What is happening, Sister?" Stabo asked.

"Have you all noticed we are having new deer show up in our herd?" she asked them all.

"I have seen a couple of deer I do not know," Young Bambi answered. "I did not pay much attention to it."

"It is not a couple of deer, there are several," Stelar went on. "They mostly stay in the deeper forest, but Helos and I have noticed them. Not just single deer. There are many doe with this year's fawns."

"Where are they coming from?" Stabo asked.

"Helos and I talked to them," Stelar answered. "They are coming from the forest near the other Man cave. They are leaving because of Delon."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Very sure," Helos spoke up for the first time. "There are some males, but mostly doe and fawns. When I asked them where they came from they said they came from where Delon was. When I asked why, they told me Delon is trying to put the herd together by force now. He is making them all call him leader. They say before he would listen, but they told me that since Delon returned from his journey, he is different. He listens to no one and argues with everyone. They also noticed he was battered."

Stelar then looked at the younger Bambi and spoke up and with certainty in her voice. "One thing for sure, Bambi, he hates you and is openly saying he will strike back at you anyway he can the first chance he gets. He says much the same thing about you, Stabo."

"This is starting to sound all too familiar," he said out loud.

"Yes," the elder Bambi said. "All too familiar, only now you and I Stranger are too old to take care of this."

"That is not what bothers me," Young Bambi said. "I remember the stories you have told about Tarro and what he did. It is Delon that is of worry to me. I do not worry about him attacking myself or Stabo, but he may attack our fawns or doe and maybe even you three."

"What Bambi says is correct," Stabo spoke up sounding very serious. "We cannot allow this to happen. Bambi please come with me, I want to talk to you alone."

With that the two large males left their clearing talking in very low voices. Stelar turned and said. "I am sorry to bring you all this trouble."

"Not your fault," he said. "You only reported something to the herd leader that may hurt the herd. That is what you are supposed to do."

He then looked at the elder Bambi and he nodded his head. Both of them understood what needed to be done. If he was three seasons younger, he knew exactly what he do. Now with his age and injuries, he could no longer do it. Neither could the now old Bambi. This will have to be dealt with by the new generation. That was the one thing he hated most of all about getting old. It robbed him of his ability to act. They went back to eating before Stabo and Young Bambi returned.

Stabo looked directly at the elder Bambi and bowed his head slightly. "Bambi, I am sorry, but your advice to Delon is not being listened to. I am not going to allow him to attack our family and maybe other doe and fawns."

"What are you going to do?" Gena asked.

Stabo took a deep breath. "That depends on Delon. Both Bambi and I are going to find him. If he will not listen to sense, then he will have to listen to force."

"What force?" he wanted to know.

"However much force is needed," Young Bambi said. "Stabo and I are leaving now."

"Father, may I ask you, Bambi, and Helos to look after the herd until we return?" Stabo asked. "There should not be much going on."

Both Gena and Galine did not look happy. This was going to be trouble he knew. Unfortunately, like with Razor, he knew this was trouble they could not avoid.

"When you go, stay together," he told him. "Do not allow Delon to do to you what we did to Razor."

"Understood, Father," Stabo said.

He walked up to his son and rubbed his forehead. "I know what you must do, so do it. Protect the herd, you have done it before. Remember, Delon is young, foolish, but he is not stupid. Be careful of him. If we were younger, Bambi and I would do this. I feel Delon is my responsibility and I should be the one to do this, but I cannot any longer. Go quickly and silently. Remember Delon may have friends too, but I doubt it."

"I understand, Father," Stabo said. "We will be careful."

They both left quietly from the clearing. They were still mostly in shock at what had happened. He walked away feeling completely useless again.

News of Delon and what happened spread among the herd. Not just the senior males, but many of the doe asked him if Delon would come back and cause trouble. He told them honestly, he did not know, but Stabo and Young Bambi would handle it. Even Karlene came by and asked if it would help if she went back.

"No!," he told her flatly. "This hatred Delon feels has gone beyond you, me, or anyone else. It is directed at the whole family now and we cannot allow this. I just wish I and Bambi could do it."

"I am sorry," Karlene whispered. "I did not want this to happen, but I just could not stay with him any longer."

"Not your fault," he told her. "However, you and the fawns should maybe go hide away from here until Stabo and Bambi take care of this. I do not think Delon would hurt you, but I no longer trust him not to hurt anyone."

Karlene nodded and led the twins away into the forest. He went back to waiting.

Several days went by and he could tell things were on edge. Gena told them it was like when they knew Razor was coming. Most deer did not know what to do. The vast majority would not do anything unless they had too. There was the one bad thing about deer. Most of them only knew how to run from trouble. Very few would go and seek trouble out to learn about it or to try and stop it. Most would just run and hope to get away. Running away merely put trouble off for another day, but it seldom solved anything.

It was night several days later when he heard calls from the woods. "Here, all come here," he heard. It was both Stabo and Young Bambi calling. At least they were alive.

"Why are they calling for a gathering?" Bambi wondered.

"I have no idea, you think they discuss it with us," he answered confused himself.

"You mean like you did," Bambi said coolly.

He took a deep breath. "Yes, you are right, old friend. Stabo is herd leader and he decides like I did."

"I can think of several reasons why Stabo would do this, most of them are bad." Bambi said and walked away toward the call.

He looked back at the doe and the fawns. None of them looked to know what was going on. He got up and started to walk toward where he heard the call come from. It took him a little while to get there and he was one of the last to arrive. He looked around at the gathering and noted that just about everyone had come. He decided to stay in the back and let Stabo and Young Bambi run this. Soon Stabo walked into the center. He immediately noted he was limping and his side was bruised. He could see cuts on his chest. He had been in a big fight and he could guess with whom. Young Bambi also looked a little worse for wear with minor cuts on his flanks. He did not like the look of this.

"My friends," Stabo called out. "I am sorry to have called you here with no warning, but there are matters to be discussed and it is important you hear about them."

After the murmuring died down in the herd, Stabo went on.

"As you all know Delon came back here a while ago and tired take back by force his former doe and fawns and Alana and her fawn. We heard that he was still angry and threaten not just the herd, but our families as well. This we could not allow. Both Bambi and I traveled deep in the forest and found Delon. We had an argument with him. It because obvious that because of his mother and father being rejected by this herd, and then getting killed by Man, Delon blamed all of us and he hated all of us. His behavior became so bad that Alana and her fawn left his forest. Then his own mate Karlene and her fawns also left him. That is what made Delon so mad, he came here to get her back and fought with Bambi. We all thought he had left for good, but we found he was still planning on returning and taking revenge on both this herd and his family. When we got to Delon, we found he was putting together some large males and had talked them to come back here and try to do what Razor tired to do here. He was going to do this despite all the teaching given to him by both the elder Bambi and my Father. We could not allow that either. There was a fight and Delon and one of his males were killed by us. The threat is now over. The other two males ran away. I am sorry this has happened, but I wanted to tell you all about it."

There was a lump in his throat. Another of his family had gone bad. At least Stuben had realized his mistake and left in peace, He could not believe that Stena's son could have done this, yet he had no reason to doubt Stabo. He also did not believe that Delon would ever think what he was planning would work. It was stupid. He really did not learn anything Bambi and he taught him. He turned and saw Kalene turn away and walk into the forest alone with her two fawns.

After a period of silence Elkar," one of the males from the deeper forest spoke up. "What Stabo has said is true. Delon had become someone that would not listen to anyone. All had to be his way, or he hurt the deer. I am sorry he is dead, but I think it was for the best."

"I do not think so," Relno spoke up. "With Razor we knew he had hurt and killed those in his herd, and then tried to do the same here, Delon did not do that. He said he would do that, but saying something and doing something are not the same. Delon should not have been killed unless he came back here to harm others."

He saw Stabo look stunned at the comment. "And was I suppose to wait until he hurts one of my family or my fawns. No, he made it plain to others he was going to hurt us anyway he could."

"That sounds familiar," Bambi said.

"Too familiar and too painful," he said out loud. "It is the same as what we did when Razor came here with his males."

"All I am saying is that Delon did not deserve to die," Relno said.

Marco then walked forward and spoke loudly. "I remember Delon as a fawn. I watched him grow up with Stuben, and Delene. I watched Stranger and Bambi train him and the others. I also heard the arguments they made about being herd leader. Delon was a fine fawn and young male, but something went wrong, just like with Bambi's son Geno and Stranger's son Stuben. There is no fault here. What it shows us is that some can learn the ways of being a good herd leader and some cannot. Delon could not, but that did not mean we had to kill him."

This was starting to remind him of what happened when he chased Kregus onto the meadow to be killed. The herd had wanted him and Claris thrown out of the forest. The herd was always ready to make up their minds on things they had no part in. You have to live through a problem to be able to understand it, not just hear about it.

He saw Bambi's ears flick forward showing his interest before speaking up. "You are correct; my son Geno did go bad and forgot all I tried to teach him. However Geno did not try to hurt anyone except me and Stranger by sending Krono to our forest. He never tried to hurt anyone else in this forest. This is why Stanger and I did not try to kill Geno, but instead chased him away. Delon did threaten the herd and our families. Geno was wise enough to leave. Stuben was wise enough to leave. Delon was not wise enough and so remained to be a threat to the herd. It was like when Tarro attacked my family in my old forest. He had to be taken care of and Stranger and I did so. Delon was such a threat and Stabo and the younger Bambi did so. There is no difference."

He then spoke up. "I always tried to teach my family the herd was the most important thing. The leader and his family and friends are here to help the herd, not the other way around. When the herd is attacked, it is the duty of the herd leader to defend the herd, even if it costs his life. Bambi's son Veron knew that and he died doing it. Gurri and Jolo knew that and they died doing it. Balo and my daughter Stena knew that and they died doing it for their herd. Delon did not learn that and was ready hurt or kill to get his way. Delon was son of my daughter. His death hurts me as much as my own daughter Stena. Still, no one is above the herd. This is why Balo, Stena, Delon, my mate Carie and my son Stuben were sent away when they proved they did not learn this and instead cared only about themselves. With the exception of Delon, the others left and went in peace. Delon did not go in peace and made the other deer around him want to leave. Even his own mate left him. After he was chased back, he openly said he wanted to hurt us anyway he could. This, my friends no herd leader can never allow," he stopped for a moment to clear the lump in this throat. "I think Stabo and the younger Bambi did the right thing. Not because Stabo is my son, but because Stabo protected the herd as any good herd leader will do."

After he spoke there was silence. He turned away so they would not see his eyes cloud over. He wished Claris was with him then, but she was not. Old Bambi came over and nuzzled him on his back.

Bambi turned quickly and called out loudly,"That was well said, by a herd leader that has also paid the price to do the right thing many times."

Stabo then stood up as straight as possible and turned to face as much of the herd as he could. "Very well I understand that some of you feel I have done the wrong thing. Let me say that this was my decision alone. Veron's son Bambi helped me, but I decided what had to be done as herd leader. If you wish to have a new herd leader, I will step aside now. I recommend you give the herd leadership to Verson's son Bambi. He had proven he cares for the herd and he has proven he is ready to lead. Many of you know I never wanted to be herd leader, but after Veron was killed, someone had to do it until others were ready. Now Bambi is ready. I ask you all to accept him as your new herd leader."

There were sounds of shock from the other deer. He was surprised and now he understood the real reason behind the gathering. His son had done that perfectly. He knew he was going to turn the herd over to Young Bambi this fall. This was the perfect way to do this. He turned back to the herd and watched.

He noted Marco, Relnor and two or three of the other larger males stepped aside and were talking in private. There were other mutterings from the herd. What was the problem? There were other small groups of deer in discussion. Even the doe and the yearlings were talking. This was not anything he had seen before. It was almost like they disagreed with Stabo. This went on for some time with the groups talking to each other. Finally Relnor walked out from the groups of males and went to the center of the group.

"If I may speak," Relnor called out.

"Relnor may speak," Stabo said looking at the others still in discussion.

"Stabo, we do not want you to step aside as herd leader," he said flatly. "It is not that we do not think Young Bambi can lead, it is that we still think he is too young to do so. We need an older deer that has more experience to be leader. There are many things happening we do not understand with Man. It appears Man will be back in greater number this season. We need someone who can lead us to safety when Man comes back during The Season. Someone who has done this in the past. Stabo has done this, Young Bambi has not. In two or three more seasons, perhaps Young Bambi will be ready, but I do not feel he is ready now with the new threats from Man."

That was a surprise. Many of them knew Veron was younger than Young Bambi when he brought the herd to this forest. He looked at Young Bambi. He was as shocked as Balo was when the herd rejected him. At least there was a reason for Balo, there was no reason to reject Young Bambi.

