The Spirit of the Forest by twisted_trisk

The Spirit of the Forest

twisted_trisk, Deer, Doe, Equine, Erotic, Fantasy, Fiction, Hetero, Heterosexual, Human, Human/Furry, HumanXFurry, M/F, Mare, Sex, Violence, Watersports

#2 of Hetero Stories

A young man, newly a master craftsman, is delighted to buy a house in a small town, edged by a thick and mysterious forest. The townsfolk all tell him to stay away from it, for it is haunted by evil, but what will he actually find when he sets foot into this magical place?

The Spirit of the Forest

Contents: Interspecies sex (human/equine,) watersports, violence

1) ** **The Forest

2) ** **Everflow

3) ** **Confusion

4) ** **Clarity

5) ** **Our Forest Friends

6) ** **Always Darkest Before the Dawn

7) ** **Newness

1) ** **The Forest

I was at last moved into my new home. I had finished my apprenticeship with my father, and was a fully qualified carpenter. I'd moved to a small city that had no artisan of my craft, and already had a plethora of orders to fill from grateful townsfolk. The house had been a wonderful deal, less than half what it was worth, and my future was looking bright.

That was perfectly fine, but I was more fascinated by the unusually thick forest that grew behind my house and extended for countless miles, an ever widening arrow-shaped grove that pointed right smack-dab at my back door. As a child I'd loved exploring in the wilderness, and seeing such thick, lush trees awoke in me a spirit of adventure.

I asked my next door neighbor's wife about it once in passing. She got a strange look in her eyes. "That forest's haunted. It's as strange a place as is on God's green earth, Drew. Nobody goes out there anymore it's far too dangerous. There's lush game living in that place, drawin' fool hunters and trappers to it, but they always seem to end up spooked out of their minds or maimed, one way or another."

I wasn't superstitious, and her vaguely unsettling warning intrigued me all the more to go exploring, even if only for a little while. I began to ask customers and other people about the forest, and the stories they told were peculiar indeed. One old man told me about a talking bear, another of fish swimming through the forest, another of trees coming alive and capturing his hound, carrying it off never to be seen again.

I tried to ask if anyone regularly went into the forest, and everyone told me to speak with Nicholas Brandy, who lived on the edge of town opposite my house. I took it upon myself to go visit him, as nobody would tell me anything more about him than his name, gravely eyeing each other as they told me that he was the one to talk to, and that he knew many things about the forest.

When I arrived at the grizzled old man's house, I was shocked to discover that he had only one leg, one arm, and one eye. He sat outside his home drinking while his only son worked as a farmer to support the two of them. "Aye lad, I'm Nicholas Brandy. Have a seat and tell me who's asking?" He bellowed jovially.

I bowed low. "Drew MacMurdock. I've recently moved to this fair city to work as a carpenter."

He nodded and grinned, pleased. "Wallll, so yer the one they all been up about. A carpenter, eh? I'd say that's a good thing. I have need of yer services, as a matter of fact. My crutch is worn out, and I could use another made."

"I'd be happy to help you. Let me see it and take measurements and I can get to work on it right away if the need is great." I said, politely.

"Naw, the need ain't that great. I move 'round as little as possible, on account of the fact that I can't move around much anymore. So what brings you out to my house today, Drew?" He said, taking a deep draught of his mug.

I swallowed. "Well, I live on the edge of an unusually thick and very lovely forest on the other end of town. I'm interested in exploring it, and everyone I talk to keeps trying to dissuade me from going in. They all tell me you used to do some trapping in there. I was wondering if you could shed any light on their fears and the wild stories they keep telling me about the place."

At my words, he stopped mid-swallow and lowered his mug, staring at me soberly for quite some time. He was quiet for so long in fact, that I became uncomfortable. "Mister Brandy? Are you well?"

In a hollow voice, he slowly said "That place is cursed, alright. Stay away from it, Drew. I warn you, it's a friend to no human."

I shook my head. "I don't believe in curses, or ghosts, or talking bears, or fish swimming through the air. If no one can give me any real reason to avoid the place, I shall indeed go into it."

"The place took all my missing limbs, lad." He softly said. "Most who try to hunt or trap there wind up crazy or like me, crippled. They sent you to me because I'm the only one who's ever been so stubborn as to try to uncover the mysteries of that place, I think.

That was a peculiar thing to say. "What? How? When?" I asked, again intrigued.

Placing his mug on the ground next to him, he leaned forward in his chair. "What happened is something I plan to reveal to no man. Take my word for it, lad; do not go into that wood, or you'll pay the price."

More than that, he would not say no matter how much I pried him about it. At last I left in disgust and vowed to explore it as soon as I had settled into my new shop.

* * *

Established in my new home with plenty of work, I took an afternoon off to explore the forest about a week later. I packed some hard bread and cheese for a meal, a water skin to drink, my compass, and a stout stick for walking, and I was off.

The forest was indeed thick, lush and green, and within a hundred feet I could no longer see my house. Carefully checking my compass to be sure of my direction, I set off due south. The air smelled of wild flowers, and the leaves crunching under my feet joined in with choruses of birds and early spring insects. It was as beautiful and idyllic a place as I'd ever seen. Sunlight occasionally peeked through the dense canopy of leaves, but for the most part I was immersed in green light as it filtered through the trees.

I walked for about several hours, seeing nothing at all out of the ordinary. As I'd suspected, the townsfolk were merely superstitious, or perhaps just trying to fool the new boy with wild stories. I happened upon a beautiful clearing, perhaps fifty feet across at the widest point. The ground was carpeted with thick, short green grass that was wonderfully soft on the feet, and I could hear a brook bubbling nearby, though I could not see it. I sat down to eat my lunch in the lovely place, laying back in the soft, lush grass and staring at the blue sky overhead.

My food was simple and meager, but I was happy to share when a few hungry little songbirds lit upon the grass and chirped at me. To my delight, when I fed them crumbs of bread, they came right up to me and ate out of my hand. I'd never seen such a thing, and delighted in the tiny creatures as they sang and shared my food with me. When I finished eating, they seemed in no hurry to leave, peeping to me and cocking their little heads to look up at their new human friend.

It was wonderful, and I was going to stay as long as they stayed. I spoke softly to them, while they sang back at me. "Aren't you just the loveliest birds I've ever seen?" I cooed gently.

Presently, I heard a loud clack, followed by an agonized howl from a small distance away. My head shot up, as did the birds'. It had been an animal's cry, and it sounded like it was in pain, a pitiful, agonizing sound of sorrow. A second later, my little feathered friends took to the sky, and I never saw them again. "Goodbye!" I called as they darted up into the blue. I thought I heard them chirp a goodbye back.

I stood up and picked up my belongings, then headed in the direction of the howl. I was softhearted when it came to animals, and wanted to see if I could do anything to help. A cool breeze came up as I walked, and the forest became eerily silent, the sounds of animal life ceasing as I neared where I thought I'd heard the cry.

I was looking around carefully and still almost missed it; there, at the base of a tree, terrified and trying to make itself as small as it could, was a fox. She was shivering with fear and watching me with terrified brown eyes, petrified that I would see her.

"There-there, little one..." I whispered. "What's the matter? Are you hurt?" As I carefully stepped closer, I saw her little paw was caught in a very old, very rusty trap. It looked to be a fur-trapper's trap, the kind that would not damage any part of the animal's pelt. "Aw... a trap... that's horrible!" I said, sympathetically to her.

As I neared, she whined and scrabbled helplessly, trying to get away from me. I knelt and reached for the trap, but had to jerk my hand back as she nipped at me, making tiny little snarling sounds. She was so cute and so scared... "Calm down, sweetie. I'm gonna get you safely out of that trap, don't worry." I gently murmured to her.

I pulled off my shirt and wrapped my hands in it so I wouldn't be hurt if she bit me, and cranked on the trap with all my strength. I might as well have been trying to lift a mountain. That old trap was so rusty and big, I couldn't hope to budge it with my bare hands. I strained and groaned, throwing all my effort into opening it, but to no avail.

I sat back and panted, resting. "Wow, fluffy girl... you really got yourself caught in a bad situation. This thing must've been made to catch bear or something, huh? Good news is it's so big it didn't break your paw, I guess. It couldn't clamp down tight enough on your little leg."

She'd given up trying to get away and was now staring at me with glassy eyes, shivering in fear. I leaned over and examined the trap, realizing there had to be some way to open it, since the trapper would need to defeat it to get his prey out when caught.

I finally saw a push-pin set into the rusty base, holding the two halves of the jaws together. Yes, pop that off and I was sure the trap would fall into two pieces, harmless. I turned my efforts to getting the pin out, but was again stymied; the metal was so rusty it was nearly frozen in place. I could wiggle it, but I couldn't even begin to pull it out of the hole.

I sighed in frustration, then remembered my bowie knife. Perhaps I could lever the pin off with it! I pulled it out from my belt. The reaction from the little fox was immediate and severe. She howled in shock and scrabbled in blind terror, trying to get away. It was as if she recognized the knife and thought I was going to kill her.

Hurriedly, I tried to calm her with gentle words as I wedged the knife into the hole and began trying to pry the pin out. I was so focused on doing it, I didn't notice as black clouds raced overhead in conjunction with the little vixen's fear, casting the world into angry darkness.

I strained with all my might, muscles trembling. Suddenly, with a loud snap, the pin popped loose of the hole, my knife broke, cutting my hand deeply, and the trap fell apart, disabled. The fox was a rusty red blur of fur as she streaked for the safety of the forest, but I was more concerned with my hand, bleeding profusely.

When I finally looked up to see what had become of her, the black clouds had passed, unnoticed by me. I saw she'd stopped just before diving into a thicket, and was staring at me with her large brown eyes. "Cheers, honey. You're safe now!" I called to her, then muttered to myself "And I slashed my hand open trying to rescue you. So much for a good deed being its own reward. I wonder if that was one of old man Brandy's traps."

I looked up at her, and her eyes met mine for a moment longer, then she turned and daintily trotted off, jumped through a hole in the thicket and was gone. I looked glumly at my hand. It was going to need stitches or it would leave a nasty scar. That was the end of my exploring, at least for today. I tore a strip off my shirt before putting it back on, wrapping my bleeding hand as tightly as I could.

Suddenly, a gentle, sexy female voice spoke from behind me. "Why did you do that?"

Thinking it was the owner of the trap, I whirled in fear, but saw no one. The voice had been so loud, it had sounded like the person was standing only a foot behind me! I looked everywhere in vain, trying to see who it was. "Was that your trap?" I answered, frightened.

The voice again came from behind me, making me whirl back, still seeing nobody. "My trap? Are you stupid, boy? Of course it wasn't my trap! I was coming to free the fox, you just beat me to it. Now answer my question, I don't like being ignored!" The voice was so smooth, so silky and seductive... and no matter which way I turned, it always seemed to be coming from directly behind me.

I was getting a bit frightened. Where was she hiding? "I... I did it because I don't like seeing animals suffer. She was so scared, and that trap might have held her until her death; it looks like it's an old, abandoned trap to me. Who are you? Where are you?"

This time, the voice seemed to come from all around me at once. "Why should you injure yourself just to help a miserable little fox? Humans fancy themselves much more important than that, don't they?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I was just tryin' to help her. I wasn't thinking any deeper than that." I was still turning this way and that, but the owner of the voice was not visible. She had to be throwing her voice, I decided, at last giving up trying to see her.

When there was no response, I timidly said "Umm, my name's Drew MacMurdoch. Who are you? Where are you?"

There was no response. I tried a couple more times, but whoever it had been was either gone or hiding. Finally, I said "I need to go to town and get my hand stitched up; I'm bleeding really badly. Uhhh, it's been interesting meeting you, I guess." As I spoke, I pulled out my compass and figured out which direction was home.

I studied the compass for several long seconds, confused. I could have sworn the way back north was not the way the needle was showing. I glanced up, but the trees were too thick to catch even a glimpse of the sun. I figured it wouldn't lie, so I just had to have gotten turned around when I went to help the fox. Perhaps I'd not noticed that I was striking off in a different direction when I'd headed for the cry.

I marched for about fifteen minutes, then came upon a rippling spring, twelve feet wide or so, bubbling up from the earth. I didn't recognize any of this, frankly; I had not passed this spring that I could recall. It was very peculiar. I stepped around the spring and walked for about twenty paces before glancing to my compass again, and froze in shock, the hairs on the back of my neck prickling up. The compass showed that I was walking in exactly the wrong direction.

Staring at it, I slowly turned around and walked back, stepping around the spring. As I did so, the needle turned, always pointing towards the center of the little bubbling pool. I stared at it in shock, not comprehending what was happening. This just wasn't possible!

The sexy voice spoke again, as usual, sounding as if someone was standing directly behind me. "One good turn deserves another. Place your hand in the pool, Drew."

Again I spun around, again there was nobody there. "What are you doing to my compass!?" I cried in fear, heart pounding.

The voice snorted. "I merely directed you to the pool, I'll right it so it points properly when you do as I've instructed you. You are an inquisitive little thing, aren't you?"

Panting in fear, I started to back away. "This is some kind of trick, isn't it? Are you one of the townsfolk, playing a trick on me?"

Soothingly, the voice swirled around me, an almost hypnotic quality to it. "Calm down. You helped that little fox, and I appreciate it. I am merely trying to give you a small reward for your kindness. Will you please put your hand in the pool? I promise that you shall be pleased with the results, dear."

I hesitated, then approached the pool of sparkling water again. Her voice was remarkably calming, and somehow I had the strong impression that she was a friend and would not hurt me. I knelt and dipped my hand in the water hesitantly, a move which made her laugh. "Your injured hand, silly boy! Dip your injured hand in the pool! Why would I have you put your whole and healthy hand in the water?

Again looking around, still feeling as if I ought to be able to see her, I hesitantly slipped my bleeding hand into the water. As soon as the cut dipped beneath the surface, there was a sharp stabbing pain, followed by a warm, relaxed feeling. I yelped and yanked my hand out, pulling my wrapping off of it.

To my utter shock, there was no longer any wound. There was not even a scar to show where the deep cut had been, merely whole, smooth, pink flesh. Not only that, several scars I'd received while working with woodcutting tools had disappeared as well. I stared at my hand in dumbfounded shock. Looking at my other hand, which I had dipped in first, I realized that my scars were gone on that hand as well.

I stared at the water not comprehending. "Who... who are you, please?" I asked in a tiny voice, but she'd again become silent. Hesitantly I pulled out my compass, and watching in confusion as the needle slowly turned from pointing at the pool to pointing off into the woods towards my house, in the direction I'd thought it should have pointed in the first place.

