A Bold New Life, One Lie can make a huge Difference

G'day all, this is my first fic ever, and ive been working on this for months,so i hope its good and you all enjoy it.
First off,I want thank Siberian Star for the ideas and help, and Silver Mist for the support.

If anyone has any ideas or critisms for this fic, just PM me and tell me so.
Now here's chapter one, and i hope you enjoy the story

A Bold New Life

Chapter 1-A Brother's Sadness, and a Brother's Lie

Late in the afternoon, a young fox came running out of White Deer Park.
He looked around, and saw where his brother lay dead on the ground, after a long
trek to White Deer Park to make sure that his cubs lived in safety.

Friendly walked slowly over to his brother, and sadness enveloped him. They had
never been close as brothers, but Friendly still loved him as much as he did his
sister, his family and a blue fox that he had been seeing recently.

While Friendly thought that his brother had made a foolish mistake leaving the
park, he had to admit that he was proud of his brother,for forgetting his oath to
never return to the Park, so he could be sure that his cubs and his mate could live
in a safe place.

Friendly looked at his brother. Taking in what had happened to him during the time
in which Bold had left the park. He noticed the scar above his eye, from where the
wire had gotten caught there, and the leg where Bold was shot by a hunter.
Friendly also noticed-with great sadness-how old, thin and frail his brother looked.
To Friendly, it hardly looked like Bold at all.

“He hurt more than I ever did, and yet he still kept going.” Friendly thought.

Then speaking softly into his brother’s ear, Friendly said:”My dear brother we will
all miss you.I apologise for any quarrels we had before, and for anything else that
had happened between us when we where young.

I just wish that you could hear me say this to you. Good-bye my brother and I
hope you have a pleasant journey.”

Tears ran down Friendly’s muzzle as he looked at his brother one last time, before
he ran back into the park, and back to the family Bold would never see again.Little
did Friendly know however, he was being watched from a dark shadow high in the
trees, waiting for the right moment to approach the unmoving body of Bold.

=================
Crow watched Friendly re-enter the Park. He had been sitting on a high branch in
a tree nearby, and had seen the whole exchange.
Crow looked around from his high position to make sure that nobody was around,
before flying down to Bold’s body with a dead rat in his beak, and another rat in
his claws.

Crow put down the rats, then he bent down towards Bold’s head, and
whispered:”There’s no-one around here, you get stop faking now.”

Bold opened his eyes and looked at his old friend.

“You sure?” asked Bold.

“Yep, nobody’s here,” said Crow. “Here, got you something.”

Bold started to get up, and he instantly fell down again, his legs stiff from being
still for a long time.

“You okay?” asked Crow.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” replied Bold, as he tried to stand up for the second time.

hen Bold managed to stand up, he stood still for a couple of minutes, to let the
feeling back in his legs.

When he had feeling back in his legs, Bold stretched the cramps out of his legs and
Crow heard him mutter something about “never doing something like this again.”
After all the cramps where out of Bold’s muscles, he attacked one of the rats that
Crow had given him with great hunger.

“God that tastes good,” said Bold through a mouth-full of rat. “I was so hungry,
and lying down in the same pose without moving is hard enough as it is.”

“Do you still want to go through with this?” Crow asked Bold. “Are you sure that
you don’t want to be with your family again, or are you happy living out here?”

Prior to Bold reaching White Deer Park, Bold had made a plan. To fake his own
death through shallow and irregular breathing, and incredibly good luck so Whisper
and his cubs were safe and he didn’t have to go back into the park.

“I almost backed out of it a couple of times,” admitted Bold as he swallowed the
last piece of the rat. “But my mind is set. I’m not going back.”

Bold then started eating the other rat, and there was silence between the two of
them for a couple of minutes. When he had finished, Crow broke the silence.

“Well there’s no point hanging around here, so let’s get going.” said Crow. ”You
where lucky to pull that one off. You should thank your…”

“Lucky Stars.” smiled Bold. And the two of them laughed as they walked away
from White Deer Park to start a new life out side White Deer Park.

=======



First thoughts everyone?

This post has been edited by AOFW Fox on Feb 14 2009, 10:58 AM

Absolutely brilliant for a first attempt! good going aofw fox! :) glad to be the first to post though ;) i think the way you described freindly's sadness was billiant.you remmebered everything from the real animals of farthing wood series.
al in all....thats a nice being!

This post has been edited by Siberian Star on Aug 9 2008, 09:19 AM

Thanks. Next chapter should be up next week.

