Eritopia

Meet Your Guide

Bear woke early and went off to consult the District Elder again. He was keen to be getting on with his task.

'We are waiting for your guide,' the Elder told him.

'But Not-Bear is in danger, and it's all my fault.'

'I have told you, it was predicted,' the Elder replied. Bear didn't understand how was it predicted, or why. More questions filled him than Not-Bear had ever asked.

One of the Elder's assistants ushered him away.

'Can't we do anything?' he shouted over his shoulder as he left. 

A few hours later they summoned him again. Walking back into the Chamber, he saw the District Elder standing at the back of the room.

'It is time to prepare you,' The Elder said. He gestured, and a creature moved from the shadows behind him and walked to his side. It was an old fox, with dark eyes that seemed to pierce the gloom of the chamber.

'Meet your guide,' the Elder said.

Bear's first inclination was to laugh. He had been expecting something of stature, but this fox was unimpressive. Its matted fur was more ginger than red, and tinged with much grey.

'He is not here to protect you,' said the Elder, as if interpreting Bear's look.

The fox's eyes sparkled as the Elder defended him.

'All right, but can we go now?' Bear asked.

'Soon,' the Elder said.

'Patience,' the fox said. His voice was resonant and soothing.

Then the Elder was gone.

'My name is Van,' the fox said. He asked Bear a few questions about events at the Occasion. Bear told him about the conversation with the badger and Not Bear's disappearance.

'Your friend is very important,' Van told him.

'How do you know?'

'Because they would not have sent for me otherwise. I have travelled a long way to be here, from business outside the Forest.'

'What business?' Bear asked. Did he mean on the Outside?

For some reason the fox laughed. 'Negotiations.'

'Oh,' Bear said. He couldn't see how this scrawny creature had got into a position of authority.

'You are aware your friend the wolf is heading for the Outside?'

'The what?'

'The Outside.'

'No, not that,' Bear stuttered. 'Wolf? What, who is a wolf?'

'Ah, I see,' said Van, 'you didn't know. The Elder did say...I shouldn't have...oh well, never mind,' he muttered.

'A wolf!' Bear exclaimed, who had never seen one. But of course, he had, now. He'd heard about them though, and many things started to make sense.

'What we seem to be, sometimes we're not,' Van said.

'But Not-Bear isn't, I mean, he can't be.' He paused, 'I thought—'

'They were figments of the imagination, the stuff of legends? No, they exist. And they are every bit as mysterious as your legends tell. Before this trip is over you will have seen that yourself.'

Bear was stunned. All this time he had been teacher to a wolf! This fox, with his grand manner and stilted speech, didn't seem so laughable now.

'But how did Not-Bear get to the Inside, and does he know what he is?'

Van lifted a grey paw. 'I have spoken too freely already. We must leave this very afternoon, and there is much to do before then.'

Van went off to see the Elder again and Bear went back to his home. He spoke to a few neighbours and told them he would be going away for a bit. 'How long?' they asked. 'A few days,' he replied, but realised he didn't know how long such an adventure would last.

He packed some food in his belt and tied it round his waist. He hadn't thought he would be going back into the Forest till the next Occasion. He tidied his home and secured the door. As he stepped out into the sunlight he saw Van walking round the side of his house. And there, to his delight, trotting beside him, looking very pleased with herself, was Anya. She wore a harness, and carried bags on either side of her back.

They walked up to Bear. 'What are you doing here?' he asked.

'Did you think I would let you go off without me?' she said.

'I don't understand,' was all he could say.

'That doesn't surprise me,' a voice squeaked from beneath one of the bags. Calypso climbed onto Anya's back.

'She wouldn't come without me,' he said.

'Oh,' said Bear, 'is that right?'

'Nonsense,' said the deer, 'he wouldn't let me come without him. Made such a fuss, I thought it was better for the peace of the Inside that I brought him.'

'Not true, not true,' squealed Calypso, jumping up and down on her back.

'Quiet!' Van's voice cut through the frivolity. 'No fuss please,' he said. Calypso stopped, Anya looked at Bear, who looked at her. They all looked over to the fox, who was walking off towards the trees.

'There is no time to waste,' he said.

They moved off after him, always staying some paces behind. 'Who is he?' Bear whispered to Anya as they walked.

'He's our guide,' she replied.

'I know of him,' Calypso said. 'They talk of him where I come from. Up in the treetops, where legends are preserved.'

'He means the gossip,' Anya said.

Calypso ignored her. 'He's been everywhere, he's very wise,' he added. 'It's said he was at the Burning, when Outsiders tried to destroy the Forest with fire. He fought for the Inside against many invasions as well.'

'See what I mean,' said Anya. 'Nothing but gossip.'

Bear had been taught, as had everyone, the legends of the Inside. Tales of many conflicts, of the battles such as Cracklewood and Ribdale. Places steeped in the folklore of the Inside. In the past, when the Outsiders were stronger, they had come into the Forest many times. Sometimes to capture individual animals or attack the Inside itself. That was when it was still young. Time passed and the animals grew stronger, the Outsiders weaker. Their visits faded with the years.

'That was so long ago,' he said. 'There haven't been any battles for ages.'

'Not quite true,' the monkey replied.

Anya interrupted. 'The fight against the Outsiders is going on all the time,' she told him.

'Where?'

'On the fringes of the Forest, in small but significant ways,' she said. 'But don't believe every story you hear,' she glanced at Calypso. 'So many have grown out of proportion.'

'There is a lot of truth in the legends.' The monkey was determined to make his point.

'Distorted in the telling,' Anya told them. 'Everyone adds a little, especially monkeys. Truth goes up into the trees, and comes down as rumour.'

'Are none of them true then?' Bear asked her. She had his attention, while Calypso fretted on her back.

'Of course, there's an element of truth in most of them,' she answered. Looking ahead she added, 'Van could tell you a story or two.'

They went on in silence, trying to keep up with the fox, who was always ahead. Before long they plunged once more into the Forest, leaving King's Oak and Bear's home far behind.