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Two Lost Lambs in the Forest

"Ellie! Ellie? Don't run so fast! Ellie?" Called out a little boy all of six years old.

He broke upon a sunlit pool of light in the old forest. His sturdy leggings of bleached canvas and brand new tunic and shorts of spun burgundy cotton smeared with mud and the verdant trappings of a little explorer hard at play in the woods. He brushed a few twigs and leaves from his home cute hair of dirty blonde as he moved from the sunlit pool of damp moss and decaying leaves to search bushes and low lying evergreen branches thick with summer time gnats. "Ellie! C'mon Ellie. Momma and poppa are gonna be mad with us if we don't get going. Where are you?"

"Uh-uh. I ain't fibbing my spot James. You always cheat at hide-and-seek. We'll go back to momma and poppa when you find me. Bet you can't find me before you start getting scared and start crying." Spoke a voice that came from several bushes on all sides of the small boy.

James flailed his arms in animated frustration hearing his sister's voice taunting him. "We've been playing for hours Ellie. You always win and I don't cry Ellie! Poppa said you can't say that to me! You don't play fair with hide-and-seek. You got momma's elf blood in you and I just got poppa's clumsy human blood in me." He pouted and crossed his arms as he began to kick at each bush with well worn hobnailed boots.

"Then you better get good at finding me because half-bloods like us have to get better at this stuff." Ellie's voice taunted more before a twig snapped to James right. The little boy whirled and leaped into the bushes eliciting a squeal of outrage from Ellie at being caught and her plans and fun foiled. "No fair! You distracted me James!"

James giggled and stuck out a small finger to point at how scrunched up his sister's smooth and slowly budding elfin beauty was becoming marred with human anger on her face. "I'm getting gooder at finding you cause half-bloods gotta get gooder at this stuff. Found you Ellie. Now can we go back to poppa and momma? I don't like these woods. They always have weird things in them and lots of bugs and scary shadows."

Ellie sighed and pushed her brother off of her into the thick foliage of a blue berried meag bush and stood, plucking leaves out of her golden hair. She was thin and wispy even at the age of nine, a good sign of the beauty to come and the troubles it would bring for all wanting her. "You're getting better, James. Not gooder. Momma would tan your hide to hear you speaking such lowness. Come on, take my hand and we'll go back. Can't believe you want to be a Ranger like poppa yet you're scared of insects and shadows."

James untangled himself from the branches and broad, jade leaves of the meag bush grabbing hold of his sister's fair hand with his plain, clumsy human one. He scrunched his face a little at the site of blue splotches on Ellie's green cotton dress. "Ellie you got meag berry stains. Momma's gonna be mad. And I like Rangers. They have horses, ride around all day, use swords and look cool."

Ellie looked down at her stained dress and made a small sigh. "Some staining will happen on an outing James. Momma will understand. Rangers do more than just look cool. They have to know how to survive in the woods and handle bugs and shadows. They don't just use swords either. You should talk to poppa more. C'mon, the picnic is back past those three ash trees . . . " she paused in her banter. The ash trees she had so carefully kept track of when they had run into the forest a few hours earlier to play were nowhere in sight.

James looked around. "What ash trees? Just a bunch of evergreens and pine trees Ellie." He'd tug on her hand. "I came this way." He pulled at her, tugging her across the sunny pool of light he'd emerged in minutes before his success.

Ellie stubbornly dug her heels into the soft earth. "No James. That's not the right way. I didn't come from that direction. I'd remember running past a bunch of evergreens. I came the other way where the ash trees were. But they aren't there. They were behind me and you somehow got all turned around and got ahead of me."

"Ahead of you? I've been chasing you Ellie. Been running lots. Calling for you to slow down. Ellie we go back this way don't we?" James asked as he started to look around the sunny break in the canopy.

"I, well, I don't know." Ellie said a bit nervous. She looked at the trees, the soft loamy ground and the sky. She couldn't tell what directions where what and where they had come from. Had they forgotten their bearings so badly in their frolic and fun? "Let's go your way, for now James."