How comes you never wrote fanfics before? I thought it was brilliant!
i cant wait for the next chater!

This post has been edited by oceans whisper on Oct 1 2008, 02:15 PM

good chapter...just as i expected. keep it up, AOFW fox. i particularly like the "Lucky stars" part ;)

One good chapter there mate! Can't wait for next chapter.

I actually watched Bold's death scene the other day on Youtube...i think now that Bold wouldn't be able to fake his death, due to the fact that him family would've noticed something if they stayed with his body for a while...but who cares :D Im going on. now....

Chapter 2- Focused and Moving On

Bold crouched in the grass, searching. His good sense of smell told him that there
some rats hiding in a hole 20 meters away.Bold lifted his head, slowly stood up,
making sure that he did not put any weight
onto his bad leg. He then slowly made his way towards his prey.

It had been 2 weeks since Bold had faked his own death to avoid re-entering
White Deer Park. During that time, Shadow and Crow had supplied him with food,
so he could regain some of his former strength, and he now was able to try hunting again.

Today, he had asked them not to get him any food, but to let him try to get some
food for himself. It was going to be the first time he had hunted by himself in
awhile and he knew that it was going to be a challenge.

Bold now saw the hole in which the rats where hiding. He quietly walked up to it,
and crouched beside the entrance. Using his tail, Bold made a disturbance in the
dirt brushing leaves and dirt lightly, and after a minute or so of him doing this, the
rats came scurrying out to see what was making the disturbance.

Quickly, Bold used a paw to trap one of the rats, and he wrapped his jaws around
another. The other rats, seeing what was happening, ran back inside their hole to
avoid being the next victims.

Bold looked at his catch and was proud of himself. Then he remembered when he
used to catch rats with Whisper in the town.They had worked so well together:
she would scare the rats and they would run towards the place where he was
hiding. He would catch a couple of them, and
that was their dinner.

Bold shook the thought away.

“I’ve got a good life right now,” muttered Bold. ‘I’ve got food, I’m happy, I’ve got
my friends with me, what more could a bloke need?

I made my choice, and there’s now turning back. I have to stop living in the past.”
Bold picked up his food, and started walking back towards his earth.

========================

When Bold got back to his Earth, he saw Crow waiting in a tree beside his Earth.
When Crow saw Bold coming, he flew done to greet him.

“So you got yourself something, hey?” asked Crow.

“Yep, I certainly did.” replied Bold. “You want one?”

“Sure, pass us one.” In response, Bold pushed a rat in Crows direction.

“Thank you very much.” said Crow, as he started eating his rat.

“Anytime.” replied Bold as he settled down to eat his rat. Using his teeth, he
ripped out a reasonable chunk of meat, and started to eat it.

“I saw some hunters when I was flying around today.” commented Crow, pausing
before ducking his head to get another piece of rat.

Bold almost choked on the piece of rat he was eating.

“Hunters?” spluttered Bold, after coughing out the piece of rat.

“Yep, a large party of them too.” said Crow.

“Great, just what I need: a bunch of hunters in the area just when I’m able to
hunt again.” replied Bold, remembering his first experience with a group of
hunters: He had gotten off second best. Bold swore that his bad leg still tingled
when he thought about the incident.

“What are you going to do?” asked Crow.

Bold thought about for a while.

"I’ll only hunt at certain times of the day,” he concluded. “We can observe when
the hunters decide to hunt, and where they choose to do their hunting. Then we
can completely avoid them.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” remarked Crow, as he tore off another piece of meat from the rat.

Bold finished off his last piece of rat, then stood up.

“I’m going off to sleep. Today’s been exhausting. Good Night.”

‘Night my friend,” said Crow. “I’d better get going myself.”

And with that, Crow flew off to his nest with the remainder of his rat, leaving Bold
to walk into his recently dug earth to get some sleep.

When Bold entered the warm earth and lay down, he thought about the hunters.
He had been cocky the last he time he was here, and he had nearly died because
of it.

He was more cautious this time, and Bold particularly did not want to end up with
another wound, or to even die.

“I must avoid them at all costs.” thought Bold. “There may be no second chances
this time if they get me.”

And with that final thought, weariness came upon him, and Bold shut his eyes and
fell to sleep, with the thought of the hunters still in his mind.

=======


Next Chapter: Has Bold's Lucky Stars finally run dry?