I tried to reason long and hard about what had happened as I walked, and when I neared my house, the sun was setting, casting the forest into deepening shadow. I turned and self-consciously spoke. "Ma'am? Are you still there?" No response at all, but I forged ahead anyway. "Thank you so much for healing my hand. I... You're very nice, I think. I hope that maybe we can be friends... I'd sure like that, at least. Well, I guess I'll go to bed, then. Thank you very, very much for healing my hand."

There was no response, but a gentle breeze swirled through the trees and circled around me, comforting in a strange way, it was like the forest giving me a kiss. Somehow, I knew she'd heard me, whoever she was. The question now was; did I still claim to not believe in the supernatural?

* * *

Over the next several weeks, I explored the thick woods, hoping to meet her again. I would call out for her, though I didn't know her name. I would talk sometimes, hoping she was listening. It was foolish, I suppose, to think that whoever she was, she had nothing better to do than follow a naïve young lad around and listen to him prattle. Sometimes I felt silly doing it, but the truth was, I had a crush on her. She was talented, mysterious, and had such a beautiful voice, I tried to imagine what she must look like, always envisioning a blonde beauty of inestimable grace and loveliness.

Again and again I entered the forest, and never once saw or heard anything of her. My crush slowly gave way to disappointment as I realized that I was alone in the woods; whoever it had been, she was gone now.

It was mid-summer before something happened that reintroduced me to her. I came out of my house one evening and nearly tripped over a tiny newborn fawn, huddling against the wall of my house. She was holding herself perfectly still, thinking I would not see her. Something was wrong, I could feel it right away.

Looking around for her mother, I knelt and immediately saw that she had been slashed open along her white-speckled side, and her hind-leg was broken. There was so much blood on the ground... tears filled my eyes, for I knew she would not last the night.

I gently scratched her ears to calm her down, and she lifted up her little head and looked at me with beautiful brown eyes full of pain, pleading me to help. "Oh my God..." I whispered, then gently, carefully hugged her. In response, she nuzzled and licked my neck, making a little squeaking warble sound. I petted her and tried to think how I could best make her comfortable as she died.

Suddenly I remembered that healing pool, and hope filled my heart. If I could find that place again, I could heal her! I hurried into the house, grabbing some supplies. I bathed and dressed the gash in her little trembling side, did my best to put her broken leg in a splint, then wrapped her shivering body in a blanket and carefully picked her up in my arms. I checked my compass and hurried into the woods as the sun began to set.

* * *

I kept looking down at her, looking into her eyes to see if she was still alive. When I'd first entered the forest, she'd gone limp and glassy-eyed for a moment, and I'd been sure she was lost. Before I could sob, though, she blinked and gasped and continued her shallow breathing.I gently spoke to her, encouraging her to keep fighting, that I was going to try and help her somehow. I plunged through the darkening forest, making for the spot where the pool had been. I'd been afraid to return to it since that day, feeling that it must be sacred somehow.

Surely, though, the mysterious female who'd helped me would be willing to help this tiny, dying creature, wouldn't she? She'd been kind, of that I was certain, and though perhaps she had no interest in me, I hoped she would help this stricken creature.

I wasn't sure I would be able to find the spring again, but I at once broke through a line of trees and found myself in the small clearing surrounding the bubbling water. It was twilight now, and the thick forest was growing darker by the second. I swallowed and looked around, but as usual, I was all alone.

I surged forward and dropped purposefully to my knees at the water's edge, still clutching the fawn to me. I unwrapped the now bloody blanket from her tiny body and took a deep breath, carefully dipping her down into the water. She squirmed around and warbled in discomfort at being dipped in the cold water, and struggled faintly.

I held my breath and waited for a moment, then pulled her back out of the water, hoping that she would be healed, as I had been. To my crushing disappointment, her leg was still broken and her side was still oozing blood. Again and again I dipped her, and again and again it did nothing.

I sat back and began to cry, holding her shivering body tightly to me, warming her with my own body heat. "I tried, little one! I tried... I'm so sorry..." I sobbed, burying my face in her fur.

Suddenly, a familiar voice tenderly spoke behind me. "Whatever do you think you are doing, Drew?"

I gasped and whirled, but of course there was nothing there. "Ma'am, please... I found this little fawn outside my house, her leg broken and bleeding like this. I brought her out here to try and heal her in the water, like you healed me, but it isn't working! She's so tiny, and she's lost so much blood... Please, please can't you help her?" I said with a trembling voice, blinking back my tears.

There was a long silence, so long I thought the voice had left again. I was about to call out to her another plea, when she at last slowly spoke, her voice gentle and sad. "Drew, her mother is dead, killed by a hunter for food. I can heal her body, but she cannot survive alone, she's too young, only two days old. Would it not be better for her if I free her from the pain she now feels?"

"No! Don't kill her! I'll care for her! I'll take care of her and raise her! I don't want her to die! It isn't fair! She hasn't gotten to experience anything in life..." My voice wandered off as I looked down and saw her eyes were glazing over. She was dying. "No! No! Please! Help her! Give me my wounds back and give her the healing you gave me! I can set her leg, just please heal the gash! Don't be cruel, please! You have the ability to help her, why would you be so calloused as to just let her die?"

Slowly, with admiration, she spoke again. "I'm very impressed with you, dear. You care for the tiniest and most insignificant life. Dip her into the water again and I'll heal her."

I didn't hesitate, but plunged the fawn into the cold water again. She squealed in pain, and I remembered the sharp sting I'd felt for a split second when I'd been healed. I lifted her back out, and saw with joy that her leg was completely healed. When I pulled my bandages off of her, her little side was whole and hearty.

I hugged her tightly to me. "Oh, thank you! Thank you for helping us! Thank you so much!" The little fawn licked my face as I spoke, then began to suckle my nose.

"She knows you have saved her from death." Came the gentle voice again. "She will be your loyal friend for the rest of her life, Drew. Having been touched by me, she is intelligent, far more than a normal deer. She will understand your words and do as you ask of her. So long as you continue to show her such deep love, she will love you back."

I gulped and looked around. "Who are you? You aren't human, are you?"

Again the voice fell silent. "Please, can't you even tell me your name? I swear I'll tell no one about you, if that's what you want... You've been so kind, I just want to look you in the eye and thank you for all you've done..." I earnestly pleaded, hugging the warm little fawn to me.

There was a long sigh. "Humans are my sworn enemy. I hate them all, and fight them constantly to protect what is mine. By extension of that I should hate you too, but I do not. You are not a thoughtless, ignorant, selfish, dirty creature like every other human I have ever met. You are kind and generous and sweet. I have watched you closely since our first meeting, and have seen not even the tiniest glimmer of typical human behavior in you. No, you are good hearted, if not perfect. You are pure, for a human."

She broke off as my fawn began to suckle my nose again. "Everflow is very, very hungry... starving, in fact. Feed her with the bottle by your right hip."

"Everflow?" I echoed dully, looking down in shock to see a leather skin with a nipple at the end of it.

"Yes, that is her name. Everflow." was the simple reply. I picked up the skin of milk and realized it was even warm. I held it up to the fawn, who eagerly began to dine on it. She was absolutely trusting of me, and let me lay her little body in my lap so I could at last rest my tired arms after holding her for over an hour.

She stared up at me with her brown eyes filled with love as she drank. "Nice to meet you, Everflow." I contentedly murmured to her.

Presently I remembered the voice and again looked up and pressed it. "Please, if you find me good and pure, won't you at least tell me your name?"

"You may be good and pure, but I still hate all humans." Was the terse reply.

I scratched the fawn's ears. "Well, I don't hate you, I think you're nice." I matter-of-factly declared, then fell silent.

That seemed to silence her for a while, and my little doe had nearly finished her dinner by the time she spoke again. "My name is Clarity, and I am the spirit of this forest. I am its sworn protector, and I take my job seriously. I have guarded this place for centuries, and have stopped you leech-like humans from your inexorable advance into my territory. These animals are my charges, and I protect them and their home with all my powers. Not a single berry shall be taken from it by greedy human hands, and I shall repay an eye for an eye any harm attempted to any of my little ones. You trespass at your peril, human."

"Clarity... that's an incredibly lovely name." I softly intoned, then spoke up. "No wonder I can't ever see you, if you are the forest itself, and no wonder this place is so magic and lush, it's alive. I'm very honored to meet you, Clarity, and if I can ever repay your generosity, simply speak and I shall do all in my power to do as you ask."

Again, I could tell I had not responded to her threat as she had expected, and I could tell she was impressed by my attitude as she spoke. "Thank you. You are full of surprises, Drew." She whispered, then spoke out loud. "No, you misunderstand me. I am the spirit of the forest, but that doesn't mean I am the forest, or that I lack a body. I am flesh and blood, just like you. You cannot see me simply because I do not wish to allow you to see me, and in this place, my power is limitless, my choices are law."

Everflow gave a happy coo as she finished the milk, her tummy now full. She snuggled into my lap and went to sleep, trusting me completely as she lay in my arms, as if I was her mother. I stroked her velveteen ears and declared "Then the forest has a good and kind protector in you. Thank you so much for saving her life, Clarity. I guess you don't like me here in your forest, so I shall leave and never return. Thank you for the milk, and for everything."

I put the bottle down on the grass where I'd found it, then stood up to leave, carefully picking up the bloody bandages and blanket so as not to litter in her kingdom. As I turned to leave, she hurriedly spoke again. "I was too harsh when I said that. No, you are welcome here, Drew. You will always be welcome in my kingdom so long as your heart remains as it is, and I shall welcome your company and companionship as often as you'd like to come and see me." Her words sounded genuine and heartfelt, and her voice was very sweet and kind.

"Besides, you'll need my help to provide milk for Everflow until she is old enough to be weaned." She added jovially.

Grinning, I looked up and said "Thank you so much! I'll need help, I don't know the first thing about raising a doe." I had to yawn then, and suddenly realized how late it was. Somehow, a great amount of time had passed while I was here.

I pulled out my compass, but of course could see absolutely nothing in the darkness of night. "I guess I'll have to sleep here... I can't see to find my way back." I sheepishly admitted.

Clarity laughed her beautiful, musical laugh. "Oh, put that ridiculous human thing away. I'll lead you back home."

I hiked back home, with a disembodied voice directing me and talking with me. She seemed friendly and cute, and had a sweet sense of humor. I had a huge crush on her again by the time I stepped to the edge of the forest and bid her goodnight. "Thank you again, Clarity..." I said, wistfully.

"You are very welcome, Drew. Step foot in my kingdom and I can hear you, so simply come into the forest and call for me when Everflow is hungry and I'll make her some more milk. Come to me if you have trouble with her, too... I shall know what she is thinking until she is old enough to begin to communicate with you."

I shyly thanked her several more times, then stepped into my house. I lay the fawn on my bed for a moment and fashioned for her a cozy nest out of blankets, close by me on the floor. She half woke up as I transferred her to it and licked my cheek, then dozed contentedly off again once she was snuggled in the blankets.

I went to bed, but had trouble sleeping, I was so excited about everything that had happened. Somehow, having still not seen Clarity, there was still the tiniest seed of doubt in my mind that this was all legitimate. I still felt like it might be an incredibly elaborate trick. At the same time, I was sure I was in love.

2) ** **Everflow

For the next several days, I needed quite a lot of help from Clarity with my new little charge. When she would warble in hunger and suckle my nose, I would go out and get another warm skin of milk to feed her. A fawn is a rather messy thing to have in the house, and when I told the Forest Spirit that I was having to clean up constantly, she reached into the fawn's mind and taught her to use a toilet. Suddenly I had the first fawn in the world that was potty trained. That was without a doubt the greatest aid the spirit gave me, aside from food.

Little Everflow was incredibly cute, and would follow me everywhere I went like a puppy. She was curious about my carpentry, and seemed to be trying very hard to figure out what I was doing with it all. She would clip-clop daintily around my shop, careful not to step on any of the pieces of my projects, sniffing everything with her black nose.

She watched me closely in everything I did, as if she was working it all out in her little mind. She loved attention, and I had to take frequent breaks to pet her and hug her, or she would start head-butting me gently, warbling crossly. It wasn't a chore though, I loved taking breaks to spend time with her, she was so cute and sweet.

Word got around town like wildfire, and suddenly everyone was coming over to meet my pet fawn. The children of the town especially were enamored with her, almost as much as she was enamored with them. She loved to romp and play with them, bounding around excitedly and nuzzling them. I had the feeling she practically thought she was a human child.

The women of the town loved the cute little fawn too, paying her a visit often in a day. Even the men, though trying to act macho and jaded, would come around to pet her and marvel at how smart and well-behaved she was. She was the pride of the town in no-time, and no traveler could pass through without being shown the wonders of the world's smartest fawn by half the town.

For the time being, my relationship with Clarity revolved around the little fawn. I still had a huge crush on my invisible benefactor, but I was so busy with my business, as well as trying to raise the doe, I simply had no time to even broach the subject of pursuing her. It didn't help that I was shy, and found it easier simply to talk with her about Everflow than to try and flirt with an obviously very powerful female. Time after time I let opportunities to get to know her better slide, simply because I was shy and intimidated.

Spring gave way to summer, and the temperatures rose. She began to shed her fur, leaving it all over the house, prompting me to start brushing her with a horse brush, a chore that she thoroughly loved. She would ripple her large ears and warble contentedly as I brushed loads of fur off of her.

Though she was the most popular citizen in town, she still spent the majority of her time with me, looking up at me with deep love and affection. I talked to her constantly, as I could tell she liked the sound of my voice, and I secretly wished she could understand me. She was smart, but she wasn't that smart, however. I was coming to grips with the fact that all of this was indeed supernatural, and anything truly could happen.

She was growing rapidly, too. She no longer had the spindly legs of a newborn, but instead had long, graceful, powerful legs on her slender, muscled body. At around eight weeks or so, her white spots began to fade out, leaving her fur coat a solid light-tan color.

Sometime around mid-July, she began helping me with my carpentry. She would help me hold boards as I cut them, carefully chomping them in her teeth or leaning against them to stabilize them. I was amazed at this display of intelligence, and began to talk to her all the more, hoping she would grow to understand me.

When she was ten weeks old, Clarity declared it was time to wean her, and bid me bring her into the forest. She apparently explained the situation to the fawn, then produced a bucket full of bark, twigs, and lush plants which she told me was not only a deer's favorites, but were also the perfect balance of nutrition for her.

I watched her gingerly take her first delicate nibble of hard food. She chomped on it contemplatively, then began to eagerly chow down with a happy warble. From then on, she ate with me at the table, munching happily along with me at mealtimes. I was again amazed at her intelligence and sweetness; she was very polite and didn't spill a crumb when she ate.

