Free The Farthing Wood Collection 1 by Colin Dann Page B

least may listen this time. He can help us. I shall tell him the foxes must track the otters and bring them back before it’s too late!’
    However some of the foxes hastily backtracked, making detours, when they saw Sage Hedgehog approaching. It was spring and they were too preoccupied with their own needs and duties to wish to bother with him. But the old creature valiantly persisted in calling for their attention. He still hoped by some means to involve them. Stout Fox failed to avoid him and was obliged to stand and listen to his latest message.
    ‘What you say all sounds very plausible, I’m sure,’ he told the hedgehog afterwards, impressed by his urgency. ‘But I think it must be a long time since you had a mate carrying your young. At times like this there’s very little opportunity for the father to think about anything else. I can’t deal with your demands just now.’ And he carried on his way. He was not yet a father, but he was soon to be so, and in the meantime Stout Vixen needed nourishing and was relying on him to provide for her.
    Sage Hedgehog was fatalistic about the animals’ reactions. ‘They will listen to me,’ he told himself. ‘In time they will. They must. I shall continue to give warnings and try to persuade them to heed them. One day they will understand. I know my role and I shall pursue it.’
    Away from the Wood, Lame Otter limped into the thick growth of grass and weeds where the two bitch otters were lying restlessly. He told them what he had seen of the dead male, and let the realization sink in of the otters’ mortal vulnerability in this vicious new world. The females were silent and sombre. Lame Otter wondered who would choose to join him on his return journey. He knew it was only in that way that his partner would be decided. He was perfectly aware that, as a prospective mate, neither would choose him in normal circumstances. He waited a while. Then he spoke.
    ‘We shall all die out here,’ he said simply. ‘And very soon. There is one other option. You must both know what that is.’
    Long-Whiskers looked at him longingly, as if begging him to take the decision for her.
    ‘The other option,’ said Sleek Otter, ‘doesn’t exist as far as I’m concerned. For me there’s no going back.’
    Lame Otter and Long-Whiskers exchanged meaningful glances. They both understood the choice was made.
    Sleek Otter understood too. After a period of silence she said quietly, ‘Don’t persuade me to come with you. I wish you well. But I – I shall be a lone otter with, I think, a better chance of cheating danger.’ She was putting a brave face on it. They all knew that and there was nothing more to say.
    At dusk the three otters moved. Their first priority was to find food. Whereas before Sleek Otter had taken the lead in exploration, Lame Otter and Long-Whiskers realized now they must rely on themselves. Theydeliberately took a different direction from Sleek Otter, parting from her without a word and aware, as she was, that they would never see each other again.
    ‘You’ll have to do the hunting,’ Lame Otter said to his companion. ‘I’m useless as a predator’.
    ‘I know,’ Long-Whiskers answered. ‘I’ll do my best.’
    Lame Otter limped behind. Suddenly Long-Whiskers turned and said, ‘It would be best if you lie low while I’m on a hunt. We need to practise stealth if we’re going to eat and –’
    ‘And I’m clumsy? Yes, I’ve got the foxes to thank for that,’ Lame Otter interrupted bitterly. They were both at once reminded of the perils that would have to be faced back in Farthing Wood. ‘I’ll go back to where we left the sleek one,’ he said. ‘I don’t know where else I can lie hidden.’
    Rain began to fall heavily as he returned to the overgrown garden. The evening was cool and the grasses and wet soil smelt sweet. The shower brought frogs and toads out of hiding. The garden, long untended, had provided a perfect refuge for them. Lame Otter was