Part Ten - United
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24, NIV
"Let's try down by that rockslide, Mark. The rocks in the river make it easier to trap fish." Gina loved mentoring her younger brother. Her extra year of experience had earned her much wisdom that had in large part been handed down by her parents - mostly Mara. She was glad to take her place in the chain of teaching. Suddenly, Gina stopped and sniff the ground.
"What is it?" asked Mark.
"There's been a chase through here just now."
"Huh?"
"I can smell a rabbit - and that it was scared out of its mind. And there's definitely a dog fox chasing it. Although, the fox' scent is confusing me. It seems so familiar. Come on, Mark, let's follow the trail. It's going our way, anyway."
As they approached the river, they could hear snarling. Looking down the bank to the pile of rocks at the river's edge, they could see a fox tail protruding from a freshly dug hole at the base of a fractured rock. The tail worked back and forth; obviously its owner was on the verge of catching its target. "That must be the fox, and the rabbit must be trapped in there," observed Gina, "The poor thing."
"What are we going to do, then?"
Gina thought for a minute, then her face brightened. "I have an idea. Mark, stay here and wait for me to come back." With that she ran towards the digging fox.
Mark watched as his older sister tore down the bank, crying "Get out! Get out! They're coming!" The other fox extracted himself from the hole, looking annoyed. The two foxes exchanged inaudible words, Gina acting hysterically, and the dog fox looking skeptical. Suddenly, a clap of thunder, loud yet strangely cut short, caused Mark to leap nearly a foot in the air. He immediately searched the sky that showed through the shivering leaves. There had been a promise of stormy weather in the air for the last day, yet there was no storm that could yet be seen or smelled. He then remembered the story of how his father Lane had been presumably killed just before he and his sister Carol had been born. He remembered his mother and older sister describing the sound of the gun - one of man's deadly tools. What he had just heard matched that description perfectly. He looked to the river, but his sister and the dog fox had vanished. Alone and frightened, Mark huddled in some undergrowth, waiting for Gina to return, like she said she would.
After a long while had passed and realizing that nothing further was likely to happen, Mark cautiously crawled from his refuge and again looked to the river. Gina was there again, but the dog fox was nowhere to be seen. Gina was pawing at her muzzle, which appeared to be bleeding. Curious, he walked down to where his older sister was.
"Gina! What was that sound? Was that a gun?"
"Yes, Mark," replied Gina, rubbing her nose, "that was a gun."
"Did it hit you? You're bleeding!"
"No, it didn't. The rabbit in there got me with his hind claws. I was just trying to calm him down. Got too close, I guess."
"Why would he do that?"
"Mark, he doesn't know that we mean to help him." She paused. "But if you go get Arum and Meadow, that will help. I'll wait here and make sure our friend is all right."
Mark left in a flash. Gina returned her attention to the rabbit.
"I'm not kidding, I'm not going to hurt you," she said, keeping a safer distance this time.
Oaktrunk cursed at her hoarsely and spat, "You think I'm that naive? If you want your meal, you're going to have to earn it," - he kicked out with a hind foot again, this time only gouging the mud with his claws - "and earn it with your blood!"
"I understand what you're feeling. My brother is going to bring back two of my friends that I know you're going to want to meet."
Did she say, 'meet' or, 'meat'? thought Oaktrunk darkly. "Yes, I'm sure of that," he said, "You're going to have a feast of me, aren't you? Glad you've caught such a large meal?" His voice was wavering with fear.
"Those two friends are rabbits," Gina replied simply.
Oh, please, thought Oaktrunk, just stop these embleer games and finish it. He knew it was just a matter of time before the vixen dug the rest of the way in and seized him in her cruel, razor jaws. He stopped struggling and lay still. Gina lay down outside Oaktrunk's refuge and waited silently for Mark to return, putting her nose in the cold river water to ease the pain of her muzzle's wound..
After a while, Mark returned with Mara, Carol, Arum, and Meadow. Gina got up and said to Arum, "He's in there. He's got to believe you, I would think."