Everyone else in town was amazed and delighted, too. Though a normal fawn would browse through fields and gardens, munching and destroying everything and causing untold damage to the villager's livelihood, that was not the case with Everflow. She could be absolutely trusted, day or night, to wander through any fields or flower garden, any crop of vegetables, and never eat any of it. She understood that it didn't belong to her, and she was even very careful not to trample anything with her pretty little hooves.

The little social butterfly would often trot happily out and visit the farmers as they worked in their fields, and would even gladly bring them cold drinks provided by their families in exchange for some petting and friendly words. She was the talk of the town, everyone's pride and joy. I became a very popular figure just because of my proximity to her, and found that most of the women in town were trying to marry me to their daughters.

The human mind is an amazing thing, however. No matter how bizarre and unbelievable a situation may be, it will quickly adapt to it and treat it as common place. I had a fawn who was so intelligent she helped me build carpentry projects, and I actually became used to that fact. I began to take it for granted, though I never once took her for granted, she was my special little pal.

As my life with her began to stabilize, her intelligence and understanding constantly growing, I began to think and obsess over Clarity again. Her voice was so beautiful, and her actions so kind and giving, I was more and more daydreaming about that beautiful, golden-haired blond woman of unequaled grace and beauty I imagined her to be.

I began to spend more time in the forest, wandering around with Everflow, letting her munch around on various succulent plants and branches that grew everywhere in the lush woods. While she would eat, I would talk with Clarity, telling her stories of the human world, which she seemed to know little about, and asking her questions about her world and her powers.

She was friendly and gracious, patient and kind, which fueled my feelings for her, though I hadn't yet tried to express them openly in any way. One lovely, cool summer day, as I rested in a lush, grassy clearing and watched Everflow run and play and browse for food, I got up the courage to nonchalantly asked "Hey Clarity?"

"Yes dear?" was her reply. She always called me 'dear' now and seemed protective of me, as if I was one of her charges, living in her forest.

"You're incredibly nice, and I was wondering... couldn't we please meet face to face? I would like so much to meet you in person, beautiful..." I managed to ask. I bit my lip and tried not to look too nervous as I asked it.

She gently laughed. "What makes you think I am beautiful, Drew?"

Surprised by her response, I lamely said, "Because your actions are so beautiful and kind and selfless, and your voice is so lovely and sweet and sexy, I just know you must be incredibly gorgeous."

Sadly, she replied "In my own right I suppose I may be beautiful, but I doubt I would be sexy to your human sensibilities. I don't look anything like a human."

I digested that for a while, feeling disappointment. Presently, Everflow returned to me and gently bumped me with her nose, indicating she wanted to explore some more. I stood up and followed her as she daintily trotted about, sniffing everything and sampling anything that looked tasty to her. She didn't seem to have any of the instincts of a deer, she was eager and fearless, at least as long as I was there with her. If something actually did scare her, she would scamper around behind me and peek out around my elbow.

I thought about what Clarity had said for the rest of our time exploring, and she kept silent herself, which I was unsure how to interpret. As shadows began to lengthen, I called Everflow to me "C'mon honey, it's getting late. You've been feasting all afternoon, but I'm getting really hungry." She immediately trotted over to me and I walked with her side-by-side back to our home.

She paused to let me clean her hooves off as I'd trained her to do, then trotted inside while I took off my boots and gave one last longing look at the forest. What if Clarity was horrible looking? What if she was lumpy and misshapen? Her voice was so lovely, and her actions were so sweet, it had never occurred to me that the reason she didn't reveal herself was because she was ashamed of how she looked. I had a lot to think about after this.

* * *

Everflow seemed to sense my melancholy, and made it her personal mission to try and cheer me up. She stuck closer to me than ever, and worked especially hard to try and help me in the shop. I was shocked when she made toast for me, carefully working the bread drawer open and pulling out a slice with her lips, dropping it onto the toasting rack before the fire.

Perfectly toasted, she popped it out and proudly brought it to me. I couldn't believe what I'd just seen, and it dawned on me for perhaps the first time that Everflow was not just an unusually intelligent deer, she was sentient. I gave her a big hug and thanked her profusely, which made her even more proud of herself. It made me feel better about things with Clarity.

As I worked I tried to mull over my feelings towards the mysterious Forest Spirit. For some reason, seeing how hard the fawn was working to cheer me up, I suddenly spoke up, voicing my feelings. "Aww Ev'... I know you love Clarity as much as I do. She saved your life and has helped us, and I think she's the one who made it so you and I can connect and become such good friends." She looked at me gravely as I spoke, flicking one of her large ears.

"I... I've had a real crush on her since... well, since the day I met her. You're probably too young to know what that means, but... I care for her and... Oh, I don't know what I'd like. To marry her, I guess, but that's probably childish and silly. Anyway, I really think she's awesome, and... well, you heard us talking yesterday; when I asked to see her, she intimated I wouldn't like to see her."

I snatched up a precision saw and looked at it disgustedly. "She won't even give me a chance! I think the world of her, but she keeps herself distant from me, hidden behind an invisible curtain. Is she ashamed of herself? She's so strong and noble, it doesn't seem possible, but maybe she is."

"But what if I see her and I really am horrified? I don't want to spoil our relationship." I sighed again. "I wish you could talk, Ev'... I'd really value your opinion."

The little doe looked at me and shook her head, but of course was silent. I threw the saw down. "It's stupid! If I really, honestly, truly do care for her, I shouldn't give a damn what she looks like, should I? I should tell her how I feel and beg her again to let me meet her and give me a chance."

To my surprise, Everflow nodded emphatically and trotted out of the room, returning a moment later with the branch I'd been using as a walking stick for the last few weeks. Her meaning couldn't have been any clearer: Go tell Clarity right now!

I froze and swallowed. "Oh man, I shouldn't have said that last part, Ev'. She's incredibly powerful and magical, and I think she's really old and long-lived, too. To go out there and tell her I love her... It'd be like a fly landing on my shoulder and asking to marry me. I'm so far beneath her." I whispered.

The fawn responded by walking around behind me and bumping into my back, trying to push me towards the door while pushing the stick into my hand. She warbled insistently at me.

I turned around and caught her face in my hands. "I love you, Everflow, but you're so young, I don't think you understand how complicated it is. I can't go and tell her just like that, it'd be an insult to her!"

Again she warbled at me, pushing at me even harder. I knelt down and hugged her. "You're so sweet, angel. You just have to trust me, I can't do that. It just... It would insult Clarity, and she might not be my friend anymore."

The little female looked at me with an appalled look. I could tell she was thinking "No way Clarity would be angry at you!"

"You'll understand more when you are older, Ev'. I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna do it."

Dejectedly, she walked slowly out to put my stick back, her head hanging low. She was more human that animal, I thought to myself as I watched her go. I turned back to my project, but didn't feel much like working on it.

* * *

About a week passed, and to Everflow's greater and greater distress, I didn't want to go into the forest. I didn't want to face Clarity, nor did I want to face my own inability to voice my feelings. The doe became disgusted with me, I could tell, and took my reluctance as some kind of personal insult. I had opened my back door, and as I stepped outside to grab some logs to use, she pushed me out of the way and dashed for the forest.

I knew in an instant what she was going to do. She was going to go and tell Clarity what I'd told her. She was convinced I was being obstinate and the forest's spirit would understand and accept me. I was horrified, the color draining from my face. "Everflow! No! Stop! You can't tell her! Ev'! No! I told you in confidence, you can't go blabbing..." She was gone "... blabbing my personal feelings."

I felt sick. Incredible nausea suddenly washed over me, and I staggered to my front room and sat down heavily in a chair. That little... suddenly, for the first time in all my time with her, I was furious at Everflow. Who did she think she was? What did she think she was doing!? That stupid little rat! I'd told her in confidence and she was going to run off and tattle on me like a busybody gossip! I felt hurt and embarrassed, not only because of what she was probably telling Clarity right now, but also that I had even shared such feelings with a dumb animal.

By the time she returned home, I had settled into cold anger at her over what she'd done. When she knocked on the door gently with a hoof, I opened it to find her looking supremely proud of herself, more than I'd ever seen her look before. "You!" I snarled. Her look faltered.

"You just went and told Clarity my innermost feelings, didn't you? Didn't you???" She looked stricken at my anger, this was not how she'd expected me to react, but she nodded meekly. "I told you my feelings in the strictest of confidence! I trusted you to be my friend and to keep my secrets, and you betrayed me! I was yelling for you not to and you ran off and did it anyway! I know you heard me!"

Her head was dragging on the floor she looked so sad, and she laid down on the ground, bleating in distress. I wasn't done, though, and I railed against her. "I've never asked you for a thing in return ever once, have I? I ask for your silence in this one thing, and you won't even give me that! I'm humiliated! You've shamed me in front of Clarity! I'll never, ever be able to face her again after this! How could you!?"

I turned and stormed back into my shop, slamming the door shut with a bang, blocking her from entering. She immediately began to bawl her big brown eyes out, bleating and bonking her head against the door, trying to get me to let her in.

I ignored her for as long as I could, but my anger dissolved in minutes at her distress. I knew deep down she hadn't done it to hurt me, she'd only been trying to help. She wasn't even half a year old, still a tiny fawn, and though she acted so intelligent all the time, I had to realize she was still at best like a very young child.

Like a child, she'd heard me say that I loved Clarity, and in a child's mind, such a thing couldn't be simpler; just tell Clarity, Clarity tells you back, then you live happily ever-after. I was suddenly riddled with guilt over being so angry at her. She'd been trying to do the right thing because she loved me.

Shamefacedly, I went to the door and hung my head, opening it. "I'm so sorry, Ever..." I whispered.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, she bowled me over and fell on top of me, licking my face and sucking my nose, dripping big salty tears all over me and bleating like her heart was breaking. I hugged her fiercely, and through a lot of tears, we made up with each other. I could tell she was now monumentally sorry she'd run off, and her big eyes pleaded with me for forgiveness.

I had my own sins to beg her to forgive, too. By the time we'd both calmed down and were snuggly friends again, it was already night. I got up and got some food for her, but when I turned around, she had my walking stick in her muzzle, looking up at me hopefully. Inwardly, I sighed. She was incredibly eager for me to go see Clarity, almost as much as I was too humiliated to ever face her again.

I knelt in front of her. "Everflow, I can't go face Clarity now, and I may not be able to face her ever again. I don't think you realize what you've done. She's an all-powerful forest spirit, and I'm nothing but a stupid, shy, lowly human. I'm pretty darn sure that having feelings for her is probably not only highly inappropriate, but probably an unpardonable sin in her book. I'm scared she might even kill me when I step foot inter her forest."

Wide-eyed and looking petrified, the fawn frantically shook her head and tried to put the stick in my hand. I stood up and stepped away. "No, honey. I'm not going out there now, or maybe ever. I know you were only trying to help, that you didn't know what you were doing, but it just has to be this way now. I don't dare face her again."

Again the little doe flopped down on the floor and began to bawl, and no amount of comforting would calm her down. If I tried, she just frantically tried to shove the stick in my hand, as if succeeding would force me to go outside and step into the forest and into Clarity's domain. About this, though, I wasn't going to back down. I was honestly very frightened of the forest spirit.

* * *

The next several days were absolute hell. Everflow tried everything she could think of to get me into the forest. She tried hunger strikes, trickery, pleading... She walked several paces into the forest and wouldn't come out bleating and begging me to come get her. I left her out there wordlessly, leaving the door open when night fell and it was time for bed. At somewhere after one o'clock in the morning she finally gave up and came in to sleep on her little bed.

The next day she tried temper. She bit, kicked and head butted me, bleating furiously at me at the top of her little lungs. It was all too much and I finally snapped again. "Everflow, stop it right this minute. I love you, but I'm not going to put up with this anymore. You either stop all this nonsense, and live here, or you go live with Clarity. You are not welcome in my home if you behave like this."

I stormed over to my front door and threw it open. "Make your choice, Ev'. Right now, make your choice."

Her show of anger immediately evaporated, revealing it to be just another way she'd been trying to get me out into the forest. She hung her head and big tears began to drip from her eyes again. I'd thought this would stop the nonsense, but to my horror, she slowly walked through the door and outside, leaving me alone and in absolute shock.

She stood on the edge of the woods and looked back at me, perhaps pleading with me one last time. She couldn't have hurt me more if she'd torn my throat out with her teeth. "You... you'd rather be with her than me? I've loved you like a daughter! I've given you everything I had to give, and this is how you repay me?" I whispered. "Fine then. Go to Clarity. Don't you ever, ever come back here though. I don't want to ever see you again." I softly closed the door as she let out the most pathetic, mournful wail I'd ever heard in my life.

3) ** **Confusion

How had this whole thing happened? All I'd done was go to explore the forest behind my house, and somehow it had turned my life upside down. No wonder this house had been so cheap, no wonder the townsfolk all said the woods were haunted. More like they were cursed, like old man Brandy had said, I now thought bitterly.

It felt as if Clarity had given me Everflow, made me love her, but taken her away from me when it mattered most. I lived the rest of the day completely numb, working on autopilot. I didn't bother eating, just fell into bed fully clothed and lay there until sleep at last took me.

When I woke up, I'd been having a wonderful dream about running through the forest with Everflow. We'd been talking and laughing and enjoying the most beautiful day... Ev' had been able to talk in the dream and was sweeter than ever. The cold horror of waking up from that happy warmth to look over at the pile of blankets that had been her bed and find them empty hurt me so badly I began to cry.

I dragged myself out of bed and choked down some breakfast, then staggered out my back door for some lumber to begin crafting the legs of the bed I was working on. I was half-way to my wood pile when I heard a terrified bleat. I whirled to find Everflow bounding towards me through the forest as fast as her little legs would carry her, squealing to me for help.

The reason why was not hard to spot; a big gray wolf was hot on her heels, snarling and eager for the kill. Without even thinking, I pulled out my knife and charged. "Get away from her, you mongrel!" I roared, ready and willing to die to protect my little fawn.

The moment I stepped into Clarity's forest, I knew something was wrong. The wolf reigned up, grinned at me, then turned and padded off. Everflow trotted to a halt and looked triumphantly at me. Slowly, I realized it had been a trick, turning my head to see I had stepped at most five feet into the forest.

"You little, rotten..." I whispered, then turned and dove for the safety of my yard. I slammed into an invisible wall and bounced off, falling to my butt.

"Ah-ah-ah. We need to have a little talk, Drew MacMurdoch. You aren't going anywhere." Came Clarity's smug sounding voice.

I picked myself slowly up and turned around. Everflow was trying to look encouraging and apologetically happy that she'd gotten me here. She walked towards me, giving a friendly warble. "Don't come near me." I snarled bitterly. "You've betrayed me again. You tricked me, you deceitful little ingrate, I try to help you and you exploit it. You're not my friend anymore, I'm never speaking to you again."

