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Hunters Moon series Characters Pelnak and Cassiopeia are © Cederwyn Whitefurr used with permission written by Possum and Cederwyn Whitefurr

Hunters Moon New Moon Rising Chapter seven

Cassiopeia continued staring at the water, her mind troubled and turmoil, fighting to make sense out of what was happening to her beloved mate.

Suddenly, she felt, more than heard - something - tickle her mind, so frightening, feral flash that come and went.

"What - " Cassiopeia began as she started turning, before she felt sharp fangs slash her across the rump.

Screaming, Cassiopeia's body reacted before her mind, and she whirled away, just escaping Pelnak whose jaws slashed at her hind tendons, his teeth clacking with a crunch.

"No...get away - " Cassiopeia pleaded, seeing not her lover - but the madness which had seized him.

"Come here, and I'll make your suffering end quickly - " Come a low, threatening snarl from Pelnak.

Run... Come Pelnak's plea through the mating bond, before he screamed in agony and something silenced him.

"Yes...run little one..."

Cassiopeia knew she shouldn't, but her rump burned like she had touched silver - and her panic gripped her, driving rational through from her mind.

She fled...

*

Pelnak's cruel, predatory grin spread across his muzzle, his eyes narrowing to slits beneath his eyelids. She ran, and the thing that held him helpless, controlling him, shuddered with delight and pleasure. It willingly gave the terrified doe a head start, knowing this would prolong her fear and make it all the more pleasurable when it claimed her as its own.

<YES!... Catch her! mate her! BREED HER!> Come the voice in his mind.

This time Pelnak didn't notice the voice as he ran faster to catch his prey...

*

Cassiopeia screamed, as she fled as fast as her legs would take her, Pelnak hot on her heels, fuelled by the creature that now threatened to seize control of him. Eventually, Cassiopeia, weak and exhausted, was backed into a dead end cavern, miles from where she'd left Ely. Her hooves clawed at the almost sheer wall, panicked and bewildered - trying to find some way to climb up - to escape!

"You're mine now little doe...stop this foolishness! Submit to your buck, we've had our play..."

"That's not Pelnak!" Cassiopeia screamed, twisting to face him. "My mate loves me, cares for me - "

"Really?" It snarled, using his voice. "Look at you! You're pathetic - a Therian in a sheep's body...you're weak, you're exhausted - you couldn't fight if you tried! You've become weak and pathetic little Doe - I grow tired of asking...so this will be the last time I tell you...submit - or I'll show you such agony, you'll wish your ancestors were never born!"

Cassiopeia ran, sweat soaking her flanks, foam at her muzzle, then she shrieked as Pelnak's antlers stabbed into her side. With her momentum, they raked down her ribs and tore gouges through her fur and flesh before she stumbled and fell to her knees helpless and shrieking - her agonised cries pealing forth.

"Know your place doe..." Pelnak growled, as he snorted and moved to mount her, pinning her to the ground with his weight - seemingly uncaring and unmindful of the blood that spilled from her wounds.

'No...please - " Cassiopeia pleaded. "Pelnak, my love, I know you're in there - please! Fight it - you're not this..."

He thrust, driving himself deep inside her, making Cassiopeia shriek in agony.

*

Ely slumbered, his body healing little by little, until he heard that agonised cry that snapped him awake. Again it come, such a cry of pure terror, anger and pain tore through the valley seaming to shake the entire world with its meaning.

Ely's eyes burst open his body moving beneath him in the same instant, his worst fears having taken form as he pushes his body to its physical limits one instant curled sleeping the next he was moving as fast as he could as the scream echoed the valley around him.

"Cassiopeia - I'm coming!" Ely roared in fear, fearing he would be too late... *

<YES! SHE IS OURS! BREED! BREED HER! BREED HER NOW THEN FEED!>

Pelnak no longer sees his mate under him...