James swallowed a little as he heard Ellie's consent to follow him. He held onto her hand tight and led her back through the bushes, leaving the pool of sunlight. Time slid by as shadows grew while James and Ellie trekked through the forest, the light of day shifting. Shadows changed and moved about naturally that made James jump and Ellie doubt much of what she could remember of her landmarks. They soon found a large, old juniper tree and stopped to rest.

"Ellie, we've been walking forever. Can we go back to momma and poppa please? I'm hungry and thirsty." James whined.

Ellie hugged herself around her waist and continued to look around the darkening forest as the day steadily wore away. "I know you are James. I'm hungry and thirsty too, but I can't seem to find the trails. I don't know how we got so, lost."

"Lost? Lost!" James said with a small cry. "We're lost? I want momma and poppa, Ellie!" He said in a small tantrum, fat tears rolling down his sweaty cheeks.

Ellie crouched by James, pulled him in close to her and tousled his dirty blond hair. "Hey. No tantrums or tears. Rangers don't cry. Okay? They think. We aren't lost . . . just, well, very disoriented." She said using a half truth momma taught her. "If we stay calm and maybe just stay here, momma and poppa will find us. I am sure they miss us too and are looking for us now. Poppa can find anyone."

James seemed comforted by his sister's care and worked hard to emulate the tough and cool persona of the Rangers he'd so idolized. It was for naught as they both cried a little in panic hearing the first calls of wolves in the forest, stirring from their hot afternoon slumber to hunt in the cool evening. Ellie prodded James to get up and move for the juniper tree in hopes that height would be safer if they were lost for the night. Their tactical retreat was cut short at the rumbling growl of a large cat rudely awaken by the howls among tree limbs. The children stared up in curious fascination watching the slow stalk of a black leopard slinking among the branches, fully aware now that prey had come to its abode.

"James . . . you run. You run as fast you can. You find momma and poppa." Ellie said, putting her arm out across James chest and making them both back up together. "Don't look back. Just run."

"Ellie you run too. You run too." James dug his small hands into her green dress.

Both children jumped hearing the soft thump of the predator landing on the dead leaves of the forest floor and watched the power of the beast coil and gather before them at the base of the tree. A large pink tongue licked at its black furred muzzle, yellow eyes glowing in the leaf filtered sunlight. The leopard crouched, silent, a bare hint of a tail flicked as it prepared to spring upon its meal and feast. Ellie swallowed and turned away from the creature. She held James close to her to protect him in some feeble way; her hand coming up to cover James face to shut out their approaching death.

James and Ellie both cried out in terror thinking the leopard was now upon them as they heard a loud roar and angry hiss. The sounds of snapping teeth, growls and howls of a dog were tossed into the pained mewl of a very annoyed and perturbed leopard. Ellie refused to open her eyes hearing a battle wage on for what she believed was the rights of two predators to eat her and her brother. James, already taken with fear and now curious as want of a six year old boy pulled at his sister's hand to peak at the commotion.

Pitted before him and his sister was the leopard no longer crouched to eat them but backed against the juniper tree, roaring and hissing, black cruel claws swatting at something scruffy and white that harassed the large cat mercilessly. James thought at first it was an albino wolf but the more it move and acted it appeared to be an albino German shepherd dog. The white dog snarled and snapped at the leopard, skittered away when claws got too close to its face though more often than not the dog was raked on the flank and hind quarters by those cruel talons. It continued to bark, harass and at any point of misstep from the leopard impart a severe snapping bite to paw, limb, tail or throat.

The leopard, indignant, wounded and rudely disrupted from its easy meal gave ascent to the scruffy dog and thought of better game to hunt elsewhere less guarded and vanished through the bushes. James watched the scruffy dog snort at the vanishing backside of the leopard; then sit on its hind quarters, scratch at its right ear for a moment then went to licking its wounds without a care that it had attacked a leopard. He nudged Ellie who was holding him tight and soaking his tunic with tears and a torrent of sobs.

"Ellie. We're okay. The doggy helped." James said.

