forest."

"You are going to chase us out at the start of winter?" he told him bitterly. "We would both die in the hills during winter. You know that. No, Bambi, I am not going and neither is Claris. Not this time. Do not try and chase us out. The others better not try and run us off the meadow. I will fight you or anyone else if you try."

"I know!" Bambi yelled. "If I do not try and chase you out, then I will look weak before many of the others. I will no longer be herd leader. If I try and chase you out, then we will fight. I am not sure who would win. I am sure the loser will likely be dead and the winner will not be in much better shape."

He stopped and hung his head. Bambi was right, come or go, there was only pain ahead for all of them. "Look," he said regaining his calm. "I am not taking Claris out of the forest during winter. I will also not allow myself or Claris to be chased out of the forest. In the spring, after our fawn comes, and it becomes strong enough, we will go over the hill. There is another herd there."

"I will see if that will do," Bambi said, "But many want you gone now."

"That is the most I will offer," he told the large deer.

"I know," Bambi said and walked back toward his cave.

He watched him go and turned to face Claris, who said nothing, but tears flowed down her eyes.

There was another way he knew. "Look, if I go now, the others will not throw you out," he said his voice choking up. "They will allow you to stay. The Season is over and you can live near Bambi and Faline. By myself I can survive in the hills. You can live here in the forest. In the spring I will come back after the fawn comes and then take you both out of here. If I stay, Bambi or I may have to fight and I do not want that."

"NO!," she said. "I go with you. I will always go with you. You are the only thing in this forest that makes me want to live here."

His chest tightened. He gently put his face into the smooth warm fur along her side and wept in frustration.

Chapter 8: The Price of Forgiveness

They were alone. They avoided the herd, they avoided the meadow, they avoided everyone they ever knew and they stayed up near the hills alone. They left their place he had bred in and walked away to a place near the hills. There were almost no deer there. For now there was still plenty of food, but that would change when the snow came. He also figured that if he avoided the other deer, there would be less call for the two of them to be run out of the forest. His idea was to remain hidden as much as possible from the other deer until spring when the new fawn came and then leave, again.

The Season had passed. Soon he knew he lose his antlers and the call to remove them might be less. It didn't matter, he had made up his mind he was not going and he was prepared to fight and if necessary kill anyone who tried to force them.

The idea of being an outcast again did not concern him greatly; he had been one all his life. He could tell it bothered Claris much more. Even though she had been ignored by the herd as an adult, she still felt a part of it. A part that was now forever broken His hurt was not that he had been shunned, but they had taken it out on Claris because of him.

His great overwhelming desire to be with Claris had vanished with the Season. He could sense it had done likewise with her. He still felt warmth when they were together. He still wanted to be with her. In truth she still had strong feelings for him. But it was also true she had no place else to go. Like it or not they had been cast together.

They lived apart from the herd for many days, then as the air was getting colder they heard new noises from the meadow. There were more Man noises. Not the noise of before, but different. At the rising of the lesser light there was lots of yelling. It was much louder than before and that yelling had many voices. They seem to yell the same thing at the same time. There was also the yelping of many dogs. Man was here in great numbers this time. At least there was no Man scent near them. As the night went on a new scent of smoke came to them from the meadow. This scent was different. It was combined with the scent of more burnt animals, only this scent was too familiar. Man was burning deer like he had smelled when he lived in the Man cave. It made him want to empty his stomachs on the ground. It horrified Claris who had never smelled it before.

The next morning things became much more serious. He heard the noises of Men going into the forest. They went past the place they had lived in. They moved toward the deep thicket and Bambi's cave. It sounded as if Man was trying to move through the forest after all of them. Man was noisy; he crashed through the forest like the large lumbering bear. Man's scent carried effortlessly through the woods. The others could easily keep away from that.

The light was still rising when he heard a loud noise, "HIIYAAAHEYY HHOWNOWWWW" from many places in the forest. It then repeated over and over. It sounded like they started high on the hill and were walking down toward the meadow. Although this was frightening, the noise did not seem to be coming near them, it sounded is if it was moving more toward Bambi's cave. There was also the sound of dogs yelping in the deep woods. He did not know what was worse the putrid odor of man, or the odor of wet fur, and blood of the dogs. He and Claris lay down hidden near some pine trees and bushes to wait. There would be no sleep for them this day.

Sometime later he heard a crash and caught a familiar scent. He stood up and saw a doe and a fawn running past them. They were running away from the noise; they were running straight toward the meadow.

"Stop!" he called out. "Do not go into the meadow, Man is there."

Whether or not they heard him, he did not know. They flew by him like he was not there. A while later he heard the loud noise of the killing sticks. He looked down toward the meadow. Suddenly he saw what Man was doing.

"Claris, they are chasing the herd and the others to the meadow. On the meadow there are Men with killing sticks. Once the herd gets to the meadow they will be in the open and Man will kill them."

"No," she called out. "They will all die."

Then he looked around him. There was no scent of man here. There were no Man noises. Here it was safe. The others did not know that. The others had to be told, and he knew how to do that.

"Claris, I am going to call the herd here," he explained. He was interrupted by more killing stick noise from the meadow. "If I call the herd here, they may be safe."

"Man will hear you," she said, "And come here."

"No, I will call a few times and then we will go that way," he pointed with his nose away from the meadow toward the deep woods. "Get ready to run."

He stood up and after being certain no Man was near them he stated to call out.

"HERE….HERE…Come HERE," he called at the top of his voice. He repeated it many times until he felt dizzy and had to stop. "

"Lets us go," he said to Claris and they started to leave for the deep woods. They moved quietly, not hearing anything around him except the Man noises in the distance. Then he turned and called again many times. Then they waited. For what seemed the longest while there was nothing, then he heard a crash. A young male flew past him not stopping to say a word. Others followed near them and there were more he could only smell. Some had heard him. The killing stick noise from the meadow became quiet. He then caught sight of a familiar figure of a large male and his doe followed by an older fawn.

"Bambi, Faline," he called out.

Bambi heard him and pulled up. He looked around and then came over. "That was your call," Bambi said,

"Yes," he said and explained what Man was doing. Bambi listened, no sign of anger at him and Claris now.

"Thank you," Bambi said sounding sincere. "You managed to save most of us, but some were chased into the Meadow and died there."

By now the wind shifted to blowing down the hills again. They could not smell or hear anything coming from the meadow. They waited together and saw many deer run past them into the forest by the hills. A few looked at them as they ran past, but most were fleeing without much notice. He then saw Ronno and Marol, Ronno stopped and looked at them.

"Thank you for calling us here," he said to Stranger. Then he looked at him and Claris for a second. "I am sorry I acted as I did," he added. "I blamed you for Kragus' death. Perhaps that was not proper. You did help save us today."

"Thank you," he said. He noted the smile on Bambi's and Faline's face, but it was nothing as compared to the expression on Claris's face. Was he forgiven, he hoped so.

Ronno and Marol continued running up the hill and away from them.

"I only hope the others feel like Ronno," Faline said out loud.

"So do I," Bambi added. "You helped us with Man today, Stranger. That will not be forgotten."

"Hopefully there is no Man…." He started to say.

He felt a great weight push into his left frank." BAAMMMMM," he heard at the same instant. It sounded almost on top of them. He thought a deer had charged him. He fell sideways against Bambi and almost knocked him down.

"Run!" Claris yelled and three of them ran away. He stayed behind. For some reason his left leg wouldn't move right. He mouth was full of a strange taste like he was licking on a rock. He tried to

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