Cubby let out a holler, his freckled face lit up by a huge grin as he ran along the tree limb. Running in front of him Tigger dared a quick look back, muttered a curse and jumped to a branch from an adjoining tree after a quick look. There was the sound of feet sliding along tree bark before Tigger recovered and continued along the new branch. Cubby threw himself in Tigger's general direction trusting to luck to keep him from plummeting to the ground below. It had only taken a moment for Tig to catch his balance, but it was enough for Cubby to have gained some ground on him. "You're about to be It," Cubby crowed, swiping with his arm to try and tag his friend.

"You wish," Tigger said, stepping off the branch he was on and falling a dozen feet before landing on a new one. Cubby followed, but when he hit the branch that Tigger had landed on before bounding to a new one, it snapped and Cubby went bouncing from branch to branch before landing on the ground. The woods came alive with his laughter as he looked up to see Tig sticking his tongue out at him.

"Maybe next time, Furball. Um… are you okay?"

The rest of the Lost Boys gathered around Cubby who assured them that he was okay. "It was just a little fall," he explained to a bunch of eye rolling.

"Yeah, you only left a hole half a foot deep this time," Red nodded wisely. "I'll begin to worry when it's a foot deep."

"Hey, Furball," Tig called from above, "you're still It you know." Faster than anyone would have given him credit for, Cubby regained his feet and planted a solid tag on Surefoot before racing up the tree Tigger was in. The rest of the boys bounded up the tree, with Surefoot waiting to go last. In an instant the woods were ringing with shouts and laughter as the boys swarmed through the branches.

The game continued for another hour as the moon continued to climb into the sky before Leo came to a sudden stop causing a sudden pile-up that sent Roo and Surefoot tumbling to the ground. The mild autumn night had suddenly become closer to winter-like and a strong breeze had begun whipping through the trees making it harder for everyone to keep their feet as they skipped over the branches. Along with the breeze came a nausea producing odor that alternated from sickeningly-sweet to charnel-house decay. "What is that?" Leo whispered to Tig. It seemed wise not to make any more noise than necessary, but that intention was quickly ruined by Roo's voice yelling.

"Are you crazy? C'mon. Maybe they can't climb trees." Leo looked down to see that Roo had a death grip on Surefoot's pelt and appeared to be dragging him up the tree even as Surefoot was swinging his sword at something. Leo couldn't tell what it was even though there was a shaft of moonlight bathing the area where Surefoot's sword was at.

"Who's he fighting?" Leo asked out loud, continuing to peer down to try and see what was happening.

"I dunno."

"I can't see nothing."

"Maybe he's gone nuts. Maybe both of them have."

"I say we send our best tree bouncer down to take care of whatever."

By the time everyone had finished declaring they couldn't tell who Surefoot was fighting, the two Lost Boys joined the rest of them in the tree. No one could help notice that both Surefoot and Roo were shaking violently. "What happened?" Tig asked, looking down at the ground.

"I c-could barely see it," Roo said softly, looking at Surefoot for confirmation.

"Yeah, it was like they were there, then weren't, then were. They looked like some sort of dragon-thing. They had huge claws and one had a freaking massive sword that it was swinging. I was going to fight it but Roo wouldn't let me."

"Them, not it," Roo clarified. You're good but no way you could fight three of them at once and I wasn't going to patch you up."

Before anyone could ask about anything else there was the sound of ripping bark from below. Everyone held their breath as the sound got closer. "I guess they can climb trees," Leo observed. "Let's get out of here. Cubby leads, then Red to watch him. Roo, Stumble, Surefoot, Tig and me." Tigger acted as though he wanted to object but the sound of climbing got closer. Red gave Cubby a gentle slap on the back and the bear-pelted Lost Boy took off along the branches. He didn't move quickly but his paws always seemed to know where to land to move forward. He'd tried to explain that he normally didn't fall when running along branches because that wasn't anything like climbing trees. No one understood it, but they accepted it.

With Cubby picking out a decent route among the limbs, they were able to make good time until the woods ran out. One moment he was sailing along the limbs, and the next moment there was a squawk and the sound of a body bouncing from branch-to-branch ending in a crash of snapping twigs. Red managed to keep from following his friend and stopped the others. They listened but didn't hear anything except a familiar moan from below.

"Now what?" Surefoot asked Leo.

Leo looked around but couldn't see anything that looked out of place. "C'mon, we gotta rescue Cub and keep moving. I dunno whether they followed us or not."

