fawns. You turn up here again and I will let him kill you. The Stranger was right. You have learned nothing of what we taught you. You are as bad or worse than my own son Geno. I threw him out of my forest; I am now throwing you out also. Go and do not come back."

Delon got up and was limping slightly. He was breathing hard looking to attack Bambi, but Bambi was ready for him. By now Stabo had come up and also looked ready to pound him. Delon turned and without a word started to walk back into the forest.

"Do not come back, Delon," Stabo repeated. "You are no longer welcomed here."

"What is new about that," Delon blurted out. "I will come back if I feel like it."

"You come back and you are dead," Stabo said emphatically."I will follow you to make sure you go."

Stabo followed Delon into the trees and they both disappeared.

Bambi then turned to his namesake. The young male was on his feet looking not much worse for wear. "I am sorry," he told him. "I could not let you kill him. If he comes back then you do what you want."

"I am sorry too," Young Bambi said. "I lost my temper."

"That happens at times. I know all about that feeling," he said. They all smiled.

Stabo came back just before the rising of the greater light. "I followed him until he went past the clearing we found Razor's males in. I told him again what would happen if he came back. He said nothing. I do hope he listened because next time, I will kill him or I will let Young Bambi kill him."

"I know and again I should not have done what I did," Bambi said bowing his head. "That was the duty of the herd leader."

"Do not worry about it," Stabo said "I was not offended."

"I am only sorry that now I will have to raise those fawns without a Father," Young Faline said. "I had hoped when they were old enough Delon would teach them. I had hoped he would remember what you taught him and maybe change. As it was, I was too hopeful."

"And I was too hopeful," he added. "Other than Delene, nothing much came out of that part of my family," he said. "Like you I had hope for Delon, like I had so much hope for Stena."

"I know," Stabo said. "I knew she was most like you, but in some ways she was different. She let Carie cloud her judgment. "I just hope we have seen the last of both of them."

"Do not worry about training your fawns," Young Bambi said. "I will be training mine and they can learn with them."

"Thank you, brother," she said and nuzzled him.

"Speaking of hope," he said. "It is getting toward light. I hope we can get sleep today."

"They all agreed and slowly walked back into the shelter of the forest.

Chapter 3: Reactions

At first they did not notice it, but shortly after Delon was chased out of their part of the forest other strange deer started to show up. It was Stelar who noticed it first and first made inquiries with the deer. Although she and Helos usually ate in the deep forest clearings, one night they brought themselves and their fawn into the clearing where the rest of them were eating.

"Stabo, can I talk to you for a while?" she asked respectfully "There is something going on in the forest you need to know about."

They all stopped eating and started to gather around them. "What is happening, Sister?" Stabo asked.

"Have you all noticed we are having new deer show up in our herd?" she asked them all.

"I have seen a couple of deer I do not know," Young Bambi answered. "I did not pay much attention to it."

"It is not a couple of deer, there are several," Stelar went on. "They mostly stay in the deeper forest, but Helos and I have noticed them. Not just single deer. There are many doe with this year's fawns."

"Where are they coming from?" Stabo asked.

"Helos and I talked to them," Stelar answered. "They are coming from the forest near the other Man cave. They are leaving because of Delon."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Very sure," Helos spoke up for the first time. "There are some males, but mostly doe and fawns. When I asked them where they came from they said they came from where Delon was. When I asked why, they told me Delon is trying to put the herd together by force now. He is making them all call him leader. They say before he would listen, but they told me that since Delon returned from his journey, he is different. He listens to no one and argues with everyone. They also noticed he was battered."

Stelar then spoke up and with certainty in her voice. "One thing for sure, Bambi, he hates you and is openly saying he will strike back at you the first chance he gets. He says much the same about you, Stabo."

"This is starting to sound all too familiar," he said out loud.

"That is not what bothers me," Young Bambi said. "It is how he may strike back. I do not worry about him attacking myself or Stabo, but he may attack our fawns or doe and maybe even you three."

"What Bambi says is correct," Stabo spoke up sounding very seriously. "Bambi please come with me, I want to talk to you alone."

With that the two large males left their clearing talking in very low voices. Stelar turned and said. "I am sorry to bring you all trouble."

"Not your fault," he said. "You only reported something to the herd leader that may hurt the herd. That is what you are supposed to do."

He then looked at Bambi and he nodded his head. Both of them understood what needed to be done. If he was three years younger, he knew exactly what he do. Now with his age and injuries, he could no longer do it. Neither could Bambi. This will have to be dealt with by the new generation. That was the one thing he hated most of all about getting old. It robbed him of his actions. They went back to eating before Stabo and Young Bambi returned.

Stabo looked directly at Bambi and bowed his head slightly. "Bambi, I am sorry, but your advice to Delon is not being listened to. I am not going to allow him to attack our doe and fawns."

"What are you going to do?" Gena asked.

"That depends on Delon. Both Bambi and I are going to find him. If he will not listen to sense, then he will have to listen to force."

"What force?" he wanted to know.

"However much force is needed," Young Bambi said. "Stabo and I are leaving now."

"Father, may I ask you and Bambi to look after the herd until we return. There should not be much going on."

Both Gena and Karene did not look happy. This was going to be trouble he knew. Unfortunately, like Razor, he knew this was trouble they could not avoid.

"When you go, stay together," he told him. "Do not allow Delon to do to you what we did to Razor."

"Understood, Father," Stabo said.

"He walked up to his son and rubbed his forehead. "I know what you must do, so do it. Protect the herd, you have done it before. Remember, Delon is young, foolish, but he is not stupid. Be careful of him. If we were younger, Bambi and I would do this. I feel Delon is my responsibility and I should be the one to do this, but I cannot any longer. Go quickly and silently. Remember Delon may have friends too, but I doubt it."

"I understand, Father," Stabo said. "We will be careful."

They both left quietly from the clearing. They were still mostly in shock at what had happened. He walked away feeling completely useless again.

News of Delon and what happened spread among the herd. Not just the senior males, but many of the doe asked him if Deleon would come back and cause trouble. He told them honestly, he did not know, but Stabo and Young Bambi would handle it. Several days went by and he could tell things were on edge. Gena told them it was like when they knew Razor was coming. Most deer did not know what to do. The vast majority would not do anything unless they had too. There was the one bad thing about deer. Most of them only knew how to run from trouble. Very few would go and seek trouble out to learn about it or to try and stop it. Most would just run and hope to get away.

It was night several days later when he heard calls from the woods. "Here, all come here," he heard. It was both Stabo and Young Bambi calling. At least they were alive.

"Why are they calling for a gathering?" Bambi wondered.

"I have no idea, you think they discuss it with us," he answered confused himself.

He looked back at the doe and the fawns. None of them looked to know what was going on. He got up and started to walk toward where he heard the call come from. It took him a little while to get there and he was one of the last to arrive. He looked around at the gathering and noted that just about everyone had come. He decided to stay in the back and let Stabo and Young Bambi run this. Soon Stabo walked into the center. He immediately noted he was limping and his side was bruised. He could see cuts on his chest. He had been in a big fight and he could guess with whom. Young Bambi also looked a little worse for wear with minor cuts on his flanks. He did not like the look of this.

"My friends," Stabo called out. "I am sorry to have called you here with no warning, but there are matters to be discussed and it is important you hear about them."

After the murmuring died down in the herd, Stabo went on.

"As you all know Delon came back here a while ago and tired take back by force his

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