His eyes only seen the doe beneath him - a screaming, wild, bloodied feral - who he'd run down, forced into submission - and now - as he thrust savagely again, he felt her scream and buck beneath him. She was a feral, suitable only to fulfil his sexual lust, to be ravished, tortured and murdered - so he could at the moment of his release, bite into her throat and savour the blood as he climaxed inside her...

"Pelnak - please...you're hurting me..." Cassiopeia wailed, trying to struggle, but he snarls and his fangs grip her nape and scrape against her spine.

Pelnak climaxed hard - harder than he ever had in his life - fuelled by the spirit that has claimed him. He ruts Cassiopeia like he would a feral - without kindness, gentleness or compassion. As she screams and struggles, he only bites down harder, savouring the taste of her blood and her anguished, pealing screams of terror and agony. He grips her tighter thrusting harder his erection remaining as he give in completely to the instinctual rutting his body demands

Cassie feels him release a second after she does but he doesn't stop he keeps going in that moment she catches the malevolent gleam in his eyes as he continues the thrust mindlessly the intent to kill plain in his scent.

Ely's words echo sharply in her mind....

"We need to help him Cassiopeia, you and me both - help him - or kill him...before it is too late."

Cassie acts instantly rearing sharply and throwing him off she is not some weak helpless doe to be used and discarded SHE IS HIS MATE.

Pelnak is dislodged, staggering back and losing his balance, before he rolls to his feet, snarling, his penis dribbling semen on the ground, his muzzle curling into a feral snarl of anger and blood lust.

<Foolish doe! Kill her, kill her now! She isn't worth our gift - she's broken, unworthy of being ours! Her body is still warm, we can still satiate our desires and she will be all the more delicious when we're finished....>

Pelnak's eyes glinted with malice and cruelty, before he slowly licked his lips and took a step closer towards Cassiopeia, who sobs and tries to rise, but her weakened body slumps back onto the ground. She can smell the scent of Pelnak, the sticky scent of his pre that spurts from his length into the ground, the lust and wanton desire burning like a bushfire within his body.

Terrified, Cassie struggles to her hooves, before she staggers a handful of steps, trying to turn to face him - her fears confirmed as she sees that look in his eyes. Gone is the sweet, gentle buck she knows - now? It's some mindless, slavering beast - that looks at her as nothing more than -

No, Cassie's mind reels. Even her father, at his most cruellest and sadistic - didn't look like this...this - monster - Gone is her lover, yet through their bond, she senses him fighting - but he's losing to the shadow inside him. It's playing with him, slicing and slashing, wounding him terribly - yet he screams and fights, but she truly fears it is a fight he can not win alone.

Cassie shakes her head, feeling her blood soaking her neck and sides, dripping onto the ground. She is strong - she knows this - but these wounds are deep, and more she bleeds, the less strength she will have to try and protect herself from that which looks out from behind Pelnak's eyes.

Staring at him, it looks back. His stance is hunkered down ready for a fight a evil grin forms on his muzzle as his eyes narrow in hate as his jaw just forward canines extending drool dipping like a rabid dog. This is not her mate she glances towards the far end of the valley where Ely is still curled up resting unaware his mind is for that moment not at home.

It was a mistake...

Pelnak watches his prey quiver exciting him all the more this one will be good she glances away his mind and body react instantly <MINE!> As he darts forward for the neck the quick kill.

Cassie sees him move but he's fast much faster than ever before! She wills every fibre to dive right but it's not fast enough to get clear. His fangs flash as he tears a chunk from her shoulder, gulping it down and grinning worse. Cassiopeia screams in agony at the wound, nearly dropping to her knees. Somehow, she flinches away, favouring that leg, and shakes terribly. He roars, a blood curdling shriek of primal anger and lust mixed with the feeling of hunger - insatiable hunger -

<She is quick, very quick - but I know all Therian's moves. She is nothing, nothing...compared to how we were! Humans and beasts were right to fear us - now - no more teasing, no more playing...we will take her again, rut her until she shrieks for mercy...and at that moment, we will feed at our leisure, savouring her screams as she dies a slow, horrible death beneath our fangs...>

Pelnak advances, forcing Cassiopeia back again and again, until she shrieks, her rump pressed against the cliff face. She stares back, her wide fearful eyes, before she screams in such a pitiable cry, yet to the beasts ears, it is the sweetest sounds on the planet. As he advances, his lips curling back and muzzle dripping saliva and blood, Cassiopeia suddenly freezes, eyes widening as she looks past it...at ... something...

