Inside Out
Chapter 1
Bear went over like a felled oak. One moment he was walking through the Forest, perfectly upright, the next he was on his knees. He looked back to see what had tripped him: it was the entrance to some small creature’s burrow, now partly destroyed. Getting up, he brushed off some damp leaves that were sticking to his fur, put his arms above his shoulders, and stretched his back. ‘Arrrhhh,’ he breathed.
‘You should be more careful,’ said a voice that hissed at him from the side of the path.
Bear spun round to see a crow, sitting on a branch in a tall conifer, lift a black wing and poke its head out from beneath it. ‘Someone lives in there, you know.'
Bear put a paw to his chest, and felt his heart pounding.
'What is it? asked the crow.
'Nothing. You startled me, that's all,' he told it. Then he looked back at the damage he'd caused. 'I’m sorry about the owner of the burrow,' he said. ‘Do you know who it is?’
The crow stared at him. ‘No idea,’ it replied, as it pulled a feather out of its wing and watched it drift to the ground.
‘Oh,’ said Bear. ‘It’s just that I’ve lost my friend, and I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
‘What’s he called?’
‘Not Bear.’
‘That’s a strange name,’ said the crow, putting its wing down and hopping to the end of the branch. 'What does he look like?’
‘Well,’ Bear considered for a moment. ‘He’s young, goes on all fours, with a long snout, straight tail, and….’
‘Yes?’
‘…good teeth.’ He didn’t like to describe them as sharp.
‘Haven’t seen anything like that,’ said the crow, 'but there was something rooting around in the bushes a while ago.' He motioned with a wing along the path.
‘Thank you,’ said Bear. ‘I’ll see if I can find him.’ As he started to walk away the crow flew off the branch and landed on the floor ahead of him.
‘Are you from the Inside?’ it asked, shuffling forward.
‘Er, yes,’ Bear said, and tried to walk past, only to find the crow veering once more toward him.
‘I thought so,’ said the crow. ‘We don't often see Insiders out here in the Forest.’
‘We’re going to the Occasion,' Bear said. He started down the path again. The crow hopped ahead of him. Bear walked faster: the crow flapped along and kept just in front. 'An Occasion, of course, I should have guessed,' it said.
'You know about the Occasions?' Bear asked.
‘Why yes, I’ve even been to the Circle a few times myself.’
'Well then, you’ll know how far away it is, and why we are anxious to get there.' Bear hurried forward. The crow flew up and landed a few yards further on.
'It isn't me who’s holding you up,’ it said. ‘You should tell your friend not to wander off in the Forest. It’s not like the Inside you know.’
‘I do tell him,’ Bear insisted. ‘But it’s his first time.’
‘Might be his last, if he isn’t more careful,’ the crow said. 'You get to see what’s going on, when you're up there,’ he added, and turned his head to the sky.
‘I don’t want to be rude,’ Bear interrupted, ‘but I'm in a hurry.’
‘Of course you are, don’t mind me, just trying to help.’
Then Bear shouted, 'Hello!' down the path. The echo that came back made his fur bristle. As the cry faded, silence settled on the dark spaces around him.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
‘Well you’re not me,’ Bear snapped, as he saw Not Bear emerge from the undergrowth further down the path. The crow gave a loud squawk, flew up and wheeled away over the trees. Bear looked round to see what had startled it. There was nothing there. Shaking his head, he hurried down the path toward his friend. ‘I thought you were lost,’ he said when he reached him.
‘Well I wasn’t,’ said Not Bear. 'But I've found something interesting, come and see.’ He slipped back into the bushes, and Bear squirmed through after him, determined not to lose him again. He found him under the trees, looking closely at the ground.
‘Look,’ Not Bear said, ‘footprints, and there’s more over there.’
Bear knelt down next to him. ‘They look just like yours,’ he said, and groaned. ‘We must have been going round in circles for the past hour.’
Not Bear glanced at him. ‘But they're not mine,’ he said, and placed his front paw next to one.
Bear stared at his friend's foot, then at the print next to it. A shiver went through him. Not Bear was right: they were similar, but not identical. They led further off into the trees, onto drier ground that was littered with pine cones and fallen branches. ‘Come on,’ Bear said, and they pushed back out onto the path.
‘Who do you think made them?’ Not Bear asked as they emerged into the light.
Bear looked around. The avenue was empty and silent, the quiet only punctuated by the distant cry of a bird. It was still early, and a low mist hung around the damp fringes of the path. Above them clouds moved briskly across the sky. He breathed in to try and catch a scent, but everything was masked by the pervading smell of pine.
‘I don’t know,’ he said, 'but whatever it was is gone, and thankfully in a different direction to us.'
‘They did look like mine.'
‘Yes.'
‘So who do they belong to?’
‘I don't know,' Bear admitted. They carried on walking, and as they passed a solitary oak growing among the pines at the side of the path, he suddenly jumped up, grabbed a branch and hung from it. A flurry of leaves dropped to the ground.
Not Bear glanced up. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
Bear dropped back down. ‘Just thinking,’ he replied.
* * *
Back in the shadows among the pines, three figures crouched by the side of a fallen tree, under a dense canopy of twisted and interlocked branches that stretched high above them.
‘You’re an idiot, Fleg,’ said Tang, the biggest of them. ‘What did you think you were doing? You know the Forest will soon be crawling with Insiders, yet you do everything you can to get caught. Wait till the Colonel hears about it - then you’ll be in trouble.’
Fleg panted. 'I only went to see what was happening. We don’t have to tell him, do we?'
Tang growled. ‘Of course we do - we have our orders.’
‘But do we really Tang?’ Grap, the third member of the group spoke. 'I mean, it wasn't as if anything happened.'
Tang turned on him. 'Are you saying we should disobey the Colonel?' As he spat the words a glob of slobber dropped and hung from his jaw. Grap stared at it as it lengthened.
'No, of course not. If you say so Tang,' he stuttered. 'Sorry, Fleg.'
Fleg looked at them. ‘Listen to you two - you would think it was important. I didn't know one of them would come that close - they usually stay on the path.'
‘Well this time it didn't, and it nearly found you. What would you have done then?’ Grap said.
‘Run like the wind,’ Tang added. ‘Like the coward he is.’ He shook his head in a big slow motion. The slobber from his jaw dropped and snaked to the ground.
Fleg glared at him. 'And would you have stayed to face it? You’re as scared of confrontation as the rest of us.’
‘I wouldn’t have been so stupid in the first place,' Tang said. 'You know how organised the Insiders are, and how they look out for each other.'
'Pathetic,' said Grap.
Tang continued. 'Our orders are just to observe, and look for strays as more of them head across the Forest. I’m sure we can pick up a few as the day goes on. Remember that horse that went lame a year ago?’
‘Yes,’ murmured Grap. ‘It took five of us to bring it down.
‘But we succeeded. And no-one was harmed.’
‘Except the horse,’ said Fleg.
‘You didn’t refuse your share,’ Tang goaded.
‘Maybe not, said Fleg, 'but why can't we be more adventurous, less regimented. A bit more like...'
'The Insiders? Huh. I hope you're not suggesting we disobey orders?' Tang glared at him.
'Of course not,' Fleg conceded. 'But it all seems so...sneaky,' he added.
‘We’re hyenas,’ Grap said cheerfully. ‘That's what we do.’