"Maybe they're on the ground and got in front of us," Red said as he started to climb down, the rest following him. When they reached the ground, they found Cubby's fall had been broken by a thicket of blackberry bushes. He'd stopped moaning and was busy picking thorns and thistles out of his nose and cheeks. Leo and Tigger squatted at the front edge of the blackberry bushes and peered out at a seemingly empty meadow. Behind the twins, Roo, Cubby and Stumble crouched down and watched them watch the meadow, Cubby continuing to pull thorns from various places on his body. Red and Surefoot were at the opposite end of the thicket watching the direction from which they'd come to make sure no one was sneaking up on them.

"Whatcha think? Have we lost them?" Tigger asked his brother in an uncharacteristically hesitant whisper.

"I dunno. I couldn't see 'em to begin with. For all I know they could be in the middle of this stupid bush with us." Tigger shook his head and continued watching the meadow so hard that every shadow was in danger of appearing to be something else.

"Glarens," Stumble said causing six others to shush him even though the shushing was a lot louder than Stumble's comment.

"What's a glaren?" Leo asked as quietly as he could, his eyes remaining on the meadow.

"I think that's what's chasing us. There's a story from like forever ago about these things that looked like dragons but really weren't that I got told a long time ago."

"How'd they know they weren't dragons?" Surefoot asked.

"Cuz they just knew they weren't, I guess. The story just said it. Anyway, the story tells about how they came and sort of attacked and the weather got all cold and windy and stuff just like it did now."

"How does someone 'sort of attack,'" Tigger asked, looking back at Stumble for an instant.

"I dunno. Does it really matter? That's what the story says. The one the elves tell."

"Crikey, that explains it then. No way an elf is going to commit to anything that doesn't have a rule attached to it."

Stumble sighed at Roo's comment. "Anyway. When they showed up they put a couple of Lost Boys in Lost Boys' Field and took out a bunch of elven rangers. They have swords, big swords, and scales, but no armor and can't breathe anything like fire or ice. They're smart too. A couple of them might have said something."

"Yeah. Might have," Roo mumbled.

A dozen more whispered questions followed about the glarens to which Stumble could only shrug to in response as he looked more and more frustrated. Red finally asked, "How do you kill them?"

Stumble screwed his face up as he tried to remember everything he'd been told. He opened his eyes and shook his head. "There's nothin' in the story about any of them ever being killed. The weather just changed and no one saw 'em after that."

"So no one killed any of them?" Stumble shook his head in reply.

"Swords supposedly slow them down but just cuz of the force. Their scales were too thick for a sword to go through."

"So now that we know we can't kill 'em, maybe it's time we went someplace else ya think?"

"Yeah, Roo's right. Me, Red, Surefoot, Stumble, Roo, Cubby and Tig to watch our back trail. You better not get hurt, either. We're going to the Tree and hunker down for awhile. Maybe Peter knows something about this but until we talk to him, no one leaves for nothing." There were murmurs of agreement. It would take something terrifying to have caused Surefoot to shake the way he had after his encounter with the glaren and no one was in the mood to try their own luck.

The boys moved as quickly as they could in single file across the meadow and into the woods beyond. None of them could help but notice that there wasn't a sound to be heard in the woods. No sound of crickets, owls or the shrieks and cries of a dozen different things that usually hunted at night. Everyone had a sword or dagger at the ready and even Cubby was holding his wooden sword like a weapon rather than something that was on fire. False Creek was crossed without incident and the boys started to breathe a bit easier as they entered the more familiar confines of the Southern Woods.

The wind continued blowing but not as pungently as it was earlier. The trees whipped back and forth as the gale randomly changed direction and a shower of twigs, needles and pine cones fell from the sky. Cubby leaped straight up into the air, swinging his sword as a pine cone bounced off his head. "No! Stay away!" Cubby yelled as he swung the sword in an arc as hard as he could, almost braining Roo.

"Take it easy, Cub. It's only a pine cone. I think," Tig advised from behind him. He was sort of glad that Cubby had erupted because he'd been about ready to scream from the tension. During Cubby's attempted destruction of the pine cone, the rest of the boys had moved ahead to get out of reach of his sword. Cubby was never quite sure if the glaren had dropped down, walked in, or simply appeared out of the air. However it got there, Cubby found himself face-to-face with a dragon-looking creature holding a sword. Cubby quickly used up his store of expletives as he back-pedaled so quickly that he sent up a spray of forest duff. There was a roar and something that sounded suspiciously like "surprise" from the glaren.

Tigger's eyes got as round as Cubby's before Cubby plucked him from the ground in one arm and made for the nearest tree.

"Lemme go, Cub," Tigger demanded. "I have to see if Leo's okay."

