harem and a raging instinct to protect her unborn fawn, whether it be male or female: She wanted its father to stay out of it's life so he could not poison her fawn's mind. "Where will we go?" she gasped.

"I..." Herla trailed off.

He doesn't know! Faline suddenly felt like a hunted rabbit. She was terrified. She had nowhere to go: If she stopped, Nacht would catch her. She faced Winter's coming wrath if she wandered to nowhere.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in her mind. A light of kinds from her past.

Bambi.

"Herla," she suddenly spoke more strongly. "Follow me. I know where we shall go."

----

It had started to rain heavily. "Trar! Trar!" The voice was clear and strong, that of Huckleberry. Trar shot up immediately, alerted by his voice. This buck was one who did not bother him on petty matters.

"What's happened?" Trar stood and ran out to meet his captain. He immediately recognized the two gored bucks next to him: Clovar, Bankfoot.

But no Herla.

Where was Herla?
"Herla and Faline have a made a break," Bankfoot told him, trying to sound confident. Trar saw his legs shaking.

"We have to go after them," Clovar urged. But Trar could not quite think straight. Of all the bucks in the forest to defy him! This one, this one - Herla! A buck picked by Nacht - no, Nacht's first choice to guard one of his more treasured does. Herla, of all deer, betrayed him! This buck, who had not only fought for him, asked to fight for him, but had killed for him, put down several attempted rebellions -

Herla had thrown it all away.

"Trar?" Huckleberry awoke him from his angered, almost grieving thoughts. Trar nodded.

"Get Firestorm and Shaed," he snapped. "Those are your two best trackers. If anyone will track in the rain, they will. Huckleberry, you shall go with them. Bankfoot, go get Nacht. Clovar, you shall alert the guards of Lihua what has happened to be sure it will not occur there too." The bucks took off. Trar could not believe this was happening.

Soon, Clovar and Huckleberry returned with their appointed bucks. Nacht spoke first. He did not seem to mind his drenched-through coat. "My doe escaped? How did this happen!?" He sounded enraged.

"Nacht, calm yourself," Trar snarled. The two had become more disagreeable since their quarrels over Lihua. "We shall get her soon enough. I have a plan: Firestorm, Shaed, Huckleberry. You shall find them and bring them back."

 ------

Faline led Herla, who seemed content now to follow her blindly. He had lost a good amount of blood now and it would take him time to recover. Finally, after running an open moor, unprotected from pouring rain for over an hour, trees came into view. "Hold on," Faline gasped to Herla, "We're almost there."

Finally.
Faline and her injured friend were among the trees. She collapsed where she stood, Herla putting his bulk of weight between her in the wind. He was gasping in pain.

Suddenly a buck was standing over them. Faline looked up pleadingly in fear. "Please," she sobbed, "Don't hurt us or turn us out."

"I won't." The voice was unfamiliar. "But come. I must send word to the Prince, then a decision will be made." He led them to a sheltered overhang, hollowed from under the roots of a massive tree. Herla looked content with the warmth and shelter in the cold Autumn rain. The buck ran off.

Faline stayed awake, examining Herla's wounds carefully. She realized that Clovar and Bankfoot had done their job too well: He had a few deep incisions, where somehow, the other two bucks had accidentally gored him deeply and he bled heavily. She sighed and laid her head on her protector's back.

Eventually, the buck returned. "You can stay here," he told her.

"We need someone to stay here with us," Faline begged. "We've escaped from oppression. We're in danger." The buck nodded.

"Very well. I know of a few Sentries who patrol here, so no one shall come through." the buck told her.