"My friends," he called out. "I have trained this Bambi. His father Veron trained him. The elder Bambi has trained him. This Bambi is ready to lead as was his father. I would not tell you this if I did not believe it was true. Young Bambi is ready to lead."

"I must agree with Stranger," the elder Bambi spoke up. "Yes I have trained him; yes I have watched him grow up. He is as ready as his Father was when he took leadership of the herd here."

There were more discussions within the herd. More conversations were held. More groups moving around. Finally Marco came forward again.

"We hear the words of The Stranger, Bambi and Stabo. We still think that the younger Bambi needs to have more experience to lead us. When Veron brought the deer here, they were all young and did not know as much as we do now. We now see many new threats. For this reason we ask Stabo to remain as herd leader and for the young Bambi to help him for now."

Stabo looked bewildered at the response. Stabo wanted to give it up. Young Bambi looked angry as if rejected. He walked over to Stabo and motioned both Bambis to join them.

"I did not expect this to happen, but the herd has made a choice," he said in a low voice."Stabo you must remain as herd leader. The others ask it of you. Bambi, the herd asks you to wait, but they did not reject you."

"What do you mean they did not reject me," the young male spat out. "They just told me they did not want me. Now I know how Balo felt."

"No," the older Bambi said to him like he was his own fawn. "The herd told you they did not think you were ready to lead, not that they did not want you. You will be herd leader in time, but not now."

"I almost feel like walking off into the deep woods like Balo did," the Younger Bambi said shaking his head.

That made him angry even if Young Bambi was not serious. "Then you would be no better than Balo. I have always told you the herd will tell you when you are ready. The herd told you that you are not ready now. The herd also rejected our advice. This bothers me, but there is nothing we can do about it now. Accept the herd's decision and learn from it. You will be herd leader here some day."

"If you say so," Young Bambi said.

"No," he told him. "You must say so and you must say so now so the others will hear."

He could see how this tore at Young Bambi's insides. He felt he was being rejected now by the herd. The young male took several deep breaths and called out loud.

"Please hear me," he yelled out. "I will not lie to you and say I was not disappointed at your decision. However as Stranger and my Father's father taught me, I must listen to the will of the herd to be a good leader. If you do not think I am ready to lead, then I will stay and help Stabo until you think I am ready."

"That is why you are not like Balo, Delon and Stuben," Relnor said to the herd. "That is also why one day you will be ready to lead."

"Great," Young Bambi said under his breath and walked out of the gathering with Galene and their fawn behind him.

With that the gathering was over and they all went back to their bedding areas. He did not get much sleep that night.

Over the next few days many more deer came from the deeper forest and started to mix in with their herd. It soon became obvious that the herd would need to spread out much more to prevent over feeding. It also became obvious to him and the older Bambi that this many new deer was sure to bring Man in greater numbers. The herd would be spread out so much, it would be difficult to control or know what was going on quickly. Normally this would not be a problem. If Man was about in greater numbers, it might be. Bambi and him saw the problem at about the same time and went to see Stabo.

"I know, Father, but I can only be in one place at a time," Stabo answered to their comments.

"Then you are going to have to get help," he told him. "That is what we trained both Young Bambi and Helos to do."

"Younger Bambi knows this part of the Man path forest well," Bambi added. "Both Helos and Stelar know the deeper woods better. I suggest you keep Young Bambi here, Helos and Stelar closer to the other Man cave, and you stay someplace between them."

"If they find trouble, they can always call," he said.

"And we still need to find hiding places for the herd," Stabo added.

"I think it is time for Younger Bambi, Helos, and You to have a meeting to work out a plan," Bambi said. He obviously had a plan.

"We cannot move the herd in an instant," he said. "Now is the time to plan and search."

'"Fine, we will do this tomorrow night," Stabo said.

That was another problem caused by Delon even after he was gone.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE SECOND

Summer continued to pass. With the problems concerning Delon and the herd leadership, the plan to find new hiding places for the herd was put off. It was not until several days after the gathering when things had calm down that Stabo ask him, Bambi, Young Bambi and Helos to join him in a meeting. It was then they discussed what had happened with the Man caves.

"So man will not only be hunting here, but also in Felon's and Young Claris' forest as well." Young Bambi said looking concerned.

"That is true," he said. "I see no reason to doubt what the bear told me. It also makes finding a place to hide the herd more important. Important enough where it should be done now while it is quiet in the forest."

"I do not understand why," Helos spoke up.

Bambi took a deep breath trying not to get bothered that Helos could not see the problem. "If Man has a cave in the deeper forest here, then right out on the meadow, and now over the hill in the other forest; then Man and his dogs can chase deer from everywhere. When Man only had the cave here, it was easier to get away from him. With Man all around us, everywhere we run, we will have Man in front of us. It will be just like what happened to Balo and Stena."

"Our old hiding places in the Meadow forest are also no longer useful, because with the trees and bushes gone, it is too open," he further explained. "We must find new places to hide and we must find them now. I would do this, but I am too old. This is a job for the young. This is a part of being a herd leader."

"Where then do we look?" Helos asked.

Young Bambi turned and looked toward the Man path. "There is only two places and that is across the Man path, or much deeper in the woods away from the other Man cave. With more Men coming to the Man cave in our meadow, they can easily search where we are now, especially if they bring dogs."

"I had through maybe going over the hill to the other forest would be a help," Stabo said, "With Man building a cave the, we will walk right into Man."

Bambi looked the other way toward their old forest. "Going over the other hill toward Galin's forest will not work. It is all open. Man could kill us all there anytime he wanted."

"Not many places to take the herd," he said.

"Then we look," the Younger Bambi said. "I had wanted to wait, but I can see the problem is here now. I will bring Galene and our fawn here. Stabo can you, Stranger and Bambi look after them?"

"You will need help," Stabo told the younger Bambi. "Helos, can you go with him?"

Helos looked reluctant, but nodded. "I will bring Stelar and our fawn here also. I will go with you."

"Very well," I will stay here with Father and Bambi and we will guard the herd," Stabo said.

He could only hope they find something that would help them.

After Young Bambi and Helos left, things were glum the next few days. The death of Delon, although not mourned much within the herd, was still a shock, especially how he died. Although the herd had spoken its desire to have Stabo continue to be herd leader for now, Stabo was not happy about it, nor was Young Bambi. Inside, the younger Bambi remembered all too well the tales of his Father when he had become herd leader at his age or even younger. To have the herd tell you they do not consider you ready to lead was an unpleasant shock to him and his sense of worth.

He did not know what to make of it either because the herd had also rejected his advice and Bambi's. What did that tell him when the herd they led for so long rejected their advice? All in all it was not a happy time within his family. He continued on and would continue to do so as long as he was able. Inward he knew the herd had chosen stability, going with a leader they knew. They were afraid of change.

Not much else changed as the forest reached high summer. The sun was warm, the rain was short and pleasant and the grass on the meadow continued to grow. There was even some green leaves coming from inside their old forest.

A pleasant side was the fact that he saw three Man families return to the new Man cave. As before they did not hunt and as before they did not bring their killing sticks. They all came together in three Man animals. With them came Man doe and Man fawns and they played in the meadow during the day. They did not have dogs so they were easy to watch. The fawns played together. Twice and over the objections of the others he deliberately walked out onto the meadow during daylight. The children all came over to him and the Men and Men doe looked at him, yet took no action. The second time he did noticed one of the Man fawns followed him. He could have easily avoided the young male. He walked into the forest and stopped.

"Stranger, what are you doing," Alana berated him.

"Watch from a distance," he told her. Stabo also came to watch him. He waited in the open for the Man fawn to walk into the forest. The Man fawn did not seem to care about what dangers may lay hidden. He stood there alone and did not move. The small male walked over and into the same clearing. The Man fawn looked up and saw him standing there alone.

"Ook Nonme, a dree," he called back into the meadow.

The young male approached him. He remained still. The Man fawn was of no danger to him. It came within three lengths of his body and then stopped. He slowly walked forward until he was close to the young male and then dropped his head. The fawn reached out with its front hoof and touched his forehead. He then rubbed the male's forehead like he would a young fawn.

"He he he," the young male shouted and started to jump up and down.

Then suddenly something unexpected happened. Tilar ran from his mother's side to be next to the Man fawn. Tilar looked at the young Man fawn and started to jump around.

"Tilar," Alana called out, but Tilar was occupied in chasing the young Man fawn around, and then the Man fawn chased Tilar. He kept constant watch to make sure no other Men came close to them. It was enjoyable to watch them both play with each other. Soon the others came over to watch. He saw Bambi and Faline watching from a distance. This was unlike anything any of them had seen before. He let it go on for a while until the young male stopped and sat down on the ground. He then coughed loudly so Tilar stopped playing and came to him. He then walked up to the Man fawn and pushed him back gently toward his own family. The Man fawn left the clearing and walked with him until they were close to the edge of the forest. Once the Man fawn saw his own family he ran toward them. The meeting was over. He walked back to the others.

"Stranger," Alana called to him. "Why did you get close to the Man fawn? He could have hurt you and hurt Tilar."

He turned to Alana and smiled. "No, he had no killing stick and he is too small to use one. All he wanted to do was play just like our fawns likes to do. I wanted to show that to you. I wanted all of you to understand that without their killing stick, Man is not a danger. Man fawns even behave like our own. I always wanted to know what made them act like our own fawns when they are small, and yet will kill us without mercy when they are large. I never understood it."

"Maybe something in the killing sticks, drives them mad," Bambi said. "Without them they look safe enough."

"Maybe you are right, but it is a question I have always had," he said and walked away to start playing with Tilar on his own.

That night they talked over with the others what happened that day. Most of his family wanted nothing to do with Man and he did not blame them. It was still interesting. He liked being around his family at this time. He liked playing with the fawns. They come up to him and push at him. Even through it hurt to do so, he would lean over and push back. It was how he learned just how the fawns would behave.

That next night both Young Bambi and Helos returned after many days away. They both looked fine despite their travels. He did notice a few scuff makes on them. Both Stelar and Galene were both very happy to have them back unhurt. After they all ate and drank, they all went over to Stabo's clearing and lay down to let the two males tell their tale. Young Bambi started.

"We went deep into our forest past the other Man cave. We found the deer herd there, or at least the deer. Since Delon died, there has been no leader. It is like what Galin told us about his herd: just a bunch of males sparing with each other. A couple of them thought it be fun to spar with us."

"They were wrong," Helos said. "We did not hurt them, but we made it clear they should leave us alone, which they did. It was all flat back there. There was really no place to hide anywhere."

"If not for the distance, I am sure all the deer be glad to join our herd," Young Bambi went on. "We saw no familiar deer back there. Some deer did know about us. That was most likely from Balo and Delon. A few deer knew me and Stabo because of our fight with Delon. No one complained to us that Delon was gone."

"What do they do when Man comes?" Bambi asked.

Young Bambi answered with a shrug of his huge shoulders."From what I heard, they run in any direction they can think of."

"No plan there," he muttered.

"We then went to the right from the deer herd and found the edge of the forest, nothing but open space with no other forest in sight. No place to hide there. The we went back to where we found the deer and went to the left and came across the Man path as it left the forest and went into the open area. We went beyond there and we found a large hill."

"How large was the hill?" he wanted to know.

"Smaller than the hill you hid the herd on before the forest burned down," Young Bambi answered. "It was open and easy to climb, but there were lots of trees at the top of the hill. It was the most hidden place we could find. There was also an old bear den on it, but there was no scent of a bear there. That was the only place other than the forest itself we found that we could hide from Man."

"How long would it take to get the herd there," Stabo asked.

"About two full nights walking," Helos said.

That might help the herd, but it would do him no good. He could never walk that far quickly enough to avoid Man he knew. It did not sound good, but it was all they had.

"You both have done well in finding that," he told them. "I am proud of both of you."

"I am not sure that will do us any good, Father," Stabo said.

"It gives us some place to go if we need it," Bambi said. "It is more than we had before. Stranger is right, you both done well."

Both the younger Bambi and Helos smiled. Their mates lay next to them and showed their appreciation. Both couples went off into the forest to rest after their long journey.

He looked at both Bambi and Faline and shrugged himself. It was better than nothing.

There were also other matters to take care of. Some of the senior males came to talk with Stabo about Delon late two nights later. Many still did not think he should have been killed. Stabo explained many times his reason. He supported his son. A deer as strong and as good a fighter as Delon was a danger, especially if he said he use that ability to kill or hurt helpless fawns.

