Eritopia

Something Fearful

An hour later it was getting dark. Half propped on a fallen branch, Fleg managed to get a grip with his front teeth on the deer's harness. He started chewing. The twisted strands of ivy were tough and his neck muscles were soon aching. Fear of the night and the threats it held drove him on. He weighed that against the hunger in his belly and the news he had to take back to the clan. He would tell them he'd found the outlaws, interrogated them, and determined their path to the Outside. This irritating bondage was a minor matter he would soon resolve.

A bright light appeared before his face. Suspended in the air it moved first left, then right as his eyes followed it. He shook his head, imagining it was a result of the bear's punch. He tried to look beyond it, but the surrounding trees were in darkness. He lay hunched and weary, forgetting the ivy tied around his legs, and as the light came nearer he focused on it. Still approaching, it swung in front of him once more, then it was gone.

He imagined he was in a remote part of the Forest, on the edge of the Outside. A voice was crying out for him. He was young and playing with other cubs, they were cuffing and biting each other in the autumn mists. Then the cries became a howl, biting through the air, and he leapt off in search of their source. He had recognised them at once—they were his mother's. He raced through the trees, a slick bolt of brown, leaving the other cubs wondering.

He came very close to the cries before they stopped. He edged forward. There was a stream nearby, with a large beech wood on the far side. The ancient trees left a carpet of red leaves all year round. It gave the wood an eerie quality, with a reddish light, and a crunch of leaves underfoot. It was a favourite haunt for squirrels searching for nuts under the leaves. They were rich pickings for any hungry hyena that had the patience to wait for them.

His mother had been there, he was sure, but he couldn't see her. He prowled up and down the bank looking for clues. He leapt over the stream, and began to do the same on the far bank, when a familiar smell came to him, wafted on the breeze. It was his mother's scent, mingled with strange animal smells, although there was no sign of a struggle.

He never saw his mother again. No one at the clan mentioned it but the rumour was that Outsiders had taken her.

Then came a memory of hunting with the clan. Although he wasn't yet fully-grown, he was eager to be part of the communal search for food. Hunger was a big part of their lives, but it was the sense of a shared bond that made hunting an experience. Working as a unit for the good of others, sharing both spoils and responsibilities.

On this occasion they were close to the Outside, looking for the kopi deer that lived on the hillsides. They were trying to lure young deer into the fringes of the woods by rustling leaves, yelping as if in distress. Sometimes an inquisitive young kopi would make the mistake of investigating.

Ahead of them they saw a small group of deer scatter, running around looking for cover. Something fearful was approaching. The hyenas saw it too, a giant shape moving above the ground, with a terrifying rumble that shook the trees. It had wings like a bird, but they were stiff and featherless. It hovered briefly, before scything into a group of kopi, who had frozen in fear. It killed many of them. Then the back of the thing opened, and two or three two-legged creatures jumped out. They bundled the fallen deer into its gaping maw, and it moved off as fast as it came. Silence descended on the hillside and the neighbouring trees.

In another dream his mother was scolding him, barking and nipping his legs with her teeth. She circled him where he stood and he accepted the punishment. It was a few days after the incident with the kopi, as she instinctively took her own fear out on him. The group had taken a while to confess their experience, while the whole clan had wanted to know more. Instead of heroes, they were idiots who'd disobeyed the first law of the clan by going too near the Outside.

Later still, the two-legged Outsiders came into the Forest to see them. He remembered this visit long after his mother had disappeared. From that time there was no more freedom. The Outsiders promised food and protection from the other dangers on the Outside. They left dead kopi as a sign of goodwill. After that they organised the clan into a hierarchy. Individuals began to be jealous of one another, vying for rank and favour.

Fleg felt shame for his kind. Once the Outsiders had claimed their allegiance they no longer thought for themselves. It was the Outsiders who appointed the Colonel as leader. He was not the most dominant of the clan, but the most pliable.

Then, quickly as they came, the dreams went. There was no light now, only the darkness and the noises of the night. Leaves rustled nearby and in the distance an owl hooted, a little too near for Fleg's liking. Until then he had been in a trance, but now he tugged at the chewed vines with renewed energy. The harness parted and he waited while the feeling returned to his legs. He rolled onto the grass and lay panting, before dragging himself up against the trunk of a tree.

The dreams weighed on him. With the hooting of owls around and the rustling of creatures going about their business, he got to his feet. His first instinct was to follow orders and go back to the clan. After all, he had been successful. He knew the identities of the strangers. He knew they were following the wolf to the Outside. The Colonel would thank him for his evidence, he might even get a promotion. But what if the Colonel had died of his wounds, and the black-furred Melos was in charge? Would he be as pleased with Fleg's story?

He also wondered why the Insiders had let him live. The instinct among his kind was to kill. If you didn't kill you didn't eat, so why had they spared him?

Then there were the dreams. He realised they showed how things really were. Yes, he could return to his clan, and lead them to annihilate the strangers. That was his safest route. It was what they would expect of him. But he didn't want to go back. He wanted to make his own way for a change. That was why he decided to track the wolf himself. Something on the Outside wanted that wolf, and Fleg wanted to know why.

**************AUTHOR'S NOTE**********

Hi everyone, thanks so much to all of you who are following me on this journey. Lots of adventures ahead and I'm excited to have you along. Again, thanks for your interest and don't forget to vote (below and at the end of each part) - it will help me get a bit more Wattpad love!

George