This is the moment it savours - she screams, oh such a glorious scream it feeds him as well as her tender flesh did. He charges...its time to end this...

"Stupid little Doe...now, you'll suffer, oh how you'll suffer, before I end your miserable existence and...."

He is struck from the side mid charge just inches from sinking his teeth into that sweet flesh his jaws closing pulling a few guard hairs from Cassie's neck but his momentum has shifted 90 degrees and he hears two ribs snap before a spike of pain passes his mind.

It screams in rage and anger, twisting the body around, unmindful of the tearing of flesh and the grind of the shattered ribs, turning to face the new threat...

Pain is for the weak it means nothing to him now.

Ely stands defiantly, his body shaking, as he glares through his eyelashes at the beast that Pelnak has become.

"I will not let you claim her - or - him!" Ely shrieks, his voice a dangerous snarl, yet there is power in it - power - and control.

"Begone Fèidh!" Snarls the beast. "Your kind have no power here!"

Ely's eyes begin to glow green, as he draws deep of the magicks of himself and the living world around him.

Last chance Fèidh - I'll take you like I took this doe...make you scream like she did and...

Ely doesn't even seem to move - one moment he's about sixty feet away, the next, Pelnak is thrown against the wall, shrieking as more ribs shatter and a left foreleg snaps. It hobbles back to his hooves, shaking its head and choking up blood, before snorting and grinning at him, ears snapping backwards.

"That all you got Fèidh? I can feel the anger inside you, give in to it - together, we'll claim this doe - make her scream and suffer! Together, we'll feast on her flesh and blood... Yes, I feel it within you..."

"Nnnnnn - " Ely grunts, shaking his head, then lifting it, his eyes blazing like emeralds as the magicks seize him, driving away the Therian's influence.

He connects with his lowered head in the ribs skittering Pelnak like an adult would a fawn, trampling over the smaller Whitetail's body with sharp powerful cloven hooves. Pelnak screams and slashes Ely's hind leg with his teeth, but Ely merely grunts, the magicks quickly healing the wound - leaving nothing but blood.

"You can do better, can't you?" Ely snorts, standing protectively before Cassiopeia.

"Fèidh - filth!" Snarls the Therian, as it struggles back to its hooves. "You deny yourself the truth of who and what you are!"

Ely snorts contemptuously, feeling the magicks heavily weakened - but at his command once more. It is a fight he isn't sure who can win - Pelnak is driven by such hatred and the spirit of the Therian ancestors. Dangerous, cunning and cruel creatures. His antlers drip blood, sharp and deadly...whereas Ely's were shed.

<A rival...an interloper! He dares challenge us! Kill him! He will claim our doe and mate her... >Snarls the Therian in Pelnak's mind, fuelling the jealousy within him, which its feeds upon greedily.

Pelnak screams in feral rage mate forgotten as he sizes up this opponent. He is fast but weak? Yes. Weak! Just look no antlers! Easy fight! Easy kill...easy food.

Ely can see the grip the therian has within Pelnak's mind he reaches to bridge it making contact but is unable to hold it his Magicks flowing but he must restrain them for now.

<He will murder you, take our mate, put her with his unholy fawn...>

Pelnak attacks...

Ely sees it coming as he rears up extending his arms to catch and parry Pelnak by the antlers adding momentum to direct him into the side of a tree.

"Pelnak!" Ely growls. "Fight it - this is not who you are, What you are!"

Cassie hears the thud and pained bleat of her mate and opens her eyes to see sunlight flicker between a semi open forest canopy.

