Chapter 8: Parings

Following the gathering, life in the Man path forest became almost normal. With Balo, Stena, Delon and Young Faline leaving for the deep forest and Carie and his son Stuben leaving for the forest over the hill, quiet finally descended on them. The two herds joined peacefully and Stabo and the younger Bambi spread them further out as not to over graze the grasses near them. Things went well. The new herd accepted Stabo as leader and seemed to have no problems with the younger Bambi taking over one day. As for the four of them, they settled into a much easier life, which was good. His side improved, but it still hurt when he tried to run or eat a lot. He knew it would never fully heal.

The four of them found an open clearing near where they fought with Razor and decided to call it their home. It was well shaded and near heavy brush. A stream ran nearby and around them were enough grasses and eatable leaves as they did not go hungry. The other deer treated them respectfully. He spent his time helping Bambi with Galin and Galene. Both Charlene and Koren kept nearby. The younger Bambi and Karene showed up to learn more. He did not take part in anymore mock combat because his side hurt too much, but he could still show them things so he still felt somewhat useful. However he was still sad. His son and daughter were gone, likely forever. What bothered him the most was they never saw a sign of Stelar. He could only think she had not survived the fire as did maybe ten more deer and fawns who were missing.

Summer passed into to fall and again their antlers grew out. Bambi's rack was still large despite his age, and his rack, while smaller than before, was still of good size. The younger Bambi grew a rack that was as big as anyone else in the forest and may have been a little larger than Stabo's. He had just started to feel his antlers itch when one morning he was awaken by distant noise.

"Wham…..Wham…Wham," he heard echo through the forest. It came from deep in the forest. The noise woke them all.

"Killing sticks but far away," he told them. "It is still a little early for Man to come for us."

"What are they doing?" Faline asked.

"It is near the time for Man to hunt the larger animals like bear. Maybe they are after them. One thing for sure, unless they get a lot closer I am not going to see what is happening."

That night after sunset they met Stabo, Gena, Koren and Galene in a clearing the often ate in. "You heard the killing sticks?" Koren asked.

"Yes, but they are far away," he told them.

Soon afterwards Galin and Charlene and Bambi and Karene came into the clearing. Galin walked up to them. "I walked deeper into the woods last night and after the rising of the greater light, I heard the sounds of the killing sticks."

"We all did," the elder Bambi told him.

"Did you also hear the noise like someone pounding on something? It was a noise that sounded like things hitting each other. I never heard anything like it. It was far away, but I could hear it."

"That noise sounds like the noise Man makes when he comes to his Man cave to get ready to hunt us. It is not from the old Man cave, it is gone. Stabo, do you know if Man built another Man cave nearby?"

"Not that I know of, Father," Stabo said.

"What do you suppose all the noise means?" Koren asked.

He could think of only one thing. "It might mean man is building another Man cave there. If so it means Man will hunt more in this forest when The Season comes."

"That would be bad for us," the younger Bambi said. "Is there some way we can know?"

"Only by looking for ourselves," he told them. "I can no longer do that with my injuries. I cannot walk for that far without resting too much, nor can I run if I have too."

"We can," Koren said. "We can go there and look and come back and tell you."

"Yes we can," the younger Bambi added. "You have taught us how to approach Man. We can do it at night so Man will not see us."

"That is dangerous," Stabo added. "If you are seen, you are likely to die."

"All part of being a herd leader," Koren said with a grin. "We can leave tonight."

"What about us," Karene said.

"A smaller group is less likely to be seen than a large group," he told them, "The fewer that go with them the, the better for all."

"So we have to stay here and wait to see if you come back?" Karene said not looking pleased.

"That is part of being the mate to the herd leader," Claris said coldly. "Something I know about."

He watched Faline smile and nod her head. Yes it was worse for those that stayed behind. They had to worry about what would happen if those who went did not come back. The only thing the ones that went had to care about was staying alive."

"If you wish to go, I will not stop you," Stabo said.

"Just be careful both of you," Gena said with a plea.

"Of course we will," Koren said. "Right now I have a good reason to come back," he said with a smile and then kissed Galene on the side of the face.

"Just remember what we taught you and do not take any unnecessary chances," he reminded them.

Both Koren and the younger Bambi left that night. As they disappeared into the darkness he looked and swallowed hard. "I hope they remember," he said out loud.

"You told them what would happen if they did not," Bambi said. "They had to do this some time."

"I was wondering if I should have gone with then," Galin, said quietly.

"No," Bambi said. "You are not ready for this and the bigger the group the harder to stay hidden. Come, let me show both of you some tricks on approaching Man. Stranger can you help."

"I might as well," he said. "I feel useless here."

The training continued that night and for four more before the two of them returned. He was starting to get worried when while they were feeding both Koren and the younger Bambi walked quietly into the clearing. They approached with the wind in their faces like he taught them. He did not notice them until they were almost in the clearing. Both looked healthy and seem no worse for their experience. Both Karene and Galene both ran to them and greeted them not like friends but as mates. It was heartening to see they really did care for each other.

Things went well," he said.

"We are safe," Koren said. "At least for now, but there is much to tell."

"We have not eaten much the last few days and I am hungry. Can we talk after we eat?" the younger Bambi asked.

"Of course," Stabo said. "We will all go over to my clearing and have a long talk after we eat and drink."

After they ate, they all went to the larger clearing and lay down. Even Kena, Gena yearning child was there. Gena fawn Kela from this year lay at her mother's side and promptly went to sleep.

Koren stood up and started. "The best place to start is our trip. We walked for a full night before we heard the banging noises again in the morning. We moved toward the noise carefully and then stopped as soon as it was full light. We found the Man Cave that night. It is as big as the one that burnt down outside of our forest. We saw no Men with killing sticks there, it was all dark. It did not look like it was done so it seemed to us they were just making it."

The younger Bambi stood up. "Near this Man Cave the Man path leaves the forest and runs into the open field that goes as far as we could see. There were many Man animals there that left after the setting of the greater light. At no time did we see any of the Men in the forest. No Man we saw was using killing sticks or hunting."

"That means Man will hunt in that part of the forest when The Season comes," he said. "Please go on."

"We left just before the rising of the greater light just as we saw the Man animal return with their glowing eyes. We went deep in the forest and kept the wind in our faces. We picked up no scent of Man for that day."

"After resting for the day we then looked around the forest for any sign of deer," the younger Bambi continued. "We found some, but not many. The first deer we found was my mother."

"She is alright?" Stabo asked.

"Yes, she had found a new male and had a small doe fawn with her. She also told us that she had seen both Balo and Stena. They are now living there. Balo is trying to form a herd, but so far not many deer are joining. My mother had not seen any sign of Delon or my sister. We spent a day with my mother and then came back. We did not go looking for Balo and the others."

"That was a wise move," Bambi said nodding his head. "You have answered our questions. It does not explain the killing sticks we heard, but they were far away. I think you to have done well."

"I agree," he said. "Thank you both for that. You are now starting to see just what a herd leader has to do at times."

Both Koren and the younger Bambi beamed in appreciation and were immediately kissed by their perspective mates. Everyone smiled looking at the next couples.

"Does that mean Man will not hunt here?" Stabo asked.

"I think so," he answered. "Only you cannot be sure with Man. We will have to wait until The Season to see where Man puts up his other caves. That is where most of the killing sticks are put."

"So if Man does not put up his caves where he usually has before,

1 2 3 4 5 6

Next page