Loganoh suddenly realized that Arvico was no longer at his haunches. He could no longer tell if he was running outward or herd-ward. Lemmings were running wildly in all directions. But he kept running, despite his overwhelming fear that he might be heading straight toward another fox.
Arvico, however, knew exactly where a fox was. She was so close to the fox that it seemed to fill the entire horizon. A giant paw smacked the earth in front of her. The fox was playing with the lemmings. It would grab a lemming in its tooth-full mouth and toss it into the air. Some of these lemmings survived and continued to run dazed, confused and possibly bleeding. Other more unfortunate lemmings would die instantly in the fox’s mouth as it shook them furiously. It was one of the latter that landed almost on top of Arvico.
The poor lemming; Arvico didn’t know him. That was not uncommon in a herd of hundreds. The bloody and broken body of the lemming was nearly segmented by the fox’s teeth. She looked up at the fox. It pranced about, almost playfully, as it continued to kill and main lemmings.
Suddenly, a flurry of grey and white feathers appeared, followed by a horrible smell. A gull landed nearly on top of the fox’s head. The fox leapt backwards startled by the smelly bird’s noisy arrival.
“Being you eating me! Being you eating me!” screeched the gull.
The fox bobbed its head and paced a half circle around the gull. It tried to approach the fox, but the bird’s short legs could not match the fox’s for speed on the ground. The gull continued to scream with its wings spread and raised. In light of the strange behaviour, the fox decided to err on the side of caution and walked off.
“Ech! Feh! Being you doing what? Being you going?” The gull seemed shocked and confused. “Being you coward! Being you not fox smart! Ech! Being you rabbit scared! Being you fish stupid! Feh! Feh!”
Arvico instantly recognized the gull.
“Hey! I know you. I remember your smell. How did you do that? How did you scare off the fox? Maybe it was your smell? Thanks for getting rid of the fox. I’ve met other gulls and birds, not many though. They don’t smell bad like you. Have you done that to foxes before? You’d think that smell would come off with all the time you gulls spend in the water.” she said.
The gull stared at Arvico motionless. It should be understood that gulls are seldom motionless; it is against their nature. So the fact that Arvico was able to capture the bird’s concentration thusly should speak to its extraordinary state of bitterness and confusion.
“Am liking you not, little rat.” it hissed.
“Well that’s just rude.” she replied.
The gull walked away shaking its head. It was so vexed, he forgot that he knew how to fly.
Things had settled with Loganoh as well. He stopped running, though many others had not. He had not seen a fox. Had they gone?
“Loganoh!”
He turned startled, but quickly realized there was nothing to fear. A fox wouldn’t call his name. It was Miriao, his Herdlet Mama. She came running to him.
“Loganoh. Come speak with me.” she said.
“Yes Ma’am”
“I want you to come with me. Do you know why?”
Loganoh shook his head.
“Speak when you’re spoken to, pup.”
“No, Ma’am. I don’t know why.” He blurted out the words louder than intended.
“We need to talk about that conversation you had with your sister. About the Great Run. Follow me. Keep close.”
“But we weren’t talking about that, Ma’am. I hardly know anything about those rumors.” He said defensively.
“That may be the case,” said Miriao. “But the Parliament of Mamas will want to hear what you do know.”
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