Cubby complied by dropping Tig in front of the tree. "You can see if he's okay from up there," he said as fast as he could get the words shoved out of his mouth. Tig started to object but instead began to climb as the dragon-like being cut loose with another roar as it slowly approached the two. Tigger made it to the first branch, about ten feet up, with Cubby right on his heels. Tigger moved down the branch to make room for Cubby, gave a surprised "urp" and slipped from the branch hitting his chin on it as he fell.

"Tig," Cubby cried as he watched his friend fall. He looked down from the tree and saw the glaren give a baleful grin and raise the sword to cleave it through the stunned Tigger. Impossibly, from up in the tree, Cubby saw Tigger's eyes go from desperation to resignation even though it happened in an instant. There was a wrenching in Cubby's chest and with a scream that overwhelmed his throat, he jumped from the branch holding the wooden sword aloft over his head.

Things slowed down as Cubby dropped to the ground. He saw Tigger look up at him and felt a lump form in his throat as the look in his friend's eyes didn't change at all. The glaren looked up and changed the direction of the broadsword so it was swinging towards Cubby. There was a tremendous clang and a shower of sparks as wood met metal and time suddenly sped up again. The glaren stumbled back and without thinking Cubby swung his sword as hard as he could towards the creature. There was a sound like crumpling cellophane as the sword came to an abrupt halt. Cubby felt something warm cover his face and looked down to see his pelt covered in red. The glaren stood for a moment looking down at the wooden sword protruding from its half severed body then made a noise that sounded like a kitten in dire distress and collapsed to the ground. Cubby tried desperately to see the expression on Tig's face but the glaren's body was between them.

"Holy crap, you killed it Cubs," came Tigger's voice, almost as a whisper from where he lay, neither happy nor upset but almost in a sort of awe. Cubby stood there looking at the body of the glaren and the wooden sword sticking out from it in mute accusation. He tried to say something but it felt as though his mind had overflowed with something sticky. Words wouldn't come out, he couldn't breathe, and the image of drowning slammed itself through the corridors of his mind. "Cubby?" Tigger asked, his voice not as subdued as it had been and then louder and firmer. "Cubby, don't you dare move. Don't. Don't go." Tigger sounded desperate and Cubby saw movement as Tigger started to get up but his mind refused to process it. Instead he continued to stare at the dead glaren whose blood covered his face and pelt. He whimpered once, threw up all over himself and the glaren, and then turned and ran as though the hounds of hell were after him. Tigger begged him to stop but he was beyond hearing anything except the sound of crumpling cellophane inside his head.

"What happened to you guys?" Tigger asked in an almost accusatory manner as the rest of the boys, less Cubby approached him. He got unsteadily to his feet and looked down at the wooden sword.

"You guys were right behind us and then you weren't. Roo said Cubby went nuts over some pine cone and then the next thing we knew you were like a quarter-mile behind us. What the heck happened to you and how'd you kill that?" Leo looked around. "And where's Furball? He didn't leave you here to face that thing by yourself did he?" Leo's expression was a mixture of concern and disbelief but the question was asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Don't you dare say that about him," his twin yelled as loudly as he could causing everyone to look at him in shock. Tigger had yelled at his brother before but nothing like this. "If it wasn't for him I'd be there," he said pointing to the body of the glaren. He's the one that killed it and I gotta find him."

"G'won."

"No way."

"Cubbs killed that? You sure you didn't get hit on the head?"

"How'd he do that with a wooden sword?"

"Where'd he go to?"

"Was he hurt?"

"Quiet," Leo said, staring at his brother. "He killed that? But how?"

"I dunno," Tig said, looking as though he wanted to start bawling. He took a deep breath, snuffed once and continued in a steadier voice. "He jumped out of a tree after I fell and he hit it with his sword. That one. Then he was covered in blood and… I tried to stop him but he took off into the woods like he didn't hear me. Leo, we gotta find him. It's his first and, well it's Cub. You know what he's like, he feels everything. I don't think he got hurt but I don't know and c'mon we're wasting time."

Leo looked confused for a moment and Tig shivered as a beam of moonlight past over his brother making him look silvered and ancient before a cloud ended the lightshow. Leo walked over to where the glaren lay and pulled the wooden sword out of it. There was nothing special about it. In fact, as wooden swords went, this one was pretty plain and resembled a real sword as much as a raft resembled The Jolly Roger. He took a swing at a small tree with it and watched as the tree bent over under the force but didn't make so much as a mark on it much less a cut. "Where'd this come from, anyway?"

"It was in the weapon chest when we were trying to figure out something he wouldn't kill himself or any of us with and he chose it. Okay? Can we go now?"

"Yeah, Tig. Let's go find the wandering bear. Stay together. We don't know how many more of those things there are. Surefoot leads to track." He examined the sword again, still not finding anything extraordinary about it, and stuck it in his pelt.