There's another thud and pained growl as she turns to see Ely rub his foreleg while a panting Pelnak stands nearby facing him muscles rippling, his breath panting as he shakes himself off, then roars a dominance challenge and paws at the ground.

She tries to connect using their bond but finds nothing, this buck is not her mate, not anymore, and she can't find him in the red that has taken his mind...

Pelnak bleats in pain as he's slammed against the tree again, its trunk splintering under the impact. He underestimated this one! A mistake - a mistake he will rectify when he sinks his fangs into this creatures throat...

He charges again tilting his head at the last second...

<NO!> Screams the Therian in his mind, as Pelnak slashes at it in his mind, barely managing to cut into its throat - a wound, yes, but not a fatal one. Distracted, the Therian shrieks as Ely leg smashes out and cracks his breastbone with one powerful kick. Ely growls in annoyance showing his own fangs now extended, he will end this fight soon...one way or another...

"LUPID!" The Therian shrieks, eyes widening, as it tastes the blood it had spilt from Ely.

Screaming in fright, the reality of the danger getting through to that primitive mind It forces Pelnak to back away, to re-evaluate the strategy. Pelnak backs off now both wait for the other to make a move, this will be the final strike one way or the other...

Ely never broke his gaze with Pelnak not even seeing Cassie stalk around behind her mate, preparing to strike herself, to do what she must, tears flowing from her eyes lips quivering at what she knows she must do

She attacks viciously at Pelnak, her fangs snapping the tendon at the back of his hind legs, then the other one, as the Therian shrieks, unable to hold its hind legs up. Pelnak isn't the only one to have that Therian's call. Cassiopeia was born with it, she knows it, fears it - but controls it.

She knows it well, but now, she uses it she charges leaping on Pelnak's back jaws locking tight around the back of his neck his blood in her muzzle as he struggles caught by surprise.

"HOLD HIM!" Ely commands quickly coming forward a new plan in his mind.

Cassie stops her fatal bite incisors poised to sever the spine at his words, her eyes closed tears flowing as she sobs through a bloodied muzzle.

Pelnak is still screaming, trying to throw her off, panicked and almost helpless, his lower body crippled.

"NO! He's mine..." Screams the Therian in terror. "Mine, I own him, he's mine you hear me you filthy, stinking Hybrid? MINE. I will kill him before I let him go!"

"No, you will not..." Ely snarls, then nods his head, as powerful magicks ensnare Pelnak's body, as Cassiopeia screams and stumbles backwards, before falling to the ground, shaking and convulsing from the unintended effects of the magicks upon her.

Ely sees this and commands Cassie to stop he had hoped against hope for this opening and wasted no time

"Quickly. Establish your link NOW!"

Cassie focuses and gets in but finds an empty void.

"I...I can't find him he's not there!"

"He is and you will."

He knees next to them placing a paw on her head and the other on Pelnak's between his antlers

"Cassie... Prepare yourself"

"I'm going to guide you into Pelnak's mind!. I've never done this with a changed one so I do not know what you may find within but know this, what you find in there is just as real and dangerous as out here, it can kill you and you can kill it."

Cassie considers her words and steels herself looking up at Ely with determination in her eyes

Ely concentrates and begins chanting.

Cassie is torn from the world thrown through darkness Red and black Magicks try to ensnare her but some barrier protects her as she is hurled faster still she sees a black sphere in the tempest that grows larger as she approaches before she punches through it.

Pelnak awakes to find himself Human, naked and in a twisted crumbing city surprised he looks over his old body scars from his time at the hands of the Therian's and the scar from the hunters cut showing on his skin. Looking up he sees a foreign sky rippling in energy of red and black with the sounds of thunder booming through the sky.

Looking downwards he sees he is in a hemisphere of buildings abut 3km across, the buildings orientated flat to the ground on which they sit with their roofs focused to the centre of the sphere as the ground follows the radius of the bottom half of the sphere.

He calls out "Hello?" it vanishes into the buildings no echo is heard.

He begins to wander around seeing green glowing liquid trickle along gutters some going down drains others continuing to flow towards the centre of the buildings.