Arum crawled into the partially-flooded hole and saw Oaktrunk laying at the far end of the stone's fissure, just beyond where the mud had been dug away. He cautiously moved ahead, saying, "Hello? Are you all right?"
Oaktrunk again lashed out with his hind feet, grazing Arum and sending him leaping back into the muddy water. "Easy! I'm a friend!" he said.
Turning around with some difficulty in order to defend himself with his front claws and teeth if necessary, Oaktrunk saw that it was not the vixen or any other fox that had spoken this time. It really was another rabbit - another buck, somewhat smaller than he was. Oaktrunk whispered roughly, "What are you doing? There's a homba out there!"
"Yes, I know," Arum assured him in a normal tone of voice, "Actually, there's four of them out there - and they're my friends. Please come out; it's all right."
"The homba chased me in here and almost dug me out and now you want me to come out just like that?"
"Well, it certainly wasn't of these ones that chased you," replied Arum, "The only hombil out there are friends. Have you heard the story of the promised friend?"
"Uh... just yesterday, actually..." Oaktrunk replied, somewhat marveling at the coincidence.
"Well, let me introduce you to our promised friends. By the way - I'm Arum."
"Uh... Oaktrunk."
"Pleased to meet you, Oaktrunk. Let me introduce you to them. And my daughter, Meadow. One of the hombil saved her life, you know." Arum called to some unseen companions that were outside the hole. A vixen poked her head down into the hole behind Arum, and a doe kitten crawled in and lay down beside Arum. "See?" he beamed, "That is Mara there; she saved my Meadow here. You've nothing to worry about."
Oaktrunk gulped and thought, This can't be a trick, can it?. Besides, I've no way out, anyhow. He slowly crawled out, trembling as he looked at the four hombil surrounding him. "Well, here I am," he said simply. He looked at the gash he had dug in Gina's nose and looked down, half expecting her to at least return a cuff. Her expression, however, was one of concern rather than one of anger. It was she that spoke next.
"So... did I hear correctly that your name is Oaktrunk?" Waiting for Oaktrunk to nod, she continued, "Don't worry about me; it'll heal, and besides, it was my fault. Are you all right?"
Oaktrunk looked up in surprise. He could sense no deceit in her eyes whatsoever. "Where is the homba that tried to kill me, though?" he asked.
Gina smiled, "I don't think he's going to be back for a while. The gunshot scared him away. And lucky for that too, because I didn't think he was about to believe my story of being chased by man."
Oaktrunk ventured, "You scared him off?"
"Well actually, the gun did."
"But, you tried?"
"Yes," replied Gina simply.
"And it wasn't because you wanted to steal a free meal away?"
Gina was genuinely hurt. "No," she gasped indignantly, "Of course not! You're still here, aren't you? And, look..." She nodded towards Arum and Meadow.
"So, what did you want?" Oaktrunk asked her.
Arum replied for Gina, "We're lucky that we found you. Meadow and I have decided to find a warren to call home. Perhaps you could introduce us to yours?"
Mara knew that Oaktrunk was still very confused. "Look," she said, "Why don't we just go back to our den and talk there? It's not-" Mara paused, her mouth open, then sniffed the ground carefully.
"Mother, what's wrong?" pressed Carol.
"No! It can't be..." Fear was evident in Mara's eyes.
Arum became concerned. "What can't be?"
Mara turned and asked, "Gina, did that dog fox' scent strike you as familiar in any way?"
Gina paused. "Come to think of it, yes. As if he... Mother, what are you thinking?"
"I knew it! It's my father! Why is he here? This can't be good..."
"What do we do, mother?" asked Mark worriedly. Mara had told her cubs of how Pratt had treated her while she was still a cub. If Pratt were here now, it was unlikely to be a coincidence.
"We're not going home. We've got to find somewhere else. Downstream, far downstream, through the river, across roads; we have to get him off of our trail."