She looked ill and horrified, and began to bawl again. "DREW!" I heard Clarity's voice shout. Suddenly, Everflow stopped moving, freezing as still as a statue. I didn't even have time to wonder about it before the sensation of a giant hand grabbing me up tore my attention away from her. Suddenly I was picked up and hurled through the forest at insane speed. I screamed in terror as a jumble of trees flashed past me, some missing me by mere inches as I hurtled deep into Clarity's domain, at last plopped none too gently into a familiar grassy clearing.

Clarity sounded furious. "How could you say such things to her? She loves you more than life itself and has only been trying to bring you here so I could talk to you at my request! You've been being just awful to her! I never should have given her into your care, you disappoint me like all humans always do!"

I overcame my terror enough to be furious back. "Me? Awful to her? What do you think she's been doing to me? Biting and kicking and screaming and fussing, conniving and plotting to try to get me to do something I explained to her I didn't want to do! Oh, and let's not forget the fact that she ran off to tell you my deepest secrets as I screamed for her to stop, begging her not to do it!"

There was a fuming silence. "Drew, why are you so terrified of me all of a sudden? I truly thought you were my friend."

Confusion gripped me. "I... I told her things... things I thought would make you furious with me, things that would make you want to kill me."

Again, her voice was cold and angry, though less so. Now she sounded hurt. "Because you revealed to her that you had feelings for me? Why should I want to kill you over that?"

I felt even more confused. "You aren't... you aren't mad at me? I thought... I thought that to you, it would be like a fly landing on your shoulder and asking for your hand in marriage. I thought you'd be insulted."

There was a sarcastic snort. "Yes, she told me you compared it to that. Drew, I never thought of you as a fly, that's just silly. You are a friend to the animals here, and a gentle and caring person, which makes me a friend of yours. I don't consider myself superior to you in any way, shape or form. My job is to protect this place and these creatures, just as your job is to make furniture. That doesn't make one or the other of us better in any way."

I was stunned into silence. I had been so wrong about everything, it was just too horrifying to comprehend. When Clarity spoke again, she no longer sounded angry, she sounded gentle and nurturing again, as she usually did. "Drew, I was very flattered by what Everflow told me you said. I sent her back to get you so I could meet you face to face as you wanted and try to get to know you better. She's only been trying to get you out here so that I could give you what you wanted, with the gratitude of a very lonely female who would have welcomed your companionship. She's known this and been trying to help you for days, and you've been angry and obstinate and nasty instead of trusting her, or trusting me."

I sank to my knees and sat there, moaning "Oh Clarity! I'm so sorry! I didn't do it because... I wasn't trying to... I didn't mean to... All I meant to do was... I just... Ohhhh nooooo!!!" I wailed at last, my turn to bawl as if my heart was breaking. "I didn't mean to hurt anybody!"

With a gentle voice, Clarity shushed me. "Shhh. It's OK, Drew. I haven't exactly been forthcoming about myself to you, and you've seen more of me using and abusing my powers than you have seen me as a woman. I've even threatened you on several occasions, much to my regret. I can understand how you were intimidated. It meant so much to me that you have those feelings. Just be calm. I forgive you, but there's someone who you've hurt very badly. Can you make up with her, right now?"

"Yes, oh yes!" I sniffled. A few seconds later, as if carried into the clearing by an invisible hand, came Everflow's stiff, unmoving form. As soon as Clarity set her down, she seemed to unfreeze and start to move again, about to fling herself to the ground and bawl.

I was on her first, clinging to her neck and sobbing. "Ever! I'm so sorry! I was so wrong, you were trying to help me and I didn't believe in you! I'm sorry I didn't trust you! I swear I'll never doubt you again, ever! I'll trust you with my very life from this day on! Oh please forgive me, I've been so rotten...

The little fawn bleated and began to coo. Clarity piped up, saying "She forgives you and is overjoyed just to have you back. She says she's sorry for upsetting you, she was desperate to get you to come and talk with me because she knew you would be happy you did. She loves you and didn't realize how private you felt those feelings were, and she says she feels awful now that she told me against your will. She promises she'll keep your secrets from now on, if you ask her not to tell. She begs you to forgive her this once, since the outcome was good."

"Oh Ever..." I whispered. "You're my best friend in the world, sweetheart." I squeezed her tight. "I forgive you everything if you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you like my own daughter, little doe."

She cooed again and began to suckle my nose. "I don't think I need to translate what she just said." Clarity murmured.

* * *

After a long time of hugging and making up, I at last stood up and started to walk with my little fawn. Clarity spoke up, sounding somewhat her usual cheerful and chipper self, but also somewhat pensive. "Now, about meeting face-to-face..."

"Y... yeah?" I asked, trying and failing to hide my eagerness.

There was a note of sadness in her voice as she spoke. "I was prepared to meet you when Everflow first told me your feelings, but in light of all that has happened, I think I am going to again tell you no for right now. I unfortunately think now that our relationship is obviously not as deep as I had thought, that you would think such things of me means we do not know each other well enough yet. I need to be able to trust you, Drew. I'm sorry. This is very hard for me to decide, but it is my final decision."

My face fell as she spoke, and I was silent for a moment, dejectedly turning and beginning to walk towards my house. I paused and turned back, sadly hazarding "Even the most perfectly matched couples can have trouble now and then... it doesn't mean that they don't love each other, and it doesn't mean that they should pull away..."

Her reply was clipped. "We aren't a couple, little human."

Everflow let out an indignant bleat, which made me turn and look at her in surprise, but she was facing away from me, and I realized she was actually reading Clarity the riot act. I felt a little surge of pride that she was now defending me to the Forest Spirit. He stood her ground and squawked her displeasure for several seconds.

Having finished saying her piece, she turned huffily and stopped along beside me, her nose high in the air in haughty anger. She looked so cute doing it I had to stifle an affectionate laugh. Behind me, I heard Clarity's voice, and she sounded like she'd been chewed out. "Ever, dear, that wasn't very nice..." She said.

We walked through the forest alone, or at least Clarity had become silent, if she was still close. Feeling that we were both in such a bad mood, I attempted to cheer Everflow up by playing one of her favorite games with her, counting how many different animals we could see on the walk home. The forest was teaming with life, and edible plants were everywhere, making it a utopia for animals, which were amazingly abundant.

The first thing we saw was a beautiful, glossy black Arabian Mare, cantering along through the forest. She stopped to look at us with large, lovely brown eyes, then continued on in her journey. Next were some squirrels, then a little fox. I wasn't sure if she was the same one I'd rescued or not, but she was very friendly towards me, and would often come and play with Everflow as we walked. They would chase each other about and pal around happily. For now though, my little fawn was too distraught, and merely gave a mournful warble to her friend and continued on with me.

Next we saw some other deer, which Everflow warbled a greeting to. Their heads came up and they stared silently at us as we walked passed. The grave, easily frightened creatures never would warm up to us, even though Ever was one of their own. Perhaps no matter what, they just didn't trust humans.

More squirrels, a small flock of songbirds, a honey badger, and a small brown bear were the next animals we saw. The list went on and on, from the wild and rare and exotic, to simple farm animals that had somehow escaped and wandered into this safe haven for all creatures. The game cheered Everflow up somewhat, but I could tell her heart was heavy and she blamed herself for the train wreck that was now my relationship with Clarity.

I tried for the rest of the day to comfort her and convince her it wasn't her fault, with limited success. That night, in the darkness, she got up out of her little pile of blankets and carefully climbed into my bed, going to sleep snuggling in my arms. I listened to her slow breathing, feeling the puffs of warm air on my neck until at last I dozed off.

* * *

We were back to being best friends, though now Everflow seemed angry at Clarity, not wanting to go into the forest for any reason anymore. I sat her down and gravely told her, "Ever, you can't treat your friends and those who love you like this. People aren't always going to do or say or feel the way you want them to, and it isn't right to get angry at them and try to force them to your point of view, be that through coercion or by avoiding them. You need to remember how much Clarity loves you, and you need to forgive her and move on instead of holding grudges."

She looked up at me with growing sadness in her eyes, but she nodded, hanging her head. After that, she did accompany me into the forest, but things had become very strange and very formal with Clarity. I suddenly couldn't think of anything to talk to her about, and her replies were always stiff and cool. Instead of conversing with her I ended up walking several hours in the forest and not saying much more than "Hello" and "Goodbye" to the Forest Spirit.

Everything between Clarity and I seemed empty and uncomfortable, now. I gave up on my crush at that point, and we slowly ceased to travel into the forest very much to see her. I hadn't meant to insult her or hurt her, but her rejection of me on the implied grounds that I was too immature had caused me to give up on the idea of ever wooing her. As I'd said, she was too sophisticated for me to have any hope with. Everflow seemed to take this hardest of all of us, though. I couldn't exactly read her thoughts and emotions, but I could tell it had made her monumentally unhappy.

As the time between our visits became longer and longer, however, Clarity's treatment of us changed drastically. She seemed to become more and more eager for us to come and see her, almost embarrassingly so. She became almost overbearing and insistent, not wanting to let us go when I said we needed to get home after a visit. I couldn't quite understand what she was doing in this, and was all the more confused and cowed by her when she was pushy and nosey. I pulled back from her even farther.

Everyflow had given up trying to do much of anything for either of us in this and more or less just ambled around and ate when we would go into the forest. It was after one of these walks one day that we returned to find Nicholas Brandy sitting on one of my dining room chairs. "Sorry, lad. Ya were gone and the door were open, and I didn't see nowhere outside fer an ol' cripple to sit and wait for ye."

"No problem, sir. I'm sorry, Everflow and I were just out for a little walk. What can we help you with?" I smiled, sitting down across from him.

He glanced from the two of us to the forest we'd emerged from, visible through the windows of my house. "Everflow, dear," he cooed. "Wi' only one arm an' leg, I don't have much ability to carry things when I travel. I came ta talk ta yer master 'bout designing me a new walkin' gizmo, but I can't carry the plans with me. Could you help me by goin' back and getting the plans from my son? I tol' him I'd send ya for them, so he'll have 'em ready to give to ya."

The young doe nodded eagerly, happy to do something to help. I let her out the front door and she trotted off for the other side of town. As I returned to sit down, Nicholas spoke again. "While she's gone, I'd like a word with ya, lad. Can ya lend me yer ear?"

"Absolutely!" I said, trying to be jovial.

He sat back and studied me for a moment. "I know things the rest o' the town don't know... and I think you know them too. Everyflow ain't just a really smart animal, she's as smart as one of us, or maybe even smarter." I started to respond, but he held up his hand to silence me. "I know that's the truth, you don't gotta confirm or deny a thing, I just want ya to listen."

I fell silent and he continued grimly. "I also know that her smarts came from that forest. You went in there despite my warnings. You met the Forest Spirit, didn't you? I know you did. Only she could make a thing like Everflow."

Silently, I nodded, which didn't surprise him in the least. "Perhaps I done ya wrong, son. You came askin', and I didn't give you no answers. That was stupid, 'cause if I had, maybe ya wouldn't have gone in there. Drew, she tore off my arm an' leg and plucked out my eye 'cause she was angry at me. Does that surprise you, or have you known her long enough to meet her temper and stubbornness?"

Shocked, I mutely nodded again. "Ah, ya have." He heaved a great sigh. "She touched your mind and tried to lure your heart into her... just like she did to me. Drew, she made me fall in love with her, fall in love so deep I trusted her completely. When my guard was down, she attacked me, attempting to kill me. She tore at my flesh, rending my limbs from my body so she could feed on me."

"I fought back and managed to escape. Drew... she's a horrible monster, and I come to beg you to never go in there agin."

I didn't know what to make of all he'd said. Slowly, I murmured "You've actually seen her? What is she?"

He nodded and shivered. "A giant Brown Recluse spider. She is impossibly old and powerful, cunning and wicked. She loves to play with her food, which is why she enjoys playing mental games with humans. When she tires of you, she will kill you and eat you, just as she will do with Everflow, her little gift of bate to lure you in."

Feeling weak and confused at his words, I whispered "Are you serious?"

"I wish I weren't, m' boy. She's killed countless, and she'll kill more if she can't be stopped by someone." He continued to eye me carefully as he spoke. "I've watched you rather closely, and I've seen the sadness and melancholy in ya which shows she's manipulatin' your heart. At the end o' that, she'll make amends with ya, then draw ya in and eat ya. Leastwise, that's what she done to me."

Leaning forward, he got an excited look in his eye. "I got somethin' special, though, that I think we can use to end her reign o' evil in that glade. I got a counter spell from a medicine man that I think will render her magic useless and enable us to expose her and kill her. She's workin' on you, boy. I need yer help to spring me trap on her. She won't trust me, she knows I know about her... but she'll trust you, I'll wager."

Sitting there, I could hardly believe the words I was hearing. "Evil in the glade? That makes no sense, Mr. Brandy! She won't let the animals in there kill one another, it's hardly a place of evil. It's very peaceful."

He blinked his one eye at me gravely. "Ahh... yes. 'Peaceful,' she claims. 'No killing' she insists. Yeh, that's true of all other animals, but not for her. She kills and eats all that she pleases, but always away from all the others so that her secret never gets out. She's created that place to be a perfect buffet of any food she desires."

My confusion deepened at his words. I'd had misgivings about Clarity, but nothing like this. "But she was so nice to me... when I was cut, she healed my hand. Everflow, when I found her, had her guts spilling out of her side from some animal that attacked her. She healed her and helped me feed her and care for her. Why would a creature of evil do all that?"

Exasperated, he replied "What I just told you, boy? To win your trust! She do these things 'cause she likes playin' with her food! She'll make ya love 'er and believe in 'er in order so's she can have the pleasure of spittin' your love an' trust back in yer face when she turn on you."

"Why did she let you go?" I asked, still trying to come to grips with it.

The old man looked down at his arm and leg. "She was distracted eating my leg, an' I drug myself outta the forest to safety."

"Why wouldn't she just come out of the forest after you? Why does she never leave the forest?" I asked, desperately hoping this was all a mistake somehow.

He shook his head. "She don't come out 'cause out here she got no powers and authority. That forest is her lair, an' she's queen only in there. Out here, we could kill her easy. She can't hide herself, neither."

My thoughts then turned to Everflow. "Then what's my little doe have to do with all this? You called her bait?"

Glancing over his shoulder at the door, he nodded. "She's a puppet, but she don't know it. Why, she mighta ripped Everflow open 'erself in order to lure you in tryin' to rescue her fer all we know. A tool is all she is; a tool to get at you."