"Well I'm here so I suppose I should work out where here is and what happened..."

Pelnak continues he notices the buildings have no doors just recesses in concrete where they might had been the windows the same he continues to a central area it's a park or was about 50m X 50m and has neatly tended grasses

"Ah some place that makes sense at last"

Pelnak hears a clatter of hooves and a familiar laugh from behind him turning he sees an anthro deer, not a white tail something older though much the same size with a different antler structure.

"Who are you?"

"I am the therian, the pure therian that has been guiding you for these past years"

"What? You mean all that... that killing that was YOU!"

The Therian smiles and takes a bow "indeed" before rising again bemused

"Wait you made me attack my mate my Cassiopeia!"

"Come now you enjoyed it in the moment as her sweet flesh slid down your throat"

Pelnak fall to his knees and vomits violently though nothing comes out.

"PATHETIC!" the Therian yells at him. "Humans are so weak it's a mistake to change them and I intend to claim my place in your body it will serve me well as my vessel for the future of my race."

"You... your evil and cruel I'll never let you take my body!"

"Oh, how cute...you think you can fight me?"

Pelnak runs at the therian swinging a punch but hits nothing but air

"Oh come on! Really! At least try to hit me!" With a contemptuous laugh, the Therian flicks an ear dismissively. "Here take your best shot"

He taunts Pelnak, placing both paws behind his back, lifting his chin defiantly and snorting through the nostrils.

"Go on, do it..." It leans forward to give a perfect shot at his head or neck.

"No..." Pelnak shudders, his hands falling to his side, and fists unclenching. "I know that's exactly what you want! For me to give into my fear and anger - this only makes you stronger!"

"Hah!" Sneers the Therian. "Your mind thinks in such limited ways! I could have taken you any time I wished! Do you really think a human mind could withstand me? How amusing..."

Pelnak shudders as he stand there, panting and shaking, trying to cleanse his mind of the pain and suffering.

"Give in human..." Whispers the Therian, as it suddenly appears behind him, stroking the side of his face with the back of a paw. "Remember those feral deer? How they felt when we took them? Their screams, that hot, rich blood - the taste of their blood... I can offer you this - so much more besides! All you need to do - is willingly surrender, give me control..."

"No!" Pelnak screams in terror, flinching away and turning to face the Therian.

'I'll not submit to you - not now - not ever!"

Raising an eyebrow, the Therian shook its head slowly. "Must we do it the hard way?"

"What are you talking about?" Pelnak wept in grief.

Walking away, the Therian sighs, then looks over its shoulder and grins maliciously. Suddenly, its anthromorph body ripples and wavers, as it transforms painlessly and almost instantly into a feral looking buck.

"I do so enjoy the other way..." It growls, as Pelnak's eyes widen, seeing the long, slender length slide from the sheath and start dripping pre onto the broken and shattered ground.

"No..." Pelnak moans, stepping backwards.

"Yes..." Smirks the Therian, as it makes a mock charge.

Pelnak screams, stumbling over a broken wall, landing heavily with a sickening thud.

Sobbing, Pelnak tries to get to his knees and run - but before he can, the Therian's powerful forelegs grip him by the shattered ribs, then squeezes, making Pelnak scream.

"Yes...scream little one - scream for me - long and loud...we have whats left of your life to play..."

Pelnak screams as the Therian takes him - without kindness, compassion or gentleness...a cruel, savage lunge, the Therian's hind hooves lifted off the ground as it bucks, the first of many orgasms spurted deep inside Pelnak.

"Stupid human, here you will not pass out...ever.... You will suffer everything and then surrender yourself to me. No one is coming to help you No one even knows where you are! You are mine - my little doe...and I'm going to enjoy taking you again and again and again..."

Pelnak is still screaming, feeling the Therian lunge again, another release flooding his tortured body.

