Coyote

Chapter 2: Humans

I ran for what seemed like hours. Maybe it really was hours, who could say? The moon sunk lower in the sky, and a new, even brighter light rose up. The creatures continued to yell the whole time. Silly things.

We eventually arrived at a lake. The creatures jumped in and swam across, occasionally yelling out in what I hoped was pain. Perhaps the water would vanquish the awful, poorly dressed beasts for me. I sat on the bank of the lake. I waited. Patiently.

It was not fated to be. The fiends survived and clambered to shore on the other side. They scrambled up the rocks and began running towards the grayest, most blocky looking forest I had ever seen. Tall blocks of gleaming grayness larger than any tree I'd ever seen rose from the earth. If I thought the sounds that the creatures were making before were bad, it was nothing compared to the obnoxious honking emanating from across the lake. How I had missed all those sounds before was unfathomable.

Dear reader, if you'll believe it, I decided that my chase was done. Those hooligans had been rude, and surely it was righteous to deliver justice and harass them in their own environment, but it simply was not to be. How could I even find them in the middle of that awful gray forest? It just didn't seem worth it.

I turned back, ready to return to a normal forest. One made of things that were green. And soft.

"You're really going to give up so soon?" a voice asked. If I ever got startled, I might have been startled at that moment. But as I already explained, I am never startled, so I wasn't startled when I heard my brother Eli, I was just jumpy. And not the nervous jumpy, but a physical jumpy, as in I physically jumped into the air because I happened to be in the mood to physically jump and not at all because I was quote unquote jumpy. Obviously.

"Oh, haha, heeey Eli. Fancy meeting you here. What are you up to?"

"Really William, you need to pay more attention. Galivanting around the forest like a common street mongrel...oh heavens, if mother saw you, surely, she would be beside herself. The shame, dear brother, the shame..."

"You fiend."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing." I cleared my throat and patted down some tufts of fur that were sticking up around my ears. "So...um...you followed me all the way here?"

Eli nodded his head. His fur had always been a little grayer than mine was. Just like his soul. What a lovely fur coat and soul he had. I love my brothers, haha. Hope you're enjoying reading this, mother.

"Did you...see the altercation?" I asked.

"Oh, why I did just so happen to see the altercation. Those were some nasty humans."

My jaw dropped. "Those were humans?"

"Why of course, William. What else could the possibly be? Two-legged deer? Haha, oh I do have the wittiest sense of humor." He laughed to himself for a while longer, then shook his head vigorously, as if to mentally prep himself for a serious conversation. "Those were indeed the worst kind of creature to ever set foot on this earth. The human. Ugh. The very name makes me want to spit in derision. There. Spit with me, my brother! Very good. Those dirty devils have been venturing into our forest for generations. They trespass on our land, burn our homes, shoot our families. They leave food hanging from trees just out of reach simply to taunt us. No matter how high I jump I can never reach those food bags. I've never encountered something so unabashedly evil."

Humans. The very word dripped of evil. I had never had the misfortune of encountering a human until this very day. As all youngsters in the brood had, I heard tales of their villainy, but I never really believed that they truly existed. Who would? Creatures that wear the skins of other creatures, that chain other canines to themselves in order to control their every movement, that sing out of key? Who would believe that? And ff that wasn't bad enough, they have cut down our forest multiple times generations ago. In addition to the tales, there are legends about how they would burn the trees and dump the carcasses in the water. What they did with all those poor trees, no one knew. The elders suggested that maybe the trees were used to summon demons. As if humans needed demons to do their dirty work.

And now they were back. Were they here to destroy our home once again? Had I successfully chased them out?

Would they come back?

Eli may have been a pompous, I mean, lovable little scamp, but he did know more than I about basically everything. He was always the studious one. He paid attention in forest school.

I took a few tentative steps forward. "What do you think these humans were doing in the forest? Could you understand them at all?"

Eli nodded. "My grasp of the human dialect is rudimentary at best, but I believe I caught their drift. These particular humans were trying to scare us out of our own forest. They believe themselves to be the masters of our domain. They do not realize that we are the masters of our domain! We reign supreme over the forest! We control all! The salamanders and other weaklings bow before us! Not them! Us!"

"Eli, calm down, Eli-"

"We shall fillet all our enemies and shower the ground with their bones! We...we...sorry there, dear brother. I got carried away for a moment. Lost my composure. So unbecoming for a creature as regal as myself, as distinguished, as noble-"

I slapped him with my tail. He breathed heavily for a few moments, his eyes staring down at the fallen leaves.

"Better?" I asked.

"Better," he affirmed. "Thank you, dear brother. I needed that."

I gave my tail a flourish for emphasis. "What do you think we do? They tried to scare me out of our forest. Of course, that would never succeed, I never get scared, or startled, but they still tried it. Should we...I don't know...kill them?"

Eli gave me an appreciative look. "I like where your thinking's at, brother. But maybe it's best if we get some additional perspectives. We wouldn't want to be hasty."

For all of his flaws, my brother always knew how to proceed. I would have run right into the creatures' forest and marked every gray big tree as being part of my territory before making my way to their leader. But Eli was smart. He always considered his options and took the best route forward. If he thought that some additional perspectives were needed, then that's what we would get.

I began to walk back into our forest. Eli followed along behind me. I felt my claws sink into the earth beneath me, felt the wind rustle my furs. Together, Eli and I laughed at the glowy orb in the sky. These humans would need to watch their backs. We would be after them. Once we returned to our home, invoked the sacred Wolf-Moot, gathered the required attendees, addressed the assembly, proposed appropriate courses of action, deliberated, held an informal recess, deliberated a bit more, held closing statements, waited for the others to come to a conclusion, watched the theatrical performance describing the conclusion and decoded the secret message within, and then climbed the heights of cliffy mountain and shared our plan with the sky god who would then anoint us with the sap of the tallest tree of the forest, signaling that our path was a righteous one, then we would find those humans and get our revenge for having been snapped at.