With conviction, I angrily snarled "You'll never make me believe little Ever is evil. She's so sweet and kind and smart and wonderful, there isn't any way it's all an act."

"No, no." He said, leaning back in the chair and shaking his grizzled head. "I didn't say she were evil, I said she were bait. She don't even know what she is, an' I seen first-hand how sweet she is. No, she's as ignorant as you. I got her outta here to get them plans so I could talk to ya, though, because she might be totally impossible to convince that the Forest Spirit is evil. I can't afferd to have her spoil these plans. If we get ridd'a the spider, she'll be free and safe to be yer little pal fer the rest of her life."

We were both silent for quite some time. Slowly, I whispered "I have to think about this, Mr. Brandy. I can't jump to any conclusions yet."

He nodded and smiled. "Son, yer smart. That's why I've asked fer your help. I wouldn't want any less outta you. Think about it. Think about how she done acted toward you, what she said and done. You'll realize how high on 'erself and manipulative she is if you think back upon all your interactions with her. When you come to that conclusion, come to me without Everflow, and we'll talk further. Sound good?"

As he finished speaking, I heard a clip-clop on the front porch, followed by a light knocking of Everflow's hooves against the front door. I stared at the old man for a moment longer, then got up to let her in and retrieve the plans she had carefully held in her little muzzle.

* * *

I had much to think about that evening. I sat my little doe down and very somberly asked her not to set foot into the forest without my permission. She nodded in agreement, seeming to sense something was bothering me greatly. For over a week I thought about what he said and weighed it against what I thought I understood about Clarity.

Some of the things he said made a crazy sort of sense, but some of them seemed polar opposite of everything I knew about the Forest Spirit. I wished I could talk to her about it, but I was now afraid to set foot into the forest. Everflow became a strange dichotomy in my mind, one half of her being my friend, and the other being a pawn in a game I didn't understand.

One day, I had an idea of how I might learn something from her without alarming her or alerting Clarity. I sat down with her for lunch at our table, and I breezily asked "Have you ever seen Clarity? What she looks like?"

Her head shot up and she looked at me with a very curious, twitchy look in her eyes. She didn't respond, instead quickly burying her muzzle in her bucket of food. "You have seen her. I thought so! Can you tell me what she looks like?" I asked, hoping to not betray my eagerness.

She shook her head and didn't look at me, focusing on her food. Quietly, I said "Everflow... is she a giant spider?"

The doe jumped a little, whirling to stare at me in surprise. Then she shook her head frantically, but to me, she'd already revealed a great deal. "She is." I said with a note of triumph in my voice. "It's OK, sweetie. You don't have to lie about it. I know the truth."

To my surprise, with great concentration, she opened her little black muzzle and attempted to speak. "Mo. Mmmmo. Nnnn... Nnnoo!" She managed, at last sounding out the sounds she wanted.

My jaw hit the floor. My little doe had spoken to me! "You... can... speak?" I whispered in shock. She'd been able to understand my words for the better part of half year now, but to actually watch her and hear her trying to sound out real words was a striking shock.

Again she attempted to speak, but it came out as unintelligible, random syllables. She stomped her hoof in frustration and tried to speak again. Failing, she bleated in frustration and flung herself on her food again, eating it savagely.

From then on, whenever she was not in my presence, she was trying to figure out how to speak. I would hear her in the house as I worked in my shop, trying to say random sentences, working to sound out syllables and pronounce things correctly. I tried to offer to help her work on it, but she seemed embarrassed to attempt to speak in front of me and would always go silent if I came into the room with her.

One thing she learned almost right away was my name. "Drew!" She would squeal when she was happy to see me, or in response when I called her name. She also worked out "I love you, Daddy" and would say it as often as I said it to her. She had a soft, sweet, high-pitched little voice that was both as cute and delicate as she herself was.

For the next several weeks, she worked every waking moment of her day to learn and speak my language. She was determined to do it and doggedly persistent and obstinate about it. "Wanna talk!" She chided me once when I suggested she was working too hard at it and should relax a bit and take things easy.

When she was around me, she would focus on my lips and words, studying them for all she was worth. I would slowly and articulately sound out words for her to help her learn to speak them. She would never speak them back in my presence, but once she was alone, I would hear her immediately begin working on what I'd just tried to teach.

Throughout all of this, Nicholas Brandy's words echoed around in the back of my mind. It had been weeks since we'd gone into the forest, and I was still frozen with indecision about believing him or not. Perhaps too, I was waiting for the determined Everflow to learn to speak enough to tell me what she wanted me to know about Clarity. If I asked her about it, she would shake her pretty head and say "Wait."

* * *

One day, a month later, I was finished with a prototype of old Brandy's new crutch. He'd designed what he called a "Walking Crutch" that was more of a wooden leg with a complex knee and ankle joint than it was a crutch. He told me he was determined to walk again, so I was working to perfect his design with him. Everflow was working on her talking, as usual, so it was an easy thing to call out to her "I'm going to Nicholas Brandy's to try out the leg! Stay here and be good, OK?"

"OK, Daddy!" She chirped from the bedroom.

I ambled through town, my thoughts on Clarity and the dilemma before me, as I had every day for weeks. Nicholas had said no more about it since that day, waiting for me to make the next move. The whole town knew of the project I was working with him on, and they were all eager to see the leg come to fruition. I had to stop numerous times to show the latest revision of it to people as I passed.

When I arrived at the Brandy residence, I found Nicholas out his front door drinking, as usual, and could see his son in the fields working on their crops, as usual. "Drew, lad! How's she comin'? Got another one fer me to try?" He jovially called out to me.

Since such a thing had never been attempted before that I knew of, each revision of the leg I made had problems that quickly became apparent as he tried to walk on it. We were working to eliminate those problems and slowly improving it each time he tried it on and attempted to walk. This was our latest attempt, and things were improving drastically each time now.

I watched him tie the leg onto his stump, then shakily stand up. His crutch he kept at the ready to catch himself if he fell, but after a few slow, careful steps, he began to walk around fairly comfortably. "Ooo! We're getting' closer with this one, Drew! Feels great! Lemme walk about on it for a while here and see if I feel any problems cropping up."

I nodded and was silent for a while, before bursting out with "Sir, I've been thinking about what you said about the Forest Spirit. What do you want me to do, exactly?"

He didn't answer immediately. He continued to walk around in circles on the false leg for several minutes before he contemplatively spoke. "I was like you when I first went in that place; I didn't believe in no supernatural things. Just like you, I got a crash course in reality in that place. The only way to fight magic like hers is with magic. She knows every critter that sets foot in that place, and she is invincible while she is in there... at least to normal creatures and normal weapons."

"I went to a very, very old medicine man who specializes in these so-called forest guardians. They were once teaming in the world, laying claim to any grove of trees a man would try to eek a meager living out of. Medicine men like him learned how to fight and kill these critters so we could take our land back. Few if any of them spirits even live anymore, and those that do are typically the most crafty and deadly of the lot of 'em."

He looked up at me. "He gave me the two ultimate weapons for huntin' the Forest Spirit. He gave a potion that will render the drinker invisible to her, even if he's in her lands, and a poison arrow. The poison on the tip of the arrow is itself magical and the wound she receives from it cannot be healed by any of her foul spells. Shoot her with that, and she shall die and her lands be freed for our poor village to use.

"You're talking about killing her." I whispered.

He stopped walking and turned to me. "Aye, I am. It's no more than she deserves though, after years of death and cruelty. What I need ye to do is reveal yerself to her and convince her to show herself. She does that, and I'll be hidin' and can shoot her with me crossbow."

* * *

When I returned home, Everflow was there to greet me, as usual. "Hi Daddy!" She cood, clip-clopping daintily to me to give me a kiss.

I hugged her and tried to imagine the creature that had created her as evil and murderous. "Hi, baby." I murmured.

I took her into the front room and sat down on the couch. She curled up beside me, laying down like a big dog and looking at me contentedly. "Ever..." I hesitantly managed... "I really need you to tell me about Clarity. Can you please at least try to tell me? This is very, very important."

She looked up at me and nodded. "What of?" She asked.

"Well, for one thing, is she a spider?" I asked.

She stared at me and bleated loudly. "NooooOO. Not spider. She... promise maked me to not tell... Not spider."

Surprised, I hazarded "Wait. You've seen her, but she made you promise not to tell me what she looks like?" I could feel my suspicions mounting as the little doe nodded but was otherwise silent.

"What do you think of her, sweetheart?" I asked next.

"Stubborn. Like you." She replied. I wasn't sure if she meant those as two separate thoughts, that she was stubborn, but otherwise like me, or that she and I were both stubborn, or even that she liked me.

I was silent for a while, choosing my words carefully. "Do you think she is good? Or is she bad?"

The little doe gaped at me with an appalled look on her cute face. "She's good!" She emphatically and slowly insisted. Her accent was heavy, but improving daily. It was hard for her to make human vocal sounds with her little mouth, but she was learning how to do it rapidly, further proof of her intelligence.

An admonition that she was good had not entirely been unexpected, from what Nicholas had said. I was about to speak again, but Everflow piped up first. "She love Drew. She love very much. She call me daughter..." She frowned, pausing, unable to find the words she wanted to say. "Gentle. Sweet. Not spider." She finished, looking frustrated at her own inability to speak what she felt.

I was silent, contemplating all of this. It suddenly occurred to me, that despite his dire warnings that I not go into the forest, Nicholas had actually needed me to do precisely that, and needed my relationship with Clarity to try and draw her out. His words had actually been calculated to entice me further to enter the forest and meet its protector. He had used me, he had to have planned this whole thing out! My face darkened as the realization struck me.

Everflow had said something, and I hadn't heard it I'd been thinking so hard. I refocused on her and said "I'm sorry, princess. Say that again please?"

She stared at me and quietly repeated "Why you asking if she evil? Why you ever think that?" She bleated loudly and began to cry. "This is all my fault. I went and told her your feelings, and now you don't trust each other! I sorry, Daddy!"

I had to spend some time consoling her and insisting that wasn't what this was about. She was only slightly mollified, though. I could tell she blamed herself and I now realized that deep down she desperately wanted us all to be good friends again.

The more I thought about Nicholas Brandy's words, the more problems I began to see with them. Calling Everflow bait could be nothing more than a wild guess, and I had found her and brought her to Clarity, not the other way around. To suggest that Clarity had been the one to injure her in the first place was just more speculation.

Little Ever again snuggled up with me to sleep that night, and I held her close as I thought things over. Sometime at around midnight I made up my mind as to what I would do. Happy with my decision, I went back to sleep. Tomorrow I would gain new insights into what was really going on.

4) ** **Clarity

My preparations consumed most of the morning, and it was nearly lunchtime when I called Ever to me and explained to her what I wanted her to do. "Honey, I'm going to wrap this rope around your shoulders and chest. I made a makeshift harness for you to use with it. I'm going to fasten the other side to my waist, under my shirt. I want you to stand here by the house, and if I signal you with an arm wave like this, I want you to pull me back towards the house with all your might. Can you do that?"

She looked monumentally confused, but slowly nodded. "Why, Daddy?" She asked as I fitted the harness around her little body. She was already quite strong for a whitetail deer, and I hoped that if Clarity tried to grab me and drag me into the forest, she would not be expecting Everflow pulling me back with all her strength. I hoped that she truly would be unable to manipulate the young doe when she was standing outside the forest.

In reply to her question, I softly scratched behind her ears. "Princess, I just need you to trust me and just do this for me, OK? I know it is a very strange thing, but I have my reasons, and I'll explain them to you later."

"OK, Daddy." She said.

With the harness attached to her, I tied the rope around my waist and walked to the edge of the forest, standing just outside of it. I knew from many journeys inside at the exact point when Clarity would always greet me upon entry, and I figured that was when I had just crossed the line into her kingdom. I took a deep breath, my heart pounding.

Before I could become too afraid to do it, I stepped forward just enough that half of my body was inside her realm, including all of my head. Before she could speak, I loudly spoke to her. "Clarity! I want to talk to you right away! Please come to the edge of the forest and speak with me face to face, or neither I nor Everflow shall ever step foot into your kingdom again!"

As soon as I finished speaking I heard her start to speak. "Drew?" She said, and then I had stepped back out of the forest and her words were cut off. I stepped back and waited, very relieved I hadn't needed my makeshift safety rope. I removed it from myself and Everflow and stashed it in the house, then came back and sat down on the edge of the forest.

The little doe came and laid down next to me, looking from me to the forest. "She come?" She quietly asked.

"I hope so, honey... I think..."

Just then my words were scattered on a strong breeze that issued out from the forest. For the first time since I'd met her, Clarity's voice came from in front of me, rather than behind my head, as if she was sitting just a few feet away inside the forest. "Drew, I've missed you so much! It's been weeks since you visited me, and I've been so very lonely!" She cried, censure in her voice.

I felt disappointment. She could still hide herself from view, so my plan had partially failed. I decided to bluntly force the issue with her, really the only option I had left. "I've had much to think about these last several weeks. I don't really know anything at all about you, Clarity, and I'm not sure I trust you, always hiding from me. I am not offended that you don't want a relationship with me, but I want to meet you face to face and see who you are for myself. I don't care how ugly and misshapen you are, if you want me to keep visiting you, I want to see you. Otherwise, I don't trust you and I'm never returning."

Clarity snorted and sounded a little snippy as she responded, angry that I'd insulted her looks. "Drew, I only said I didn't think you'd find me attractive, I didn't say I was a hideous pariah. I think you misinterpreted me; I'm sure you'll find me beautiful, just not in the way I think you are thinking. I'm sorry I made such a huge deal out of it now. I know I built it up in your mind, and all I can say is I'm sorry, I'm not perfect either, and I didn't mean to confuse and hurt you over it. I miss you so much..."

Her voice became a gentle whisper. "I would very much like to meet you in person, Drew... If it still interests you..."

I swallowed and nodded. "I... I really would..." She was very captivating, and despite my fears, I prepared to meet her with eagerness.

"Everflow, dear, will you give Drew and I some privacy?" I heard her say.

"OK, momma." Everflow sighed, not looking the least bit pleased at that request.

"Oh! You're speaking human tongue! I... I didn't know you could do that already!" Clarity marveled.

"She's been speaking for weeks." I grunted, annoyed at the delay.

Clarity gave and sad little sniffle at that, but was silent until Everflow had gone into the house. She spoke, her voice sounding very sad. "So fast... Drew, I've missed the two of you so much. You are my dearest friend in the world and Everflow is my daughter... Please, don't leave me alone anymore? I'm sorry about... about this whole thing. It all got blown out of proportion. I know I hurt you, and I am sorry. I'm out of my depth in all of this, believe it or not. I can protect my domain, but I'm lost in matters of the heart."

