Free The Farthing Wood Collection 1 by Colin Dann Page A

seemed to stare at him from the bird’s coal-black beak. The crow rose higher in the air. Lame Otter squealed in horror as he recognized his old companion. He seemed to feel the full force of the hostile environment pressing in on him. The otters’ attempts at survival were futile. Slow Otter had been right. It was only a matter of time before all of them succumbed to the only destiny that awaited them here – extinction. With a terrible regularity, the little party’s numbers were being whittled away. Whatever they planned, wherever they went, mattered little. Theirdefeat, ultimately, in this uneven struggle was inevitable.
    ‘I’m the last dog otter,’ the lame male told himself. ‘When I die the long history of Farthing Wood otters will be finished’. Mechanically he continued in the wake of the two bitches. But he knew suddenly, beyond any doubt, what he must do. He must choose one of the two remaining females and return with her to the banks of the stream where they were born. For, whatever happened then, the future of the Farthing Wood otter colony wouldn’t have been needlessly sacrificed before it had been given a final chance of rebirth.

Reports in the local press about strange sightings of otters and their apparent disappearance from their native habitat were not, of course, overlooked by some bodies of people who welcomed the news. While the conservationists were striving to locate and rescue the animals who had fled and endangered themselves further, these other kinds of humans were venturing into Farthing Wood to take stock for themselves.
    Almost as if he had been expecting it, Sage Hedgehog saw a group of men pacing the banks of the stream, intent on acquiring the evidence they needed. Safe under a fallen branch on the edge of the Wood, the old creature watched their movements with foreboding. These men were not dressed in the way that humans who entered Farthing Wood were usually dressed. To Sage Hedgehog this implied a different human type altogether.
    Later, in the gathering dusk, the men penetrated the Wood itself and passed within a metre of the hedgehog’s obscuring branch. He observed them and their furtive glances for as long as they were within sight. Then, as soon as he deemed it safe to move, he scuttled in their footsteps, seeking any fellow woodlanderswho would have the sense to stop and listen to him. Luckily he came across Kindly Badger who was busy digging up wild garlic root with his powerful claws.
    ‘I count myself fortunate to have found you first,’ Sage Hedgehog began in his usual verbose way, ‘because, of all the animals, you are the least likely to discount my intentions.’
    ‘Well now,’ Kindly Badger said, chomping on a bulb, ‘what’s worrying you on this occasion?’
    ‘Did you see them?’
    ‘Them? Who?’
    ‘The humans. They must have come this way only moments since.’
    ‘Probably while I was still in my set,’ the badger remarked calmly. ‘The youngster thought he detected their smell.’
    ‘They were here,’ Sage Hedgehog assured him. ‘I watched them for a long while.’
    ‘That in itself is nothing out of the ordinary, is it?’ Kindly Badger asked mildly. ‘We’ve been used to humans walking –’
    ‘No,’ Sage Hedgehog interrupted sharply. ‘Not this sort of human.’ He was tired of the same old response.
    ‘What do you mean? How were these different?’
    ‘These humans have the greedy eyes and stony faces of the selfish. My friend, no good will come of their curiosity. These are not tree-gazers like the ones you refer to.’
    Kindly Badger was disturbed. ‘What does their presence indicate then, do you think?’
    ‘It indicates harm,’ the old hedgehog predicted. ‘Harm to us and to the Wood.’
    ‘Will you speak to others about this?’ the badgerasked. ‘It does seem, perhaps, that this time we should take note.’
    ‘I shall talk to the foxes,’ the determined hedgehog replied. ‘I have some hopes that the stout one at