The Son of Alar

Chapter 1

It’s a horse!”

“No, it’s more of a cow.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, look. It’s got the horns and everything.”

“Hmm. S’pose you’re right.”

Two young red squirrels lay in a grassy field gazing at the clouds as they passed, paws folded behind their heads. One was dressed in work clothes, save for his shirt, which had been tossed carelessly aside. The other wore the clean, pressed breeches and a white silken shirt of a noble. His vest lay on the ground, and his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a sliver of his sturdily built torso. He sighed and turned to the other.

“I suppose we won’t be doing this again for a while,” he said. “Maybe never.”

“Aye.”

The young noble placed a paw on the other buck’s chest. “I’ll miss you, Ferrell.”

“I’ll miss you too, Phil.”

They leaned into a kiss and ran their paws up and down each other’s bodies, savoring the feel every muscular ridge and the soft fur that coated them. Soon Philip began to reach lower. He had just slipped a paw neatly below Ferrell’s waistline when…

“Philip! Philip, dear, come on, it’s time to go!”

“s**t!” exclaimed Philip. It must be later than he’d thought! He sprang up and began buttoning his shirt. He brushed it off and tucked it in as Ferrell passed him his vest, then threw on his own shirt. The two youths quickly plucked the hay out of one another’s fur, then raced uphill toward the sound of the voice.

“Philip! Where are you?”

Coming around the corner of the barn, they stopped abruptly before a much older red squirrel, who immediately began fussing over Philip, brushing off his shirt and straightening his vest.

“Oh, Philip, there you are. My my, what have you been doing? Cloud gazing in your finest clothes again? I just restitched that vest seam last week. I won’t do it again.” He cast a glance at the other youth. “Morning, Ferrell.”

“Morning, Lord Adam,” said Ferrell.

“I’m fine, dad,” said Philip, rolling his eyes and slipping out of his father’s reach. “Besides, it’ll just get all wrinkled up again during the carriage ride.”

“It had better not,” said his parent, paws on hips. “When we get back from this trip, you can muss it up all you’d like, but not a moment before.”

Philip snorted. As if that would be a problem. “Can we just go now?”

“Of course! Your father’s already got everything loaded up, and you know how he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Any more than he likes anything else, I imagine.”

“Now now, you know that’s not true. Come along!”

They made their way across the pasture toward a house set on top of a hill overlooking the fields and woods away to the northwest, and a broad dirt road running past it to the east. In front of the quaint old dwelling, a blue carriage hitched to two fine-looking horses sat waiting. The door was wide open, and beside it stood two squirrels. The first was the carriage driver, a prim and proper-looking fellow dressed in the elegant velvet and lacework of the royal court. The other figure was far more ominous to Philip, and caused the lad to slow his pace just a bit.

He was a powerfully built squirrel, albeit past his prime. His fur was not bright and lustrous anymore, and had in fact started graying about the muzzle and other extremities. He was not conventionally what one could call handsome, what with his many scars and the slightly stiff paw he held close to his belt. But he nevertheless remained a dominant presence thanks to his build, his sharp upright stance, and his fearsome blue eyes, which indicated a squirrel who did not tolerate fools gladly. His gaze turned on Philip with alarming suddenness.

“Well now, there you are my son,” he said in his rich, commanding baritone. “Done lollygagging, are you?”

“I was waiting for you two to finish getting ready,” said Philip with a shrug.

“I’m sure.” He nodded at Ferrell. “Morning, Ferrell. Send your father my regards, will you?”

“Of course, sir. Have a good journey.”

“Thank you.”

Philip said nothing, so Alar gestured toward the interior of the carriage. “Everything’s all packed and loaded, so hop in.”

Philip turned to Ferrell.

“See you later, I guess.”

“I guess so.”

The two kissed again. Philip made sure to take an extra long time pulling away just to annoy his father. He could imagine him rolling his eyes behind him, but he didn’t care.

“All right, son, you’re not going off to war here.”