Wordlessly, Oaktrunk got up and followed the others as they made their way briskly along the arduous journey. Arum and Meadow were beside him, talking as they went - explaining their own story of meeting the hombil. Slowly, the confusion and fear that Oaktrunk had felt towards Mara and her cubs began to fade in his heart, but this was replaced by the unrest that the others showed due to the presence of the homba named Pratt.
***
"Where in the world did that vixen go?" Pratt thought, "I only heard one shot; and she was definitely not struck by it." His pulse was returning to normal as he made his way back towards where he had had the rabbit trapped under the rock. He knew there was little chance that it was still there, but he had to check.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the rock and poked his head into the muddy hole that he had been digging, he saw that the rabbit was gone. He cursed loudly, adding, "Why did man have to ruin a perfect meal? I was almost-" He paused, sniffing the air. He had caught the scent of other foxes, scent no more than a few minutes old. What was more, the scent of one fox in particular was too familiar to him, despite not having been known for so long.
"Mara!" he spat, "Kate was right! She is alive; she was right here!" His eyes burned, and his mind raced with a mixture of paranoia and rage. "Oh! Oh! So my own daughter is behind this! She must have others working with her - and that vixen was one of them!" He tore at his face with his claws, "Fool! I knew her scent was close to mine - that was one of Mara's cubs! I'll bet there were others to deliberately get man to shoot at them just to scare me into thinking... Oh! I hope they got hit!" He immediately sniffed around for their trail. After a few minutes, it became obvious that the trail was deliberately convoluted, and then it disappeared into the river. I hope they drowned, he thought savagely.
Pratt made his way to Kate's den, hoping for more helpful information on tracking his wayward daughter down. He had been satisfied to let Mara go the night that she had left his den; when he had followed her and found her befriending some rabbits by a shed on a nearby farm. There was no way that she would live for long, he had thought - despite the fact that Mara had grown adept at fishing. But, now, here she had been, alive and well, despite what he had convinced himself of. I should have killed her that very night, he thought. It was an obsession now; he had to erase this blemish on his family - forever.
************
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24, NIV
"Let's try down by that rockslide, Mark. The rocks in the river make it easier to trap fish." Gina loved mentoring her younger brother. Her extra year of experience had earned her much wisdom that had in large part been handed down by her parents - mostly Mara. She was glad to take her place in the chain of teaching. Suddenly, Gina stopped and sniff the ground.
"What is it?" asked Mark.
"There's been a chase through here just now."
"Huh?"
"I can smell a rabbit - and that it was scared out of its mind. And there's definitely a dog fox chasing it. Although, the fox' scent is confusing me. It seems so familiar. Come on, Mark, let's follow the trail. It's going our way, anyway."
As they approached the river, they could hear snarling. Looking down the bank to the pile of rocks at the river's edge, they could see a fox tail protruding from a freshly dug hole at the base of a fractured rock. The tail worked back and forth; obviously its owner was on the verge of catching its target. "That must be the fox, and the rabbit must be trapped in there," observed Gina, "The poor thing."
"What are we going to do, then?"
Gina thought for a minute, then her face brightened. "I have an idea. Mark, stay here and wait for me to come back." With that she ran towards the digging fox.
Mark watched as his older sister tore down the bank, crying "Get out! Get out! They're coming!" The other fox extracted himself from the hole, looking annoyed. The two foxes exchanged inaudible words, Gina acting hysterically, and the dog fox looking skeptical. Suddenly, a clap of thunder, loud yet strangely cut short, caused Mark to leap nearly a foot in the air. He immediately searched the sky that showed through the shivering leaves. There had been a promise of stormy weather in the air for the last day, yet there was no storm that could yet be seen or smelled. He then remembered the story of how his father Lane had been presumably killed just before he and his sister Carol had been born. He remembered his mother and older sister describing the sound of the gun - one of man's deadly tools. What he had just heard matched that description perfectly. He looked to the river, but his sister and the dog fox had vanished. Alone and frightened, Mark huddled in some undergrowth, waiting for Gina to return, like she said she would.