Finally Marco just spoke up. "I do not think you should have killed him unless he came back again and tried to hurt someone." I remember hearing about what Stranger did to Kragus when I was but a fawn and I remember hearing how the herd treated you at the time. I do not want that to happen to Stabo."

"Marco, I will tell you truthfully. If the herd does not think I can still lead, then I will step aside. I have already offered to do it once. I will do it now," Stabo said. "I did what I thought I had to do; protect the herd and my family."

"My son is correct," he said to Marco. "Just like what we did for Razor. A deer that is interested in only forcing himself on the herd, and does not care who he hurts in the process, should be eliminated before he destroys the herd."

"If you say so, Stranger," Marco replied coolly. "I can only tell you what others think. No one is saying they want a new leader yet."

"Thank you, Marco," he said and bowed his head slightly in a show of respect. Marco then left them and walked away.

"They want me and they do not want me," Stabo said. "I wish they make up their mind."

He looked at the sky starting to lighten overhead. "Let us sleep on it," he suggested."Things look better when you are not tired."

"Good idea," Bambi said getting up with Faline.

"We can do this tonight," Faline said.

Young Bambi, Galene, Stelar, Helos and their fawns all went back to their sleeping places. He followed Bambi and Faline back to their resting place. They slept at one end of the clearing and he slept alone at the other. He had no problems in falling asleep.

He woke up when the greater light was past being overhead. He got up and immediately walked into the forest to empty himself. As he walked back he noted something strange. He saw Bambi standing up at the edge of the clearing with his back toward him. He then saw Faline still lying peacefully on the ground. Usually when one got up they both got up. He walked over the Bambi and as he got close he noticed he was shaking.

"Bambi, are you ill?" he asked him.

"No," he sobbed openly. "I am fine." The big deer then turned around tears pouring down from his large dark eyes. "Stranger, Faline is gone."

He was stunned, 'What!" he said and moved quickly over to her. He reached over and rubbed her forehead like he had done countless times before. Her head was cold to the touch. He felt along her entire body. It was the same, she was cold as a winter stream. He nudged her gently with his nose. She was hard to the touch. She also did not respond to his touch. She was dead.

"Faline," he said and put his head on the ground next to her. "Why her?" he said out loud.

"We lay down at sunrise as normal," Bambi went on. "Nothing seemed wrong. She told me her chest had hurt her after the talk with Marco, but I did not think anything about it. I felt her go to sleep. A while ago I was awaked. I felt cold and it took me a while to understand I was cold because she was cold. I called her name and she did not move. She has never done that. I kissed her. She did not move and her body was cold and stiff. That is when I knew. Stranger, she died in her sleep."

He got up and turned away from her and Bambi. He fought to get himself under control. Other than Claris, Faline was the only doe he ever felt true feelings for. He always thought Bambi was a very fortunate deer to find her and have her for a mate. They were a pair since he knew any of them. Now she just lay in front of him.

He felt his own eyes tearing. He never expected this to happen. "This hurts me like watching Claris pass in front of me. I cannot image living in a forest without her."

"I cannot image being without her," Bambi said still sobbing. "I never believed that I would outlive her, nor did I want to."

He looked over at his oldest friend now shaken. "I know how you feel," he said. "I am truly sorry for you because I know what you have lost. Is there anything you like me to do?"

"Could you get the others and bring them here?" Bambi asked. "I will stay here and make sure the scavengers stay away for a while. Especially bring my daughter."

"I will go now," he told him and then left.

He first found his daughter and Helos and told them," They were shocked and left at once. He then found young Bambi, Galene, their fawns and told them. He then went to Stabo's clearing and found them. They both saw him coming. Stabo must have seen it in his face. "Is it Bambi?" he asked.

He looked at Gena now in middle age, but still nice looking. "Gena, your mother passed in her sleep. You need to go to your Father, he needs you."

"No," she said in a whimper and then turned and buried her head in Stabo's side. Stabo let her cry there for a while before speaking up. "Gena, your Father really needs you now."

She turned back to him and nodded and silently left for the place she knew her mother and father liked to bed down. Her fawns followed her. Stabo looked closely at him. His son was thinking the same thing he had been thinking. Who would be next?

"Go, my Son. Hurry, I will catch up later. I have to rest for a moment."

He watched his son scurry after his mate and fawns. He stopped and leaned against a spruce tree. His side ached. He stood there breathing hard for a while before he could move on his own again. He hurried as quickly as possible. By the time he returned the others were all there looking at the still figure before them. Gena was standing next to Bambi rubbing his side. He had never seen the old deer so distraught. He stood in the back and just looked. The forest was now going to be lonelier now with Faline gone, just after it gotten lonelier when Claris had gone. Finally after a while he knew what had to be done. It was time to go and leave this place of death.

"It is time we leave," he said. "I will leave this place and not return like I did not return to the clearing Claris died in.

"Stranger is right," Bambi said looking once more at Faline. "There is nothing more we can do here. I am going to go and be by myself for a while. I will be back," he said and then walked off alone toward the deeper forest.

The rest of them left. He was the last to go and he walked back toward the edge of the forest by the meadow. The three Man families where still there playing together. He spent the rest of the day watching them and wondered if Man suffered the same losses as they did.

He spent the next few days alone. He took the time to go walking back into his old forest to see how things were growing back. He walked back through the trees and headed for the remains of the tall oaks near were the Old Owl lived and later when Oswell took up residence. He looked at them and called for Oswell, but no one came out of the tree. He hoped that only meant that had flown away to avoid the fire. All around him the trees stood tall, yet he saw few signs of leaves except from a few trees. He did see lots of smaller plants growing up from the ground. He noted some grasses starting to grow. He walked to the old pond and the clearing Claris, Carie and he had shared with Bambi and Faline in happier days. He also saw the clearing that Balo and Stena had used. It was all burnt, but in the open areas there were green plants beginning to grow back. He drank out of the stream that flowed from the pond down the hill toward the stream that led out of the meadow.

In his travels he saw no animals larger than mice. Some insects were there, but anything larger was gone. He saw many collections of burnt bones from animals not lucky enough to have fled in time. His side hurt from time to time. He rested near the stream near their old viewing location. It too was burnt bare. He could not hide a fawn there now. The only thing that even looked close to as remembered it was the meadow itself. It was growing grass again.

The next night he ate on the meadow near his former home for the first time since the Man cave had burnt to the ground. He slowly climbed the hill that had met Geno on all those seasons before. His side was hurting like being kicked by the time he got to the top, but he could see the whole forest from here. This was only the second time he had been here since that day. He noticed the trees were not as badly burnt here. Some were even sprouting leaves and looking almost normal. As he walked he noted that things had not changed much here.

"Stranger," he head a familiar voice call.

He looked up and there on a branch was Oswell. He was happy. "You are alive," he called out.

"Yes, but I thought you were all dead," the Owl said looking at him.

"I am alive, but most of the others are not," he told him and then spent most of the rest of the night bringing him up to date.

"So other than you and Bambi, the others are dead," Oswell said. "I am sad about that. I have a new mate Orell. Oswell then told him a story about his experience. They had a brood of new owlets in the tree when the fire came. Sorporra stayed with them thinking the fire would not get to them in the hollow of the tree. As it turned out they were not burnt by the fire but Oswell found them all dead in the tree without a mark on them.

"I am sorry," he said.

"There was nothing to be done," Oswell told him. "I hope things work out better for all of us."

""I hope so too," he told him sincerely. "Have you found enough food here for your family with the forest burnt?"

"The mice and other small creatures survived in their underground burrows. If anything it is easier now. It is more open, and it takes the mice longer to find food so more chances for me to find them. My owlets are doing well. I hope to fledge a clutch of four this season. How about you?

"My family is fine, but with Claris dead and me getting old, there will not be any more fawns. My children are having fawns so my family is growing."

"You will train them like the others?" Oswell asked seeming interested.

He did not feel like telling him he doubted he live long enough to do it so he just said. "If I get the chance I will." That was more or less the truth.

"Well I have to go. I have many mice to catch," he said and flew off.

At least that was some happy news in the forest. He was glad to see someone from the old days that was doing well. He walked back to his new home happier than he had been in days.

CHAPTER FIVE: LAST CLASSES

The summer was a lonely time for him. Although Bambi came back after several days, he made it clear he did not want company. He could still see he was hurting deeply with Faline's passing, but he was too much of a male to show it to others. He still felt the same way about Claris, but the difference between them was, he knew there was nothing he could do about it, so he had to go on with something. All Bambi felt was the loss. Young Bambi was still hurting about the herd's rejection and he was not nearly as open and friendly as before. Stabo was still angry the herd had told him to stay when he wanted to go. His son had become cooler. All around him, his family seemed more distant than ever. Only Stelar and Helos ever came to talk to him. He spent most of his time wandering around as much as the increasing pain in his side would let him.

With the early summer came more Man families visiting the new Man cave. None of the Men that came had killing sticks and he still took pleasure in watching them. Sometimes they would even walk in the woods. Of course Man made so much noise when he moved, it was easy to avoid him. Sometimes he let Man deliberately see him, and again nothing happened. He still allow the Man fawns to approach. The only thing unusual was the small black rock that they carried and would point at things, but nothing came out of it so it could not be a killing stick. He had no idea what it was for.

It was after mid-summer that Stabo and Gena's daughter Kena found him walking in the forest one day. She seemed to be looking for him.

"Stranger, may I ask you some questions?" she said looking unsure.

"Of course," he said and nuzzled the side of her face. She responded the same way.

Although still a yearling, she was filling out and was going to be a nice beauty like Young Faline was. As of yet she had not shown any interest in any males. Being Stabo's daughter, and a member of his family, no male in his right mind would try and force himself on her. Although not as inquisitive as Stena and Delene were, she tended to wander alone in the forest as if looking for things. She had never approached him to ask for training. In fact none of the fawns that were born since the fire seemed interested in training. That bothered him, but he had come to realize that it was foolish to give training to those who did not want it.

"Stranger, what does it take to become a herd leader?" she asked.

He wondered why she was interested in that. She was a doe, and not even a large doe like her mother. "It takes a special type of deer," he told her. "A deer that is more interested in what happens to others than what happened to himself. It takes courage, because of the dangers he may face. It takes wisdom to lead the herd when there is danger. It takes strength and skill to prevent others from harming himself or the herd."

"Can you teach that?" Kena asked next.

That question left him cold. He was not sure anymore how to answer it. He thought for a moment before answering."I used to think you could teach it to others. You can teach the skill, you can teach what to do when there is trouble, but for a deer to care more about others than himself, that has to be born in you. Some of my family have that ability like your Father, and your brother Koren. Some do not have the ability like my daughter Stena, and Delon"

"Do I have that ability?" she next wanted to know.

That stuck him as an unusual question."I cannot answer that," he told her truthfully. "The deer has to show it. At one time I thought Balo and Stena had that ability, but later on I learned I did not know them well enough. The deer has to show his care for others by his actions for the herd. It is through a deer's action and not his words that you learn this, even for yourself."

She seemed to listen closely and then said in a low voice. "I wish I knew if I had that ability, but I do not know, and I am afraid to find out."

"Why are you asking me this?" he wanted to know.

"There is a young male in the herd. His name is Juon and he asked me. He told me he was at the gatherings and saw how the herd treated my family. He had heard the stories about my Father, Young Bambi, Old Bambi and you. He told me he wants to learn how to be a leader. He says he feels he has the strength and the head to be a leader, but when we were alone he told me he did not know if he could have done the things you and the others have done. He did not know if he had the courage. He made me promise I would not tell any of the males. To them he tries to show he is strong and unafraid."

"Typical young male," he said with a laugh. "At that age to show yourself to be strong and fearless is important. It is important when it comes time to finding a mate or to show your place in the herd. Many males think that is the way to gain respect. I have found out you gain respect by what you do, not with what you say."

Kena stopped suddenly as if thinking. "Could you tell if either Juon or I can do this? You and Bambi are the wisest deer in the forests. Father says so and so does mother."

So now it was becoming clear to him. He shook his head. "No, only you two could show me that. We can only give you the skills to help you do it. You must use them on your own."

Kena nodded her head and smiled. "Then can I bring Juon to talk to you and Bambi?"

He smiled openly at her. "Of course you can. If you want, and if we can find Bambi, I will ask him to come to the clearing with me where I know you like to sleep. Bring Juon there tonight when the lesser light is over head."

She came over and kissed his cheek. If reminded him of how Claris use to do it. "Thank you," she said and ran off with her white fluffy tail raised in the wind. He had to admit it looked very nice to an old deer.

He walked around looking to find Bambi's scent. It took a good part of the day, but he found him in the forest resting alone. He was asleep when he walked into the clearing.

