meadow and walked past the little clearing he stopped and sniffed the air making sure no one was about.

"Something is not right here," he said in a low voice. "I used to live in that forest before I came here. There were many deer that lived there and there was always plenty of food. Now suddenly there is no food there. Some of those deer were close to starving."

"You think they are lying?" Balo asked suspiciously.

"No," he said. "They had the scent of the deer that live over there, and I did not detect any falsehood in their talk. No something has changed in the other forest and changed for the worse. If it is that bad over there I am afraid these may only be the first to come to our forest."

"If too many come over there will be little food for us!" Stena realized.

He nodded his approval. "You are correct my daughter. We must keep a close watch on this. Tell me if you see or smell any new deer on the meadow. Do not discuss this with the others."

"Do we do anything now?" Claris asked.

"No, for now we watch and see," he told them. "Now it is getting light and I am tired. Let us get some rest while we can."

"With that they parted and he went back to his bedding area. Carie fed Stuben and walked him around the forest until he emptied himself. Then they all bedded together with Stuben again slipping in between him and Carie. They all soon fell asleep and rested until the greater light had almost set.

That night on the meadow the seven new deer came back, each doe had a small fawn. When he looked at the fawns he was shocked that they were all so thin. It was still late spring. There was still plenty of time before The Season and winter to have them gain weight. They came early and ate for a long while. He waited until they looked finished before he and Balo went over to Relno again. He seemed to relax more this time.

"I am looking at those fawns," he said sounding concerned. "They need to put on weight or they will not survive winter."

"I know," Relno said. There was not much grass in the forest where most of the deer eat so there was not much milk."

"Well you will find plenty of grass here, so eat hardy," Balo added.

"Thank you," Relno said with a bow of this head. "Some of the doe are already starting to look better and there is more milk for the fawns."

"I used to live in your forest and there was plenty of grass," he said to Relno, but loud enough to be heard by the others."There was a big open meadow with a large stream that ran through it. There was lots of grass there."

"I know," Relno said. "I remember hearing the older doe talk about the strange deer that lived with us before disappearing over the hills. That was in the better seasons."

"What happened?" he wanted to know.

"Razor came and killed the old herd leader and then he and several larger males took over the herd. He told us only they could eat on the meadow. Everyone else had to make do with what they could find. When my brother was caught on the meadow, although only a fawn himself, he was slashed by one of the males."

"That is stupid," Balo said.

"Yes it is, but many deer have more muscles than head," he said thinking of Tarro in Bambi's forest."Well we do not do that here."

The next night he saw four new deer on the meadow. They were in the same shape as the others. One doe had newly made wounds on her side. When he questioned her, he was told she had been kicked by one of the lead males for trying to leave the forest. The following night two more new deer came. Now he was getting concerned. It seemed like the entire herd would find its way to his forest. The new deer mostly stayed together, but they did move closer to his herd. Once they knew he wasn't going to chase them out they relaxed and became friendlier. All told him the same story. Razor and several males were trying to control the entire herd over there. It was flee, and maybe get killed, or die of starvation for sure.

That was the last of them. Over the next few nights no one new came to the meadow. He kept watch, but he saw no new signs of deer. Two nights after the last group showed up Balo finally said.

"Do we do anything about this?" he wanted to know.

"As long as we do not get any more coming over, I would say no. He knew his herd had many deer. His herd numbered two for every three deer on the meadow. It would mean using most of the meadow and that meant eating closer to the Man cave which made him nervous.

Although he kept his eyes open for new deer, he saw none. Slowly Relno and the other started eating closer to his herd. It was not very long before they started to fill back out and the fawns looked much healthier. It was several nights later he got a surprise. Veron walked out of the forest and into the meadow. It was the first time he had seen him in this forest since he left. Both he and Balo walked quickly over to him.

"Veron, I am happy to see you," he said and nuzzled his forehead.

Balo did the same and he returned the gesture of friendship. He then looked around and seemed to get very serious. "Stranger I need to talk to you and Balo alone."

Balo and he looked at each other, both of them concerned at Veron's serious tone. Something must be wrong. "Come with me," he said and ran into the forest not stopping until he got near the old Oak.

He smelled around and satisfied they were alone, he nodded. "Veron, what is wrong?"

"Have you had any new deer come into your herd recently?" he asked.

"Several," he told him. "They all come from over the hill in the other forest. There is a group of males making life hard for the rest of the deer."

"I have had many come to my forest. I am concerned about that. If too many deer come, it will bring more of Man. Right now the herd is small and so Man does not bother with us. If there are many deer, we will have Man all over the forest come The Season."

Veron was right. Man did not hunt in places where there were few deer. "How many have come?" he asked.

"About as many that went with me when we started," Veron said.

"What about food?" Balo asked.

"We have plenty of food; all we have to do is go deeper into the forest to get it. It is not the food that I am worried about. It is Man."

He thought about this for a while. What could he do? If they chased the deer back over the hill, they most like die in the next winter. If they stayed here, then what Veron was afraid of could easily come to pass, not only in the Man path forest, but here as well. No matter what, he would not send deer away to die of starvation.

"Veron, I do not know how to stop this," he said. "You have seen those deer, they were starving. It was come or our forests or die. If we send them back they may all die and I will not be responsible for that. Your Father would not allow it either. You will need to spread the herd out more so not all of them live close to our forest."

"That is where I sent them," Veron explained, "But deer like to be together so they are always coming into the area where we live in. And that is not all," Veron added. "There have been sightings of large males in my forest. So far neither Stabo nor I have seen them, but others have. They seem to be looking for these deer."

"Most likely the males in charge of that herd," he realized. "This may mean trouble if many of them come around. We might have a big fight in our forests; a fight we will be outnumbered in."

"That is what Stabo told me," Veron went on. "I need your advice Stranger. If my Father was near I would ask him."

"I know," he said letting out a deep breath. This was serious. Those males could come here and kill all of them. He could fight well, but he knew he could not fight that many at once. Stabo and Veron while good fighters could not fight that many either. If more than three came at once, it would be hard for him and Balo to beat them by themselves. Stabo and Veron were in the same condition.

It was then he smelled Claris approach from the meadow. She was walking in a hurry. He bleated once so she could find him. She trotted into the small open spot looking out of breath.

"Stranger there is a large male standing at the other edge of the forest across the meadow. I am sure he is not from our herds and he looks too healthy to be trying to run away from the others."

"It starts," he said. "Claris get the others off the meadow. Go now!"

Claris took off at a run heading for the meadow. He turned to face Balo and Veron. "You two come with me. Let us see what this male wants."

He led them away at a trot and came into the open of the Meadow. There across the meadow stool a large male. Not quite his size, but as large as Balo or Veron. He had a good rack that was growing out. He moved toward him with Balo and Veron behind him. As he got closer the deer noticed them and started to study them closely. The male didn't move, he didn't say a word, and just stood there and stared at them. When they got more than halfway across the meadow the large male turned quickly and ran up the hill without a sound. This deer knew how to move.

"What was that about?" Balo asked.

"He wanted to know if this herd was defended. Now he knows for sure it is and by how many. He will go back and tell whoever sent him."

"Do we go after him?" Veron asked cautiously.

"No, not now," he answered "Did you see how he

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