NBambi stared out on the half grown cornfeild. "No way," he bleated for what felt like the fiftieth time.

"Are you scared, Bambi?" Campion dragged the word 'scared' out significantly.

"No," BambI lied quietly. "Course Not." 

"Here's the idea," Salvia said, "The corn is young right now, but not too young: It'll be easy to get. You up to it?" The little buck fawn nodded. "Good. Now, the farmer has some little dogs. They won't bother us but they go crazy if they see us and the farmer will come see what's going down, so we need to be careful for that."

"They are SO annoying," Campion interjected, sounding pretty irritated. 

"But what if they see us?" Bambi asked.

"Well, the farmer can't kill us. But he WILL shoot at us or let his bigger dog off his leash." Salvia told him.

Bambi stared in horror. Terrible memories, bullets, the sound of guns and scent of dogs. "I-I.... I d-don't think that.... that we should be doing this."

"Why not?" Campion smirked.

"I...I have horrible experiences with...these things.... with man...." Bambi turned, but Campion frowned and got in the way.

"C'mon, Bambi." Campion stared at him.

"Campion, leave him be. If Bambi doesn't want to, he won't have to," Salvia stared at the larger buck, with a coldly stern look. "But I will. Bambi, I'll get you some corn." Salvia turned and leaned down, crawling into the corn stalks. Campion glanced at Bambi, looking slightly disdained, and trotted after her. Bambi stared for awhile, frowning.

I shouldn't follow them. It's dangerous. There are dogs. Dogs kill fawns. Not hurt, kill. He shuddered, staring in after them.

Excited yapping suddenly broke out, and the fawn heard the light sound of the small canine bodies moving in the stalks.

Ronno and Faline

--------------

Ronno backed up, his green eyes huge. Faline had never seen him look scared before... and certainly not absolutely horrified. But at the sight of this... animal, even the Great Prince himself would be terrified. This monster animal could be described only as semi-cervine. It was a buck, Faline could tell that. But his antlers were terribly misformed, with points dropping down from the main beam and twisting in abnormal directions. He had scars cutting through his coat on his legs, throat, shoulders and rump. Faline backed up. "Ronno, we... we should, um, leave... now..." she whispered, her voice ending in a squeak. Ronno nodded, very slowly, in like a rabbit breaking a transe and turning to the instinct to run, he suddenly turned sharply and took off with unbelievable speed. The terrible buck turned toward them and unable to stand there, Faline took off after Ronno, feeling his gaze burning into her back.

After awhile the two finally stopped. The two fawns were gasping for breath. "He... he... he was... absolutely...." Faline breathed, her blue eyes massive. Ronno was a red-brown blur in front of her.

"...Terrifyingly..." Ronno appeared to be groping for a word. "Strong."

"Strong?" Faline stared at the little buck. "Are you saying you admired that monster?"
"Why wouldn't I?" The other questioned, frowning. "He was-"

"Dangerous," Faline cut in. "We shouldn't even get anywhere near that creature."

"You don't know him," Ronno argued. "He might be okay. Maybe he just looks scary, but really isn't."
"You are not serious!" Faline's tail flashed up suddenly. "Did you not see those scars!?"

"Maybe he had a fight with a pack of dogs," Ronno argued. "Like when the Great Prince when Bambi froze on the meadow."

"Ronno, those didn't look like dog marks," the doe shook her head. "They looked like something from a fight with something else. I'm not sure. He isn't safe, and that's that."

"Fine then. I'll just check it out on my own." Ronno snorted and bounded off. Faline stared after him, but by no means followed.

Bambi

----------------------

Bambi darted off into the corn without a thought. He wasn't thinking about the time on the meadow or his mom's death now, he was thinking about his friends. The estatic barks followed and the sounsd of a man's anger echoed them, along with shots and larger sounds - heavy, deep howls. The fawn took off more quickly. "Salvia! Campion!! Dogs!!!" He bleated as loudly as he could. A fawn crashed into him from one side.

It wasn't Salvia. Far too heavy.

And not Campion. Way too rough.

Who was this new fawn?

Bambi looked at the fawn that had barreled into him. He was muscular, with a very pale coat and a very dark back-line. He had a hostile look to him. "Shut up! D'you wanna get caught!?" he snapped.

"Um, I...I... um... S-salvia and... and Campion..." Bambi stammered, shocked by the savageness of the fawn.

"They're out. Come on!!" The buck fawn turned sharply and ran off, not even looking at Bambi twice. The smaller fawn tripped to his feet, scrambling after the stranger. A small dog with thick fur and a ringed tail that lay over its back appeared near him, yapping in high-pitched, sharp barks. It dove it's muzzle at Bambi's legs - and tried to lick them. Bambi tripped in confusion, but then regained his footing as the yowls of hounds cut through the air.

After awhile, Bambi was out in a hollow under the roots of a tree. He was gasping, and Salvia's ears were still shaking. The other two bucks looked fine. "Salvia? Are you alright?"
"Y-yeh..." She swallowed and nodded. The pale fawn frowned.

"Not from what I saw." he muttered. "You're hurt, aren't you?"

"N-no, I'm fine, really." Salvia shook her head, but Bambi could tell now that her striking yellow eyes were glazed over. Campion stood up and walked a circle around Salvia.

"Your leg..." he said. "It's hurt. Bad. Can you stand?"

"Yes, of course!" Salvia tried to get up, but fell back down with a bleat of pain.

"You can stay here." The Pale buck was flat in speech and blunt in his ways, and rather bordered on unpleasant. "There's no predator around, and not one that can get to you."
"Thanks and all, Birch, but, you didn't have to tackle Bambi." Campion spoke in an irritated fashion, as if he didn't like this pale fawn. Bambi immediately saw why - their personalities clashed in a major way.

Birch rolled his eyes. "Sure. Whatever. What do you need, Salvia?"

She stretched her leg and winced. "One of those dogs got me by the hoof and I tripped hard. I think the muscle is sprained."

"Yah, and what do you need for it?" Birch repeated, sounding irritated with her thinking out loud.

She took a shuddering breath. "Campion, Bambi, Birch. Are you willing to risk your neck to help me?"

Bambi twiched his head but Campion and Birch made a clear consent.

"Marigold."

They froze.