This post has been edited by AOFW Fox on Dec 11 2008, 03:57 AM

good chapter aofw

I like where this is going. Update Soon. :worthy:

omg...don't do that too bold!
but yeah good chapter friend

hehehehehehe :twisted: im not revealing nothing (it would wreck the story), though i can say that he does suffer badly.

Tis most good ^_^

No...please don't :sniff: he's suffered enough

Chapter 3- Bold and Death

Bold walked through the field, the long grass covering his body. It was early
morning, and the sun was just coming up on the horizon.

He was looking for some easy prey that would be out and about feeding in the
early morning. He caught scent of a vole nearby, and he decided to go for that.
It was a week since Crow’s warning about the hunters, and Bold was going to risk
losing more than a leg this time.

He had watched the hunters for a couple of days, and discovered that they slept
late, and hunted in the middle of the morning, and late in the afternoon.Using
those small guide lines, Bold got myself food in the mornings, and after sunset
when the hunter’s had retired for the night.

Even though he did this, he always listened for the sound of gun’s cocking, or the
footsteps of the hunter’s, just in case they decided to change their routine.
As Bold crept closer to the vole, he shuddered at the thought of the screams of
pain he had the victims of the hunters.

It was usually just pheasant, but sometimes he heard the distinctive yelp of a fox.
Every time he heard it, he though of how lucky he had been to come off with just
a wound in the leg, not dying like the other foxes he kept hearing.

Bold could now see the vole through the grass. It was very fat, and Bold could
just imagine the taste on his tongue, and the juices from the meat sliding down his throat.

He licked his lips in anticipation of a nice meal, and got ready to pounce, if you may
call it. It wasn’t much of a pounce, but more of a ‘run in quickly, and grab it before
if runs’ sort of thing. And it wasn’t made easy by his bad leg.

Bold edged closer to the clearing that the vole was in, carefully making sure that
he didn’t stand on a small branch or anything else on the ground that would make
noise and alert the vole to his presence.

When he got to the edge of the clearing, Bold ran towards the vole. It gave a
squeak of fright and started to run.However, Bold was too quick for it and
managed to catch the vole with his jaws. As he grabbed the stricken vole, it
twisted its body in an attempt to escape from his jaws. Bold firmly hung on to the
vole until it stopped moving.

Bold then applied some extra pressure into his grip on the vole, just to make sure
the vole was dead, and wasn’t going to bolt away when he put it down. Bold felt a
sense of pride go through him as he put it down, and he shifted his left leg slightly
to his right.

It always felt good to make a kill, even though it was always small stuff, not like
the pheasants he was killing before the gunshot wound.

A loud band interrupted his thoughts, and a moment later, something slammed into
the ground beside Bold’s leg making Bold yelp in fright.

The object had made a hole where his paw had been a moment before. As he
examined it, Bold’s blood ran cold when he realised what it was that had made the
hole. Then he heard something crunching though the grass, coming towards him.
Bold dropped to the ground just as the hunter came into the clearing. As the
hunter bent over to examine him, many thoughts ran through Bold’s head.

The main thought was “Why was a hunter out and about during this time of day?”

The sun had just come up, and it was a few hours before the hunter’s had started
hunting every other day.

Then the realisation hit Bold like a sledge hammer: The hunter had the same idea
as he did, which was to hunt early to get some prey, or in the hunter’s case Bold
thought, to kill early.

Bold caught his breath as the hunter put a finger near his nose to check if Bold
was breathing or not

“This is it. My luck has finally run out” Bold thought grimly as he braced himself for
the likely gunshot that would kill him.

Then, out of no-where, the hunter started to move away from Bold, heading
toward where the pheasants usually where, a good 200 meters away.

“Must be moving off a distance, and when I move, he’ll shoot me” thought Bold,
determined not to move for the next 5 minutes.

No sooner than he’d thought that, he got an itch on his muzzle.

“Great, an itch, now how will I not blow my cover.” thought Bold nervously, as
sweat starting running down his forehead towards his muzzle, which just made the
area itchier than before.

Then, to his great relief, he heard the hunter move away some more. But as soon
as that relief had come, it drained away when Bold heard the hunter cock the gun.

“This is it.” Bold thought. “There’s no way I will be able to survive this.”

He braced himself with a final thought about lying to his mate, his family, and the
cubs that he would never meet, and how guilty he was that his cubs would now
never have a father. Then the hunter pulled the trigger and Bold heard the fateful
sound of the exploding weapon.

