Red-furred stood on his hind legs, doing so gave him the additional height needed to see over the yellowing grass. Now he could perceive the entire meadow, all the way to the tree line. A black corbie circled overhead, casting a fleeting shadow over the stone grouping that Red-furred was standing on.
Would the corbie be bringing more news of enforcement? Or perhaps the Aggressors they had been hearing about had halted, or headed south. Red-furred hoped. Almost lazily the bird approached the ground, landing with three hops it stopped right in front of Red-furred.
"Greetings respected Other. What news do you carry?” said Red-furred
“Greetings. I fear what I carry is dismaying indeed.” The bird returned with a slight turn of his head.
“Any news is better than sitting in silence and uncertainty. With knowledge action can be taken. What do you need to deliver? Speak up! What do you have to say!”
“Caw! Indeed! The words I must say are that the Aggressors continue pushing West. They have skinned those who oppose and do nothing with their flesh. They take occupation of the holes, hovels and stumps of their chosen enemies. Those who Surrender are forced to live in squalor and in a fashion not true to their Past. This is a tragedy. Those who Surrender have chosen to disrespect their clan, soil and those who came before in order to keep their skin intact.”
“Yes, tragedy indeed. But who can judge as we ourselves have not yet faced this trial in our own meadow.”
“Humph, well the opportunity to find out may present itself sooner rather than later Red-furred.”
With that the corbie flew off to the edge of the meadow and made itself comfortable on the branch of a great oak.
Red-furred surveyed the meadow once more. The browned grass rippled in the wind, it was fall so everything was loosing it’s primary pallet of color and turning earthen neutral.
The meadow was large, if Red-furred began at the East side and ran to the far West side it took him the better part of half an hour. If he wanted to go between the North and the South boarder it took even more time. In the middle there was a collection of large sandstone rocks where he was currently standing. Beneath these rocks and in crevices is where Red-furred lived and grew up. His small family had resided this spot for generations. While they were not pack animals they were not altogether anti-social and were on friendly terms with the other races that were dispersed throughout the meadow...