Ellie shook her head. "No James. Those are wolves. They'll eat us too."

James nudged Ellie in the belly a bit hard and she flinched. She grew a bit angry at how rude James was being with how imminent death was coming and looked up to scold him to take death like a Ranger. She noticed death was really quiet and no biting or clawing had come. Death in fact was rather absent and in its place was a scruffy, white German shepherd that looked a little worse off from the fight. It was just standing there staring at them. The eyes of the German shepherd sparkled like gold coins at the bottom of a wishing well and held an intelligence that seemed to look right through her.

The scruffy white dog lowered its head a bit and skulked forward, timid in gesture, and offered little to no threat as it approached them. James reached out to pet the dog and felt how warm the shaggy, white coat was. His eyes did wander to the bleeding wounds on the dogs flank but they didn't seem to be as severe as he had thought. The scruffy dog lifted its head to bump at Ellie's hands to invite pets from her too. Ellie found the courage to pet the white dog that had seemed to save them from being eaten. The howls of hunting wolf packs filtered through the forest and the scruffy dogs head looked away from them. It seemed to wuffle then look at them both with a tilt of its shaggy head. Gently it took hold of the hem of James tunic and tugged at him, pulling him in a direction away from the hunting wolves.

James felt the tug and took Ellie's hand. "Ellie, I think the doggy wants to help more."

Having heard the wolf cries, Ellie was beyond arguing the stupidity of that statement and followed James who was lead by the scruffy white dog. The small band walked through the forest as the light of day faded into deepening dusk. The children fearing their footsteps would falter or that they would trip found that the scruffy white dog seemed to glow just a little lighting their footsteps. As night fell, they finally came upon a stream in the forest and the scruffy white dog let go of James' tunic hem. The children were eager to drink from the stream being thirsty from such a long trek and panic. When they looked up they were alone.

"Ellie? Scruffy is gone." James said not seeing the white dog anywhere.

Ellie looked about and felt afraid not having the white dog with them to keep them safe. She stood, about to venture out and look for their new found companion when she saw a white square of cloth by the stream piled high with cookies, sandwiches and bottles of juice. She called James over to the miraculous discovery and they both started to eat hungrily, the thought of the missing white dog far from their hungry minds.

As the last last crumb was eaten, the last drop of juice was drank the children heard voices. A lot of voices. Men and women all calling out. "Ellie! James! Ellie! James! Ellie! James!" They both cried in relief and joy that they were going to be found. They stood up and ran to the sound of the voices calling out to them and were reunited with their mother and father. Their parents were not alone and had lead a small patrol of fifteen friends and the local town watch to find their missing children. Among the tears of joyous reunions, concerns relieved and panic ebbing, many asked how they had gotten lost and how they had made it back through such a wild part of the forest.

The children recounted their tail of hide-and-seek, being lost and confused, of being nearly eaten and then they remembered the scruffy white dog that saved them. Those gathered round laughed hearing the tail of the white dog that saved them. Children's fantasy, hunger and fear making them see things. All had a good laugh and most of the search party left till it was just Ellie, James, their mother and father. The children wept more in relief of being found but James wept more in not being believed that he really saw a scruffy white dog save them.

His father tousled his hair as he crouched down by his son. "James. Don't cry when people don't believe you. Not everyone believes what people say or see."

James wiped at his eyes. "You believe me don't you poppa?"

His father smiled at James and picked him up. "I believe you James. I've seen many things as a Ranger. Many things people can't explain unless they see it for themselves. Maybe you got to see a myth, a totem animal. Remember it one day son. Remember for when you grow up to be a Ranger. Maybe it'll be your animal to help guide you in the wilds."

James hugged his father close. "Do you really think so?"

His father laughed heartily. "You never know son. Let's go home. You two have had a long day."

As the family left and the final stirring of humanity faded from the forest, a faint glow of white fur near a clump of meag bushes stirred; sparkling golden eyes shown a moment or two like twin setting suns gazed upon the children taken into safety. Then they vanished as the moon began to rise in the night.