"Stranger," he said wondering why he was there.

"Yes, my old friend. I have had a request for you and me," he told him with a smile.

"I do not feel like seeing anyone," he said and put his face on the ground again.

"Neither did I, but it is better than waiting alone to die," he told him. "How would you and I like to try one more time to teach someone how they can help the herd? Who knows, they might even listen to us this time."

"Who?" he asked, "No one came to me."

"Kena has a new friend, a two year old male that says he want to learn, but is not sure if he can do it."

Bambi raised his head up again. "Well that is new. Before they were all so sure they could be herd leaders. In fact I think that may have been the problem."

He lay down about three lengths from the old deer. "Kena and Juon the male she likes do not know and they sound a little afraid to find out."

"That does sound different," Bambi said. "You know they may not like what they find?"

"I do not like what I have found out," he said in a hushed voice "After Stena, Balo, Carie, Stuben and Delon, I am getting a little afraid myself that we do not know what we are doing."

"Then what do you suggest?" Bambi asked as if already knowing the answer.

"We find out and they find out just how much all this training is worth. And like I said, it sure is better than waiting to die."

"When do we start?"

"Tonight, when the lesser light is over head," he answered. "Until then, mind if I rest here?"

"I don't mind," he said, "But I am tired."

Later that night they both walked into Kena's clearing when the lesser light was high overhead. There stood his daughter and a larger two year old male. He had a respectable rack on his head for someone that young. He seemed strong.

"I understand you like to see if you can help with the herd," Bambi said studying the male carefully.

"I like to try and learn," the male said. The voice was calm and clear.

"Very well, young male, put your head down and try and push me back," Bambi ordered.

He watched carefully along with Kena. Although old and not nearly at his full strength, Bambi had no problem in pushing Juon around easily. Juon would push ahead like most males making it a test of strength. Bambi shifted his weight and balance and kept getting position on him. After a while he stopped.

"Do you know how I beat you," Bambi said.

"You shifted position on me and then pushed me off balance," Juon said.

"Correct, now let me show you how I did that."

They spent the rest of the night showing Juon how to shift position. Juon took it all in. He seemed eager to learn. After they had practiced he showed Juon how to walk quietly through the woods. Like anyone else, the first few times Juon made a huge racket. He looked somewhat disappointed he could not walk as quietly as Kena who he had already been taught as a fawn.

"It takes a while to learn," he told him. "Soon you will walk like a light breeze through the forest. Practice trying to sneak up on other deer. When you can do that, you will be ready. It is getting near light, if you want, we can continue tomorrow."

"Yes, please," he said beaming. "Thank You."

Both Bambi and he walked away. When they were far enough away he asked, "So what do you think?"

"He may learn, we will have to see," Bambi said. "Now let us find someplace near to sleep. This training is not as easy as it used to be."

The training continued just about every night through high summer. He spent the time not just with Juon, but with Kena as well. He was teaching her what he had learned from Man. She caught on, but she was not as quick a study as Stena or her daughter Delene had been. This went on for awhile until one night in mid-summer they had guests. They approached downwind of them and so kept their presence concealed until Kena smelled them.

"It is Father and Young Bambi," she called out.

At that point both large males walked into the clearing. Both were still a head taller than Juon and their racks were larger. Stabo looked at his daughter and her friend and said abruptly. "Will you two excuse us?"

Both of them left in a hurry without a word. The two them approached Bambi and him.

"You have been training them," Stabo said flatly.

"Yes, we have, why is there a problem?" he wanted to know.

"I am concerned," the Younger Bambi said. "You are training an unknown deer. Before it was in the family or someone we at least knew. We know nothing about this Juon."

"He seems a good male," the elder Bambi said. "He could be of help to both of you, especially if we have to spread the herd out when Man comes. Also, in case you have not noticed it, your daughter likes him."

Stabo let out a quick and aggravating snort out of his nose. "My daughter is old enough to like who she pleases. I am just concerned about this Juon. I ask myself what happens if he starts behaving like another Delon?"

"Then you will handle him like another Delon," he told them. "Stabo, Juon is a large male, but he could not begin to fight you or Young Bambi if that is what you are worried about. He will never be your size or strength. We started training him because he came to me questioning whether he could even be a help to the herd. He was not sure he could be of help. With the others, and even you two, you were all so quick and all so sure that you could learn this and be herd leaders. I found it refreshing that for once someone was not sure of themselves. I am also surprised at this conversation. When did any of you fear anyone we taught?"

"Afraid of Juon, nonsense," his Son spoke clearly. "I am concerned we will have another bad deer in our forest and after what happened to Delon, we do not need this."

"Are you asking us to stop training him?" he wanted to know.

"No, I could never order you two around, I just want to know if you are sure about Juon," he said.

If there was one thing the last two season had taught him was he could be sure of nothing. "No, I am not. What I can tell you is that he seems to want to learn for the right reasons. I can also tell you he seems eager to learn."

Bambi stepped forward in front of him. "I can tell you that so far these are the only two deer that have lately come forward to be taught. We have lost so many lately, I felt it was good that someone was still interested. Frankly, you should be asking yourselves who will follow you when the time comes."

"My daughter is interested, but she is still a yearling," Young Bambi said. "I am teaching her. My other fawn and Karlene's fawns are still too young."

"I have a son and daughter," Stabo said. "However I admit none of them have indicated they were interested."

He then spoke up. "Then that leaves you, Gena, Young Bambi, Galene, Stelar and Helos as the only trained deer," he added. You should have more. Also, this will most likely be the last deer Bambi and I will be able to train. The next deer will need to be trained by you."

"Father, do not say that. You and Bambi will be here for long to come," Stabo said.

"I doubt that," Bambi said as if he was certain. "So tell us, herd leader, what you would like us to do?"

Stabo stood there for a moment and then turned to Young Bambi. "Please come with me for a moment," he said and they both walked quietly off into the forest where they could not be overheard.

"I do not like this," Bambi said when they were alone."I also do not like to be questioned about who and how we train. We have been doing this longer than they have been alive."

He nodded his head. "Very true, my old friend, but you must admit our training has not always been successful. They are afraid of what may happen, just like the herd was afraid to let Young Bambi take over. The herd chose stability and safety. I think the herd's thinking has also rubbed off on Stabo and Young Bambi. Stability is good at times. Everything goes as it always had gone, and you can take comfort in it. The herd does not fear it. The problem is, if you always keep everything the same, then anything new that happens, you cannot do anything about it. The longer I live, the more I am sure nothing stays the same. Things always change and those who cannot change will suffer."

"I agree with you," Bambi said. "It seems clear to me, why is it not clear to the rest?"

"For that I have no answer," he said. "Just like I have no answer why things turned out the way they did with Balo, Stena and Delon."

They waited patiently for a while before Stabo and Young Bambi returned. They did a while later. Stabo walked up to them and spoke as a herd leader.

"We have discussed this and what we have decided that if you want to teach Juon and Kena the way you taught us, that is fine, however we do not want you to give Juon final training in fighting where you show him the things we used on Razor. If we think it is necessary to teach Juon that, we will do it."

He stood there dumbfounded. First the herd told Bambi and him they did not trust what they told them, now his own son was telling them they did not trust them to train Juon properly. That to him was much the same thing. He went stiff with anger and so was Bambi. He walked up and looked his son directly in the eyes. "Yes, herd leader," he grunted.

With that he turned quickly around and walked off into the forest. Bambi was two steps behind him.

"Father, Wait!," he heard Stabo from behind. He did not turn around, but both of them walked off into the forest. They walked for a while and then he noticed Bambi stopped suddenly and bent at his front knees. He turned and saw his friend was in pain. He tuned quickly and went back to him.

"Bambi, what is it?" he said.

"I am getting pains in my chest again." Bambi's normally deep voice sounded weakened. " I have been feeling it when I train Juon sometimes, but your son got me so mad it made the pain worse."

Bambi then looked up at him. "Do not worry, my friend, I am not ready to go yet."

He waited a while until Bambi seem to recover. After he stood up and looked alright, they walked on.

"So what are we going to do about Kena and Juon?" he asked

"I am going to train him exactly like I trained my two sons and my daughter, as well as their children. I do not care what Stabo or my younger namesake think. Stabo can try and run me out of the forest."

"I have no concern about that," he answered in agreement. "However before we teach Juon and Kena that, let us make sure they are fully trained on everything else first. Right now they are not."

"I agree," Bambi said and then they both went off to find Kena and Juon.

The training continued on throughout the summer. He could see that Juon was not going to be like Stabo, Young Bambi and Galin. He was more like Gertan or Helos, a smaller deer that was still strong enough to be a senior male, but nothing more. It also became apparent to him that both Kena and Juon were now sleeping together. While she was a little young to be pairing, he reminded himself that both Balo and Stena were much the same way before they mated.

It was in the last days of summer that one early evening Young Bambi and Galene came to visit them. Both seemed concerned about something.

"Stranger, the bear and a smaller bear are in the meadow," the Younger Bambi said.

"Interesting," he mumbled. "That usually means the bear wants to talk to me. I will go to them."

"What of the younger bear," Young Bambi said. "I know bear will not hurt you, but the younger bear I am not sure of."

He nodded and smiled. "True, but bear would not bring a younger bear to kill me when he could have easily done it himself many times over the seasons. I will go alone."

He turned to face the elder Bambi showing Juon and Kena how to avoid being followed. "Continue, I have someone to meet."

He walked to the edge of the meadow and then walked into the open past that newer Man cave and onto the open meadow. It was night, and there was little light from the lesser light. He walked up to both large black animals.

"Greetings, my friend, " he said to the bear and then turned to the smaller of the two. "Greetings Uttral." By smaller it meant the female was only much larger than him instead of the bear who was over twice his size. Both had the same claws, and large teeth that could tear him apart in an instant.

"Greetings, Stranger," the bear said. Uttral just nodded her head then spoke. Her voice was higher pitch, but still powerful. "You are not afraid of me or my Father," she said. "Why is that, deer run at the scent of my kind."

"That is true," he said. "Your Father I trust because he could have easily eaten me many times over the seasons, but did not. Your Father has also saved my life twice, and I have tried to help him with Man. If you wish, I will help you too, at least for as long as I can."

The bear looked at him with concern. "Are you feeling bad?"

"Yes," he said simply. "Faline is gone, and both Bambi and I are getting old and worn out. I must be honest with you and say I doubt either of us will be here in the spring."

"I am sorry about Faline. I know Bambi and her were close." The bear then walked up and smelled him carefully and dropped his head. The bear's nose was good enough where he could smell the increasing decay inside him. "I understand," the bear said in a low voice. "I will be here longer than that, I think, but not for many more seasons. I am glad I brought Uttral now. She said he wanted to meet with you."

The female bear looked at him carefully as if she did not know if he was a threat or not. "My father tells me you try and make the forest better for all. Why should you care what happens to us and the other creatures of the forest?"

"Because we are all part of the forest," he said with a smile. "You, me, my family, bears, deer, birds, coyotes, and everything else belongs here. We have a purpose in being here. We are somehow all joined together in the forest. The only thing that does not belong is Man. I call this the Way of All Things."

"But most of my kind would eat you if we caught you," Uttral said not understanding.

"You eat the deer, deer eat the grass. We all have to eat to live. All the creatures eat to live. This is why I say we are all connected here."

Uttral still looked at him puzzled. He tried a different way to explain. "If there was no grass, there would be no deer. If there were no deer, there would be no bears. All things live off each other. Take the grass, or the deer, or anything else away, and there would be nothing. We deer take from the forest when we eat the grass, and we give back when we die or are eaten by bears or other animals. You take from the forest when you eat a deer and you give back when you pass on. Only together do we all get to live and allow those who will follow us to live. It has gone on longer than anyone knows, and will continue to go on long after we are all gone. Only Man is different, because he only takes. I have never seen Man give back."

Uttral still looked confused, but told him. "I think I understand," she said. "My Father is right, you are a strange deer. I can see why he won't eat you. I do not think I will eat you either."

"That will not last for much longer," he told her. " When I am gone, will you accept my son Stabo in my place and treat him as you have treated me?"

He then stepped aside so they could see the others standing at the edge of the forest. "The large male deer on the end with the large rack growing is my eldest son Stabo who is herd leader.

"Of course I will accept him," the big bear said. He knew the bear was telling the truth.

He then looked at Uttral. She did not look so sure. "It still seems very strange talking to a deer," she said. "I will not eat you as others of my kind would, but I do not know your son. I cannot say for now. I must think about this more."

