Lost

1. Lost Youth

It was spring and for the animals living in a small wood on the banks of a river this meant only one thing, that new life had just entered the world. The wood suddenly felt alive again, the trees had grown new leaves, plants had burst from the soil and the sun shone down basking the land in a warming glow. It was clear from the actions of the animals that their parental instincts had kicked in. Each of them went about their business with a renewed sense of vigour, knowing that for the moment they lived to serve a greater good. No less so than inside an old foxes' earth on the northern side of the wood.

Inside a middle-aged pair of foxes lived with their recently born family. The couple had been together two seasons so far but had failed to raise any cubs last year due to a sickness that had plagued the litter. This spring though they were quite delighted to see six cubs still with them, four male and two female. Of the six three tended to stand out from the rest.

One was a large male with a vibrant red coat of fur. He was the most forward of the litter, challenging the others whenever possible. He had been named Fang by his father after it was noticed that he had a predominantly larger tooth on the front right side of his mouth that stuck out when it was closed.

The second was a female, she had the perfect sleek form of a hunter with a keen sense of sight to match. She was very protective in personality and tended to be more interested in looking out for her brothers and sister than herself. Her fur was a deep red save for a stripe of black running along her back and a black tip to her left ear. She had been given the name Flame by her parents.

The last of the three was a very striking male, he was the largest of the six and quite possibly the largest cub either of his parents had ever seen. However, what really set him apart from all other foxes was the fact that his fur was entirely black. From the tip of his nose to the end of his tail he was as black as the darkest night. In spite of his imposing appearance he was very quiet and tended to keep his distance from the other members of his family. Whether it was due to any of this or not his father always seemed to resent him, his brothers heavily influenced by anything their father did followed his lead, insulting him whenever they could. He had been named Red by his father, a not-so-subtle pointer at his abnormal appearance.

The remaining cubs were mostly average by fox standards and were given the names Brawler, Rage and Siren. All had bright red coats of fur, an insatiable curiosity and a level of cunning beyond most other animals. Brawler and Rage were both inseparable from their brother Fang, they followed him around wherever he went. Siren on the other hand was quiet, distant, and seemed more interested in watching the world go by than being involved in it.

The weeks began to pass quickly and the six cubs started to grow up fast. Soon it had come to the point in the young cub's lives when it was time to go on their first hunting trip.

Looks dark enough tonight, the mother vixen thought to herself looking up at the glistening stars. "Ok all of you be quiet and form a line."

The six cubs proceeded to scramble into some sort of vague order, it was clearly not a line.

"Yes, at last we get to go hunting," whispered Flame in a gruff macho voice.

Siren looked at her and giggled. "Stop making me laugh!"

The mother vixen glared at them. "A line, that is not a line! Go hunting like that and you'll never catch anything!"

The cubs continued to jostle and scramble around. At this point she realised she had to step in, she pushed the cubs around gently with her snout until all six were lined up immaculately. She scanned up and down the line. "That's much better, now I want you all..." she sighed as Fang stuck a paw in the air. "Yes, what is it Fang?"

"I'm not going to catch anything if I have to hunt like this," Fang moaned.

"What on earth do you mean?" said the mother vixen, she was fast running out of patience.

"It's this ugly beast next to me," said Fang referring to Red "it'll only take one whiff of his foul stench and there won't be anything left alive to hunt in the whole wood!"

Both Brawler and Rage found this highly amusing and broke out in rambunctious laughter. Red turned to Fang and growled, baring his teeth. Red had discovered a strange new feeling over the past few weeks, that of anger. His brothers had pushed him so much that he had almost snapped on several occasions. Each jibe had left its mark and unbeknown to all present it would only take one too many to destroy the family.

"Shut up Fang, that's not funny," scolded the mother vixen "now I want you all to concentrate and watch me closely. I'm about to teach you one of the most important lessons you will ever learn."

She stole another look at each of them in turn, noting the look of readiness in their eyes. Once her stare fell to Red she noticed there was something else besides readiness in his eyes, what that something else was she could not tell. Good or bad only time would reveal. With that thought in her mind she turned to face south. "Follow me to the river and stick together all of you!"

The seven animals arrived at the river together, the mother vixen smiled to herself, they had held the line together.

"Very nice all of you," she announced, "your grandfather would be very proud! Now, I'm going to show you all how to stalk and catch your prey and then you are going to try it for real, so pay attention."

"Me first!" called out Flame and Fang in unison.

"Okay, okay, one at a time," said the mother vixen shaking her head "Flame you're first, come with me, the rest of you stay here and I'll come get you when it is your turn." The mother vixen led Flame away from the group to a large pine tree on the bank of the river further downstream. Red watched from a distance as his mother placed a pinecone and pounced on it before watching Flame do the same.

"You'll never be able to do that," said Fang as he and his brothers drew alongside Red.

Red didn't answer, instead he turned away from his brothers and moved to the edge of the river. Looking down into the slow-moving water he caught a glimpse of his own reflection staring back at him. It was strangely therapeutic, he focused on the sound of the flowing water and tried to block everything else out. He felt at peace for the briefest of moments, and then something hit his back and he was falling. Red fell headfirst into the cold water below, everything went dark, silent, he could feel the rough sediment of the riverbed beneath his paws and the pressure of the water against his body. He began to panic, clawing frantically at the riverbed as he tried to gain traction on it, it was no use. He felt the river push him sideways and soon he was spinning uncontrollably in the current. He wanted to scream out but when he opened his mouth he felt a torrent of water try to fill his lungs. He felt something sharp latch onto his leg and in an instant he was hoisted up into the air and dropped onto the river bank.

"What are you doing Red!" said the mother vixen as she licked the dirt from the side of his face.

"Someone pushed me!" replied Red as he coughed uncontrollably.

"Is that true?" asked the mother vixen to the rest of the cubs that had now joined her at the pine tree.

"He slipped and fell!" replied the three male cubs in unison.

"Siren? Did you see what happened?" the mother vixen asked turning to her daughter.

Siren shrugged, "sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"It seems like none of you were," the mother vixen shook her head, "I guess as you all cannot be trusted we'll have to do this together so I can keep an eye on you. Line up and listen this time!"