Whisper's Epilogue

Whisper did her best, but she struggled to keep up, he was so far ahead now she figured they will have finished the meeting and be on their way back before she even got there! It was unusually late for a meeting of the Farthing Wood animals however Whisper knew that banding together at night was what some of the animals needed right now.

"Plucky!" Whisper called out to no avail, he was way out of earshot. She felt a stich begin to form in her side and she was forced to slow down to a walking pace. She remembered back to a time when she was the fast one of the two, back when he was little more than a cub, it seemed like such a long time ago. He was now all grown up and the de facto leader of all the Farthing Wood animals. Fox had grown weary of the role and just wanted to live out his remaining days in peace, it was hard to say he hadn't earnt it. Whisper knew it would never be that easy though, most animals still took their problems and issues directly to him without troubling Plucky first. Fox tried his best to push them away to go find Plucky however it very rarely worked and before long Fox would find himself embroiled in yet another of the park's problems. The current issue the animals faced was no exception, numerous animals from the park, including some of those from Farthing Wood had lost family members in the dead of night to something no one had managed to get a good look at. Some called it the Beast, a great black wolf with burning red eyes, others said it was the reincarnation of Scarface come to take revenge. Both seemed completely ridiculous however there was clearly something going on as some of the animals had genuinely gone missing.

"SsssSsssSsss," chuckled a voice Whisper knew all too well "you're moving ssssslower than me Whisper, foxesss these days are not what they used to be!"

"Very funny Adder," replied Whisper as she turned to face the snake that had just emerged from behind a tree next to her "I guarantee there are more foxes already there than snakes."

"Not fair! Way more foxesss in this park than adders, never a fair competition, besssides, you, Plucky Fox and Vixen live at the meeting location!" said Adder.

"That's a fair point," acknowledged Whisper "however I never said it was a fair game, did I?"

"SsssSsssSsss," laughed Adder "so do you know what the meeting is about?"

Whisper cocked her head to one side. "You mean you'd not heard?"

"No one tellsss me anything these days!"

"Quite, and I do wonder why?" butted in a voice from above.

"Owl, you pompous old bird, where have you been this time?" said Adder "no one has seen you for weeks!"

"I've been busy," replied Owl, a tinge of embarrassment in her voice "nests don't build themselves after all!"

"SsssSsssSsss," laughed Adder "old owl is smitten, no time for us old friends now there is a handsome male owl in her life!"

"Ignore her Owl, we're all very happy for you," said Whisper.

"Thank you my dear, at least some still have a shred of decorum!" replied Owl "now we must get on, or we will miss the meeting!"

Owl flapped her wings and took to the sky soaring as quickly as she could over to the meeting point at Fox and Vixen's earth. Whisper looked down at Adder. "I'm feeling better now, can I offer you a lift?"

Adder turned away and pointed her nose up in disgust. "Don't be ridiculoussss, I can get there myself!"

"Oh really, you might miss all the juicy gossip!" said Whisper with a smile on her face "maybe if we got you to places quicker you'd know more about what is going on!"

Adder turned away continuing to point her nose up in the air.

"You know, if you get there quickly you might get to see the terrified looks of all the little Farthing Wood animals as they recount their stories of what has been happening in the park," continued Whisper.

Adder tilted her head down. "How terrified?"

"There's only one way to find out," said Whisper with a wink. She leaned her head down in front of Adder, it took a moment but eventually Adder complied. Reaching up with her body she wrapped herself around Whisper's neck and rested her head in between Whisper's two ears. Whisper smiled and set off again towards Fox and Vixens earth.

They were more than a little late when they arrived, the meeting had clearly been going on for some time and Adder and Whisper could hear loud agitated voices coming from the clearing in front of the earth. Whisper pushed through the remaining tree line as quickly as she could, moving so quickly it caused Adder to lose her grip and the snake slipped from around Whispers neck and onto the ground. The shock of the sight beyond the tree line froze Whisper in place, she was looking at a lost piece of her past, a past she had left far behind. Memories and feelings she had dealt with long ago flooded back like they had never left, she didn't know whether to cry or scream, in the end all she could manage was a tear-filled single word.

"Red?"