He walked over to her and slowly rubbed his nose on her forehead. She went to pull back at first, but then allowed him to nuzzle her. "That is how deer show affection," he told her. "If you want to talk more, just let me know, but be careful. "I fear many Men will come here soon and they just as soon kills bears as they would deer."

"This is what my Father said," Uttral told him. "I will think about this. Thank you, Stranger."

With that the bear and his daughter left. He turned around and walked back to his family. It had been an interesting summer.

CHAPTER SIX: FINAL CONFRONTATIONS

The remainder of summer passed quietly. Both Bambi and him continued training Kena and Juon. They came along well, but not fast as the others. It seemed to him that unlike Stena, Delenn, and Young Faline, Kena took longer to catch on. One thing with Kena however, once she learned it, she never forgot it. Juon had to be shown a few times, but eventually he learned also.

His side continue to hurt, and he felt himself getting weaker. His rack still grew out and as The Season approached. He saw Bambi had very nice looking rack. Bambi told him that his was also large, but not as large as before, but it was still respectable, and no deer in the forest looked to want to fight with either of them. Stabo and Young Bambi again grew a large rack. No one seemed interested in challenging them. His son was now much stronger than him and he was glad he was herd leader now.

Soon his rack started to itch and after he scraped off the velvet, they stopped training with Juon who had a nice rack for two year old. He soon knew the season would be upon them. Although he still felt the urge to breed, he had no interest in chasing any doe. Bambi felt the same way. The season also mean the hunting would soon start. One night after he and Bambi had stripped away their velvet, Stelar and Helos came over to them.

His daughter came up and nuzzled him on the side of his nose like she always did."Father, Stabo and Young Bambi would like to see you in their clearing. They said please come alone."

He looked back at Kena and Juon and through that was rude of his son. He turned to them.

"We must leave for a while, we will continue training later," he told him.

He noted Juon was fine with that, but Kena looked hurt. She knew by rights she should be there, but she wasn't invited. However, Stabo was herd leader and it was his decision. Both he and Bambi followed Stelar and Helos back to the clearing.

"Thank you both for coming," Stabo said. "The Season will soon be upon us, and that means Man will soon be here. I am thinking that at the first sign of Man, I will move the herd as quickly as possible to the location Young Bambi and Helos found. It will take a while for us to get there, so we will not wait until the Man animals arrive. At the first sound that they are arriving, we will leave."

That sounded like a good plan. That is assuming everyone knew about it.

"I suggest calling a gathering of the herd and explain this to them and do it soon," he said.

"I agree with Stranger," Bambi said.

"I also suggest asking Kena and Juon for help," he went on. "They have been trained well enough to help out. That will give you more deer to make sure no one is left behind."

Stabo shook his head no. "I am sorry, Father, but I still doubt Juon's use to the herd. Next Season after he is fully trained, perhaps, but not now."

That shocked him and Bambi. "I do not understand," Bambi said bluntly. "I have also trained both of them. While they are not trained as well as you, they can still help you. They also want to help. A herd leader should not turn down help if they are willing."

"I am sorry, Bambi," his son said firmly. "I still do not trust Juon yet."

He was about to answer when he heard the clash of racks followed by a cry of alarm. It came from Kena and sounded like it came from the meadow. All of them stopped and ran toward the sound with him lagging back as usual.

He made it to edge of the meadow and saw Juon locking racks with a male a three year old herd male. The male thinking he was stronger, made it into a test of strength and tried to force Juon's head onto the ground. Juon shifted his weight and pushed hard with his rear legs. That forced the other deer off balance and he stumbled back breaking the lock on their racks.

"You fight funny," Juon said mocking the male to get him angry. "It had the desired effect. The older male put his head down and charged with rage. This time Juon met the charge, but instead of bracing his feet, he pulled back quickly and turned to one side. The bigger male, going faster and being heavier, went right by him. As he did, Juon brought his head down and scrapped his rack across the flank of the male causing much pain, but only minor cuts. "

"Aieee," the three year old male shouted and almost fell to his knees. Juon waited until the male had gone by him and then charged his rear before the male could recover. Again he hit the male hard, but did not try and gore him as he could have. The male yelled again and ran into the cover of the forest. Juon did not follow.

Juon then went over to Kena standing there. "Did he hurt you?" he said looking deeply into her eyes."

"No, he never touched me," she answered in a soft voice. "He just tried to push me down. I was going to kick him when you came in and he charged you."

"Interesting" he said loudly so all of them heard him. That is when Kena and Juon saw him and the others. "Juon, when the male ran past you, you could have dug in your rack and gutted him. You could have also charged and impaled him in the rear. You did not, why?"

Juon was still breathing deeply. "It was not necessary," he said. "He was not here to hurt me; he was here to mate with Kena. I did not have to kill him to stop that, only beat him. Thanks to what you and Bambi taught me, I was able to do that easily. In fact more easily than I ever thought I could."

"That is part of the training," the elder Bambi spoke up. "We train hard so when we have to fight, it becomes easier. You did that well, Juon."

All Juon did was smile. He saw both Stabo and Young Bambi look at each other.

Stabo called out, "Both of you come here."

They both walked up to the herd leader and bowed their heads slightly in respect. Both Stabo and the younger Bambi acknowledged it also showing some respect.

"Juon, you fought for my daughter. Do you wish to take her for your mate?" Stabo stood erect trying to look as impressive as possible.

"Yes," said Juon with empathies. "I would if she will have me," he said and looked into her eyes again. They could all see the warmth.

"Daughter, what is your answer to that?" he asked.

"Yes, Father, I would," she said with equal sincerity.

Stabo took in a deep breath. "Daughter you are ready to go with him I know. However I would like you to come back to our clearing and discuss this with your mother. Juon, you come to my clearing tomorrow night. I am calling for a gathering of the herd. She will be ready for you then. In the meantime, find a spot for you two. The rest of you please come with me."

They followed Stabo back and when the herd leader was sure no one could hear them he stopped. "Father you are correct," he said. "Juon could have easily hurt that deer badly, or even kill him. He did not, however. That does show some ability and sense. It also shows how stupid the other deer was. Did he think he could force the herd leader's daughter to mate with him and I not take offence? Very well, after the Season and the hunts, continue to train him. I can find something for my daughter and Juon to do."

"Yes," I agree," the younger Bambi said.

Kena just look brightly at her father and walked up and nuzzled him on the nose. "Thank you, Father," she said.

"Daughter, I am doing you and Juon no favors," Stabo spoke firmly. "From here on out things will get hard. Ask my Father and Bambi if you do not believe me."

All he could do is nod silently.

Then Stabo looked at the elder Bambi and him. "I just wish I could do something for you two with The Season coming on."

He smiled and looked at his son, grateful for the thought."We will both be alright, My Son. I am too old to go chase a doe now."

"No other doe but Faline has ever interested me," Bambi said. "I will also be alright."

They went back to their clearing with Karlene and Gena were lying alone. This year's fawns had gone. Kena eagerly told her mother the tale and Gena seemed as happy for her as he was. They stayed around for a while as a family.

The next night Stabo, Young Bambi and Helos started to call loudly for all the deer to together. It took a while to get them all there. It was well after the lesser light was overhead that Stabo started the meeting. He explained what he wanted the herd to do and why. When he was done, there was only one real question from one of the doe from his old herd.

"Why do we have to go so far to hide?" she asked.

"Because there is no place around here that Man cannot get too. It is all flat and open. Man and his dogs could easily find us. Before now, not many Men came and so it was easier to hide. With the new Man caves, many more Men are sure to come."

Most of the deer were frighten that so many Men would come, but they understood what they had to do. There were questions and many more concerns, but there were no major arguments. Both Bambi and him remained silent. It was only at the end of the meeting that Stabo said something that surprised him.

"As usual, I will have help in moving the herd. My Father, the younger Bambi, Bambi, and Helos will be there to help you. We also have a new deer this season who will help and that is Juon who was trained by my Father and Bambi. If I am not here, then ask one of them."

He could see both Kena and Juon smile broadly.

With that the gathering broke up. All the deer left. His family remained together. Soon Juon approached smiling, but a little timid.

"Thank you, herd leader, both Kena and I will try to be of help. For now, I have come for Kena," he told them all.

"I am ready," she said. Her scent got suddenly stronger.

"They go, my daughter," Stabo said with a smile. I am sure you will both be of help in the seasons to come."

Kena kissed her Father, Mother and then Bambi and him and went over to Juon.

"Come with me," he said.

"Take care of my daughter," Stabo said out loud.

"I will," Juon said and vanished into the woods with Kena.

"And another generation begins," he said out loud.

"Let us hope we live long enough to see it," Bambi said and together they left Stabo, Gena, Young Bambi and Galene alone to go to their places for The Season.

The Season passed in comfort. He stayed by himself. Male deer either with or without doe at this time are not the best company. He found a clearing away from the sights and more importantly the scents of The Season and lay down. His resting place was near the Man cave and from where he lay he could see the cave which remained quiet during that time. There were few fights. Everything seemed at peace. He also saw Uttral cross the meadow and go up the hill on his side of the old forest. She went up, but did not come down again. That is where she must be building her den for the winter. His friend the bear did not join her.

It was on the third night of The Season that he was woken up by a strange call right before the greater light set.

"I am here," someone called out in a voice he did not recognize. It was a strong and booming noise.

He got up and started to walk toward it. The wind was blowing off the meadow so he walked deeper into the forest. He then moved quietly until he was down wind of the call. Only then did he go to the location with the wind in his face. At he started to get close he saw movement to his right. He knew that form immediately.

"Bambi," he called out just loud enough to be herd.

The large male came over to him looking puzzled as he was. "I do not know the voice," he told him.

"Nor do I," he said. "Let us get closer."

As they approached the wind was bringing the scents to them. The male sounded large and had a powerful scent. There was also another scent. A doe in season. This doe's scent was familiar."

"Carie," he said out loud. "What does she want?"

They both moved and as they did the scents got stronger. He finally walked into the clearing and there stood two deer. One was Carie. There was no mistaking her outline. The other was a large male deer. In fact the largest deer he had ever seen. He was bigger than he or Bambi. His rack was massive.

"I see you have found a new male," he called out to his former mate. "Care to introduce us?"

Both of them walked into the meadow together. The male came toward him head up high showing he had no fear of them.

"I am Duno," the voice boomed. "I am here to challenge for the herd leadership."

"I take it my former mate is now your mate," he said breathing in the air.

"Yes, Stranger, for you are too weak and too old to have a mate like her," he said glaring at him with contempt.

"You are right about that," he said. "Age catches up with all of us. It is what happens when you are not killed by Man or run down by some bear and eaten."

"I am afraid of no Man and no Bear," Duro said bellowing out his power.

"Then you, Duno, are a fool, because no matter how big and strong you are, one killing stick or one hungry bear can kill you faster than you can raise that tail. However, I see you do not believe that. Take it from one who is much older than you."

"Spare me your words, for you are old and weak, I am going kill you two right after I kill your son Stabo and Young Bambi, then I will kill Balo, and his son Delon."

"The last two will not be necessary," he said meekly. "Balo and Delon are both gone."

"That makes my task even easier," Duro said with a grin.

"Stranger, may I speak with you?" Bambi asked.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said.

"Do not try and run away, I can easily catch you," Duno told them.

"Right now a new born fawn can easily catch me," he told him. "Nothing special about that."

He followed Bambi into the woods a short way. Bambi turned and looked worried. "You know he may be strong enough to beat Stabo and Young Bambi," he told him.

"I know," he admitted. "That is why I am not going to let them fight."

"Oh, and how can you prevent that," Bambi said.

"By killing him first, however this might also get us both killed at the same time," he admitted. "Are you ready for that?"

Bambi looked at the big deer for a moment as if thinking and then nodded his head. "Yes," he said. "It was going to happen soon anyway."

"Get ready to follow my actions," he said.

They both walked back into the meadow.

"You came back," he said loudly as if surprised.

"I have never run from a deer like you," he said. "I knew a deer like you some time ago. His name was Razor. He was big and powerful like you. He also thought he could rule through force and fear. It did not work for him and it will not work for you."

"We shall see," the large male bellowed again. "Carie also told me you killed Razor, who was my father."

That got his attention. This idiot was a member of his family? Another one that had gone bad. He turned slowly to face the large deer and looked him over carefully. "Sorry, I do not see him in you. You also do not smell like him, but I have no cause to doubt your word. You certainly act like him."

That took the big male back," You will not say that or I will. . . "

"Kill me!" he interrupted. "I thought you were going to do that anyway. Doesn't matter, however. I am curious about something. Why did you not take over your Father's forest?"