"You're...wrong - " Pelnak sobs heart-brokenly. "Cassiopeia will...come. "

With a snort, the Therian's hot breath pants against Pelnak's ear. "That pathetic excuse for a doe? I told you already - they don't know where you are - you're mine...no one will come to save you little one...now, better get comfortable - because I...

Sounds of cloven hooves rang out, echoing off the wrecked buildings.

"No..." Snarls the Therian in rage and frustration.

"PELNAK" Cassiopeia's sweet voice, choked with sobs and heartbreak peals forth.

Emerald lightning strikes randomly, further adding to the destruction of this ruined landscape.

"No...it...it can't be!" Shrieks the Therian in terror.

Cassiopeia screams, seeing Pelnak and the Therian, before Ely snarls and his magicks ensnare her, freezing her in place.

"You fucking bastard!" Cassiopeia shrieks. "Get off of him!"

"One move Fèidh - I'll kill him!" Screams the Therian in fright and anger.

"I... Told... you... so... " Pelnak says weakly, tears running down his face.

"Spirit, leave him be!" Ely's voice cracks, his eyes blazing and his body crackling with the power of the magicks within him.

Terrified, the Therian's eyes widen, as Ely's body shimmers, bright, emerald green runes burn through his fur. Ancient, powerful and archaic tribal tattoos that pulse and glow with the same green aura blaze incandescently.

"Weak, meddling Fèidh" the therian screams at Ely.

"Ely laughs well I cannot argue that for you are correct on all counts"

Cassiopeia struggles, but Ely's magicks hold her tight.

"Let me go! I am going to kill him, tear his fucking heart out!" Cassiopeia shrieks in rage.

Glancing at her, Ely shakes his head. "No, you will not - I know what he done - to you - and your mate..."

"What I did? Oh, you foolish, pathetic Fèidh! These puny deer have only had a glimpse of what I will do to them! When I destroy you...both of them will feel the true strength, the power and majesty, only one such as I can hope to show them! Too bad for them - as mortal bodies won't withstand what I will do...I'll be pleasurable for me but not...for them."

"Silence fawn!" Ely snarls, then gestures and the Therian is torn from Pelnak, who screams and slumps to the ground, sobbing and shaking.

"Ooh, is this magick? I so love it when an upstart yearling tries to dominate! I know what you are Fèidh! I know you're both stag and doe...how will it feel, when I break you, like I broke them - rut you until you scream and plead for mercy at my hooves?" "Really? Is that all you have?" Ely snorts contemptuously. "I'd have thought you'd be better than this - mayhaps I will let Cassiopeia and Pelnak have their way with you..."

"Filthy, disgusting hybrid Fèidh!"

"Fèidh?" Ely taunts it mercilessly, drawing its rage towards him, gesturing with his paw behind his back, releasing Cassiopeia from the holding magicks and hoping Cassiopeia will finally stop wasting time and use the opening his distraction is creating but alas she is just as distracted.

Pelnak locks eyes on her, then nods weakly. Cassiopeia's eyes widen, then she gets with the plan...

Distracted, enraged and angry, the Therian had been turned by Ely, placing it at Pelnak's and Cassiopeia's fronts. Oblivious, its rage was directed at Ely. Pelnak is helpless, broken and bloodied - he can't fight it - but Cassiopeia doesn't need his help - not now...

Her eye narrow sharply realising the truth...

This thing - hurt Pelnak, corrupted him, drove him to do unspeakable acts of cruelty and depravity - not only to her - but to those of the Forest Mother's Children...

A white hot rage fuels her as she turns back then charges. At the last second, the Therian starts to turn - but its too late - too distracted. Closing the distance in four strides, Cassiopeia snarls, her body sliding as her fangs flash and she sinks them deep into the Therian's throat. It screams and tramples her, but she endures the agony, the breaking bones and torn fur and flesh, holding tight for dear life.

"You insolent, pathetic little fawn!" Snarls the Therian, shaking its head and neck, trying to shake Cassiopeia loose, but only making her grip tighter.

