as the greater light first appeared. The few males he saw were standing around trying to look unconcerned, but always looking toward the bottom of the hill.

"Stranger," he heard Claris's voice. He turned and saw the two of them lying in a hollow in the ground behind some trees. He walked over and lay down between them.

"Did everyone come?" he asked Claris.

"No," she said sounding worried. "All of the doe and fawn came up, but some of the males said they would not come. I think they wanted to show they were not taking orders from someone as young as Balo. Several did come when Balo said he was telling them what you told him too. One of the three year olds said that this would not be necessary to do if you did not keep warning the bear and left. Two more went with him."

"Stupid," he said. "Is Balo, Stena and Delene here?"

"Yes they are over by the bushes they hid in when they were fawns," Claris told him. "What do we do?"

He looked at her worried face and the increasing light from the greater light and just shook his head no. "We do nothing, it is too late to go after them" he said flatly. "They made their choice; they have to live with it."

They all lay there until the greater light shone brightly. Then they could hear the sounds of the dogs moving below them. The dogs barked loudly. They first started at the meadow and worked their way into the forest. He listened and for a while he heard nothing more. Then as the greater light was overhead, he heard a change in the barking. It became more forceful. They were chasing something. He heard the noise go across the forest below. They were moving fast after something. After a while he heard another change in the barking. It was like the barking when the dogs attacked Bambi and him. The dogs were calling their masters. Then he heard a squeal from one of the dogs and then a loud scream from a deer. That was followed a short while later by the noise of a killing stick. Then he heard the dogs going back toward the Man cave. By that time the greater light had vanish and the sky was dark and there was silence again. It was then he made up his mind what to do.

After dark the deer got up and moved around. He found Balo, Stena, and Delene together. He approached them; Stena looked shaken. She looked at him, "That was one of us who screamed," she told him.

"Yes," he answered. "Stena I want you to leave Delene with your mother. Carie, Stena and Balo will follow me. There is something I must show you. I warn you, it will not be pretty or nice to look at."

With that he lead the three of them quickly down the hill toward where he heard the scream. He was searching for a particular smell. He knew the smell from the time he was hardly more than an infant. As they got close to the base of the hill he smelled it.

"Smell that," he told the others. "It is the one scent you never want to smell."

"It smells like a deer and something like when we empty ourselves," Balo said.

"That is correct, but there is something else. None of you have smelled it before. That burnt ground like smell is blood. Now come with me. He led them on for a while until he saw the first streak of blood on the ground. "That is something else you do not want to see. That is blood from a deer."

He then led them on past that until he came to a place where there was an intense odor of blood, and filth. He saw parts of a deer lying on the ground, mostly the insides he knew Man did not like to eat. There was a stench there that was almost overpowering.

"Look at this," he ordered. "This is where a deer died. He was chased by dogs, tried to outrun them, got tired, and the dogs caught him and started to rip him to pieces. Man came with his killing sticks and killed the deer. Man then cut him open, took out his insides, and took the rest of the meat. Do you understand? This is what Man does to us."

He thought Carie was going to be sick. Both Balo and Stena turned away. He knew it was unpleasant. He was surprised the scavengers had not found the remains yet.

"Look at it," he ordered. "You must understand this to understand what I have told you. In the past whenever Bambi and I had to discuss something like this we walked away from you to discuss it in private so we would not upset you. I now see that was a mistake on my part. It is a mistake I am correcting now. Now here is the other thing, what has happened here to this young male can happen to any one of us at almost any time. The only things that protect us are our speed, smell, hearing, sight, and the ability to move quietly through the forest like a breeze. Without these we would be helpless before Man. This is what I saw as a fawn when I was growing up, and this is why I tried to train you so hard so none of you would end up like this."

He stopped for a second so they could take in what he said. "This deer did not plan to die today, but because he was stupid, he did die. He died in agony being eaten alive by the dogs, that is until Man came and used his killing stick on him. None of us plan to die, but we will. This is also why we must have others ready to come forward when we are no longer here. Take a good look, because this is what likely will happen to us unless we are very careful and very lucky."

"He then stepped back and waited for anyone to say something. Carie finally did spit out some cud and Balo and Stena looked at each other in horror.

"Now come with me. It is getting late and I have one more thing to show you tonight," he said and then headed toward where his forest was closest to the Man path forest. He led them near the meadow, but still well inside the trees. He smelled another odor he expected. He got as close to the Man cave as he dared and let them look across the meadow.

"Smell the air and look at the fire the Men are nearby," he said. "Balo and Stena have smelled this before, but you Carie have not. That smell is burning deer flesh that was cut off that dead male. The Men are burning it to eat later. That large fire is where they are burning the flesh of that dead male. Do you all understand?"

"You wanted to show this to me, why?" Carie said looked at him with a mixture of revulsion and sickness.

"To show you what Man does to us," he explained "It is so all of you will understand why we must be careful, why we must lead the herd wisely, and why we must always have others ready to come up in case we end up like this. There is no kind way to show this. This is how I learned."

"I thought I understood, but now I am not so sure," Balo said to no one. "In fact now I am not so sure I want to be herd leader."

"I never wanted to be herd leader," he told them. "Bambi left and I had to do it. I had no choice. One day Balo you may have to be leader because you will not have any choice. The herd must be led, and must be led by deer who understand what will happen if it is led poorly. This is what will happen," he said and pointing his nose at the fire. "Only it will happen to many instead of just one."

With that he started to walk away up the hill. "Come; let us be off before Man or the dogs find us here."

He lead them back up the hill and it was just after day began that they all came back to their hiding places. On their way back no one had said a word to him. When they got back Carie went to a place to sleep by herself. Even Balo, Stena and Delene slept far away from him. He lay down next to Claris and she moved close to them. Claris looked at Caris and saw the look on her face.

"Stranger, what happened?" she asked with concern.

"I had to show them the truth," he said and tried to force himself to sleep without much success.

Chapter 10: New Tricks and Old

The rest of the summer passed quietly. The herd spent this time in getting as much nourishment off the meadow as possible before the rigors of The Season, the hunts that would follow and the winter came upon them. Over the next few days he managed to scrap the velvet off his antlers. Both Claris and Carie told him he had a fine rack. Balo did the same, and his rack too was large and would get larger next year. Soon afterwards he again started the feel the building up inside himself of the pressure of the Season. He could clearly smell the season in the scent of his daughter who gave off a powerful scent of a breeding doe. Carie then did the same, but poor Claris felt nothing and gave off no scent of a breeding deer. Finally he was forced to admit to himself that Claris would never have more fawns. This saddened him greatly.

He was happy that a four year old male tried to challenge Balo for Stena. Balo saw the older deer off with little trouble and not much damage to either. No one even tried to challenge him. After being cool to him for a while after the first hunt, Stena and Balo came around and at least treated Carie with respect, but little affection. He heard nothing from Stabo and the others. After his lessons, Balo again avoided him; not because of Carie, but because of their rising feelings with the upcoming Season. It was better if males stayed away from each other at this time. It was Claris he felt sorry for. No one would be with her during this time. He solved that problem by calling the herd together and telling them he like all the new fawns to spend the time of the Season in the small clearing and safety. He then got Claris to watch over them. In that way she felt useful.

As soon the scent in the forest were strong enough and there was fighting on the meadow and in the forest, he called the herd together. He told the fawns to go with Claris and