The large deer looked strangely at him. He could tell Duno was wondering why he was not afraid or begging for his life. That is what a smaller deer would do. Neither Duno nor Carie understood it is hard to threaten anyone with death who was already half dead to begin with. "Carie told me there were more deer here and the forest was bigger. This was the bigger herd."

"Ahh," he said and turned his back on Duno and walked over to Carie. "Let me ask, did she tell you to kill me last?"

"How did. . . .," Duno started to say and went silent. It was then he realized what Carie's plan was.

Without turning back to face Duno he went on with a smile. "You see my large, poor, diluted, male; that was because she wanted me to suffer the most. That is why she did not tell you to take over Felon's herd even through it be much easier. You see your mate here is not interested in the other forest because I am not there. By killing my family before me, Carie gets back at me for throwing her and her son out of my old forest and then not objecting when my son Stabo threw them out here. Is not that so, my former mate?"

"You clever, conceited deer," she called out. "I hope Duno guts you slowly."

"Duno is not going to gut anyone, but then you were always too stupid to think for yourself. What you were good at is getting other stupid deer like your son and this large idiot behind me to do what you want."

"You cannot say that about me you worthless….." Duno yelled and charged his unprotected rear.

"No. . ." Carie started to say, but it was too late. He kicked out with both legs as hard as he could when the large male approached. He felt his two hoofs impact Duno's forehead knocking him senseless. He also heard a loud pop from inside and immediately was covered with waves of pain. His front legs collapsed and he fell to the ground. Bambi immediately charged Duno and knocked him off balance and on to the ground. The stunned deer did not have a chance to move before Bambi started to pound his side hard with his front hoofs.

"I will kill you myself," Carie shouted and charged him on the ground. She hit him in the side. The pain stunned him for a second. Carie reared up and kicked out hitting him in the left side. The pain was more than anything he ever felt. While he was trying to get up, Carie took immediate advantage She then raised her hoofs to pound him. As she went up on her hind legs, he put all his strength onto his rear legs and pushed up as she was coming down. It drove his head and his racks deep into her chest.

"AHHHHHHH," was all she said before she pulled off of him. Instantly he was covered in blood, her blood. She backed away and started to run. She bounded three times before she fell over and lay still.

He fell on the ground. He felt something coming up his throat. He coughed up some blood, He forced himself to stand up and look over to Bambi who was still pounding Duno. Soon Duro stopped moving.

"That is enough my friend," he said. "He is not getting up."

Bambi turned around and took one look and him and looked shocked. "Are you alright? You are covered in blood."

"Not my blood," he said with relief.

Bambi looked out at Carie lying motionless nearby. "She does not look like she will be getting up either."

A few moments later he heard a loud crashing through the bushes and into the clearing ran Stabo and Gena. Both looked shocked at what they saw. He then looked at him and took a step back in horror.

"Father," Stabo called out. "Are you alright? What happened here."

It did not take long to explain, by the time he was done, Young Bambi and Galene ran into the clearing. He explained everything again. As he finished, Stabo walked over to examine Carie. "She is dead, she bled out where you drove your rack into her," Stabo called out.

"I know," he answered. "A lot of her blood got on me. I need to wash it off. "

"This one is dead also," Young Bambi said looking at Duro. "His side has been pounded in."

"That was me," Bambi said sounding exhausted and out of breath.

He looked over and saw his friend walking favoring his left side. Bambi suddenly stopped and hung his head low. He started to breath quickly trying to get in more air.

"Out of breath," Bambi said wincing in pain. "Legs hurt me."

"Are you alright?" he asked the big deer.

"I feel strange," Bambi gasped. "I feel pain in my chest and I feel like my body is tingling."

He then saw a look of severe pain on Bambi's face. His body became rigid. His head shot up rapidly. He looked at the large back eyes that seemed to roll up in his head. The large deer fell over onto his right side like a fallen tree. He hit the ground with a crash and lay still.

"Bambi," he yelled out just as Gena yelled, "Father!"

They ran over to the big deer who did not move.. He shook him and tried to get him to respond. "Bambi!," he yelled out. None of it did any good. The big deer was still. It took him a moment to realize, Bambi was gone.

"No," he moaned and sunk down on his knees. He buried his head in the still warm side and cried like a lost fawn. "He is gone," he called out between the sobs.

Gena started to wail also, followed by Galene and the others. In that moment he felt alone in the world. They were all gone now. He remained there for some time sobbing until he raised his head and looked to now the only Bambi in the forest. "Get Stelar, Helos, Kena and Juon and bring them here."

Bambi nodded and left with Galene behind him.

They all arrived a short while later. All of them looked over the big deer's body that was even now becoming stiff in death. There was much sobbing and anguish, but nothing they could do. The big deer was gone. Soon other deer came and looked, not believing it. After a while they were left alone in the clearing with his family and the other dead deer.

He looked at the others still in disbelief. "I never thought I would be the last of us to go," he told them. I have known Bambi since the day I came to this forest. He was the one who invited me to stay, the one that pushed your mother and me together. He was my closest friend over the years. I feel empty now," he said.

His daughter finally came over and nuzzled his nose and neck. "Come, Father, there is nothing more we can do here."

He turned and kissed his daughter "Yes, child, you are right," he said and walked back to the others. Now he only wanted to leave this place and never come back. He did not want to see the scavengers do their work on his friend and the others.

As he walked near Bambi's body he stopped and leaned over as to whisper in his ear.

"I hope the price was worth it, my friend" he said. He then looked up and out across the still burnt meadow. "Take care of him," he said in a low voice. "He was worth it."

CHAPTER SEVEN: LAST HUNT

There was a sudden and unmistakable hush in the forest. The other deer were still in shock. He couldn't stand the stillness so he went back to wandering alone. Now he was truly alone and saw that would continue until it was his turn. At first there was shock in the herd over Bambi's death, there was also hard words for Carie and Duno. Then the herd did what it always did; it accepted what happened and went on. During this time he stayed away from everyone. In some ways he felt responsible for Bambi's death. It was his idea to eliminate Duro and save the herd from possible disaster. Although he had sensed that might be their last fight, the fact that it was Bambi and not him that had died because of it, made him feel bad. In a way this hit him harder than Claris. At least Bambi had a choice and made it willingly. After being alone for several days, he decided it was better to do something other than wait around for the same thing to happen to him. When he was sure The Season was over, he went back to Kena and Juon's clearing. He found them there lying close to each other. Another newly mated pair. They saw him coming and got up.

"Did you want to continue your training," he asked Juon.

"Yes, Stranger" Juon replied with enthusiasm.

"Even after you have seen what happened to Bambi?" he asked. "That might happen to you?"

"It will happen to all of us someday," Juon went on. "Bambi died defending his herd even though he was not herd leader. I have heard some deer say that Bambi and you will always be herd leaders here, alive or not."

That was just being sentimental he thought. Bambi was gone, but life went on just like after all the other deaths he had seen over the seasons.

"Very well, while you still have your rack, let us work on combat training." he suggested. "I cannot fight hard due to my injuries, but I will show you all I can."

"Stranger, can you tell me how you killed Carie. I know that you kicked Duno in the head and Bambi stomped on him, but how did you kill Carie if you was on the ground?"

"Hold your head up," he told him.

As he did he put the two center points of his rack against Juon's throat. If you charge and run your antlers into a deer's body there, you will cause a deer to bleed out as if they were hit by a killing stick. If a deer does that to you, you will be dead shortly after. As Carie tried to stomp me, I pushed up with my rear legs and forced my rack deep into Carie's throat and chest. She did not live long afterwards."

"Such anger at you," Kena said. "That she would kill her own family to get back at you is unbelievable."

He nodded, "Bambi and I appear to have the ability to bring out the best or worse in deer. I think deer in this forest will talk about Bambi for a long while to come. Now if you don't want deer to talk about you after you are dead, let us start the lesson."

They practiced for the rest of the night. He had to admit he was very tired when they were through. A found a place near the new couple to rest. The pain in his side, legs and chest was stronger. His body was getting much weaker. He knew now for sure he would not survive the winter. It was getting close to his time.

The greater light was barely up when the noise started from the meadow. The sounds of banging and shouting continued all day. Many men were on the meadow. Later in the day he also started to hear the yelping of dogs, big dogs. Man had come to hunt. They slept in fits and starts all day before finally just resting. He decided he had to get a look at this work by Man. That night he approached Kena and Juon. They both looked at him with suspicion and some fear. The sounds of Man were heard by all.

"The hunts will soon begin?" Juon asked.

"Yes and we must know what kind of hunt," he told them. "We must look at the Man cave tonight and we must do it carefully. Man may not be able to smell us, but those dogs can. We will go when it is dark," he told them and then lay down.

They waited until it was fully dark and then he stood up. "We need to go now. We need to see what Man will do tomorrow. I will leave it up to you if you want to come, but there will be great danger. If we are seen, man could use his killing stick on us."

"As Bambi would say, that is part of being herd leader," Kena said boldly. Juon just nodded.

He smiled inwardly. They were just like Veron was. "Very well, now tell me the best way to do this?" he said. He wanted to see how well they learned.

Kena and Juon looked up at the trees and saw the way the wind was blowing. "The wind is coming from your old forest," Kena said. "That means if we go straight from this forest to toward the Man cave with the wind in our faces, the dogs should not smell us."

He had to smile, they were learning. "Correct now let us go, and be quiet."

They moved inside their forest until they got to the edge. They then walked as close to the old edge of their forest as they could get without being in the open. As they moved quietly, they started to see the Man cave. It was brightly lit with many Men and dogs outside. Already Man was drinking and shouting all together again. Some of the dogs were normal hunting dogs, but a few were the big dogs man hunts larger animals with. As they got closer, they saw the smaller caves being set up on the side of the meadow they use to live on. They set up the small caves all along the long side of the old meadow. He had seen this before and he suddenly understood what Man was going to do.

"We must find Stabo and Young Bambi," he whispered. "The herd is in great danger. You two are younger and quicker than I am. Find Stabo and the others and meet me in Stabo's clearing as soon as possible. They will also need to call the rest of the herd together. We must leave. Do not call until you are deep into the forest. Man and the dogs will hear you."

Kena and Juon took off running. He moved as fast as he could, but his muscles were not as good as they used to be. Getting old was getting to be more of a curse than a benefit. He moved as fast as possible. Any deer he saw he told them to pass the word to go to Stabo's clearing. Finally he got there and he saw his daughter and Galene, arrive shortly afterwards. Other deer started to come in. Then he heard Stabo call the herd together. He made it sound urgent. The lesser light was high overhead before everyone got there.

"Father, did you see what Man has done on the meadow?" Stabo called to him.

"Yes," he told all around him. "Man is setting up his small caves with his killing sticks so that any deer that runs out of this forest and on to the old meadow will be killed. This means when the greater light rises. Man will try and get behind us and try to chase us all onto the Meadow. If he does, we will die. We must not allow Man to get behind us. We must flee into the deep woods and the hiding place now!"

"I agree," Stabo said. "Father told me of such a plan by Man before. We must not allow Man to get behind us. All of us must leave now. If Man does get behind you, do not run into the meadow, run across the Man path into the smaller part of the forest. Try and stay together. Does anyone have any questions?"

No one said a word. "Very well all of us leave now," Stabo yelled out. The herd broke up and fled in an instant. He started to move quickly into the deep forest with them, but soon stopped. Due to his lack of speed he was soon alone.

He had always known he would never make it to the new hiding place. He had never intended to go with the herd. He was too old, too slow, and now too weak. He would find the best place he could in this forest and then hide.

He hurried alone trying to get as deep into the forest as he could before sunrise. He felt very tired, but he knew he had to get as far away as possible from the meadow. He moved as fast as he could for as long as he could before his breath seemed to leave him. He had just gone over one of many small streams, when it hit him suddenly.

"AHHHHHHH," he grunted. His front legs gave out and he fell onto the ground. There was a sharp pain in his side that seemed to shoot down his left side and left front leg. It was like a large deer had stopped on his flank. In an instant he was lying on his side with his rack holding up his neck. He was out of breath; he had a hard time moving. It was like his whole body went to sleep except for his head. He then suddenly realized that this was exactly how he had felt right after he was hurt by the old Man cave. It was not that his side just gave out. It was like his whole body was starting to fall asleep. He understood what it meant.

So it had finally come, yet he did not feel his body slipping away yet as he had felt before. He did not feel if he was dying inside. It was just he could not get up and move around. He then remembered that Faline and Bambi had felt a lesser pain and discomfort such as this several times before they both passed. He managed to roll over onto his legs so he got his head off the ground. He was lying in the open in a small clearing space surrounded by trees. He tried to move, but his legs were wobbling and could not support him. He managed to get into the cover of the nearby trees before he lay down again. This is where he would have to stay. He only hoped that Man did not find him, because he knew he could not run from here. He thought about calling for help, but that would only mean that another deer would be stuck here with him and may get caught by Man. Better if he stayed here alone.