I swallowed, my heart beating in my chest. This was playing out exactly like Nicholas Brandy had predicted. She was trying to warmly make peace with me... but that didn't mean he was right, did it? After all, we had been in the middle of a rather heated disagreement, and if she really did consider me a friend, was making peace not inevitable?

I could not let myself be sidetracked or derailed from what I needed to know. "Clarity, I forgive you, if you can forgive me. I had been having such a wonderful time with you until this all happened... I just would like things to be that way again. But I want to meet you. I'm afraid of you, always hiding from me. I don't think I can face you anymore, not having seen you. I'm too afraid."

There was a lengthy hesitation from her. When she replied, she sounded a little cautious. "Afraid of me? Why?"

Don't get sidetracked. "I'm not going to talk about that right now. If you have nothing to hide, then come and meet me face to face."

Her voice sounded very regretful. "Can't you come into the forest a bit for this? I promise you have nothing to fear from me, dearest."

I crossed my arms across my chest. "Time is wasting, Clarity, and my fear of you is growing."

"Alright, alright!" She acquiesced. "I'm coming."

I looked around, expecting to see her at any moment, but she did not appear. "C... Clarity?" I whispered. What if she sensed that I knew something and was going to kill me? Everflow was gone... there would be no witnesses if she killed me. I suddenly felt like this was quite a stupid idea I'd had.

As if on cue to the crescendo of my fears, I heard the sound of hoof beats, and for a moment thought Everflow was returning. As soon as I thought it, I knew that couldn't be right. These hooves sounded much heavier, far more powerful than a tiny whitetail deer. I looked up just as an absolutely gorgeous black Arabian mare broke through a line of the trees, galloping towards me. Her black fur was impossibly glossy, shimmering over her rippling muscles. She was medium-small in size for a horse, below average for an Arabian. Her mane was long, down nearly to the ground, flowing in the wind as she ran. Her tail was equally as long, very nearly dragging in the grass behind her as she galloped.

Her legs were long, her body sleek and slender, her eyes were large, brown, and gentle. It suddenly crashed into me... I'd seen this horse in the forest before... and this was Clarity. I stared at the magnificent mare as she thundered up to me, slowing and stopping before me, tossing her head to throw her mane out of her eyes. Confirming what I thought, she smiled and spoke. "Hello, Drew."

I was completely dumbfounded. I had been so expecting a spider... but no, she was a strikingly beautiful and captivating mare. Hardly the beautiful blonde I had innocently dreamed of once, but I had long given up on that idea anyway. Dumbly I managed "You... you really aren't a spider."

To my further surprise, she stepped out of the forest and walked in a circle around me several times as she spoke, nuzzling me "A spider? Where in the world did you get that crazy idea, dear?"

Shocked beyond belief, I cried "How can you step out of your forest?"

She stopped in front of me and tossed her head, looking at me out of one of her lovely, large brown eyes. "I don't understand where all this is coming from. You mean just now? I didn't step outside of my forest."

"When you circled me!" I impatiently pointed out.

She walked around me again. "Like this? I'm not stepping outside of my forest. We're standing on the edge of it, dear."

Confused and startled, I squawked "Then prove it! Prove you still have power over me!" As soon as I said it, I regretted it, for if she was a killer, I was begging for it.

To my great relief, though, she simply gently picked me up into the air with an invisible hand for a moment, then set me down. "But... you never greeted me until I stepped forward to there!?" I cried, fearful.

She bowed her head, flaring her nostrils. "I'm hoping you are going to explain yourself at the end of all this foolishness. I've been desperate to see you and have been growing these trees out to try and encompass your house. I've been lonely and so worried something bad happened to you.

I turned my head up and looked. Sure enough, we were standing about ten feet in under the leaves. Irrational panic gripped me and I turned and dove for the edge of the forest, expecting an invisible hand to grab me and drag me back. There was nothing, though, and I turned around, now well and truly out of her realm, or so I hoped. My heart was beating fast, and I looked at her to see concern and sadness in her face. "Why... are you so afraid of me, Drew?" She said, sounding close to tears. "I thought you were my friend."

"The leaves..." I muttered. "You can't walk out past the leaves..." This didn't add up. She'd had me and she'd let me go.

Sounding almost exasperated, she chided "Of course I can! I just lose all my powers if I do, until I return to the forest!" In illustration, she marched up to me, standing well outside of the canopy of leaves. She glared at me for a moment, then stalked back to her realm, turning to stare at me with accusations and hurt in her eyes.

I was reeling from everything that was happening. Nicholas Brandy's words were seeming more and more preposterous. "You walked out of your realm? I didn't think you'd do that... he... said you wouldn't."

"Well, I don't like to, because when I do I am blind and deaf to the creatures under my charge. For a moment, they had no protector watching over them while I stepped out with you. In that time, one of them could have been killed and I would not know of it. It is unlikely, but possible, and therefore I rarely leave." she said, her voice clipped with tears.

"You... don't drink blood?" I asked weakly.

Her eyes popped out of her skull at the thought of it. "What? Are you joking? That's horrible! I'm an herbivore, Drew! The thought of consuming blood or flesh makes me ill!" Tears rolled down her glossy cheeks. "Where did all this come from? Why would you think such horrible things of me? Who told you this? Aren't you... aren't you my friend?"

I shook my head. Nicholas had lied to me, I was fairly certain of that now. For some reason, he hated Clarity and wanted her dead, and he had tried to use me to achieve his goals. I straightened up, and suddenly ran forward and dove on her neck, happy beyond words. "Oh Clarity! I'm so relieved! I was so frightened that... it was all so scary... You're my best friend too! I'm so sorry about these last few weeks." I buried my face in her thick, coarse, glossy mane and breathed her animal scent. "It was a terrible dream..." I crooned to her.

She whinnied and nibbled at my side gently. "Oh dearest, I'm so glad you are back. I've missed you so. I'm sorry I made you suspicious of me..." She sniffled, crying a bit herself.

When we'd both calmed down, I released her and stepped back, taking her in. Even as I watched, she turned her back to me and began to change. She was shrinking, her bones and body shape shifting and reforming. She seemed to melt and reform into a humanoid shape. She still was covered with glossy black fur, still had a long mane and tail, still had hooves instead of feet, but she now stood like a woman, on her two hind legs. Her body shape was that of a human... She had hands, very lovely wide, shapely hips, long beautiful legs thick with muscle, large and beautiful breasts... though her back was to me so I couldn't see that part.

Her head was still that of a horse, though her eyes were filled with intelligence and kindness, her features expressive of her mood, showing me her feelings as a human would. She stood completely naked, perhaps nearly seven feet tall. As I gaped at her, the grass around her hooves began to grow and move.

For a moment, my attention was drawn from her to the grass, and I watched in shock as it grew and grew, weaving itself into shape, forming clothes and modestly covering her in a robe of green, living grass cloth. It was a gown, strapless, leaving her muscled black arms and shoulders bare. It was low cut enough to show some of her ample cleavage, which made me blush.

Now clothed, she at last turned to me and gently smiled. "Well, here I am... not too disappointed, I hope?"

I just gaped at her with my mouth hanging open. In all my musings of her, I had always assumed she was human, ugly or not. When I'd been told she was a spider, that thought had dominated whenever I thought of her. I had never seen or heard of a creature such as this. She looked as if she was part human, part horse. She stepped gracefully towards me, smiling gently. I was so confused and unsure, I took a step back, shrinking away from her. Her face fell at that, and she stepped back from me as well, heaving a sigh.

I was so shocked I didn't even realize I'd done it, or that I'd hurt her feelings by doing it. "You... I... What... what are you?" I managed at last to utter in a squeaky voice.

She flicked her glossy tail and put a hand on her hip, staring at me levelly. "We've known each other for many months, and you still ask me that?"

Self-consciously, oblivious to the fact that I'd shrank from her, I stepped forward. I cautiously walked around her twice, staring at her in abject shock. I ended up standing before her, still gaping. She was the most exotically beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life. "But... you were just a horse a moment ago... what is your true form?"

"I have two forms, neither of them is any more true than the other. I am what you have seen, nothing more." She folded her arms across her chest, embarrassed at the way I was gaping at her.

At last, several minutes later, I began to collect my dull wits. I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly her head snapped up and around as if she'd heard something. Her ears flicked and dialed around, seeming to latch on to a sound I could not detect.

All at once she was melting back into the form of a horse. "This has been an endless fountain of fun, being stared at like a meat sculpture on display at the local fair, but I just felt a human enter the other side of my forest, carrying a hunting rifle. I have to go deal with him. Until later, goodbye."

She took off galloping, not even waiting for me to respond, leaving the woven grass gown torn in two, lying on the ground where it had fallen when her body had grown too large for it to fit. Numbly, I picked up the pieces and carefully folded them, then made my way back to my house.

* * *

When I stepped inside, Everflow immediately woke up from a nap and sleepily trotted up to me, bleating "Well, what you think of her?" She stared at me expectantly, her eyes twinkling.

I suddenly felt hesitant to reveal anything to her after what had happened last time. I reached out and stroked her large ears. "Ev', if I tell you, will you promise me to keep it just between you and me this time? No running off to tell Clarity what I said, OK?"

She nodded emphatically and warbled, and I knew she'd learned her lesson this time and I'd be able to trust her. I felt a wave of affection for her and hugged her. "Thanks, sweetie. I trust you." I stood back from the hug, then walked to my room and flopped back on my bed and stared at the ceiling, the young doe toddling along behind me. "My gosh, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life." I softly moaned.

"I mean... I mean... Oh WOW is she gorgeous! Her mane, her tail, her face, her body... She's the most incredibly lovely, sexy creature in the world! Oh Ever, I really, really wish... I'd give anything to be with her, to marry her. I wish I knew if she liked me like that."

In response, the fawn jumped up on the bed so she'd be in my field of view, then began to nod frantically again. "You think she does?" More nodding. "Did... did she tell you she does?" Again, lots of nodding.

I rolled over on my side, facing her and propping my head on my hand. "Oh man... I wanna, but I'm just so scared. She's big, and powerful, and way older than me. I wish I wasn't so scared." I took the time to briefly explain to her all that Nicholas Brandy had said.

As the tale unfolded, she looked increasingly appalled and furious. "Lie! He's Lie! All Lie!" She screeched at the top of her lungs. "Clarity not spider, not drink blood! He hate her! He lie!!!"

"Yes. He lies. I know that, now. Don't worry, honey, I'll never help him or betray Clarity. After finally meeting her... I don't even like to think about that stuff, I just wanna think about her! You really think she likes me? Ohhhh... she is so amazing."

Everflow sighed in exasperation and nipped onto my shirt sleeve, trying to pull me towards the door. I laughed and held back. "Easy, hon'. I can't go tell her right now even if I wanted to. She had to run off almost right away because she sensed a human enter her forest with a gun. I would have told her already, except for that."

"Oh. K." She said. "We really all friends again?" she whispered with immense hope in her little voice.

"Yes, we're all friends again." I put my head back and sighed. "The fact that she forgave me even when I was so irrational... She's really mature and patient and forgiving... Oh man, and she's so exotic and gorgeous! My Gosh, I'd do anything to be her husband! I feel so foolish for mistrusting her now, and wasting all these weeks I could have spent with her! I'm so in love again!"

I suddenly realized I was talking like this to a fawn that wasn't even ten months old yet. I blushed. "Sorry, you don't wanna probably hear that stuff, right?" Standing up, I moseyed into my shop, still floating on cloud nine.

When I stepped inside, I found that I wasn't alone. A middle-aged woman from town was sitting, waiting for me. I recognized her as Mrs. Tungst, probably the number one gossip in town. She was staring at me with wide eyes. "Who in the world were you talking to, boy?" She asked in a hushed voice.

I blushed purple with embarrassment. "I was talking to Everflow, ma'am. She's my little pal, so I discuss things with her all the time." To my right, the little doe gave an affirmative bleat.

She gaped at me, looking pale. "I thought I heard someone speak back to you several times?"

Having trouble meeting her eyes, I mumbled "I... I play devil's advocate with myself sometimes when I'm thinking hard." Everflow had made it clear she didn't want anyone else from town knowing she could talk, and it was the only thing I could think of to explain her voice speaking to me.

Still looking ashen, the older woman whispered, "And who, or rather, what were you telling her you were in love with??"

For a moment I was confused, then I remembered having bubbled about how beautiful Clarity's mane and tail and exotic, un-human figure were. I just about died and melted into the floor. "I... uh... there's a girl... I mean... She... well... "

"A girl with a mane and tail? Sensing humans with guns? An animal??" She sharply snapped, leaning forward with grumpy eagerness, I could tell, over the prospect of the juiciest gossip she'd ever had. "Out with it, boy!"

I shook my head. "No, of course not! I... this, this is none of your business, with all due respect, ma'am. Did you come here for something, I'm guessing?"

She was scowling at me, angry to be denied nosing in on what was happening. "I don't think a deviant like you should be allowed to have a pet, let alone one as nice as little Everflow. You'll probably abuse her! I don't do business with degenerate perverts, anyway."

"I'm not in love with an animal, that's sick! Her name is Clarity and she's... she's... I don't even know what she is, I just know I love her. If you don't have any business, then I'd appreciate it if you'd leave my shop!"

Mrs. Tungst made her way slowly out of my shop, glaring at me in disgust. I didn't realize it, but I might as well have just signed my death warrant, for the result to my business and life would be the same. Within an hour, everyone in town was going to think I had somehow abused poor Everflow, the town's favorite citizen.

* * *

Though I'd been a bit upset by the old busy-body, I soon forgot her in a haze of affection for Everflow, and daydreams about being in love with Clarity. In my mind, I could see us dancing through her forest together, completely in love. I imagined intimacy with her, wondering what she would feel like to hold, what she would taste like to kiss. I imagined her moving into my little house, making it her home, making me her husband. Could she do that? Maybe if we planted some trees and extended the forest?

I kept bubbling to the young doe all my daydreams, and she seemed to share my excitement at the prospect of being in love with the forest's spirit. I suppose because she felt I was her father and Clarity was her mother, the thought of our union was synonymous with a happy home with a mommy and daddy, and living happily ever after.

Whatever the reason, she was dancing around me, full of energy and life, and I wasn't far behind her in my exuberant mood. I figured I would head back into the forest this evening to talk with Clarity and tell her how I felt. I was talking and laughing, working away in my shop, singing, telling Everflow stories, enjoying life very much.

She was having a grand time too, singing along with me, and excitedly telling me over and over how much Clarity loved me, fueling the fires of my eagerness. "She gonna be so happy!" she squealed for the hundredth time.

