you."

A chorus of Nos filled the thicket like the roar this morning. The loudest shout coming from Faline, her normally smooth voice was a shrill as the owl's.

He looked directly at Bambi. "No, if anything happens to you, who leads the herd? You want Kragus as leader?

Bambi smiled and shook his head no. "Ronno can lead until my older son Geno is ready. Besides if we can no longer use the meadow the herd will need to break up to have any chance to live through the snow."

"I will go with you," the old owl called down. "I will fly above the end of the meadow. If I see the Man animals move, I will shriek twice."

That was something, but risking both of them could lead to much death for the herd. Why he cared about them he did not know, but he did. He wanted them and Claris safe and the only way to do that was to go out and see. He saw the old owl leave for the meadow. He walked quickly past the others, down the stream and to the edge of the meadow. Bambi was near him and walked in silence. None of the others came with them except Faline and Claris. Faline left Veron with an old doe in the thicket. The two doe were braver than most of the males.

He looked at the open expanse of the meadow. It was dark on the other side. It was hard to see if anything was moving. He could see owl circle overhead, so far silent. He looked at Bambi. "I think we circle around near the tress on the other side of the meadow. If we can get within several lengths of the Man-animals and they do not move, then it should be safe to use the meadow."

"Yes," Bambi said.

By now both Faline and Claris were standing there. The fear was evident in their faces. What could he say at this point except, "let us go, the day is coming soon. "Then he turned back to the doe. "You two go back."

At least neither Faline, nor Claris made a fuss despite both knowing what might happen. He was glad of that. Both Bambi and he moved out close to the trees picking their way carefully along the ground. Both of them moved quietly as shadows. They were walking at a normal pace picking carefully along the ground as not to make a sound. It took them some time to move around to the other side of the meadow.

Nothing he heard. The air was filled with scents. A light putrid order filled the meadow. Nothing he detected that smelled strongly of Man. Soon they got so close he could see the large animals. One was half as big as a tree. The tall one had a huge claw that seemed to stick out to grab things. The other was shorter and had some bone or heavy skin in the front that looked like a large turtle. These were not the same animals he saw when he lived with Man. The animals at the Man cave he grew up at were smaller and less threatening. They got halfway down the meadow with nothing more to see. Owl was overhead, still quiet. He motioned Bambi to go into the trees with him. Once they gone a few lengths into the woods they stopped.

"I go on alone from here," he whispered to Bambi. "If you see me fall, stay in the trees and get back to the others. They should not see you here."

"Very well," Bambi said.

With that he moved out into the open. It was quiet. The forest noise was much lower than usual. The loud noise had scared off some of the animals. It made the other noises stand out. He watched his footing carefully. This far out there was no twigs from the forest to break to give him away. He crept in closer to the end of the meadow. The animals had not moved. The only thing he felt was wetness on his feet from the dew.

No scent came to him other than fresh earth and grass. No animal smells. Then he smelled it, a trace of smoke, but he did not see from where. He crept in closer. There was a rush of air by his left ear. He froze instinctively.

"Nothing," came the voice from the old owl as he flew past.

The ground in front of him was torn up. He saw an opening in the forest. Someone had pulled all the trees up to leave the ground bear making an open path through the forest that was so wide that the whole herd could travel on it at one time. The torn up earth extended to the edge of the meadow, He knew there was a small spring there that flowed into the stream. It looked like they were piling dirt up around the edge of the meadow. There were also some tall thin trees without any branches or leaves sticking out of the ground.

Just then he caught the first glimmer of the greater light off in the distance. He saw and heard nothing, all was still. They must see him. The Man animals were either dead or sleeping. It was time for him to go. There was nothing moving around here. It looked safe. He turned to walk away. An instant later he saw light at his feet. He looked back and saw two large glowing eyes moving through the new path in the trees toward him. This was followed by two shrieks from the owl. They were after him; he ran.

It was not very far to the trees. He ran into them as the glowing eyes came up between the trees toward him. He ran along the side of the meadow just inside the trees. He finally got to where he had left Bambi. It was there he stopped to catch his breath. He looked around. He smelled Bambi, but did not see him. Then he heard leaves move from nearby branches

"You are alive," he said with relief "I thought that creature was after you."

He looked back at the end of the meadow. The two eyes stopped next to the two Man animals. The eyes suddenly dimmed and from the side out came four Men. They walked over to the animals.

"Like the animals I saw among Man," he told Bambi. "They came at the start of day. Before that the animals were cold and not moving. That means they move only with Men in them. They will only work during the light. We can use the meadow at night."

Almost at once there were glowing eyes from the two Man animals as they began to move. "We need to go," Bambi said.

"Slow," he said. "They do not seem to be coming after us."

It was fully light before they reach the stream and followed it back to the thicket. There were a few others there. Before they could get within several lengths of the thicket both Faline and Claris rush out and almost knocked him and Bambi to the ground.

"You are both alive," the two doe squealed in happiness. Faline then yelled out, "We saw the eyes come closer and the Man animals start to move and thought they killed you."

"They came after Stranger, but he got away," Bambi explained.

The light was full, the Man-animals were roaring in their work. He was tired and it was a long walk back to his place.

"I am going to sleep near here for today," he told the others.

"Down the stream past the pond is a small cave. That is where Faline and I sleep. Across the stream there is a small opening in the forest. No one uses it anymore. You can sleep there."

"Thank you" he said and walked wearily toward the opening with Bambi and Faline. "His heart was still pounding from fright and running. He was soaked with sweat even though it had been at night. It was then he noticed he was not alone. Claris always walked away at early light toward a small grove of trees where she slept alone during the day.

"Why are you not going home to sleep?" he asked.

"I am going home to sleep," she said then added almost as an afterthought, "with you."

Bambi and Faline said nothing but looked straight ahead suppressing smiles.

This might have been worth it after all.