After a long while had passed and realizing that nothing further was likely to happen, Mark cautiously crawled from his refuge and again looked to the river. Gina was there again, but the dog fox was nowhere to be seen. Gina was pawing at her muzzle, which appeared to be bleeding. Curious, he walked down to where his older sister was.
"Gina! What was that sound? Was that a gun?"
"Yes, Mark," replied Gina, rubbing her nose, "that was a gun."
"Did it hit you? You're bleeding!"
"No, it didn't. The rabbit in there got me with his hind claws. I was just trying to calm him down. Got too close, I guess."
"Why would he do that?"
"Mark, he doesn't know that we mean to help him." She paused. "But if you go get Arum and Meadow, that will help. I'll wait here and make sure our friend is all right."
Mark left in a flash. Gina returned her attention to the rabbit.
"I'm not kidding, I'm not going to hurt you," she said, keeping a safer distance this time.
Oaktrunk cursed at her hoarsely and spat, "You think I'm that naive? If you want your meal, you're going to have to earn it," - he kicked out with a hind foot again, this time only gouging the mud with his claws - "and earn it with your blood!"
"I understand what you're feeling. My brother is going to bring back two of my friends that I know you're going to want to meet."
Did she say, 'meet' or, 'meat'? thought Oaktrunk darkly. "Yes, I'm sure of that," he said, "You're going to have a feast of me, aren't you? Glad you've caught such a large meal?" His voice was wavering with fear.
"Those two friends are rabbits," Gina replied simply.
Oh, please, thought Oaktrunk, just stop these embleer games and finish it. He knew it was just a matter of time before the vixen dug the rest of the way in and seized him in her cruel, razor jaws. He stopped struggling and lay still. Gina lay down outside Oaktrunk's refuge and waited silently for Mark to return, putting her nose in the cold river water to ease the pain of her muzzle's wound..
After a while, Mark returned with Mara, Carol, Arum, and Meadow. Gina got up and said to Arum, "He's in there. He's got to believe you, I would think."
Arum crawled into the partially-flooded hole and saw Oaktrunk laying at the far end of the stone's fissure, just beyond where the mud had been dug away. He cautiously moved ahead, saying, "Hello? Are you all right?"
Oaktrunk again lashed out with his hind feet, grazing Arum and sending him leaping back into the muddy water. "Easy! I'm a friend!" he said.
Turning around with some difficulty in order to defend himself with his front claws and teeth if necessary, Oaktrunk saw that it was not the vixen or any other fox that had spoken this time. It really was another rabbit - another buck, somewhat smaller than he was. Oaktrunk whispered roughly, "What are you doing? There's a homba out there!"
"Yes, I know," Arum assured him in a normal tone of voice, "Actually, there's four of them out there - and they're my friends. Please come out; it's all right."
"The homba chased me in here and almost dug me out and now you want me to come out just like that?"
"Well, it certainly wasn't of these ones that chased you," replied Arum, "The only hombil out there are friends. Have you heard the story of the promised friend?"
"Uh... just yesterday, actually..." Oaktrunk replied, somewhat marveling at the coincidence.
"Well, let me introduce you to our promised friends. By the way - I'm Arum."
"Uh... Oaktrunk."
"Pleased to meet you, Oaktrunk. Let me introduce you to them. And my daughter, Meadow. One of the hombil saved her life, you know." Arum called to some unseen companions that were outside the hole. A vixen poked her head down into the hole behind Arum, and a doe kitten crawled in and lay down beside Arum. "See?" he beamed, "That is Mara there; she saved my Meadow here. You've nothing to worry about."
Oaktrunk gulped and thought, This can't be a trick, can it?. Besides, I've no way out, anyhow. He slowly crawled out, trembling as he looked at the four hombil surrounding him. "Well, here I am," he said simply. He looked at the gash he had dug in Gina's nose and looked down, half expecting her to at least return a cuff. Her expression, however, was one of concern rather than one of anger. It was she that spoke next.
