~A Story Is Told~

“My father was an adventurous fox,” Mother began her story. “and he loved to explore the WideWorld and everything in it, but this adventure, this dream of glory he was chasing, the WideWorld took him away. He left when I was young and came back when I was around your age. We spent a while playing and exploring, my mother woke me one morning to tell me my father’s nest was cold and he had fled in the night, the WideWorld took him away, and he left us. He told me stories, Mother continued, many stories of wolves, of salmon, of deer, of foxes, of eagles, of mountains, of rivers, of meadows, and sky. And my mother taught me that wolves are never to be trusted, they have no loyalty and no heart, you must stay away from wolves.”

“Mother?” Hugo interrupted as a thought crossed his mind. “Why are we the Kings of the wood?” Mother glanced at him, her mouth still open midspeech. “Yes?” she said “Oh yes, well let’s see…”

“One time long long ago, the animals of the WideWorld fought for every small bite of prey, for every scrap of land, peace could only be found in death. All the animals of the world decided they would gather together on the top of Mount'Skybreaker. The salmon jumped the waterfalls and swam the rivers, the deer climbed the sheer cliff sides, the wolves and foxes foraged a path, and the eagles flew. The birds perched atop the tallest tree, the salmon gathered in schools. The foxes and wolves sat on the stone and fallen trees and the deer stood proud and tall.

Every animal eyed the other as prey, the wolves crept up upon the deer, the foxes and eagles dove for the salmon and a fight broke out. A loud voice rang out around the clearing.

“We must stay apart, we gather together only for heartbeats and you fight!” called a large eagle who had stayed where she was, not joining in the hunt. “My name is Ulva, I will lead those of the sky.”

A fox stood back from the river and called; “my name is Falen, I will lead the animals of the wood.” She leaped up onto a spur of rock and called commandingly out towards all the small birds, foxes and small critters. An outbreak of squeaks and barks and outraged tweets drowned out the sound of the wind.

“Who said you could lead us?” a fox retorted.

“I wish to be a leader!” said another.

“This is not for you to decide!” said a third.

A deer as he cleared his throat, “I wish for all the deer to own all of the meadows!” His bleating cry echoed around and bounced off the trees and rock of Mount'Skybreaker.

“All? If all the deer own the meadows then all the salmon should own all rivers!” said a salmon.

“And all the foxes should own all the forest!”

“You can't own all the forest! The forest belongs to all!”

“And so does the sky!”

“Stop!” A commanding voice rang in the gathering animals' ears.

“I am Tala and I own these mountains.” said a dark brown wolf. Her voice was cold and crisp, like the frigid air around them.

And so it was decided, the wolves would own the mountain, the deer would own the meadow, the eagles would own the sky, the salmon would own the water, and the foxes would own the woods, at the gathering of the Kings.” Mother finished with a dramatic voice.

“But Mother?” asked Cody, “the wolves aren't the Kings of the mountains now, why is that?”

“That is a story for another time my darlings, now, off to bed with you!”

A long ways away under the light of the moon a wolf as black as the night around him stood on a large spur of rock, jutting over a blue lake. His golden eyes glowed with impatience.

A crow flew down and landed on a spindly dead tree. His beak clicked in greeting and his white milky eye looked like a moon in the night sky against his black feathers.

“You know why I called you?” Takaya spoke in a cold voice.

“‘O cours’ I do, eh? Yeh wan’ ter ask a favor o’ my crows ‘n all we get is ter do som’ ‘ol tom foolery, eh? Sat what’cha wan?” Tamar exclaimed angrily as it fluttered down to the ground.

The wolf advanced towards the crow, “my mother gave you that eye last time you refused our offer, and I'm not taking no for an answer either.”

The wolf planted his paw on the crows stomach, disallowing him from wriggling free of his grasp, although the crow tried.

“Goin’ ter kill meh, eh?” Tamar said, his milky eye staring unseeing at Takaya.

“If only I didn't need you that much,” Takaya snarled coldly.

“Tala’s rules?” Tamar asked.

“Kill the foxes or trick them into coming here so I can end them myself, I don't trust you to fill out my orders. But I have to finish what my mother started, understand?”

The crow nodded slowly, Takaya released him and Tamar flew off into the night. His black feathers outlined against the moon.