well, Man will be here tomorrow. He will try and get behind you and chase you into the meadow where you will die. Where you hide and what you do is up to you? I am waiting with the rest of the herd on the top of the hill. I hope to see you later. That is if you all still alive."

He turned and walked away silently, all the time listening just in case one of them wanted to charge him from the rear. None of them moved a muscle.

He ate near the edge of the forest and drank from the stream before empting himself out. He then climbed his hill and found Balo and told him what happened.

"You don't think they would try something like Razor?" Balo asked.

"I do not think they have the courage," he answered with distain. "Still keep a watchful eye on them. In the mean time Man will hunt here tomorrow. We need to get ready.

"I have been telling the others about not running into the meadow," Balo said. "I also reminded them not to allow Man to get behind them."

"Good," I want to discuss something with you, Stena, Claris and Carie when this is over." With that he left and went back to his family.

He found them standing just outside the forest looking at the other forest off in the distance.

"I have often wondered how the deer there live," Claris said.

"Most likely much like us," he answered. "We can think about that later. Right now Man will hunt here tomorrow. We must be ready."

Man did hunt in the forest and did come up their side of the meadow almost to the top of the hill before yelling again. They went down the hill, but he did not hear any killing stick sounds. That means they were not driving any deer downward. After the greater light was overhead, he heard man going up the hill in the far end of his forest near where Duro and Sinno lived. Again there was shouting and this time he heard dogs running loose. Soon he heard the dogs barking loudly as if chasing something. The noise moved from the end of his meadow across the far side near to where the bear lived. He heard one dog yell out and then another as if in pain. A little while later there were Man noises near where the bear lived and this was followed by many noises from the killing sticks. All he could think about was the bear. He knew bear might be there, or he could be over the hill. He just did not know. He could not do anything about it now. All he could do was save the others in his herd. As the greater light went down, again the Men went back to the Man caves and started shouting. He walked alone to the edge of the meadow and looked. It was too far away to see plainly, but there was meat burning and some of the scents smelled like it came from a bear. He swallowed hard.

He circled around the far side of the meadow being as quiet as possible. The wind was blowing from the Man caves so he knew the dogs would not smell him. He waited until he got below the bear's den and started to climb upwards. As he approached the den he called out, but there was no reply. As he got closer he picked up the one odor he hated to smell, the earth like smell of blood. He stopped and cautiously approached the den. There were fresh odors of bear, but more than one. He could smell his bear and another.

Near the den he smelled a large pool of blood. He took in the scent through his noise. It did not come from his friend the bear but from another. There was something else. It smelled of a deer, a deer that had also spilled a lot of blood. He followed the odor and found it led to a deer laying dead on the side of the hill several lengths from the den. He got closer and he could see it was Sinno, but he was not killed by Man. He had huge claw makes on his neck and side, and his insides were spilled out onto the ground. Sinno had been killed and partly eaten by a bear.

"This idiot and the others lead Man right to my den," he heard from in front of him.

The scent of the bear he knew filled his nostrils. The bear was down wind of him so he could not smell him. "What happened," he asked

"The dogs came. My mate knocked two of them away, but Man came with his killing stick and killed her."

"I saw it and smelled it on the way over here," he said. "I am sorry she is dead. You killed Sinno?"

"Yes, that idiot and his two friend brought Man here and now my mate is dead. I wanted revenge so I took it. I will finish eating him later. Where the other two are I do not know, but I got their scents. I know they are part of your herd, and if I smell them again, I will kill them."

"They are not part of my herd," he explained, and told the bear what had happened.

"So if they would have listened to you everyone would still be alive," the bear growled "The idiots," he repeated.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, the dogs never found me. They smelled Ura and went for her," the bear went on.

"Can I approach you?" he asked.

"You did not cause this, I will not harm you," the bear said and came into the open.

He walked up and smelled the bear. He smelled fine. "The deer you want is named Duro. He approached me and told me he should be herd leader. I told him he could challenge me at any time."

"If I find him, he is dead," the bear growled. "Ura was the only female in my territory. I am getting too old to go out and fight for a new one."

"I know, we are all getting old," he said.

It was then he caught another scent. It was a deer and it was approaching. The smell was familiar and he realized it was Stabo. What was Stabo doing outside the Man path forest?

"You son is coming," the bear said with equal astonishment. "What is he doing here?"

"I do not know, but something must have happened. Can I call him here?"

"Yes, again he did not cause my pain," the bear answered.

He bleated once loud enough to be heard close by, but not loud enough to be heard in the meadow. Stabo bleated back and came up the hill. He stopped at the den and he could see and took in the odor of the blood. Stabo walk up to them and saw Sinno's body on the ground and looked at him and the bear.

"I am sorry to disturb you," he said in a low tone. He could tell something else. Something had upset him and it was not this. He dropped his head. It could only be one thing"

"Who was it this time, Stabo?" he asked.

"Father, Veron is gone," he said choking up. "He was killed by Man yesterday," he said. "I told mother and Balo and they told me you had come this way. I knew this is where you be."

"What happened," he demanded to know.

"You know after his injury he could not run as fast. He was getting better, but he had not fully recovered. Man brought dogs and they managed to get behind us. We were fleeing away from the end of our forest that is near the Man cave. We knew Man be there. Man had dogs, the big dogs and they started to chase us. Veron could not keep up. He stopped and two of the dogs attacked him. He told Alana and his son and daughter to keep running. He managed to fight them off, but before he could run Man came up. Veron tried to get away, but he could not run fast enough. Man used his killing stick on him. He died quickly."

"Did you see this?" he asked.

Stabo shook his head, "No, Alana did and she told me. There were others that got chased into your meadow and died. Most of those who were killed came from the other forest. It was not a good day. Between Man's shouting and the dogs, several of us are gone."

He dropped his head and almost started to weep. Veron had been right. The many deer in the Man path forest had brought Man. Now he had to think of something to do.

Chapter 9: Aftermath

It was just after the greater light rose that Stabo and he made it back to the clearing. Young Bambi, Gena, Young Claris, Claris, Carie, Stuben, Balo, Stena, and Delon were all there. He was surprised at the gathering. It had been many seasons since the family was all together. All were looking sad. He went to each and nuzzled them and then spoke.

"Stabo has told me. I am sorry it had to be Veron. I watched him grow up; he was like another son to me. The first thing we must do is make a plan for the Man path forest. He then turned to Gena. "How is Alana doing?"

"Not well," she said. "Alana saw the whole thing and there was nothing she could have done, yet she partly blames herself."

"There was nothing she or anyone else could have done," he said. "That will pass in time. The next thing we must do is have a herd leader for the Man path forest. Stabo there is only one deer who I see that can do that."

"I know me," Stabo said grudgingly. "I do not want to be herd leader. If I did I would have stayed here."

"I know," he said. "I never wanted it either; I got it just the same. You have it now and you will have it for a while because there is no one else to do it."

Stabo took a deep breath. "You are right of course, Father. I just wish I had help."

"For now you have Balo and me, but you are right we do not have a lot of deer that have been trained to be herd leader except you, Balo, Stena, and Gorro. Young Bambi, I do not know how much your Father was able to teach you."

"He was teaching me," Young Bambi stammered, but with the other deer coming and his injury, I did not get much training. I am not ready to take over if that is what you mean."

"No, you will not be ready for at least two seasons so you have time to learn. Delon and Stuben also need to start learning."

He could see Carie

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