Finally Philip broke off, winked at Ferrell, then turned and climbed inside. He took a seat in the far corner of the carriage facing the driver. Adam took the spot opposite him, and finally Alar climbed in and seated himself next to Adam. Good. At least Philip would have his less pushy parent between himself and the other. Not that it would make much difference in this cramped carriage for two days.

As they began moving down the road, Philip leaned his head against the side and looked out the window. He waved goodbye to Ferrell and took one final look at his home for the last seventeen years. It was a beautiful estate, really. The picturesque little house on the hill with its garden so lovingly tended by Adam, the fields kept productive through the hard labor of his other father and their hired paws, the woods by the brook where he and his brother had whiled away their youth. And of course, the meadow where he and Ferrell had had more exciting adventures over the years.

But no longer. He was setting off for a new life and new adventures now, even if his parents didn’t know it as they chatted softly about their journey and how lovely it would be to see their old friends, as well as their other son Tucker and his family, which now included a newborn daughter.

“Our first grandchild,” said Adam. “Just think on it, dear.”

“I’d rather not,” said Alar, coughing a bit from the dust on the road. “Makes me feel even older.”

“Come now, we’re not as old as all that.”

Philip snorted as though to say “Yes, you are!” Alar’s eyes turned on him in a flash.

“Looking forward to meeting your new niece, Phil?”

Philip hated when his father tried to be all buddy-buddy with him by using his nickname, but he replied calmly enough, “Yeah, of course. The more so since I’ll be staying on there.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” said his father, looking out the open window with an almost dismissive air that rankled Philip’s hide. As if he could simply end the conversation like that! Philip continued:

“I will, though. Tuck even said I could stay with him and Rosalina for a while ‘til I can make my own way.”

“Tuck knows how to survive in a large city like Parras.”

“I’ve been there before. I know it well enough.”

“In all fairness, dear, Parras isn’t like Telos,” Adam spoke up.

“Like it enough in some parts,” said Alar.

“Tucker has made a fine life for himself there, and I think it’s high time Philip made some of his own choices.”

“Exactly!” Philip jumped in, seeing one parent at least was on his side.

Alar, undeterred by his mate’s difference of opinion, merely slid his eyes briefly toward Adam, then refocused his gaze on his son.

“Tucker is a responsible young buck who is capable of fending for himself and his family. He always has been. This one has yet to prove himself responsible enough to even keep his vest clean, much less look after the land and title that will someday belong to him.”

“But what if I don’t want all that? Why not give it to Tuck? He’s the oldest.”

“Because Tuck neither needs nor desires the land, and as the oldest, it is his right to give that up to you.” He paused. “Besides, I think Ferrell would make a fine match. He comes from good stock. His father Kendrick has been helping us since we first came to Red Fields.”

“I know all that. And he could come join me once I got established, of course. Just like we’ve always talked about doing.”

“You would make him abandon his home and family?”

Philip shrugged. “He said he’d be fine with it. And if he changed his mind, that’s fine too. It’s not like we’ve made any commitments to each other or anything.”

“And I suppose that little display back there was just for show, then?”

Philip said nothing, so Alar pressed his point home.

“Don’t tell me you have no attachment to him at all. Why else would you spend all that time out in that field sucking his d…”

“Alar!” Adam said sharply, shaking his head ever so slightly.

“Of course I like him,” said Philip, throwing his paws up. “But we’re only seventeen! Why should we have to commit to anything so soon? Why can’t we have a little time to sort things out?”

“Your father and I were married at your age.”

“Well, that’s great, but I’m not you, okay?”

“We’re more alike than you know, Philip. Now quit whining and try to act like a baron’s son.”

Philip heaved a resigned sigh and went back to staring out the window. There was no way in hell he was going back to that boring rustic existence, whatever his father said. But there was no point arguing with Alar about it now. If there was one trait they definitely shared, it was their sheer stubbornness. He would just jump ship once the reunion and wedding were over, and that would be it. In the meantime, though, there was no doubt in the young noble squirrel’s mind that this was going to be a very long carriage ride indeed.