Miracles of the Forest

Part 1: Messing with Destiny

Chapter 2: "The Young Prince"

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The buck strode effortlessly through the dense undergrowth, his ears cocked forward. His sides heaved gently, for he had been running the entire time. First to the herd, whom he warned with a loud stamp of his front hooves. The meadow was transformed from a silent, relaxing nap area into rush-hour traffic. The young buck ran around wildly at the back of the herd, making absolute certain that all of the deer, fawns included, made it out of the meadow and into the safety of the forest.

Afterwards, the young buck turned and bounded right back to where he and his father had been browsing just moments ago.

Now, he russtled through the leaf litter, gingerly lifting his legs high over the thorny bushes that grew across the trail. He suddenly froze, left front leg in midair, when he heard noises coming from somewhere nearby. His eyes widened and he flared his nostrils, but did not breathe in. He didn't move an inch. He stood still as a statue, waiting. The disturbance ceased and was replaced by the sound of the humming cicadas. Releasing a breath of relief, he continued moving gracefully along the trail.

Geno was 3 years old now, and sported an impressive rack of velevty antlers. They stood tall over his head and showed off 6 glorious points. One point more than his father had at that age. Geno smiled as he remembered how proud Bambi was that early spring when those illusive 3rd points popped up on each antler. The thought of making his father proud made Geno giddy inside. Without realizing it, his careful walk morphed into a bouncy trot, and finally, into a playful canter. With a jovial chuckle, Geno floated effortlessly over a large log in his path and landed neatly on the other side.

That's when he heard the sound again. He quickly came to a halt and froze once more. He flattened his ears. Something was definitley following him. Geno had been taught to work past fear, a feat which took him over a year and a half to accomplish. Pushing aside the fright, Geno lifted his head tall and scanned his surroundings. He saw nothing. He closed his eyes and dug his hooves into the ground. Yes, something was close to him, but for some reason, he just couldn't see what it was. He opened his eyes again and quietly side-stepped to the left. He continued until he was now facing the log again. Then, he began to back up.

"Watch your back." Bambi would always say. "Never let your enemy take you off guard. Be ready to face him."

Geno squinted his eyes, trying to see through the shadows. He saw no enemy. The the sound of feet scuttling through the underbrush was unmistakeable. Something was coming right for him. Geno lowered his head and hunched his shoulders, ready to catch the enemy in his waiting antlers, when upon a sudden Geno could hear a snap from above. This was followed by a loud crash and a yell. A tree branch had snapped under the weight of the intruder, and the strange animal came tumbling down from the tree and landed right on Geno's back.

In an instant, Geno's bravery vanished. With a pitiful squeal, he pulled his head up with such force, he reared upon his hindlegs and threw himself back. Unbeknownst to the buck at the time, he was standing on the edge of a semi-steep embankment. His feet slipped off the slick slope and down Geno went like a cedar tree. He landed hard on his shoulder (just inches from crushing the intruder, who still clung to the buck's back with curved claws), flipped and crashed to the undergrowth at the bottom of the embankment. When Geno's body flipped, the invasive creature lost its grip on Geno's hide and went flying across the embankment, finally coming to a stop when its head was caught and became stuck in a hole in a tree.

The whole ordeal ended swiftly. Geno, with legs sprawled out from under him, opened his eyes cautiously and looked up at the little creature with its head stuck in the tree-hole. Geno growled and quickly composed himself after struggling to his feet.

"Stinkweed!" He shouted with anger at the skunk, who struggled to pull his head free. "For the love of Mother Doe, what the hell were you thinking?? You scared the pellets outta me! What if my father had been watching?"

The skunk freed himself from the tree with a loud pop. With a groan, he rotated his head around his shoulders until he heard a gratifying cracking sound. He sighed and turned to face his fuming friend.

"Sorry, pal. My head was stuck in that tree. All I heard was the words ''mother" and 'pellets'." The skunk spoke in a voice that seemed far too deep and raspy to belong to the furry little critter. "Try repeating the whole thing again."

"Oh nevermind." Geno snorted. "What were you doing up in a tree anyway?"

"I was racing that jabber-mouth bunny. Thought I'd get better milage if I raced her by tree. Did I beat her?" Stinkweed looked around curiously.

"I haven't seen Bumper today. So yes, you beat her. Congratulations. Now if you'll excuse me..." Geno gingerly stepped around the skunk and attempted to stride off.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Stinkweed called as he scurried infront of Geno, clawed up a large rock and leapt onto Geno's back.

He relased some of his skunk musk upon landing. Geno made a face and turned away from the stench.

"Ugh, jeez..." He grumbled.

Stinkweed laughed. "Whoops...sometimes those little ones just squeak by, you know what I'm sayin'?" He gave an unattractive, throaty snicker.

"Go away, Stinkweed. I'm busy." Geno barked.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Too busy for your friends, too busy to have any fun, too busy for does...you know, your father and I still question that." Stinkweed insinuated with a raised eyebrow. "You do like does, don't you?"

Geno rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving now."

He took a few steps when Stinkweed suddenly jumped up, grabbed Geno's fuzzy antlers, and yanked back on the buck's head. This stopped Geno right in his tracks!

"OW!" He yowled.

"Ya can't go yet!" Stinkweed shouted at the upside-down face of the now very aggitated young buck.

"Why not?!" Geno shot back.

"We have to wait for Bumper!" Stinkweed insisted.

Geno pulled his head free---or rather, used his strength to lift Stinkweed from his back to the top of his head as the skunk kept a tight grip on Geno's antlers---and glared up at the skunk.

"What for?"

"We gotta tell you something." Stinkweed murmured as he kept his eyes locked on the bushes below.

They waited for a few moments, but no rabbit came from the underbrush.

"Can't it wait?" Geno sighed.

His response was met with an angry stomp from Stinkweed's hind paw.

"No, it can't wait! It's important!"

"Can't you just tell me?" Geno whined again.

"Well, I could..." Stinkweed's voice changed from ugrent to calm. "But I'm not as good at this as she is. Bumper has a way of breaking bad news..."

"Bad news?" Geno suddenly threw his head forward and down, slaming Stinkweed to the ground between Geno's hooves. "What bad news?!" He pinned the skunk to the ground with his antlers.

"I don't know the whole story!" Stinkweed yelped.

"Then tell me what you do know!" Geno pressed his antlers down even harder.

"Your dad, your dad!" Stinkweed gagged. "Your dad's been shot!!!"

Geno pulled away, his eyes wide with worry.

"Wha...what?"

Stinkweed lay gasping on the ground, but Geno didn't care. He reared, spun on his hocks, and bolted away. Within seconds, he was gone.

"Wait!" Stinkweed sat up. "He's fine! Geno!!" But the buck was already far away by now. With a grunt, Stinkweed laid down again. "This is why I don't do bad news..."

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The young buck flew through the forest without wings. The only thing driving him was the image of his maimed father engraved in his mind. As he continued to search, the scent of blood filled his nostrils. His pupils became tiny dots lost in the fear-stricken whites of his bulging eyes.

"FATHER!!" He began calling wildly. "FATHER!!! FATHER, WHERE ARE YOU?"

Geno was coming upon a large log that lay in the middle of the trail. Beyond that was a bit more forest, but the treeline gave way to the river. With flattened ears, Geno approached the log with determination. He leapt, and sailed over the obstruction with ease. He landed on the other side, and after a few more strides, Geno was forced to a stop as he came face to face with his father.

"Geno!" Bambi said cheerily. "What in the world are you doing running around the forest screaming like that?"


Geno stood before his father, shaking.

"Oh, father..." He gasped. "What...what