Silence covered the whole area after the shots where fired. Pheasants flew away,
rats disappeared into their holes, and Bold did not move.

========



Is this the end...already :o ?

This post has been edited by AOFW Fox on Dec 11 2008, 03:59 AM

What, no-one liked my cliff-hanger? If you want to read it before Chapter 4 is released Tuesday or Wednesday, which finishes the cliff-hanger, do it soon

Sorry i have been away for a while :( but yeah nice chapter. I literally can't wait for the next chapter. I wanna cliff hang myself! lol
waiting................ :lol:

Okay, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 4- The Loss of a Friend

Nothing. No pain. No nothing. Silence filled Bold’s head, and his vision just saw
black. Bold wondered if he was dead. He slowly opened one eye, and to his relief
he wasn’t dead, and also to his relief, he saw the hunter’s back about 10 metres
away.

The hunter wasn’t pointing the gun at Bold. He was pointing his gun to the
distance. Then the hunter started move off towards where the other hunters
where sleeping. Then Bold heard the painful cry of an animal that had been shot
by the hunter.

His blood ran cold for the second time that morning. It was a cry of pain from
some-one that sounded all too familiar to Bold.


=======

Bold sprang up from where he was lying down. The hunter had moved off fast,
and was probably more than 200 metres away. It was far enough to get to his
friend unnoticed by the hunter, who was walking back to the hunter’s lodge.
Bold walked as fast as he could to the sound of the injured creature.

He was panting hard and his leg hurt by the time he got halfway to his injured
friend, but he just ignored the exhaustion and pain: he had to make sure it wasn’t
who he thought was injured.

He tripped on a branch, and fell flat on his face. Bold just got up and continued on
towards his friend, shrugging away the pain, with the only pain being in his heart.
By the time he got to his injured friend, Bold needed a couple of seconds to catch
his breath. When he got his breath back, he looked at who was injured, he gave a
cry of despair and shock.

There, lying on the ground, bleeding, and obviously in a lot of pain, was Crow.

“No, Crow!” cried Bold. “Please be alright.”

Bold was upset at what he saw. There was a massive wound in Crow’s side, and
there was blood all over the ground. Crows feathers looked like they had been
dipped in red paint.

“Ah, here comes my friend now.” said Crow weakly.

“Crow, are you okay?” said Bold, with tears starting to form in his eyes.

“What’s it look like, I’ve been shot.” said Crow, seemingly angry. Then he broke
out in to weak smile.

“No, I don’t think I’ll make it.”

“Yes you will Crow,” said Bold, who now had tears starting to run down his
face. “I’ll help you...me and Shadow, we’ll help you recover. We’ll give you food
and rest. We will make sure that you surv…”

“Don’t be stupid Bold.” said Crow. “I’m no going to live through this.”

“Ye...ye...yes yo....” Bold couldn’t finish the sentence as he lost the battle to
keep his emotions under control, and started to sob. When he managed to control
himself, Bold looked down at his friend and spoke.

“Crow, thanks for everything you’ve done for me since we’ve met. It’s been a
pleasure knowing you.” He said, the tears now running quickly down his cheeks
and muzzle.

“Anytime my good friend. It was a pleasure knowing you too.” said Crow, his voice
getting weaker. “Bold?”

Ye...ye...yes c...c...crow” sobbed Bold.

“Thank your...” started Crow

“Lucky stars.” finished Bold, with a slight smile on his face at their old joke, even
though he had tears running down his face.

And with a final laugh, and with a final smile on his face, Crow closed his eyes for
the last time, and passed on to the next world.

“Noooooo! Croooooowwww!!!!” howled Bold as he fell to the ground crying beside
this friend, and was overcome with sadness that he had never felt before for no-
one else.

============
Bold kept crying for ages. His friend, Crow was gone. Gone, taken from his world
by a single bullet. A bullet that was fired by a hunter, who had wrecked their
careful observations.

He couldn’t believe it. Crow was gone. His first friend after he left the safety of
White Deer Park. The friend who had helped him when he was shot in the leg by a
hunter.

The friend who had recommended that he moved to the town to get food with
greater ease. The friend who had let him stay with Whisper.

The friend who had helped him during the journey back to White Deer Park. The
friend who had helped him pull off his miraculous trick that kept him a free fox.
Now, Bold couldn’t return all the things that crow had done for him. He was too
late. He kept on crying for what felt like a lifetime to him. To Bold, it felt like the
sadness would ever end.