We broke for supper, and I nibbled on some smoked meat and bread while the fawn munched happily on a basket of her usual favorites, prepared for her by me, now that I knew what she loved to eat. "Ya know..." I said, in between bites, "I been thinking about her moving in with us, but what if she wants us to move in with her? Have you seen where she lives, Ev'?"

The fawn shook her head, crunching away happily. "Uh-uh." Suddenly her tail stood up, and she turned her head, dialing in to the front door with her large ears. She tensed, which made me nervous. "Drew..." She whispered.

"What is it, girl?" I whispered, then heard it myself; the sound of many voices approaching the house. She began to tremble, backing away from her food. I'd never seen her act like this before.

There was a knock on the door a moment later, and she skittered away into my bedroom without a word. Hesitantly, I opened the door to find that most of the adults in town were standing there, many of them armed with rifles, looking very grim. I couldn't even comprehend what they were doing. "What's wrong, everyone? What has happened?" I asked, thinking they were here to ask me to join their crusade.

Grimly, the mayor spoke up. "Mrs. Tungst tells us that you been abusing animals."

"What?? No I..." I started to say, but he cut me off and continued.

"Mrs. Tungst tells us you've been abusing Everflow." He grimly stated.

My eyes bugged out of my head. "Are you crazy? I would never hurt her, I love her like a daughter!" To illustrate my point, the fawn appeared around the doorframe, trembling in fear but determined to stick up for me. She warbled her agreement to my words and pressed close to me.

Unfortunately, the crowd seemed to interpret this as a confirmation of the accusation, and murmured to each other in horror. The mayor spoke again. "It's true then. How could you abuse a wonderful little creature like her? We're here to take her away from you and give her a good home with some of the folk who won't... harm her."

I was incensed. "You are barking mad! Mrs. Tungst made that up! I swear to you all, I would never hurt Everflow, she's my best friend in the world! It makes me sick even thinking about something like that..."

They looked around at each other, their resolve faltering. From the back, I heard old woman Tungst's voice speak up. "He was sayin' he was in love with a woman with a mane and tail! Ask him about that!" They turned to look at me questioningly.

If I'd had time to think about it, I might have come up with a response to that which wouldn't get me hanged. Instead, I stumbled, "No, no! Clarity isn't an animal... I mean, I don't know what she is. She's intelligent, she talks to me all the time!"

"Y' see??" Came a scream from Tungst. The crowd grew mean again.

"That sort of perversion is against the law of the town and the country. Penalty is death. By hanging. Get him." The Mayor grunted.

Quick reflexes saved my life. I slammed the door shut, barring it and diving to the side. I heard the muffled roar of several rifles firing, and splintered holes were blown in the door and wall. There had to be eighty people out there, and I knew I had no hope, save for Clarity. They would kill me and take my precious little fawn for themselves if I didn't get under the Forest Spirit's protection immediately.

"Ever! Get into the forest! Clarity'll help us!" I shouted and pelted for my back door, the terrified fawn just a step ahead of me. I opened the door and we flew outside. There were about twenty feet in between my back door and the abrupt start of the thick forest, and we ran for it as fast as we could go. "Run, Ever, as fast as you ever have in your life, run! I'm right behind!" She responded by picking up her pace, bounding ahead of me.

I heard a shout. "He's back here! Get some rifles back here! Hurry, he's running!"

A few more steps and I was into the woods. "Clarity!" I howled at the top of my lungs, panicking.

A snippy, cold reply came back. "I'm not speaking to you after you were so horrified by me. I've never been so embarrassed..."

I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "Clarity, they're going to hang me and take Everflow from me! Help us! Please help us!"

I heard the loud crack of a rifle shot, but felt no bullet strike me. I hunched over and pelted with all my strength for the deep forest, trying to get trees in between myself and the crazy townsfolk. I heard Clarity, sounding shocked and horrified. "What??? Run, boy! I'm coming!"

There was another ear-splitting crack, and suddenly my right leg went out from under me, and I sprawled onto the ground, scraping my hands as I scrabbled to catch myself. My face smacked into a root, tearing one of my teeth out and ripping it through my lip. Blood gushed from the wound, but I was so scared I just tried to get up again. For some reason, I fell right back over, my leg unable to hold my weight.

I rolled over, looked down and was shocked to see blood nearly squirting out from a fist-sized hole in my leg. From the odd angle it was protruding, the bones had to be shattered. As I stared at it, the pain hit me, both from it and from my mouth and lip. I screamed in agony and fear. "Clarity, please! I'm shot! I don't wanna die!" I shrieked.

There was no answer, but there was a loud rumble like thunder, and in seconds, clouds raced overhead. The forest was suddenly as dark as night. I heard the townsfolk give frightened sounds, yelling to each other. "I can't see! Where did he fall? What's happening?"

Suddenly, off in the distance was a horrible cracking sound, as if a giant tree was literally snapping in two. A second later, the sound came again, much closer this time. Again and again, closer and closer the sound came, until there was horrifying, deafening crashing and crackling all around us. I could vaguely hear the screams of the townspeople, and despite my dire situation and pain, I was elated at what Clarity was doing.

Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the darkness lifted, and I could see the townspeople all running for their lives. Many had dropped their rifles, and more than a few of them looked to have messed their pants. I giggled, but the movement of my lips made blood spray from my mouth, giving a fresh stab of pain. The agony began to increase rapidly as I came off the adrenalin of my dire situation.

I screamed in inarticulate pain and fear. My leg was already lying in a big pool of blood, and still more blood was running down my chin onto my chest from the jagged gash in my lip. The tooth was caught in the flesh, making it hard to even speak. "I'm coming, dear!" I heard Clarity frantically shout over my screams.

Everflow was there, shrieking in terror at seeing me so injured, in so much pain, and so frightened. "Daddy! Daddy! Mommy! Help! Mommmmyyyy!" She was dancing around me, panicked and unsure what to do.

I grew dizzy and light headed, suddenly feeling the world swim around me as I became faint from the blood pressure drop. I sagged back onto the forest floor. It was odd, I couldn't focus my eyes. Above me, I could see blurry green leaves, waving in the breeze. Why wouldn't my eyes focus? As I strained to stare at them, the world seemed to swim and darken.

* * *

I awoke to agony so intense it nearly snapped my sanity like a twig. My mouth and especially my leg hurt so bad it was inconceivable. I tried to take a breath to scream, instead filling my lungs with water. As quickly as the pain had hit me, it was gone, and I was lifted out of the pool of healing water. I coughed and gagged, choking up the water I'd inhaled from my dunking.

My eyes slowly focused, and I looked beneath me. I was floating above the water, which was pouring off of my wet clothes from the dip I'd just taken. My leg and lip were whole and healthy again. I looked up and around, but couldn't see Clarity. "Where are you?" I called.

"Bringing Everflow." Came the terse reply. "Are you OK?"

"I am now." I weakly managed. I heard hoof beats, and a moment later Clarity galloped into the clearing, little Everflow bounding at her side.

"Daddy!" The little doe sobbed in relief. She didn't even slow down, but bounded with a giant leap into my arms, making me catch her to keep her from falling as I was still floating several feet in the air.

Clarity skidded to a halt before me and immediately changed shapes to her humanoid form, this time not taking the time to turn and cover while the grass grew her clothes. I got a glimpse of her before looking away, embarrassed. I hugged a sobbing Everflow... and then out of the corner of my eye I could see living grass cloth was covering her. I was suddenly embarrassed, hoping she'd been too distracted to notice me seeing her.

She caught me under the arms and pulled me from where I was suspended above the water. I latched on to her and hugged with every bit of strength in my whole body. "Thank you so much, Clar... you saved my life. Oh, it's all my fault. I didn't realize she was listening in, and I talked about how gorgeous I thought you were, and I mentioned your mane and tail... But I didn't know she was there, honest! It was an accident!"

"Wait, wait. Back up. What happened?" The Forest Spirit gently spoke.

I slowed down and told her how the gossipy Mrs. Tungst had been in my house unannounced, and had heard me talking to Everflow. I was far too shaken up to temper my words, and just flat out told her I'd been marveling at how sexy and beautiful she was. "...And then she apparently told the town I was... abusing my sweet little Everflow. They literally showed up on my doorstep, a lynch mob ready to kill me!" I finished off. "All I could do was run for my life..."

She stared at me. "You honestly think I'm sexy, Drew MacMurdock?" She softly cooed, and I got the distinct impression that was the only part of my story she'd heard. I was still hugging her, but at those words I realized how tactlessly I'd just shared my feeling with her, and pulled back, blushing.

"I, I'm sorry, Clarity. I didn't mean to be inappropriate or crude, I was just honestly completely overwhelmed by how beautiful you are... I'm sorry I said those things."

To my surprise, it was her turn to hug me so hard it nearly cracked my ribs. "Oh Drew, I've never had anyone say I'm beautiful before. Thank you so much! I find you very attractive too!"

I barely had time to swallow in shock before her large equine mouth was suddenly engulfing mine, her thick pink tongue slipping into my mouth. I kissed her, feeling and tasting her strange, sweet, oat-like flavor, feeling the complete difference of her mouth, teeth, lips, and tongue. I reached up and ran my fingers over her majestic head, rubbing her velvety soft nose and stroking her thick, muscled neck. I stroked her mane, feeling the coarse, glossy long hair, my fingers beginning to tremble.

Her fingers were exploring me as well. She was bigger than I was, and seemed to be delighted at my small, relatively delicate human form. She gripped my chest and squeezed me hard, picking me up and swirling me over her head as we kissed.

I could have just gone on kissing her forever, but Everflow gave a little squeak, reminding us she was there. Reluctantly, Clarity pulled back from kissing me, and even more reluctantly, I let her go. She set me gently down, and I shivered a bit from my soaking wet clothes. Seeing this, she motioned, and I watched in fascination as the water pulled out of every last fiber of clothing, splashing back into the pool and leaving me dry as could be.

Gently, she said "Everflow is hungry. She says your dinner was interrupted by the mob. Shall we go let you finish eating?" As she spoke, she took my hand in hers, giving me a shocked thrill at her sudden intimacy and familiarity with me.

We began to walk back towards my home, hand in hand. Her smell was wonderful, the gentle scent of wildflowers, sweet and delicate as it swirled about her. She looked at me affectionately, smiling. "Why did you act so funny when you first saw me in humanoid form, if you thought I was so beautiful?" She asked curiously.

I had to reflect for a moment to even know what she was talking about. "Did I? Oh, I did... I didn't mean to, Clarity, I was just so shocked by it all. You took my breath away... I mean, a majestic Arabian mare I could understand, but when you changed and became so incredibly beautiful, I was at a complete loss."

She giggled, a cute, sexy sound. "Aw, that's romantic! I swept you off your feet, is that it?"

I nodded, my eyes un-focusing as I remembered who I was with, how beautiful she was, and that she was holding hands with me. "Yeah." I managed, dumbly.

She gently squeezed my hand and l sensed she was about to say something important as she drew herself up to her full height. "Drew MacMurdoch, I would like to spend the rest of my life with you at my side. I would like you to be my husband. Will you take me as your wife, forsaking all others to be my love and companion for the rest of our lives?"

As she spoke these words, her voice seemed to crackle with thunder and power, and the world around us dimmed until it was as if we stood under a spotlight, the sole source of illumination in the whole forest glistening around the two of us. I looked over and saw my little doe standing stiffly at attention, and dully realized this had abruptly turned into an impromptu wedding.

There was nothing in the world I wanted more. I nodded. "I do, I swear it, if you will swear the same to me." I replied, voice shaking.

She nodded and smiled. "Indeed I do. The future is a frightening thing, and it will not always be easy for us, but I love you, dear. I've loved you since I first watched you rescue that little fox. That being the case, and our feelings being mutual and consenting, I take you as my husband, and give myself to you as your wife, upon all the authority I have in my domain." She pulled me close in her arms and tossed her mane to get it out of her eyes, a look of peace and happiness on her face. "You may kiss your bride."

I eagerly pressed my lips to her velvety black ones, swirling my tongue into her mouth and experiencing her sweet taste in a wonderful, passionate kiss that lasted a long, long time. Throughout it all, Everflow stood stiffly at attention. Watching us and smiling, she seemed to take this totally in stride, as if she knew all about what this was and what it meant.

When our first kiss at last broke, she stared down at me with tears of both sadness and joy in her eyes. Before I could ask about the sadness, though, she turned and we resumed walking, now arm-in-arm with each other. "It's that easy and fast?" I asked her cautiously.

She nodded. "I know of the elaborate rituals humans perform to wed, but that is all. I don't have great crowds of friends or a minister to wed us, but I can tell you the forest itself stood witness to our union and will forever bare testimony to our joining." She was silent for a minute, then cautiously added "I hope that's OK with you, dear? Did you have dreams of a human wedding?"

I shook my head. "Naw. I'm not much interested in big crowds. This was good enough for me, thank you."

At that point, Everflow inserted herself into the conversation yet again, making me feel guilty for ignoring her. "Daddy, I so glad you OK!" She chirped, and jumped onto her hind feet and into my arms, licking my face. I was reminded of the ordeal we'd just suffered.

"Oh sweetie, I'm fine. That was awful, wasn't it? I've never been so scared in all my life. Clarity saved us both, you know!" I looked up at the pretty equine beauty... my new bride? "Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. We owe you our lives."

She smiled and nodded. "You are welcome." We resumed walking, and I put one hand in Clarity's and the other around Everflow's neck as she walked beside us. The Forest Spirit thought for a few moments, then spoke again "Well, I'm sorry that one of the townsfolk heard you talking."

Glancing around at the forest, I hazarded "I don't suppose you can... I dunno... wipe it from their minds or something? Otherwise my business is ruined, even if they stop trying to kill me, none of them will buy anything from me ever again."

"I'm sorry, but my powers extend only to the borders of my forest, Drew. If I step one hoof outside the forest, I become a mortal with no powers at all." She said, sadly. "I've never tried to alter someone's mind before, either. I could try, I suppose, but the outcome might be unpredictable at best, and I would be afraid of harming them."

Squeezing her long, delicate fingers, I smiled at her. "It's OK, I don't know if I like the idea of doing that anyway. Right or wrong, they should be free to have their opinion, I guess."

We strolled out of the thick woods and into my backyard sometime later, having spent the rest of the walk in blissful silence, simply drinking in each other's presence. I looked at my house, feeling sad as I saw the bullet holes punched through it. "I can't believe they would think that I would do something so awful. I don't know what I can do. I spent all my money buying this house, and I haven't worked near long enough to make any more. I'm destitute without my business and home."

