Menolyrical; Final Friday Fiction

Here we are again, the final Friday of another month! Thanks to those who have been taking part; we may be few, but we pack a punch! Remember you can catch up on my forest saga by clicking the label below the post. This month, my chosen book is;

An Angel Named ‘Dog’ by Melody Hewson (Smashwords e-book)

  8 – my imagination

12 – precipice of death

16 –do so

IN HINDERTWIG ONCE

Low Sooz stared at her mate, her leader, wide-eyed and sharp-breathed with astonishment.

‘Never in my imagination did I ever think you would suggest this Hillbee – it is an enormous undertaking you have dreamed up!’

Hill Bert took several long, deep breaths of his own before responding.

‘True, my dear, but can you grasp the vision?’ He watched her closely, for he trusted Soozma with every cell of his being and her guidance – her approval – would be his courage. ‘If we can mobilise all five herds towards that place, I am certain we shall find a way to the lower forests and increase our safety for generations to come.’

The idea had formulated from a dream – or was it a nightmare? – the previous night. Hill Bert had woken believing it to be real and it had taken the break of the sun for him to understand. The idea having stayed the whole day and grown within caused him to believe it had been a visionary experience. That somehow Vidge was plotting a path for him. The lost leader had appeared large and bursting with life in that image, standing at the exact point where he had been dragged by the tussle with Rooper. However, rather than teetering on the precipice of death, Vidge had stared at him, then appeared to leap of his own accord. Rooper was there, but very much peripheral to the event. Hill Bert was as sure as he could be that it was a signal for his next action.

Having pondered the entire day on it, the action which came into frame was to unite the herds, draw them to that precipice… and jump.

Even he felt it a little crazy as he had spoken the idea to Soozma, but he also felt no fear in it. There was a certainty he could not explain to her, or to even himself for that matter. The jumping of the cliff seemed almost to be the easy part if he was honest with himself. Getting the five herds to understand the need, to work together and to trust him as the overall leader; well, that would be some task. To do so, he would have to find allies in each herd and share with them the truth of the danger at the forest edge. That too, without creating panic.

‘Soozma, you and the matriarchs have connections with the Rimsiders and the Lakelickers. For this to go forward at all, we need to curry favour and…’ he swallowed a little nervously, ‘we need to take those we can fully trust to see the cannibals and their horror. We have to alert our people to the need for drastic change.’

‘Yes my love,’ sighed Low Sooz, ‘I can understand this even as I am aghast at what you plan. Let me make quiet enquiries for a few weeks.’

(478 words)

© Yamini Ali MacLean

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