Winter's Rising

Chapter Twenty-Three: Peace Reigns Supreme

The forest rangers eventually arrived. It took almost two days to bring the fire to a complete halt. News reporters showed up in the middle of it wanting interviews with everyone involved. The cameramen snapped pictures of the damages, the men working, and the arrest of Eric Lemmons on charges of arson, breaking the hunting quotas, hunting out of season, and animal abuse. His sickly dogs were transported to an animal hospital in the next town to get them the proper treatment and build their strength back up.

Amos and White Buffalo were given handsome rewards for capturing Lemmons. White Buffalo had no need for money so he donated it to the children's orphanage. Amos figured he'd just save his in the bank in case of an emergency.

Copper was excited to see White Buffalo again—or as he called him, "the Stranger". White Buffalo pulled out some jerky to give to the dogs when he saw them for the first time in what felt like ages. Amos gave both of them a hug when he saw they hadn't been hurt by the fire.

Late one night after all the excitement had died down, Copper and Chief snuck out of the cabin to say good-bye to the wolves—one in particular, Bright Star. Copper was beginning to get the idea that there was something between those two, but he sure didn't expect Chief to acknowledge him with a "yes" or "no" answer.

One Eye's pack was also in on the celebration of ridding the forest of the terrible Nero. It was the first time in a long time that the two packs had been together and actually gotten along. Dark Cloud was still his usual self, but he seemed happy that the situation had been resolved. One Eye was conversing with Bright Star at the moment.

"So, dear cousin, I see you have again managed to survive through another ordeal."

"Indeed, I have. I must be used to it by now, I guess. Every time I turn around, something happens."

She saw two figures coming forward and she smiled. "There they are, my special guests," she said to One Eye, who squinted to look. He got a peculiar look on his face and punched Bright Star in the front leg.

"Ha, I recognize that one. If Pale Moon were alive, he would have a fit."

"Pale Moon can rot at core of the earth for all I care," she retorted back, punching him in the leg before going over to greet the two of them. One Eye could only shake his head in the humor of it all.

Copper had made himself somewhat useful by playing with the cubs that were present. They enjoyed practicing their hunting tactics on him, although they mostly ended up getting gently knocked on their backs and held down by one paw. Everyone else just sort of talked about whatever came to mind.

The time finally came for the celebration to end. Dark Cloud called everyone's attention to him as he closed the party with final thoughts. "I want to thank you all for attending today. It has been a great pleasure being in your company tonight. We all appreciate the fine efforts that you have put in for the cause of saving this forest. For now at least, the forest is once again safe. It will take time for nature to replenish itself, but that is to be expected. We all mourn the losses that we have suffered through the battle, but it was for a good cause."

One Eye inputted, "Well said, Dark Cloud. Let us all hope that things stay this peaceful for a good long time—the last thing I want to see before I die is for those lousy foxes to congregate and rise up against us."

Everyone laughed at that remark, except for Copper. He didn't see what was so funny about it. He whispered to Chief for an explanation, but Bright Star heard him as well.

"You mean you have not told him about our history with the foxes?" Bright Star asked Chief in feigned shock. He shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn't his fault. Bright Star moved over beside Copper to explain things to him.

"A long time ago when the world was young and new, the Fox and the Wolf and the Dog used to be good friends and cousins. Everyday they would go hunting together, play together, and all sorts of other things. One day after hunting, the Wolf brought back with him five raccoons. The Fox had no luck that day and became envious when he saw the Wolf's kill. The Dog came back with ten squirrels. Again the Fox was envious for he had not caught anything. When asked what he had killed that day, the Fox developed a plan. He lied to his friends saying that he had killed a stag deep in the woods and was unable to drag it out of the woods on his own. The Wolf and Dog had never had any reason to doubt the Fox, so they believed him. The Fox went on further to say that if they could drag the stag out of the forest together, they could keep it in exchange for their five raccoons and ten squirrels.

"The Wolf and Dog saw no harm in that, so they agreed to the exchange. The Fox told them in what direction to go and when the two were out of sight, he snatched up the raccoons and squirrels and ran off with them to his burrow. The Dog and Wolf realized they had been tricked and fooled by their friend the Fox. They no longer trusted him as their friend, so they made a pact never to associate themselves with him and consider him their enemy. And to this day, all wolves and dogs are friends and cousins, but the fox is an outsider and is hunted down by everyone because of his tricky ways."

Copper couldn't believe his ears. Foxes not to be trusted? But Tod had never done anything to him that ever caused him to doubt his faithfulness to their friendship. He had been nothing but a good friend to him since they met. Copper wanted to argue with them but he knew better. He didn't want to get in any trouble for associating with what they were calling "the enemy".