"So... did I hear correctly that your name is Oaktrunk?" Waiting for Oaktrunk to nod, she continued, "Don't worry about me; it'll heal, and besides, it was my fault. Are you all right?"
Oaktrunk looked up in surprise. He could sense no deceit in her eyes whatsoever. "Where is the homba that tried to kill me, though?" he asked.
Gina smiled, "I don't think he's going to be back for a while. The gunshot scared him away. And lucky for that too, because I didn't think he was about to believe my story of being chased by man."
Oaktrunk ventured, "You scared him off?"
"Well actually, the gun did."
"But, you tried?"
"Yes," replied Gina simply.
"And it wasn't because you wanted to steal a free meal away?"
Gina was genuinely hurt. "No," she gasped indignantly, "Of course not! You're still here, aren't you? And, look..." She nodded towards Arum and Meadow.
"So, what did you want?" Oaktrunk asked her.
Arum replied for Gina, "We're lucky that we found you. Meadow and I have decided to find a warren to call home. Perhaps you could introduce us to yours?"
Mara knew that Oaktrunk was still very confused. "Look," she said, "Why don't we just go back to our den and talk there? It's not-" Mara paused, her mouth open, then sniffed the ground carefully.
"Mother, what's wrong?" pressed Carol.
"No! It can't be..." Fear was evident in Mara's eyes.
Arum became concerned. "What can't be?"
Mara turned and asked, "Gina, did that dog fox' scent strike you as familiar in any way?"
Gina paused. "Come to think of it, yes. As if he... Mother, what are you thinking?"
"I knew it! It's my father! Why is he here? This can't be good..."
"What do we do, mother?" asked Mark worriedly. Mara had told her cubs of how Pratt had treated her while she was still a cub. If Pratt were here now, it was unlikely to be a coincidence.
"We're not going home. We've got to find somewhere else. Downstream, far downstream, through the river, across roads; we have to get him off of our trail."
Wordlessly, Oaktrunk got up and followed the others as they made their way briskly along the arduous journey. Arum and Meadow were beside him, talking as they went - explaining their own story of meeting the hombil. Slowly, the confusion and fear that Oaktrunk had felt towards Mara and her cubs began to fade in his heart, but this was replaced by the unrest that the others showed due to the presence of the homba named Pratt.
***
"Where in the world did that vixen go?" Pratt thought, "I only heard one shot; and she was definitely not struck by it." His pulse was returning to normal as he made his way back towards where he had had the rabbit trapped under the rock. He knew there was little chance that it was still there, but he had to check.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the rock and poked his head into the muddy hole that he had been digging, he saw that the rabbit was gone. He cursed loudly, adding, "Why did man have to ruin a perfect meal? I was almost-" He paused, sniffing the air. He had caught the scent of other foxes, scent no more than a few minutes old. What was more, the scent of one fox in particular was too familiar to him, despite not having been known for so long.
"Mara!" he spat, "Kate was right! She is alive; she was right here!" His eyes burned, and his mind raced with a mixture of paranoia and rage. "Oh! Oh! So my own daughter is behind this! She must have others working with her - and that vixen was one of them!" He tore at his face with his claws, "Fool! I knew her scent was close to mine - that was one of Mara's cubs! I'll bet there were others to deliberately get man to shoot at them just to scare me into thinking... Oh! I hope they got hit!" He immediately sniffed around for their trail. After a few minutes, it became obvious that the trail was deliberately convoluted, and then it disappeared into the river. I hope they drowned, he thought savagely.
Pratt made his way to Kate's den, hoping for more helpful information on tracking his wayward daughter down. He had been satisfied to let Mara go the night that she had left his den; when he had followed her and found her befriending some rabbits by a shed on a nearby farm. There was no way that she would live for long, he had thought - despite the fact that Mara had grown adept at fishing. But, now, here she had been, alive and well, despite what he had convinced himself of. I should have killed her that very night, he thought. It was an obsession now; he had to erase this blemish on his family - forever.
************
