males. One came up and put his head down in an invitation to spar. Geno did not look interested, but put his head down and let the yearling charge him. The yearling tried to push him back, but between Geno’s strength and his teaching, the yearling male could do nothing. A simple shift of Geno’s weight to his back legs and a rapid lung forward forced the young male back several lengths. That ended the contest.

“Your son is strong, yet seems reluctant. He is also skilled like your Father was,” Relnor told him.

He explained to Relnor what had happened in his herd and what Geno had done. Relnor did not criticize either of them and did not seem afraid. Instead, Relnor nodded with a grim understanding.

“It is bad for one so young to have to kill. Still, I can understand why. However, he seems to have drawn the interest of others.”

He looked over and saw several of the yearling doe talking to Geno. Some even came up close to sniff him. Geno took it all in stride. If he wanted, he knew his son could have the pick of those doe.

This seemed a nice place to stay until things got better at his herd. “If the herd leader does not mind, I and my family would like to stay for a while?” he asked. “I will have to get back. Soon Man will come and I have to prepare my herd.”

“You are welcome here,” Relnor said looking happy. “Perhaps I can ask you some questions on how to prepare a herd for Man.”

They ate in the meadow. His fawns played with the other fawns in the field running and chasing them around. Over the following days, it became apparent that both Gurri and Geno were different from the deer here. They knew the skills on how to survive with Man and the other threats that the others did not have. That drew the attention of the yearlings and three season deer. It was obvious that with the training both he and his Father had given them, both of his children were looked up to here. They also acted differently than the others: more carefully, walked more quietly, especially when in the open. After three days with the new herd, Relnor came up to him.

“I had heard how wise your Father was,” Relnor said looking at both Gurri and Geno showing the other deer what they had learned. “I wish he could have trained me like he trained you and your children. Now I am too old and I fear I see no one from my herd to replace me when my time comes.”

“Both my children can help you if you wish, especially Gurri. Most males will not listen to a doe, and in the past, this has angered Gurri. She actually left my herd because no one would listen to her. Sadly, that was true even with me. I now see I made a mistake with her. If your males do not mind learning from a doe, she can help you. My son is also smart, but he is still too young for a senior male. In another season perhaps he will ready, but not now.”

“What of the other male with Gurri?” Relnor said.

He smiled, “That is Kelo and he has never been trained. Gurri found him on her travels through the forest. He is learning the same as your deer.”

“I will ask my herd males what they think,” Relnor told him. “Then we will talk again.”

It was like when he was a fawn and yearling himself and following his Father around. Only now, the other deer followed him around and he showed them some of the ways to vanish. The biggest thing he told them was if Man came again, to go deep in the woods and not to go near the big open meadow. Most of the males listed to him and Geno, but there were still problems when it came to learning from Gurri. The yearlings would speak to her, but none of the older deer. As one of the herd males, Tino told him: ‘Doe are meant to be bred, not to learn from.’

It was two days after later after the great light rose; he heard noise from near the large open meadow. It sounded like Man noises. A little later, Geno ran up to him. He could smell the sweat on his body and two other faint scents of doe. Geno had been spending time close to two doe. He could only smile and realize his son was growing up.

“Father, Man is on the meadow. I saw them, there were many,” he said.

“Did you see any dogs?” he asked.

“No, but there were more Men coming so I am not sure,” he said.

He looked at Faline and the two fawns. “Take the fawns and go deep into the forest away from the meadow. Man will try to chase us into the meadow where he will kill us.”

“I understand,” she said and got up. The fawns followed her away from the meadow.

“We need to find Relnor and your sister,” he told his son.

“I know where Gurri and Kelo like to sleep,” his son said. “I do not know where Relnor is.”

“Tell your sister to go deep into the woods. Man must not get behind us and chase us out into the meadow.”

“I understand,” his son said and ran off.

There was no time to search the forest for the herd leader. The only thing he could do was call out and hope the big deer heard him. He bellowed three times and then started toward the deep end of the forest himself.

Occasionally he would call out again as he traveled into the deep woods.  Finally, he saw the big deer with his three other senior males standing next to some tall oak trees. He ran over to him.

“Man is in the meadow,” he told them. “If he is hunting, he will try to drive us into the meadow where Men with killing sticks will be waiting. We need to go deep into the forest so Man does not get behind us to chase us.”

“I understand,” the herd header said and the let out a bellow of his own. “GO!” he called out. “Go into the forest.”

He and the herd leader than ran until they could hear nothing. Then they stopped and listened. It was not long before they heard it.

“HEEEEEYYYYYYYY, HEEEEEYYYYYYYY,” Man shouted in front of them. Man also banged on something to make a lot of noise.

“They are trying to drive the deer to the open meadow,” he said in a low voice.

The yelling when on for a while and then he heard it. “WHAMMM, WHAMMM, WHAMMM, WHAMMM,” came in quick succession from the meadow. Man was using his killing sticks on something. Then everything was quiet again.

They waited a while and nothing more happened. He hoped Faline, the fawns, Geno and Gurri were all right, but he was not going to call out again with Man so near. He would wait until night. He spent the rest of the day sleeping with Relnor and his males until it was past dark. Only then did he call out.

First Faline and the two fawns appeared. All seemed fine. He nuzzled her gently along with the fawns. Both fawns wanted to play and he allowed them to play with him for a while.

“We hid in the forest. We heard the shouting from Man,” Faline told him in her smooth voice. “That danger did not come near us.”

A while later Geno appeared with two yearling doe with him. “By the time I got there, both Gurri and Kelo were gone,” Geno told him. “I followed their sent for a while and it went into the woods. I found some other deer running around and told them to run into the forest. I think they all did it, but I did not stay to find out. I took my friends here and we went into the forest and hid near some pine trees. No one came near us. We stayed still until I heard your call.”

Geno went to lie down and the two doe lay next to him. Faline smiled at him and he had to admit his son had found two nice looking yearlings as his companions. It was only sometime later that Gurri and Kelo showed up. He could tell she looked disgusted.

“As soon as I heard the sound on the meadow I knew it was Man,” she told all of them. “I knew what to do so I fled into the forest with Kelo. We came across several deer and I told them to flee. Some of the males did not listen to me, but most did.”

“One of the males told her that he did not take orders from a doe,” Kelo said. “He told us there was no more danger now than before. We left him and two others.”

“You can only warn,” he told his daughter loud enough so all could hear. “If they do not want to listen to it, you cannot help them.”

He then turned to Relnor. “I think we should stay in the deep forest until we are sure Man is gone,” he told him.

“I agree,” Relnor said and called his herd together.

In ones and twos, they all slowly showed up. Soon, around them became crowded with deer. When everyone seemed to gather Relnor spoke up.

“Man is in the forest. As long as they say in the meadow, Prince Bambi from the other herd thinks we should stay here so Man cannot chase us. I agree with him. Does anyone have any questions?”

There was silence from the herd. Then Relnor spoke again. “Is there anyone missing?”

He did not know the herd and did not know. The other deer milled around for a while before someone called out. “I do not see Tion, Gurion, or Roon.”

Relnor looked at him. “Those four males always stay together. I think they were waiting for something to happen to me so they could take over the herd.”

“I do not think that will be happening now,” he said remembering what Tion had told him.

“Those may have been the deer Gurri tried to warn,” Kelo said.

“Maybe they should listen sometimes to a doe,” Gurri said. She did not smile, but he could see inwardly she felt no regret at what happened.

“I think maybe we should all listen more to some doe,” Relnor said aloud.

“Doe can learn too,” Geno spoke up. “Just look at my

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