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Brock sat stu
The sun was begi
The only sound to be heard was the three, evenly spaced ‘Toowitt-Toowoos’ of Warrigal as he glided, silent as a shadow, between the trees. This was the summons to the Council Meeting that night at which the leaders of the woodland animals would discuss tactics for the Killing tomorrow. The trees stood out, stark and black against the pale sky, each branch taking on an identity and character of its own and the twigs looking like the long bony fingers of an old woman. There was a feeling of utter calm in the scene before him which gave him a strength and resolve he had never before ex-perienced; perhaps because he had never needed it. He turned slowly and made his way back through the earthen passage into the familiar sett, with its comforting atmosphere of home.
CHAPTER III
When Brock went through the doorway and saw the baby curled up in a cradle formed by Tara’s two front legs, the gravity of WarrigaPs words seemed far away and the sense of impending adventure which the owl had conveyed to him remote indeed. Tara was fast asleep, lying with her back resting against the smooth dark brown earth of the far wall, and the sight of her sleeping so peacefully made Brock realize how tired he was. He decided to have a rest before breaking the news to the other members of the family who lived in the sett. Then there would be the daunting task of facing the Council, although he was pleased, and relieved, that Warrigal had so readily taken it upon himself to help with this tricky business and he had a rather comforting feeling that his friend would do all the talking. However, at the same time he did not really want the owl to steal any glory that might be going and he felt a little uneasy about the possibility that Warrigal might ‘take over’.
But his deep and refreshing sleep was all too quickly shattered by a violent shaking and the sound of lots of little frantic yelps. He opened his eyes blearily to see Old Bruin standing over him and the two cubs Zinddy and Sinkka, who were now almost three seasons old, jumping around Tara and trying to get her to explain what this strange new animal was doing in the sett and what type of creature it was. So, there was no need to break the news to the other inhabitants, the news had broken by itself. Brock spoke as sternly as he could to the cubs. ‘Come on, you two; settle down and come over here to me and Bruin and I’ll explain everything to you as best I can. ’ They stopped for a second and then began wrestling with each other, rolling over and over on the floor with their bodies locked together in a fighting embrace.
‘Here!’ said Brock sharply and they quickly disengaged themselves and scampered over to where he and Bruin stood. The baby had of course been awoken by all the noise and had begun to cry, but Tara began to nurse him and he soon settled down with his eyes closed and a look of intense concentration on his face.
Bruin stood gravely at Brock’s side as the badger began to tell the three of them about the events that had led up to their finding a baby human curled in Tara’s arms as they were quietly making their way through the front chamber out to the winter evening.
Bruin was Brock’s grandfather and his only living relative; his father, mother and sister had all been killed by the gas one bright autumn evening when Brock, six seasons old and alone, had been out foraging.
He had come back to see a whole group of Urkku gathered around the entrance to the sett, talking and laughing loudly in that strange guttural ma
After this episode, which had also been seen by Warrigal and Stemdale the Fierce, King of the Pheasants, Bruin had been christened The Brave’ in honour of his valiant attack on the Urkku and his amazing escape from them. His hatred of the Great Enemy was immense and his head was full of legends and stories, particularly those in which man was vanquished or made to look stupid, which he loved to relate. When Brock had finished telling his strange tale, the old badger simply grunted and shuffled over to where the baby was lying on the other side of the chamber. He put his head, on which the two bold black stripes had begun to turn grey with age, very close to the face of the baby and began to rub his wet nose under his chin. The baby, which had been asleep, awoke and began to giggle, putting his tiny hands up to try and grab Bruin’s ears and moving his whole body from side to side in a gesture of pure merriment. Bruin continued playing with him like that for a short time while the others watched, amazed and entranced at this exhibition of affection between the old badger and the baby Urkku. After a while he came away and, with a curious expression of both sadness and contentment on his face, turned to them all and said slowly, in his deep gravelly voice, ‘Look after him, youngsters; look after him,’ before ambling out through the door and up the passage into the cold winter night.