The pain in his side seemed to diminish over time to the point he felt he could move again, but overhead he could clearly see the light of the new day. That meant Man be in the forest. He was hidden well. If the dogs did not find him, he should be alright. He found a small hollow in the ground and lay in that. Now he was almost totally hidden from anything. It was not long before he heard it. There was noise coming from both the meadow and deeper woods. It was the sound of dogs. He heard them barking and calling to their masters. He could tell by their barking they were just searching. They had found nothing. As time went by he could hear them getting closer. Now he could hear the shouts of Men.

HHHIIIYYYAAAA. . . HHHEEEYYY," he heard from many Men.

That sound got closer to him. He knew he dare not move unless he was found. A deer on the run would be easily seen and chased into the clearing. As time went on he noticed there was no change in the barking of the dogs. They were not chasing anything. That meant Stabo had gotten the herd further back than Man. If so, they were safe. It was not long before the dogs started barking near to him. He stayed very still and did not even breathe hard. Then in the distance he saw a dog. It was running around looking for something to chase. It did not seem to smell him. It sniffed at the ground and in the air, but was picking up no scent. He watched it circle around for a while and then left. Then behind the dog walked two Men. Each was carrying a large killing stick. They walked right past him. He felt he was safe for now.

He continued to stay still until the rising light was overheard, and then he heard the noise of a dog barking. This was noise was from behind him. It was one dog, but it was calling to its master.

"Here. . . Here," the dog called out again and again.

Suddenly he realized the dog was coming from the direction he came last night. It was following his scent trail. He turned his body so he could see the way he had come and in the distance he saw movement. It was a single dog coming his way. It must have found his scent and picked up his trail when it got near the edge of the Man path forest. Then he heard more noise. There was a Man walking behind the dog. There was nothing to do now except stay still and hope the dog did not find him. The dog was moving around looking for a scent. Then it stopped and raised its tail and looked directly where he was at. He had been found. The dog started barking loudly.

"Here, he is here," it called to the Man who came in closer.

Now the dog headed straight for him. He had no choice now, he had to fight, but if he stood up now, the Man could see him easily and use his killing stick. He waited, keeping still and low. If he could move better he could try and run away, but with his side, he was going nowhere in a hurry. Again, the Man was close enough where he could easily use the killing stick on him if he ran. There might be a way. He could charge the Man before he could use his killing stick. When he was hit before, he had hurt the Man that came to kill him. Maybe he could do it again He kept low and waited. Sure enough the dog went straight for him and the Man came up quickly behind. He waiting until the dog was on top of him and then leaped up and lowered his head. He charged into the dog catching it in his rack and he threw it aside. The dog squealed in pain. The Man started to bring up his killing stick, but he ran straight for him as fast as he could The Man had his killing stick up when he hit him with his rack. The impact stunned him and knocked the Man down. He recovered and started to run away when the pain hit him hard again in the left side. He staggered, and almost fell on the ground. He got up quickly and started to move away. He changed direction and disappeared into the tress.

"WHAMMMM." echoed as something went by him. He kept going as fast as he could.

Finally the pounding in his head and his shortness of breath forced him to stop. He rested for a while. A short time later he heard.

"WHAMMM . . . WHAMMM . . . .WHAMM," from behind him in short order.

He heard the Man shout several times. He got up even through it hurt and slowly walked as far away from that place as he could.

"WHAMMM. . . WHAMMM . . .WHAMMM," he heard again. Then in the distance he heard more men shouting.

"Bang. . . Bang . . .Bang" came again. These noises were not so loud.

At that point he was hurting enough where all he wanted to do was to find someplace safe to rest. He wandered only knowing he was moving away from the Man noises. Soon he came to the hard ground of the Man Path. He knew the dangers of crossing it. At this point he had little to lose so he crossed it quickly and lost himself in the bush. He found a small open clearing just on the other side and rested in some soft grass. He waited there until it was evening. He heard a Man animal go down the Man path just before dark. It was moving much faster than he ever could even when he was young. By now his side was not hurting so much. He got up and slowly and carefully made his way back across the Man path toward his side of the forest. He knew Man would come to look for him. Man would know he had run into the deep forest. That is where they would look for him. They would not look for him near the Meadow.

He ate and drank as he could. As long as he did not move quickly, the pain in his chest and legs stayed away. Resting and stopping many times, he reached the clearing he and Bambi use to share by dawn. He stopped to drink, and empty himself. He tried to eat again but his chest and side hurt. In the distance he could see the light and opening of the meadow. There was nothing more to do other than to wait.

He found a place that was hard to see and waited. He was right, as the new day came, Man did not hunt close to the meadow. He heard them take their dogs deeper into this forest. He heard many Man animals moving. As the day passed he heard more noises. These noises were from his old forest. First there was the barking of dogs, big dogs, coming from the old forest. They were not chasing anything. Then from father away he heard other sounds of Men shouting. It sounded like they were coming from near where bear has his den. What would Man be doing there? There were no deer in that forest. He stayed still and listened. He heard the dogs run around on that hill all day looking for something. From their barking, he could tell they had found nothing. Bear must have left. He continued to hear the barking until near dark. Then came that high pitch bird call he had heard before. The barking stopped , they found nothing. After that, all the dogs and Men came back to the Man cave.

Toward the end of the day he started hearing killing stick noises from where the other Man cave was. There were not many, but they were near where the herd had gone to hide. He knew he was too far away to hear dogs from this distance. Still there were few noises from the killing stick. To him that meant Man had not found much to kill. If they would have found the herd, there would have been much more noise from the killing sticks.

During the night there was little wind. What wind there was came from the side of the meadow he had lived on. He was far enough away from the Man cave so the dogs could not smell him. For now he was safe. However all it would take was one dog to find his scent and they would be on him and he could not run. Right after dark he heard the noise of Man animals come into the meadow. Immediately there were more loud barking from big dogs. Man had brought more big dogs to hunt. That could mean only two things: either they were going to hunt on his side of the meadow forest, or they all be coming into this forest here looking for deer. They did not need the big dogs to hunt him, they must be going after bear. Man knew the bear was not where he usually was, so they would look elsewhere They would find Uttral. She had to be warned. He also knew what would happen if Man came while he was there in his old forest. It was wide open and he could not run away. He felt inside that it no longer mattered for him. He got up and started to make his way toward the open clearing they had met before their fight with Razor. He had gone only a little ways when he heard noise coming from the deep forest. Two familiar scent filled his nose. Two deer ran out of the forest and came up to him.

"Stranger, we found you."

He looked back at Stelar and Helos. Both look hot and sweated like they had been running a while.

"What are you two doing here," he called out. "Come the day Man will be here and kill every deer he can find. Get out of here and run back into the deep forest."

"We were searching for you," Stelar said running over to him. "You have to come with us."

"I cannot go," he said. "My legs hurt too much I can no longer go to the hiding place. The pain is getting worse. One way or the other soon I will be gone. Now leave!"

Helos look over at his side. "You do not look hurt. You can still come with us."

"I cannot run. All I will do is slow you down so you will die with me. I want you to go," he said. His side was starting to ache. "Is everyone else alright?" he wanted to know.

"Yes," Stelar told him. Stabo led the herd into the deep forest. Man did not get behind us. Only bad thing is Man is also using the other Man cave to hunt. Now please come with us," she begged.

"No," he said with finality. "I want you two to tell Stabo and Gena that I am leaving this forest. I am going back to my old home. I must warn Uttral. They will come after her tomorrow."

"Father, do not do that," Stelar cried out and come up and nuzzled him gently. "Man will find you."

"I must do this daughter no matter what happens," he said tenderly and kissed his daughter. "I just want all of you to know how much I care for all of you. Now go please."

"If you go there you will likely die," Helos said as if he did not already know.

"I know that. Nothing can stop that now. Tell the others what happened, especially Stabo. Enough talk, now get going."

Stelar did not want to go, but Helos pushed her back. Helos then looked back at him. "Thank you, Stranger, for everything," he said having trouble speaking. "We will teach our children what you taught us. I promise you that. One day I hope to join you and the others."

"Do not be in a hurry to," he said and then pushed the young male away.

He watched them both disappear into the forest. He was alone. Now all he had to do was leave the forest, find the bear, give his warning, and live through it. Seemed simple enough.

He walked away and traveled as fast as he could. The lesser light was setting by the time he got to the end of his forest. Day would be here soon. He had to cross the open space between this forest and his old forest. He walked out and as fast as his side would allow, he started to cross the open space. As he moved across the open space he knew the light wind would carry his scent toward the Man cave and the dogs there. Sure enough, he was about half way across when he heard the dogs starting to bark loudly. He did not see any light in the Man cave go on. He hurried onward until the pain in his side started again. Although still in the open, he had to stop and rest.

He did not lie down, he was afraid if he did, he might not get back up. It took a while for the pain to go away. He noted the first color of a new day in the sky. Soon they could see him and smell him. He continued to move on through the grass. As he got near the edge of his old forest, he could hear noise from the Man cave. The Men were getting up.

He put his head down and forced himself to move quickly. He got into the little cover of the burnt out forest just a full light shown through. He looked back at the Man cave through the barren forest. Several dogs were still looking toward him and barking loudly.

"Now all I have to do is find Uttral," he said to himself and continued on.

CHAPTER EIGHT: POINT OF ARRIVAL

You would think finding a bear in a barren forest would be a simple task. It was not. He had to walk well into full day light before he came across her scent trail. He moved as fast as he could away from the meadow and up the hill toward the top near where he used to live. The scent trail led him toward the place Bambi and him had escaped the dogs and Man long ago. He was still looking when he heard Man voices from below. Man was already out hunting. Man would be here soon.

He decided to take another risk. He stopped, collected his breath and call out as loud as he could. "BEAR," he yelled twice before he was exhausted. Below him he heard the dogs bark even louder.

He continued his climb up the hill. It seemed a lot steeper than he remembered it. He was exhausted by the time he got close to the top. There were more Man noises from below and then suddenly, the barking of the dogs became much louder. The barking was deep, these were the big dogs. The noise was moving. Man had let the dogs lose. There is only one place they would come. They follow the bear scent until they found his trail, then they be up after him. There was no way he could run away this time.

"URRRAAAAA," he heard from his left. He knew that voice: it was his friend bear. He moved quickly toward it. He was almost staggering before he came into a place with the remains of several old oak trees that were still barren. There he saw the two bears. He staggered up and almost fell over onto them.

"Stranger," bear called out. "What happened?"

He took in several deep breaths before he could answer. "Man went to your old den yesterday. They hunted all around it and found nothing. They are all coming here today. They have the dogs, the big dogs." That was as far as he could get before he had to start breathing heavily again.

"I know, that is why I left," the bear said. "I came around the edge of the forest to here so I would not be seen. I felt here might be safe."

He shook his head no. "More men came last night and more big dogs came with them. They all rested at the Man cave last night. They are coming here now. You have to run."

"Run where?" Uttral said looking around at the barren landscape.

He thought about that for a moment and remembered their old hiding place. "If you run along the top of this hill away from the Man path forest, you will come to the end of the hill. Between this hill and the other hill is a stream. Cross the stream and run up the other side," he told them and started to breath heavily again until he could talk again. "It is hard for Man to climb that hill from the meadow. You might be safe there."

The bear seem to nod. "I remember the place. We can all go there now," the bear said. "Come Stranger, Uttual."

He shook his head no again. "No, my friend, I am too old. I can no longer run. I am exhausted, and I can hardly move. You two go. I will stay here."

The bear looked at him in amazement. "If you stay here, Man and the dogs will find you. You will die."

"I know that," he said still breathing hard. "I do not think anything will prevent that one way or another now. My time is here. I can no longer run, and I can no longer hide. Besides, if I am here, it will give something for Man and his dogs to do, before they come after you."

From below he heard the increasing barking of the dogs that seemed to get louder. From their barking, he could tell they were still searching for a sign of them. He looked at both bears. "You both have to go now."

The bear walked toward him and nuzzled his long nose with him. "You do not have to do this?" he choked out.

"My choice now," he said returning the nuzzle. "Man will not be happy until he had his meat for burning. He will not be getting much with me. Now please go!"

The bear back away. He looked around and motioned to Uttral to leave. He then turned one more time to him. It looked like he had a tear in his eye. "Goodbye, my friend," he said tenderly.

"Thank you," Uttral said warmly. "I will remember this."