For the first time, Bold thought about cutting his loses, and going home to face the
music. It had all worked like clock-work for the first couple of weeks. Now, it was
all falling apart around his ears.

He had food, shelter and his friends with him, and he had been doing well with
himself. Now one of his best friends was dead. Bold thought he should have
stayed with Whisper and re-entered the park. then at least he still would have his friend.


Bold was so upset, that he didn’t notice Shadow walk up beside where he lay.

“What’s happened here?” asked Shadow. It took a minute for Bold to regain some
composure.

“It’s Crow, he’s go...” Bold couldn’t finish what he was saying as he started to cry
again.

“Gone, as in dead?” asked Shadow, not knowing what had happened to Crow, and
thinking that the dead bird Bold had was some random crow who lived nearby.

“Yes, dead!” howled Bold. “Have a look for your damn self.” He couldn’t believe
how oblivious she was to Crows body, and the blood around him.

“Well sorry, I only just came here, didn’t I.” replied Shadow angrily. She had never
known Bold to be like this.

It took another few minutes for Bold to calm down a bit so he could think rationally.
“Sorry, it’s just that... he’s always been there for me you know?” said Bold. “It’s
just a bit of a shock, you know?”

“Well, by judging by your state, it’s more than a shock.” remarked Shadow. “More
of a huge shock, and a complete loss of control.”

“You would be like this if it was one of your really close friends.” snapped Bold. “or
a family member.”

“I do know how it feels,” Shadow snapped back. “I lost my first mate a while
before I met you.”

“Y..y...you did?” asked Bold, surprised at this new information.

“Yes I did, and I wouldn’t be going around making conclusions unless you know
what’s going on, and you know what you’re talking about.” said Shadow angrily,
starting to turn away.

“No don’t go” pleaded Bold.

Shadow stopped walking and turned her head back towards Bold.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that...I’ve lied to my family, and now I’ve lost a really close
friend.” said Bold, who was now feeling really guilty.

“It’s okay, I’d be like you if I was in your position.” said Shadow with a slight smile.

“Can you pick up Crow’s body for me?” asked Bold. “I want to give him a proper
burial.”

“Sure.” said Shadow, as bent her head and carefully picked up Crow’s lifeless body.

“Let’s go, the hunter may be back soon...maybe with the others.” said Bold.

Shadow nodded, and the two of them set off towards Bold’s earth, where they
could bury Crow properly, and remember him for all the things he had done. Bold
wondered as he walked back with Shadow if he should go back to the park.

However, he kept getting distracted by his thoughts of Crow, and his eyes welled
up with tears as he thought about him. So he shook the thought away for now,
and he would think about it later, when he had a clear head so he could think
about it properly.

=======

When Bold got back to his earth with Shadow, he asked her to drop Crow’s body
outside the entrance.

Shadow then left saying “I didn’t know him well enough. You should be the one him
to bury him and say goodbye."

Bold nodded numbly. He almost couldn’t hear her words. He was only just aware
of her leaving him to bury Crow. He stood there for a while, looking at Crow’s
body, thinking of his one true friend, and how he was taken away from him. Then
he got to work digging a hole to bury Crow in.

The hole took him most of the morning. The earth was packed hard from many
animals walking over the earth over the years, so it made the soil tougher to dig.

When he was done, he had a decent hole, about 2 feet deep and 3 feet long. It
was about mid-day when he was done, and he was exhausted from his efforts.

The pads of his feet where bleeding slightly from his efforts to move the hard soil.
But Bold didn’t care about the pain. He had done something for his friend, and he
was happy about that fact. His friend had done heaps for Bold, and he had finally
done something back.

Delicately, Bold pushed Crow into the hole. He looked inside the hole and admired
his handy work, knowing that it would be the only thing he had ever done for
Crow, before saying a final farewell:

“Crow, you’ve been a great friend. You did so much that kept me alive. You where
a true friend. I just wish that I could’ve done more to repay you, and thank you
for what you’ve done for me. Now Crow my good friend, I say goodbye, and
always thank your lucky stars, no matter where you are.”

And with a slight smile on his face and tears running down his face, Bold took a
final look at his friend before burying him. After he had buried his friend, Bold
walked into his earth to think. He needed to decide whether or not he should stay
here, or go back to his parents in White Deer Park.
=======


Anyone with something in their eye?