Suddenly, it screams - it realises now - in the final struggle, this isn't some weak inexperienced human. Cassiopeia was born of him, moulded by him, and in him - she finds a reflection of herself, as she gives in to the ancestral memories and rage.

It is a point driven home, as Cassie gives everything she has, then she chokes and gags, as teeth sever the jugular. Black, corrupt blood gushes down her throat, as the Therian Stag screams and thrashes wildly.

It almost drowns her, the taste sickening and poisoning her body, yet she bites even harder, tearing and savaging at the wound. "Urk..." Gasps the Therian, feeling Cassiopeia's teeth crushing its airway, cutting off the desperately needed oxygen.

"Cassiopeia!" Ely screams, as the Therian drops to its knees, muzzle hanging open and choking. "That's enough!"

Cassiopeia flicks an ear back, but she refuses to listen. So intent is she, all rational thought is driven from her mind, as she seeks to kill the one who harmed her beloved mate.

"Nnn..." Gasps the Therian, struggling to breathe, as it collapses onto Cassiopeia, mouth wide and tongue lolling, its eyes bulging from their sockets. "I...can't - "

Desperation glints in the Therian's eyes, and it wrenches its head back, tearing open the throat before it leaps to its hooves and smashes its hooves down, crushing Cassiopeia's chest and ribs.

"NO!" Pelnak screams in grief.

"Urk...gah..." Cassiopeia gurgles, blood exploding from her muzzle.

Weak, but not defeated, the Therian staggers, falls and stands again, blood as black as night, gushing from its throat.

"I'm going too..." It begins, standing on shaking legs.

Suddenly, there's a brilliant white flash of fur, then the Therian screams, as powerful, razor sharp antlers slam into it from the side. They sear through flesh and fur alike, before Pelnak screams and wrenches his head from side to side, the antlers eviscerating the Therian that shrieks and falls to the ground.

"Pelnak...no!" Ely screams in fright.

Pelnak, his antlers and face covered in viscera and black blood, rears again and again, slamming his front hooves down, shattering bone beneath them as he pounds the screaming Therian. Again and again, his anger, fear and suffering consuming him, he continues to attack, finally, there is a sickening crunch and the Therian's skull shatters, but still Pelnak strikes.

Ely is forced to intervene, cruelly shoving Pelnak away, sustaining a deep slash across the chest from the enraged Whitetail's antlers.

"No...stop - please..." Ely gasps, stumbling and falling to his knees. "It...its over..." Pelnak blinks, then as suddenly as it come, the feral, blood fuelled rage is gone - he stands there, forelegs covered in blood and gore, before he shudders and runs to Cassiopeia, kneeling down and nuzzling her.

"No...Cassie..." Pelnak bursts into hysterical sobbing.

"Pel..." Cassie gurgles, coughing up blood.

"Please...help her!" Pelnak pleads, turning his tear streaked muzzle to Ely, who stands shaking and gasping, almost completely spent.

"I...I barely have enough...to get you...home - " Ely gurgles, as he shakes his head, then mutters and stamps a cloven hoof - everything fading to black...

*

Pelnak screamed in the void...it was all he could do...

*

Slowly, after what felt like an eternity, faint outlines of trees formed, the rocks, dirt, even grass...Cassiopeia's body shimmered and solidified, then Pelnak, who crumpled to the ground, gasping and shaking, feeling like he'd been caught in a blizzard.

Ely's body was last - but as he crumpled, he moaned and felt the magicks grow strong again, before he pressed his forehead against Cassiopeia. Pelnak couldn't even watch, as powerful emerald light flickered and writhed over her, Ely's Fèidh magicks doing what neither Stag could do...save his beloved from death...

"It is...done - " Ely gurgled, before he shuddered and his head thumped onto the ground. His breathing come hard and fast - the effort it must have taken him, wasn't lost on Pelnak..

"Pel..." Cassiopeia gurgled again, one eye opening the barest slit, before it slammed shut again.

Pelnak cried with both grief and joy...

They had fought the strongest enemy they had ever faced...

They had won....

To Be Continued...