"Remember Stabo and the others," he called to them as they turned away.

"I will," they both repeated.

He watched them both disappear into the forest. He hoped they be alright. He was now alone. He looked around. He had always wondered where he would end up. This place was as good as any. He had been born alone, lived a lot of his life alone, and now it looked like he was going to die here alone. There was nothing to do about it now. He turned to face the meadow and then he lay down and tried to gather his little remaining strength.

It did not take long for the dogs to find the bear scent and follow it. He could hear them coming up the hill toward him, all yelling back to their master. "Here, they are here," he heard their calla. A short while later he heard the barking noise increase again. The dogs had found his scent. From the sound there were many dogs this time. He looked around him. With many dogs, they would try and get around him and attack him from the rear and try and pull him down. There were a few old burnt oaks behind him. It be difficult for dogs to get through them. He got up and stood with his back close to the trees. At least now he only have to fight in his front, and he still had his rack.

He had time to wait. He closed his eyes and thought about all those who had gone before him. Not just those he cared for like Claris, Bambi and Faline, but those he had not cared about like Kargus, Duro, Geno, and Carie. All those faces came into his head and with them the memories. Then he saw those still here like Stabo, Stelar, Stuben. It was like it all passed him by in an instant. He had done the best he could. It was now up to them. There had been much pain and happiness; perhaps that was the same for all creatures.

There was motion in front of hum that caught his attention. It was a large dog sniffing through the bushes looking for his scent. Three others followed him. It took only a moment for them to find it. They ran forward and in a few moments were in the same small clearing her was in. He looked at the four of them all there drooling from the mouth, barking loudly.

"Here...Here...He is here," they all yelled.

He did not know whether to feel anger at them for having hunted him down, or pity that they were all being forced to serve Man. He felt more anger at them just standing there looking so sure they had him. That sureness is what finally made him angry.

"Whoever wants to die first, come on. I am here," he bellowed as loud as he could and lowered his rack.

The four dogs just stood there barking like mad. Soon they were joined by two other dogs. They were all standing in a line looking at him. They were waiting for him to run or show weakness. At that moment they all pounce on him.

"Neer da yeeeer," he heard a Man call out from below him.

"Are you all so afraid that you are going to wait for your master to kill me?" he yelled to the dogs. He could see they did not know what to make of a deer that did not run or show fear.

One of the younger dogs growled loudly in anger and lunged at him. He caught him in his rack and threw him aside. He heard the dog whimper and then drag himself away limping on the front right leg. That action had just about exhausted him.

"AHH DAR ROOO," he heard a Man shout out near to him.

He looked up and saw a Man walking up toward him. He held his killing stick in two hands. He was dressed in those red and black skins he had seen before. He walked slowly up to the dogs and look to pet them gently. He then watched him slowly raise the killing stick. Once he used it, he be dead. In an act of pure desperation, he lunged with all his remaining strength at the Man standing there. He saw the shocked looked in Man's eyes as he pointed the killing stick at him. He caught the Man in his rack and pushed forward.

"BBUUUAAAAAAAA," he heard as he pushed the Man aside. At the same moment he kicked out with both rear feet catching one dog in the face.

He heard a loud snap from inside him. At that instant all the strength in his legs vanished. He took all his might to keep standing. He stood, head hung low to the ground trying to breath. He was spent. He looked at the dogs, who seemed as stunned as he was. He turned to face them. They took one look at him and four of them back away. One dog was still sprawled out on the ground but the other looked at him looking to tear out his throat. The large grey dog jumped forward. He was only able to lurch. He felt something impact his head and then a huge squealing noise from the dog. It had impaled himself on his rack. He felt his head pulled down and his legs gave out. He was pulled to the ground. The dog was still screaming, but managed to pul himself off his rack and ran away still yelping. He felt the dogs blood running down his side. It took a little while but he was able to stand and face the other dogs who were starting to approach him slowly. He stood facing the dogs. He head a small sound of something hitting against something when he felt something push hard against his right side just behind his front right shoulder.

"BANG!," came at the same instant..

He staggered, and fell to one side. There was a large pain near his left shoulder. He looked back and saw the Man on the ground holding something in one hoof. It was a small killing stick. He staggered for a moment and found he had no strength in his legs to stand. His legs gave out and he collapsed on the ground. As soon as he fell over, the remaining dogs all leaped at him. He felt many teeth and claws on his back and neck. This was it. He knew it and accepted that death had finally found him.

'RRRUUUAAAAAHHH," he head behind him and he felt as large presence near him. There was an immediate cry as two dogs went flying off of him squealing in agony. The other dogs turned and a moment later they were knocked aside also. He wonder what had happened until he smelled the odor of wet fur and fat.

"Bear," he called out weakly.

He saw a huge, dark, body leap over him and run straight at the down Man. As the Man looked up and he saw terror on the face of the Man. Man could be afraid like he had been. The bear reared up and brought his huge front paws down on the prone body of the Man. There was a huge crash and then the bear's huge body blocked his view.

"DAAAAAAAAAA," he heard a scream. The bear rose on his hind legs and he could see the prone body of the Man being held in the mouth of the bear. The huge mouth had grabbed the Man in side and lifted him high in the air and then with a toss of the large head, the body of the Man was flung down the hill. He last saw the Man flying away from him.

The bear turned quickly and came back to him. "Ahhhhhhh, Man tastes awful," he called out. Then bear saw him lying on the ground. "Can you move?" he pleaded.

"I can move some and he got up staggering. At the same instant he felt a choking sensation in his chest. He coughed up a large pool of dark red blood from inside him.

"Lean on me," the bear said and they slowed walked away from the small clearing.

He was feeling dizzy and he could also feel a cold stiffness moving up from his back legs. Every step he took, he could see more blood coming from his mouth and nose. He half walked and half staggered away from some time, he was not sure. Everything about him was a blur. Finally the stiffness in his rear legs came up to his tail. When it did, his rear legs stopped moving. He fell over onto the side of the bear and then onto the ground on his right side. His side hurt and he lay still.

"Stranger we have to move on," the bear said. "Man will be here."

"No, my friend," he gasped. "I have been struck by a killing stick on my left side."

The bear looked over at where the wound was. The huge head took one look and closed his eyes. "It is too deep for me to get too," the bear told him with his eyes getting misty.

"I know," he said, his speech was slurry. The stiffness was now coming up his back. He could no longer move his tail. The bear in front of him was getting gray. His vision was narrowing.

"Thank you again," my old friend," he labored to get out. "It is time for me to go. If you want, when I am gone, you can have me for a meal."

"Do not say that," the bear said. His voice was also labored.

"I said long ago, I would rather you than Man have me," he tried to say. By now the darkness over his eyes was almost complete.

"Better this way," he mumbled. It did not hurt much at all now. He looked now at the bear fading from his view.

"I hope you, your daughter, and my family remain good friend. If you see them, tell them I was thinking of them. Goodbye."

He felt a sudden weariness come over his body as if a he was suddenly being forced to sleep. He put his head on the ground and felt the coolness on the side of his face.

"Stranger" the bear seem to call from far away.

Those were the last things he felt and heard.

EPILOGUE: INTO THE RISING LIGHT

Stabo walked carefully through the forest of barren trees and burnt ground. It was still dark in the forest, but soon the greater light would rise with a new day. The forest he remembered as a fawn was gone, but he could see some signs it was growing back. He did see some signs of life coming from the trees. Many trees however looked dead and showed no life. He also started noting the greening of the ground near the bare trees. Some small bushes were starting to grow. Small trees were growing. Life would come back to this forest, but it would taken longer than he would be alive to be fully restored to what it was.

"Stabo, I have found some of his scent over here," Stelar said her head close to the ground. "It is very faint, but I smell it.

Although he had been reluctant to bring Stelar along with him, she had insisted she come. She even forced Helos to accept that. It was still early enough in the winter where her growing fawn would not bother her. As soon as be brought the herd back from their hiding place she had been bothering him to find their father. He did not have much hope of finding him alive. He never came back after he told Stelar he was going to warn Uttral about the Men. He doubted at his age if he could have lived through hunting. They had hoped after their racks had fallen out during the first part of winter that he would come back. They had heard the sound of many killing stick in this part of the old forest just after he left. That noise lasted several days. The fact that they had smelled bear meat being burnt had not added to his hope they find father alive.

"Stabo, many Men went his way," Stelar told him.

They followed the path for a while until he saw something that made him stop. There was a worn path of dried blood on the ground. He went up and smelled it; it had the smell of Man. This was Man blood. A Man had been hurt here. There was a trail of Man blood that went up hill. He and Stelar followed it until they came to a small clearing. In that clearing were many patches of blood. He smelled a couple and the scents was that of dogs. Then he heard Stelar cry out.

"No," she whimpered and turned quickly away from him.

He walked over to where she was standing and smelled at another pool of dried blood. He could clearly smell his father's scent. He closed his eyes and tried not to weep in front of his sister. It did little good.

He saw Stelar suddenly pick up her head. Just then an odor of wet fur and fat came across him. It was not the scent of the bear. It was Uttral.

"Uttral, it is Stelar and Stabo," Stelar called out.

A large back object came through the trees toward them at a slow walk. She looked alright. He saw no one else with her. She was alone and she walked with hesitation.

"Stabo," she growled.

He walked up to the bear and bowed his head slightly. "Uttral, we have come to look for my father. After he came to warn you, we never saw him again."

"Your father is gone," Uttral said. "I am sorry."

It was all he could do to keep from sobbing out loud. "What happened?" he asked her.

"Your father came here to warn me. My father had fled his old den and came here because Man had hunted near there. Stranger told us Man would come here and then he told us where to run. He was too old and could not run any longer so he stayed here. He told us that Man would kill him and in that time we could get away. Both my father and I walked toward the hill where you hid your herd several seasons ago. My father then stopped and told me to keep going. He said he would not let Man kill Stranger and went back after him. The dogs and Man had already found Stranger. My father attacked the Man and the dogs and hurt or killed many of them. It was too late for Stranger. He had been hit by a killing stick. He was only able to go a little ways before he fell down and died.

He closed his eyes that were watering heavily. "What happened to my father after that?"

"It was strange," Uttral went on. "He told my father that after he was dead, if me or my father wanted to eat him, we could. Better us than Man eating him he said. My father could not do that. He dug a small den near here and put Stranger into it and then covered it with dirt. This way Man would not find him or burn him. As my father told me, Stranger came from the forest and now had gone back to the forest along with Claris, Bambi, Faline and all the others. If you want, I can show you where it is."

Stelar looked at him and he shook his head no. "It does not matter where he is," he said in a low voice. "He is gone and that is all that matters. Thank you Uttral."

"Is your father here," Stelar asked.

It was Uttral this time that wept openly. "After that, many Men and Many dogs came. I think they were angry that my father had hurt or killed a Man. They came after us. They went all through the forest. There was no place to hide from them. My father told me to leave the forest and follow the stream to Bambi's old forest. He said hide in the open area next to the hills. He then stayed and when the dogs and Men found him, he fought them. I did not see that. I only found a spot with a large pool of blood with my father's scent in it. My father is gone now also."

"No, the bear too," Stelar said and openly wept.

There was nothing more to do. Both of them were gone now. He hoped where ever they went they would all be happy now. He did not know. He still had a herd to take care up and new deer to teach. He walked over very close to Uttral.

"My father and your father believed that we could help each other. I am still willing to do this if you want. Your father and my father were good friends no matter how strange that sounds. I will be your friend if you want it."

"Me too," Stelar said.

Uttral stopped crying and looked at them with a smile. "I would like that very much. I am going to go over the hill to the other forest to dig a den and hunt, and I will be back after my winter's sleep. If you two wish to approach me, I will not harm you. You will teach this to your children and I will teach this to mine. In that way, the best of our fathers will go on. My father said his purpose and Stranger's purpose to be here was to make things better for all that live in the forest."

"That is what they both wanted," he said.

"Yes," Stelar agreed.

"Thank you for coming," Utrral said and turned away.

In the increasing light of a new day he watched her walk away. He was happy now. He found out what he needed to know. As his father had said, the old would pass and the new would take over. That was 'The Way of All Things he liked to say. They may have all passed, but not all was lost. What they taught would go on. He felt comfort in that.

"Come Stelar, it is time to go home," he called to his sister.

She followed him also smiling now. He looked down the hill across the meadow. The light was coming up over the hill as they moved down to their forest. He was sad, but he was also happy. Uttral was right. Not only their fathers, but the best of all of them would go on. He took more comfort in that thought. With greater happiness than he felt for a long time, he walked down the hill and into the rising light.

THE END

---