This post has been edited by AOFW Fox on Dec 11 2008, 04:01 AM

Aw that was a good chapter aofw
how can you make crow die? :flame: i


This post has been edited by oceans whisper on Oct 1 2008, 02:32 PM

I'm crynig...nah don't worry ain't yet.gd chapter though.poor poor bird :(

Sorry for the wait, i wanted to write some more chapters before releasing this

Chapter 5- Guilt and Decisions

Bold lay down in his warm earth and he immediately felt tired. Digging a hole and
running with a bad leg wasn’t that easy for Bold, and the digging had left him
exhausted.He didn’t try to resist as his eyes closed and he fell asleep pretty
quickly, even though it was the middle of the day.

As Bold slept, images and memories kept appearing in his head:

His sister Dreamer lying dead in the grass of White Deer Park, with his sad
father watching over the body, head down in sorrow.

His father yelling at him for trying to take on Scarface, and then him leaving the
park in response.

Seeing Shadow’s foot trapped in the hunters trap, and getting a piece of wire
caught in is eye as a result of freeing her.

Feeling the pain of getting shot in the leg, after getting shot by the hunters whilst
out and about in pure daylight.

Seeing Whisper for the first time, and the joy of having a vixen who liked him.

Crow freeing him from their agreement to share food if they find some, the
happiness of knowing that he could stay with Whisper, and the knowledge that
Crow would be there for him if he needed him

The joy in learning of Whisper’s pregnancy, then the disappointment of having to
go back to White Deer Park and then the heartbreak of learning that he was used.

The pain of the final journey flashed into his mind, then his father saying that he
was the bravest fox he had ever known, then later, Friendly’s last words to him.


Then, out of nowhere, came a hunter with his gun. The hunter laughed as he
pointed the gun at Bold’s head, as he got ready to pull the trigger. As Bold said a
final prayer then there was that horrifying click of a trigger being pulled and the explosion of the gun firing…

======

Bold awoke with a start, breathing quickly with sweat running down his muzzle
onto the floor of his earth, his body trembling from the experience. After lying
there for a couple of minutes to relax his body, Bold got up, stretched his legs and
went outside his earth, thinking of the dream he had just had.

As he came outside his earth, and lay down in the entrance, noticing that he had
slept for most of the afternoon. He saw that the sun was setting, with the sky a blood red colour.

He smiled grimly at this when he remembered the blood on the ground after Crow
had been shot earlier that very same day.

“Jeez I miss him,” thought Bold. “And he hasn’t even been gone that long.”

Then he remembered the question he had asked himself earlier: was it worth
staying out here by himself? Or should he go back to his family?

He weighed it all up in his mind. He had lost his best friend, ditched his mate and
unborn cubs with his family, and above all, lied to his family.

“It sucks to be the fox to have done all this,” Bold said to himself. “I’ve lied to my
family and my mate. Not to mention, my friend is dead because of me, in a way. What should I do?”

Bold thought about the question for ages. He thought about the good things of
going back to his family, and the bad things about going back to his family as well

He would be with his mate, his cubs and his family if he went back to White Deer
Park. But then he realised the one thing that stopped him from going back to White Deer Park ever again.

“If I ever go back now, what would I say to my parents?” thought Bold. ”Would I
say, hey mum, hey dad. Guess what, I’m not dead. I lied to avoid facing you. Now
lets be a happy family again”

Bold chuckled to himself at this thought.

“Hello Whisper, good to see you again. Yes, it’s true. I ditched you because I
wanted to be free, now let’s be mates again like we where before I almost ditched you.”

Bold smiled harder at this thought.

“If I ever came back, I wouldn’t be greeted that well.” he said to
himself. “Especially by Whisper and my dad: they would be so mad at me for lying
to them; they’d never trust me again.”

“I won’t go back, not now, not ever, no matter the circumstances.”

With his mind made up to stay where he was, he decided to go out and try to get
a late dinner of some rats, or another vole.

He realized that this would be the first time he had hunted without a friend since
he was injured by the hunter. He had always had Crow or Whisper to help him
with the job, or to provide food if he didn’t get anything.

Bold was surprised at how much he had depended on others. He had become
accustomed to having others get food for him, or having others help him get food,
or help him when he had needed it, which was a fact that Bold did not like.

“I’ve always had some-one there for me,” Bold said to himself. “Now I’m by myself,
and I don’t have some-one this time, do I? I need to stop depending on others…
unless it’s very necessary to do so”

After he said this, Bold got up, and walked off into the night, with determination in
his eyes.

=======



So, what do you think?

This post has been edited by AOFW Fox on Nov 17 2008, 11:58 PM