"Maybe we oughta get Peter," Tig said. "Y'know he might have some ideas and stuff and…" he wound down and followed as Surefoot started tracking.

Surefoot didn't have any trouble following Cubby's flight. In fact, Stumble could have done as good a job with both eyes closed. The biggest Lost Boy had left a clear trail of footprints, broken branches, and drops of blood as he'd run headlong through the woods. "Man, he must be terrified," Red said, gazing at a sapling that had been uprooted by having been run over.

"No he's not," Tig declared. "He's just… lost for a minute and doesn't know what to do. Who would?" He looked around. "C'mon, we're wasting time." He pushed past Surefoot and started down the trail that Cubby had left. Surefoot looked at Leo who shrugged and followed after his twin. The trail continued up a rather steep hill with no sign of slowing and across a couple of valleys. The wind continued strong enough to cause the trees to whisper to each other but the charnel smell had been replaced by the smell of evergreen.

"He must be freezing," Tigger said, more to himself than anyone as he looked at a shallow stream. In the middle sat Cubby, the water waist high on him. He wasn't doing anything but sitting and looking down at the water, his face so pale the freckles seemed to float above it in the moonlight. His hair and pelt were soaked as though they'd been submerged in the creek.

"I better go talk to him," Roo said, starting forward.

Tig stuck his arm out, blocking Roo's path. "No, let me. Gimme his sword." Leo pulled the wooden sword from his pelt and handed it to his brother. The boys watched as Tigger strode down the hill and walked through the water to where Cubby was sitting. Cubby looked up at the sound of splashing, his tear-streaked face clearly visible, before looking back down at the water. Tigger moved opposite Cubby and sat down in the water, wincing as the frigid water poured through his tiger pelt. "You okay?" he asked.

Cubby looked up and Tigger was reminded of a St. Bernard, his eyes a combination of eagerness and sadness. "Yeah, I'm okay," Cubby finally mumbled. He stared at his friend for awhile before opening his mouth again. "You didn't think I could do it, did you?"

"Cub… I…" Tigger wasn't sure what to say and felt miserable about it. It wasn't that he hadn't believed in Cubby, it was just that Leo, Surefoot, and Red, along with himself, were the warriors. Roo patched up people. Stumble was utility and support. Cubby was Cubby. Big and clumsy and un-blooded. He was the one who was scared to death of his own shadow and had been created to make people laugh. He was the one you turned to when you were so depressed you didn't know what else to do because he could always come up with an answer. He'd do just about anything he could for you, but that didn't include killing monsters, did it? Tig shook his head. "No. Not that."

Cubby gave a sad twisted half-smile. "Me either. But I did." His voice, which had started out tentative, got a little bit stronger. "I couldn't just do nothing." He held up his hand as Tigger tried to speak. "It's okay. I'd be the last person to think I'd have been able to kill that thing. I just… That look on your face killed me. I don't blame you or anything, but…" Cubby continued looking towards Tig but wasn't seeing him. "Then it made that noise and it sounded so pitiful and…" His eyes refocused on Tigger. "I killed it. I stood there and killed something. Something that was alive and could speak and think and all that other stuff."

"But Cub, it was going to kill me. It would have killed all of us if it'd been able to."

"I know. I'm not saying I'm sorry I killed it. Not really. It's just that I never killed… I mean I couldn't go hunting or fishing or even put down a dog that was hurt. It scares me. More than anything ever has." Cubby closed his eyes and shook. "It's all I can think about." Tigger nodded. As much as the others wouldn't have been able to believe it, both he and his twin had been the same way once upon a time. When it had happened they hadn't been Lost Boys yet but being twin brothers had gotten them through it. With six 'brothers' helping him, Cub'd get through it too. He'd make sure of it.

"You forgot this," Tig said, handing Cubby the wooden sword. He held his breath, waiting to see what Cubby would do. Cubby stared at it then leaned over and took it.

"Yeah, I guess I'll need it." He took a couple of half-hearted swipes with the wooden sword. His face was still troubled, but Tig noticed that the color had returned to it.

"Cubby, there's something I really, really have to ask you. Something really important. Could we please get out of this creek? I'm freezing my rump off."

The troubled look changed to embarrassment. "Yeah, but you'll need to help me up. I can't feel my feet or legs."

Tig stood, sighed, and helped haul Cubby to his feet. "You furball." Tig watched as Cubby grinned, but couldn't help but notice it wasn't quite the same grin it was before. He was pretty sure the old grin would come back and equally sure it would take awhile. Tig figured it'd be a good idea if he stayed up a little late. Nightmares weren't as bad if there was someone they could be shared with quickly.