Chief gave a yawn. "Copper, it's 'bout time we get back to the cabin. We have to get up early in the morning to leave for home."

Home. Copper couldn't wait to go home. Back to his old barrel, his waterbowl, seeing the familiar scenery of the front yard, hearing the chickens clucking in their pen. He wondered briefly how Tod had been holding out over the winter, how much he had grown, what he had been up to. It seemed like such a long time ago that they were children frolicking in the woods when it had in reality only been a few months!

Copper was the first one to reach the cabin when they finally arrived. Bright Star had accompanied them to say a final good-bye.

She gave him a small hug. "Good-bye, Copper. It was nice meeting you. I hope you have good luck in the rest of your life's journey."

"Thanks, Bright Star. I'll miss ya," he replied. "Thanks for everything."

"You are quite welcome, dear," she smiled as he turned to run to the door.

He skidded to a halt when he made it to the door to turn around and ask, "Chief, you comin'?"

"Uh, hang on, gimme a minute."

Copper shrugged and went on inside. Chief turned towards Bright Star.

"Well, I guess. . . I guess this is really good-bye, huh?" he asked her with a sad look on his face.

"I am afraid it is. You have your world, and I have mine."

"Not very fair is it?" He wrapped a front leg around her, giving her a hug. "I'm gonna miss you something awful."

"I will miss you also. Who knows, we may see each other again some day."

"Yeah, maybe. Though if I'd have had a mind back then, I probably would have gone after ya and kidnapped you back or somethin'."

She punched him playfully. "You are crazy. You would have ended up killed. And just think, if we had run away, Copper may not have turned out the way he did. I think you did a splendid job raising him."

"Aw, shucks, I'm not exactly a qualified parent, but I did my best." He leaned down and rubbed her on the nose. "Bye."

"Good-bye," she whispered. "Take care."

She ran into the woods back to her home, leaving Chief standing there with this lovestruck look on his face. If he had any sense in his head he would go after her, but he knew that there was no point in that anymore. The mood was broken when he heard someone from the porch say, "And you said you didn't even like girls!"

Chief shot his head around to see Copper with his head out the door with this big grin on his face. Chief instantlytransformed back into his usual self and said, "Son, if you don't get back in that cabin and mind your own business, I'm gonna—"

The Next Morning

Chief was still a little depressed over having to say good-bye to Bright Star last night. Half of him wasn't ready to go home and back to that hum-drum life of theirs. The other half of him did want to go home just to get away from this forest and all the memories that had been made here. The Master was getting the last of his stuff when the older dog made his way towards the truck.

Now that he thought about it, he really was ready to leave this place. Back to his barrel where he could sleep all day until hunting season rolled around again and just relax and not have any worries. He was just about to hop into his spot in the front seat when he came to a sudden halt—Copper was sitting in his seat. And he had this kingly look about him, as if he had done something so grand and extraordinary that he thought he had the right to sit there.

Chief got extremely annoyed at this and was about to growl the youngster down when he suddenly remembered a few months ago before they had left to go on this trip, he had told Copper that the only way he could sit in the front seat was if he earned the right to do so.

Now he wished he hadn't told him that, because he really wanted to sit there. That was his spot, dagnabbit! But he bit his lip in order to keep himself from pitching a fit, not wanting to do anything to cause an argument and get them in trouble, so he downheartedly made his way to the back of the truck and hopped in. He hated having to lie down on these nasty, smelly furs. It made him feel sick to his stomach that he was on top of a bunch skins that belonged to dead animals. So degrading. Well, Copper would get away with sitting up front this time, but he guaranteed that it would not happen again. Puh, first he steals the spotlight and then he steals his spot! He just would never understand . . .

Copper meanwhile was enjoying his time up front. He felt that he had earned the right. He had successfully completed his first hunt and he helped bring down a powerful force that was tearing down the forest. The Master cranked up the engine and began the long drive home.

Copper looked back at the cabin that was disappearing in the distance and felt a little sad. He had practically grown up there—he had learned respect, responsibility, morality, how to make tough decisions, made friends, made enemies—all of life's lessons he had learned there. And then he looked ahead to the road in front of him. What new adventures were waiting for him at home? What new lessons about life awaited him? He would only have to find out when he got there and take each problem one step at a time—just like he had done before.

The End

So sad, it's the end! And I really enjoyed writing this story too! Don't worry, I have a sequel to this story called Spring's Awakening, which is pretty much based on the original Mannix book (expect epic sadness, I cried just thinking about it). But in the meantime, be patient and I hope you all enjoyed reading Winter's Rising and thank you all for your wonderful reviews and your patience!