Eritopia

A Turning Tide

He didn't have time to think, however, as the riders began to mount their horses. The one called Berithon lifted Van up in front of him.

It was then that Bear became aware of a chattering, a hubbub, a gathering noise. He looked up, and he saw that above the mist birds were filling the sky.

'It is time to go,' Berithon shouted, and the Riders turned in a swirl of manes and tails, and swept out of the clearing at a canter. Bear and the others ran to keep up with them.

Beyond the clearing, the land was filled with movement. As far as the eye could see, there were animals of every kind. Rabbits and dogs scurried through the grass, deer and donkeys striding among them. There were boars, prairie dogs, cattle and coypu. Strange creatures, which he knew by hearsay to be the Wallabies of West Ridge, went hopping by. He spotted some sleek bobcats that had come out of the woods of Leaven. Bears were loping along, giving lifts to squirrels and monkeys, as birds glided among them. Bear watched as the horsemen rode away to join the throng, while he wandered in the tide of movement. Then he realised he had lost sight of Anya and Calypso, and he looked among the animals to try to find them. In the distance, the snow-capped mountains seemed to glitter in the revealing sun.

He jumped as a crow alighted on his shoulder.

'Steady,' Bear exclaimed. 'What do you want?'

'I'm resting,' the crow snapped. 'I didn't think you would object, as I've flown so far to be here.'

'I'm sorry,' Bear twisted his neck to look at her. 'But I didn't ask you to come. Are you from the Inside?'

'Sometimes. I come and go, wherever there is food. Sometimes that is on the Inside, other times I venture outside the Forest to scavenge there.'

He asked why she had joined the exodus from the Inside.

'Some days ago a message came from those little men, the Elders. Not directly to us, but we saw a lot of activity on the ground. Animals hugging each other, some crying, and the strongest of them preparing for a journey. You don't have any scraps on you, do you?' she asked.

'No,' Bear told her. 'What happened then?'

'Well one of my friends decided to find out what was going on. When she came back she was squawking about some battle that was taking place over the Outside. And how everyone on the ground was excited about it. Apparently, the eagles were to blame.'

'Eagles? You don't often see them on the Inside.'

'You're telling me. Well, it seems they had been tracking some people for the Elders.'

'Wait,' Bear interrupted, 'that might be us!' He looked around. 'I have some friends who were with me, although they have disappeared now.'

'I shouldn't think so,' the crow said. 'These were important animals. Some said the whole future of the Inside was in their hands. One of them was a man.'

Bear was even more convinced. Couldn't he be mistaken for a man from the air?

'Anyway,' she continued, 'the eagles had been buzzing around for days. My friend saw them carrying things around. Even a fox or a dog, she says! Although she isn't the crow she used to be.' The bird jumped off Bear's shoulder and settled on his head. Talons dug into the fur around his ears.

'Watch it!' Bear waved in discomfort and the crow hopped off onto the other shoulder.

'Just trying to see what's ahead,' she squawked, and before Bear could say anything else, she had flown off.

'It is as Reed predicted,' a quivering voice said.

Bear looked down. A grey animal looked up at him.

'What are you?' Bear asked, having never seen anything like it. The creature had four legs and a long thin tail that almost brushed the ground, short fur, long ears and big eyes.

'A whippet, I believe,' said the dog. It was more like a thin wolf or hairless hyena.

'My grandfather used to live with men in the City,' the dog continued, 'before the last liberation. 

'There's nothing pure bred about me!' he said proudly.

'What did he do there?' Bear asked.

'Oh, he was looked after for a while,' the dog said. 'They made him run round and round a field. But when he got injured they starved and kicked him.'

'What for?'

'For fun, he said,' the dog told him. 'The adults used to care, but the children...'

'He left then?' Bear interrupted.

'Yes, with the rest of them. Only a mad dog would have stayed.'

'Some creatures are saying Reed is with us,' Bear said.

'Not sure,' the dog replied, 'but I too have heard animals talking about him.'

'Where is he?'

'Everywhere. Here, there, in the mountains. He's leading us.'

'To where?'

'The City, of course, to avenge our loss,' the dog said before wandering off in the general rush.

Bear continued to look for Anya and the monkey. 'Have you seen my friends?' he asked all that walked near him. He would give them a description, then tell an anecdote about how silly they were. And how he had lost them in the confusion after the Riders came.

Everyone was pleasant to him and wished him luck in his search, but he still couldn't find them.