looking at her wondering when his nose smelled it.

“Man is here,” she told him.

Her mate shot to his feet looking at her. She listened carefully and heard no sounds. She walked forward toward the open field when Kelo stopped her.

“No,” he said. “We never move toward Man you told me.”

“Yes, but the other deer need to know to flee,” she said. “Man is not near us or we would hear him.”

She walked carefully forward picking her way carefully among the trees. The wind was blowing from the open field and even though she smelled smoke, she did not smell Man. They traveled slowly until there came to one of the clearings. This was as far as she would go. She lay down on the ground at the edge of the clearing. Kelo lay down next to her and waited.

A short while later she saw both doe and young males moving away from the field. She barked and called them over and told them to go hide in the forest. Soon she saw Relnor and his senior males come into the opening. She stood up and went over to him.

“Man is here, but it does not sound or smell as if he is in the forest,” she said.

“Will they try to chase us again into the field?” Kelo asked.

“I do not know,” she admitted, “But as long as we can hear or smell anything of Man we need to stay away from the open.”

“Just like your Father told me,” Relnor said. “I will call all the deer here.”

Relnor went out into the middle of the clearing and started bellow out loudly. “Here, Here all come here,” he called out.

Soon the deer started to appear. Fist the herd males, the yearlings, and then the doe and this year’s fawns. As soon as they were all there Relnor told them: “We need to stay away from the open field. Man is there. As Prince Bambi told me, Man will try to get behind us and chase us into the open where they will kill us. Stay in the deep forest. Man should not find us there.”

The other deer left and ran the way they came. She stayed still. She knew she was in no danger here and she wanted to hear what man would do. Kelo did not like that, but she insisted. Nothing happened for the rest of the day.

That night, very faintly she could hear Man shouting. She could also smell Man’s fire. It was only after the shouting stopped that the wind shifted so it blew from her side. There was silence from the open field. They ate in the small clearing along with Relnor and many others and drank in a small stream. She dreaded morning, but there was nothing more she could do.

Come the morning, they all heard in the distance the sound of Man coming into the forest.

“We need to leave,” she told those in the opening and she left and went toward their thicket. Soon she heard banging noise from behind her.

“HEEEYYYYAAAAHOOOOO,” the men called out and banged things together. She heard the shouting all morning, but always far away from them. Man had not gotten behind them. She also did not hear any sounds of killing sticks. Man had not been able to chase anyone into the open. That meant they were safe. The shouting and banging continued all day, but no sounds of killing sticks.

Next morning there was quiet. Again, the wind blew from the open field, but it brought no smell of Man or even of smoke. She wondered if Man had gone, but decided to wait the day in her thicket.

“Man may have given up and gone elsewhere,” she told Kelo.

“And no killing sticks,” Kelo said. “No deer died thanks to you,” he said and kissed her. When they heard nothing the next morning, then she felt it was safe. They walked to the small meadow and she saw Relnor there. He saw her and came over to her.

“You and your Father were right,” he said happily. “Man killed no deer,” he said.

The others gathered around her congratulating her that no one was hurt. She enjoyed finally getting someone to appreciate that she was smart enough to act like her Father. It was one of the happiest moments of her life.

That feeling continued for a few days. There was no sign of Man and she hoped that the hunts would be over. Then came one morning when she heard the sound of many killing sticks. They were not nearby but instead coming from her Father’s forest. She could also hear the yelping of dogs in the distance. She knew Man had brought dogs to her Father’s forest to run down and kill deer.

She took Kelo and searched the forest looking for Relnor and the others to tell him.

“That is bad,” he told her. “However, if they come here we can just run into the forest again.”

“Not with dogs,” she told him. “Dogs can smell us and lead Man to us. Man uses dogs to run down deer. The dogs either attack the deer or make so much noise that Man soon comes with his killing stick. My Grandfather told me you can hide from Man, but you cannot hide from dogs. The only way to avoid them is to go even deeper into the forest and hope the dogs do not notice your scent. We should do this now before they come.”

Relnor shook his head. “I could call the deer deeper into the forest,” he said.

“No,” one of the senior males standing next to him said. “If we do that we lose the grass in the open field. We need to feed on that with winter coming. There is no danger here and I do not think we should move unless we see danger like before.”

“If you see dogs, it may already be too late to run,” she said.

“Have you ever been chased by dogs,” the male said eyeing her coldly.

“No,” she answered boldly, “But my Father and Grandfather have and they told me how they survived.”

“When I see the dogs, I will run,” he said.

She shrugged, “If you see the dogs, it may too late. Dogs can run longer than a deer and will run you down. They also bring Man with them. Man brings his killing sticks.”

“I can run faster than any dog,” the male said with contempt and turned away from her.

“I will think about this,” Relnor said and left with the other senior male.

This left her burning inside. Kelo must have seen it. He nuzzled her gently. “They are right, we can run faster than a dog,” he told her.

She turned quickly seeing where this was going. “You can run faster for a while, but my Father told me you cannot run longer than a dog. They do not tire as we do. When we become exhausted and have to stop, they keep coming and calling to their masters at all the time. The dogs will attack the deer and sometimes tear them apart, or they call the Man to the exhausted deer and he uses his killing sticks on it.”

She spent the next day telling the deer what to do if they heard dogs. Many listened to her. Some thought like the Relnor’s senior male. It did not matter what anyone said. The moment she knew a dog was nearby, she was leaving for the deep forest near her thicket.

It was late the next day that she started hearing noises from the open field. There were first banging noises and the shouting of Man. The there were grinding noises and the shouting got louder near dark. At dark, she could hear barking from the open field. Man had brought dogs.

She searched frantically for Relnor and found him in the small meadow. She came up to him.

“I heard Man and dogs in the open field,” she told him. “We must flee deep into the forest.”

Relnor looked around him. “I think this is far enough. We can run if we hear dogs getting closer.”

“You are still too close to the dogs,” she told him. “They will be here tomorrow.”

“I do not think so,” the senior male said. “Take care of your own self, doe,” he told her.

Relnor did nothing else. She ignored him and went around the forest telling every deer she could find to flee deep into the forest. She could see Kelo was anxious at what she was doing. Doe usually did not give the herd advice as she well knew. Many deer did not believe her. Many others did and left. It was late in the evening when she finally looked up and told her mate. “It is time we leave. I am going back to our thicket. We should both be safe there.”

“Are you sure,” Kelo asked looking nervous.

Not him too, she thought. They could not see the danger like she could. “The only thing I am sure of is that we are too close to Man and his dogs,” she said as forcefully as she could. “What Man will do when the great light comes, no one knows, but I will not allow myself to get killed by some dog or some Man. I am leaving for my thicket. You can come if you want.”

With that, she left and made her way quickly into the deeper forest. She moved quietly past the small meadow, past the stream, and into the thick canopy of trees. She knew the way. She also went alone. Kelo stayed behind. Although she felt something for her mate, she was not going to let him tell her what to do. She was certainly not going to die with him.

It was after the great light rose when she reached her thicket. She drank in a small pool and ate some grass she found in the few open patches. It was enough to satisfy her and she lay down. It was a while later she heard something moving through the forest and caught a familiar scent.

“Come lie down next to me,” she told him.

Kelo appeared from the trees. “I thought I was quiet,” he said.

“You still need to practice,” she told him. “Now lie here, wait, and listen.”

It was quiet for a while and then they heard it.

“WHAMM,” echoed through the forest. This time the noise was coming from this forest. That sound

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