"Come live with me, of course." Clarity bluntly grunted as we stepped inside. Rifle shots had put quite a few holes through the front door, and my table was overturned, throwing the remains of my meal on the floor. Even the fawn's bucket had been overturned, her food scattered about and trampled as the mob had flooded my house. "I could not leave the forest to come live with you anyway, husband, and I can provide you with everything you need in my little kingdom."

Everflow sadly nosed her food bucket back upright and began to crunch on the little bit that hadn't been thrown out of it when it tipped. "They're mean." She sadly declared, seaming to be paying no attention to the two of us talking and planning.

"I would love that... I wasn't sure what you'd want, Clarity. This is all happening so fast, it almost feels like it's a trick." I turned to my doe. "Shall we go live with Clar, Ev'?" I said.

She looked up at me sadly from her food and drooped her ears. I was surprised at the reaction as she mournfully clip-clopped over to me looking for a hug. I knelt and squeezed her tightly, gently murmuring "What's wrong, sweetheart? You love Clarity as much as I do... wouldn't you like to have us all together?"

She warbled sadly. "This is home, sad to leave it."

I scratched her ears gently and rubbed her black nose. "Oh, little one, home isn't in a building, it's in the family you love. As long as we're together, I'll always feel at home. We can take lots of things with us, like your bed and some of my tools, and we can live and work together in the forest, just the same as here, right?"

Again she bleated sadly. "I love the childs, playing with them and being part of them, I sad to lose all friends, though as long as with you, I manage, Daddy."

I sighed as I at last understood her sorrow, not wanting her to have to say goodbye to her friends. "I don't know, Ev', maybe we can figure out some way to make them believe us and we can be friends with them again. All we can do is try."

* * *

In a large hammock woven of lush, soft grass and fragrant flowers, I watched in fascination as Clarity's living clothes unraveled and moved away from her shimmering, voluptuous body, leaving her naked. Her gentle fingers had already removed my clothes, and I was looking at her beauty now unfettered by worry or embarrassment.

As night had fallen, I had gently put Everflow to bed with the equine beauty sitting beside us silently, and once the young doe was asleep, she had turned to me and embraced me. "I want to make love to you, dear heart." She whispered into my ear.

My face had flushed and I'd begun having difficulty breathing my heart was pounding so fast at those words. "Really?" She gave me an odd look and chuckled. I had to keep reminding myself I'd wed her, that this was not some crazy dream I was having.

In response, she'd lead me a short way away to a living hammock that lifted us high in the sky once we were resting on it. The grass it was made out of felt cool and comforting, like lying in the grass on a summer evening. There, she'd begun a dance of love with me which we were now creating together.

Her large round breasts jiggled a little as she moved to get comfortable, lying back in the hammock and watching me. She spread her long legs out wide and dug her hooves in a bit, lifting her body up a tiny bit to emphasize her charcoal-colored pussy. I ran hesitant, trembling fingers over her belly, feeling her warmth underneath the coarse, short black hair that covered her body.

I leaned in and experimentally took a breath of her scent. She smelled of summer breezes, of fresh rains on summer grasses, of blooming wildflowers, of ripening wild fruit, of crisp fall days, feminine, comforting and erotic all at once. "Mmm. Wow, you smell sexy." I sighed, happily.

She laughed. "So glad you approve. If it makes you feel good, I find your human scent to be very unique and pleasant as well. I trust you because I trust your smell. I've never met a human that smelled of trust." Her tongue found mine, and she pulled my naked body against hers, stroking over my bare skin.

"Oh! By the roots, you are so very, very soft!" She exclaimed in-between lusty kisses. By contrast, running my fingers over her coarse fur was rough, but also sexy. She was so glossy and sleek, it turned me on quite a bit.

Feeling her fingers boldly begin to fondle my throbbing cock, I turned my attention down to her breasts. I licked the nipples, sucking them and groaning in delight. Her taste was a bit like fresh cut hay, fitting for an equine girl. I licked around her large areola, all the way to where her fur started to grow again. Her nipples became erect at my attention, and she cooed happily.

I sucked her breasts for a little while, but I was hungry for more, much more than that. I couldn't believe how good it felt to have her touch my cock, but I felt eager to explore her sex as she was exploring mine. I kissed my way down her taught, muscled belly, down to her hips, which I grabbed in my hands, squirming around in the swaying hammock to get a perfect view of mare pussy.

She was glistening and wet, her ink-black skin wet with her heat. Her mound was larger than a human woman's especially on both ends, where it came out over an inch. As I gazed upon her, the upper part of her pussy, the part closest to her belly, suddenly clenched around her large clit. The flesh tightened and clasped, showing me pink vaginal walls inside her, as she squeezed the muscles all around her marehood.

I gasped. "Oh my God, you have incredible muscle control!" I hoarsely croaked.

She smiled, flexing her pussy again. "Equines can do that, it's called 'winking.' It is almost automatic when I'm aroused, and the more horny I am, the more I do it." She giggled a little shyly. "You'll be able to tell how much I enjoyed sex by how long I keep winking after we're done. You think it looks sexy?"

"Oh absolutely, yeah!" I declared admiringly.

That certainly made her smile proudly. "Wait 'till you feel how it feels on your cock, I guarantee it's the most luscious feeling you'll ever feel in your life."

I gulped and hesitantly touched her clit, and marveled as the contact immediately made her wink, gripping my finger a bit. "Oh my God. I feel like I'm going crazy. Wow." I whispered. As I stroked over her velveteen, soft outer lips, I suddenly realized I was staring at a gaping cavern. I delicately peeled her black pussy open, revealing the pink inner walls, dripping wet from her arousal. She had a big, big pussy, no doubt because stallions are very well endowed, much more than humans. Compared to her, my normal, human-sized cock looked suddenly inadequate.

Blushing in embarrassment, I muttered. "My God, You're not even gonna be able to tell I'm inside you, are you? I'm really small compared to you."

She cooed sympathetically, seeing how humiliated I was. "It's not like that at all, muffin. My muscle control isn't just for show. I can clamp down and stimulate myself to orgasm easily with just my little finger, and you are a lot bigger than that."

"Really?" I weakly managed.

"Really. I think your body is very sexy, my dear."

I rolled over on top of her and kissed her again, gently moving side to side to cause the hammock to sway gently. We kissed and caressed each other until I was going crazy, pressing so close to her magnificent body. She kept exploring my penis with her fingers, gently working my balls, making me moan in delight.

I drew my open palm across her wet cunt, making her wink it, trying to greedily gobble up my finger as it stroked across her slit. She gave a little whinny at the contact and arched her hips, spreading her legs a bit more. I deeply kissed her lips, holding back my raging desire from overloading me. The gentle feel of her fingertips, touching me from the front and from behind, stroking over my taint and asshole with practiced familiarity, gave me goose bumps.

"I'm in love with you, Drew MacMurdock." She whispered. "Please make love to me."

I gulped in excitement and straightened up over her. "I... I want to more than anything else in the world, pretty mare."

Her laughter was a gentle whisper, her smile sweet, her lust evident. I grabbed my dick and drew the head of it along the length of her wet cunt, and was shocked as I reached her clit, she winked suddenly, her pussy gulping the purple head of my cock into it. I gave a gasp and jerked back involuntarily, which popped my head back out.

She was marvelously warm and slippery inside, I had felt that for the brief second I'd been in her. "Easy!" She laughed. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know!"

"I'm sorry!" I cried. "I was just startled! I've never seen a girl who could do tricks with her..."

"Would you shut up and stop stalling, Drew?" She snapped angrily, then winked to let me know she was playing.

Nodding wordlessly, I again grabbed my throbbing shaft in my fist and stroked the head up from the bottom of her pussy to the top. Again, when my glans stroked over her protuberant clit, it jumped and snatched me inside again. This time, I didn't resist it and instead slowly began to push into her slippery, silky wet pussy. I took my time, slowly sinking my throbbing dick down inside of her, delighting every time she winked, suddenly clenching me with impressive strength, flesh squeezing my cock inside her body.

Every time she winked, I let it gulp down more of my penis. Her body temperature was warmer than human's, which made her relaxingly luscious and inviting inside. When she winked again, the flesh of her pussy clenched and squished around my cock, giving me eye-poppingly tight squeezes that slid over my swollen shaft with incredible stimulation. Unable to resist anymore, I sank myself to the hilt in her warm mare pussy.

I moaned, and she sighed happily as we united our bodies in intimate love. I relaxed, lying down on top of her for a moment, wanting to just relish the amazing feeling of being one flesh with her. Suddenly her pussy winked again, clenching tightly on me, the soaking wet flesh gripping and slurping along my shaft. I gave a cry of ecstasy, unable to believe how good it felt to have her do that to me.

"Oh my God, Clarity! Oh fuck, that feels unbelievable!" I cried as I involuntarily tensed up and jerked up and out of her with a slurp.

She smiled knowingly at me, her eyes half closed lazily as she teasingly nodded. I thrust my hips down immediately after pulling out, desperate to get out of the cold air and into my warm lover's sexy body. I sank back in, and as I did so, she winked again, making me bellow in delight. "I already told you how much you would enjoy fucking my pussy. Maybe now you'll listen to me?" She cooed sluttily.

"I... I didn't doubt you!" I panted. I pulled back and gave a thrust, and to my delight, she met it with another wink that practically made my eyes cross it felt so perfect. "Ah! I just couldn't conceive of just how good it would actually feel! Is it good for you, too, baby?"

She squealed as I pulled back and slid in again, met with another tight wink. "Oh Drew, yes it feels wonderful! Your body is so soft and sweet! It's been so long since I made love. God, I missed this! Drew, my sweet, hold me close and give it to me! I'll control the sex and give you the best you'll ever have, I promise!"

I started to carefully fuck her. Every thrust I made, she met with a wink. She could control how hard she clenched, and now that I'd started to hump her properly, she relaxed the squeezing quite a bit so she didn't throw me over the edge into an orgasm five seconds after I started.

She tossed her head a bit and caught her long shiny mane, gathering it and pulling it to the side so it didn't snag and pull as we copulated. I gripped her full round hips and increased my speed, delighted that she could match me with winks as I did it. "C... Clarity!" I whined in delight as we fucked.

Her soft, warm fingers stroked over my skin as she caressed and fondled my body all over while we loved. "I'm here, my prince. I love you." She said, gripping my flesh firmly and stroking me.

I fucked her for quite a while, arm in arm with her, unable to believe how good it felt. She had absolutely perfect pussy control. She would increase the tightness of her winking, driving me to within an inch of orgasm before backing sharply off, letting me drop back from the brink, unable to gather enough stimulation to orgasm even if I wanted to. She also kept herself at the brink this way, backing off and relaxing back with lusty moans of passion.

I pulled back from her, panting. It felt amazing to be this close to her, like it was a dream. "Wanna... uh... wanna try it on all-fours?" I breathlessly asked.

She giggled and cooed "Sure!" pulling away from me and squirming around onto her hands and knees, a difficult task in a hammock. She looked luscious like this, and held her legs wide, her tail lifted way up and to the side in order to expose her black pussy between two full, round, perfect ass cheeks. She whinnied excitedly and tossed her head. She winked, her clit now at the bottom of her exposed pussy, and the sexy movement made butter-yellow creamy mare juices stream from her glistening, wet, luscious cunt.

I stared in delight at her sex, which made her look over her shoulder at me impatiently. She reached a hand back and stroked around her pussy and protuberant ass, parting her lips with two fingers. "C'mon, what are you waiting for? I miss having you inside of me." She groaned.

I crawled in close, between her long, sexy legs. I reached down and touched her shiny, well-kept hooves, feeling their hardness, feeling a little thrill as I looked at them. Her feet, a strange hybrid between a horses' and a humans' feet, were very sexy. Her hooves were large for her body size, making her well-balanced even though she was basically walking on her toes.

I ran my fingers up her calves to her thighs, then up her thighs to her wide hips. She had to have the most full, round, sexy ass and hips there had ever been in the world. She looked absolutely awesome from back here! I lifted her long, shiny tail up and draped it over my shoulder, then grabbed my wet cock and gave her what she wanted, slipping in and in and into her until I was balls-deep in her vagina. She winked on me in approval, sighing.

I started to fuck her good and hard, tightly gripping her hips up by her slender sides, working to slam her body back against me. She was big and heavy, but she gently aided me, moving as I wanted her to move while I bred her.

The air was filled with our panting and moaning, but also with delicious slurping and squishing sounds as we fucked. I lost track of time as we made love, the world seemed to stop around me. There was only this magnificent female before me, her strange, otherworldly yet beautiful body so kinky and sexy as I fucked her.

She was so different from a human female, the act of making love to her was vastly different with her abilities, and making love to a woman who stood nearly a foot taller than I, heavy and strong, was strange too. Her warm body and her short, coarse fur added to the alien-ness of her as I screwed her juicy, fleshy pussy.

Her ability to keep me from orgasm was maddening. I had been fucking wildly for what felt like hours, and I was getting exhausted, yet still she kept either of us from cumming. At last I paused, panting and falling over to lie against her back. "I'm going crazy, Clarity! I need to cum so badly! Please let me fill you with my seed, beautiful!"

"OK!" She said simply, rolling over onto her back, lifting her legs high into the air and resting them on my shoulders. "Good and hard for the home stretch, Drew, and don't you dare waste a drop of that precious cum! I want it all deep in my pussy, squirting into my womb, or I'll never let you have me again."

Laughing, I nodded. "Your wish is my command! Are you trying to see if we're inter-fertile?"

There was no answer as I began to fuck her again, pulling almost all the way out, then sinking my cock back inside her. She clenched me tightly with each thrust, her muscles tightening, her eyes squeezed shut. "Mmmm, so good! Fuck me, Drew! If ever you loved me, fuck me hard and finish me now!"

I did as I was told, diving into her steamy warmth with all my strength. The veins on my cock pulsed as she winked tightly on me, making a slurping, slapping noise as our bodies slammed together. I was in heaven in this beautiful creature's warm, slick pussy. Her pink inner walls were so soft... I couldn't even breathe, I needed release so badly. My instincts took over as I did my best to impregnate the most powerful, magnificent female in the world.

My mad pounding was making her howl and whinny in delight. "Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh yeah! Oh baby! Oh Fuck, Drew! You're hitting me in all the right places! Oh, I want to carry your foal! Fuck! I love having sex with you, perfect human! I love being fucked by my sworn enemy! Oh! I can't hold back any longer, darling boy! I'm going to cum!!!"

With one more thrust, she pussy winked and spasmed on me, and we were suddenly in the orgasm of our lives. Her pussy was squirting a creamy, yellowish-white cum that was incredibly slippery, and incredibly copious. She whinnied at the top of her lungs, her large brown eyes wide with pleasure, her teeth clenched, and unbelievably sexy look on her beautiful face.

At the same time, my balls shot the hardest, thickest load of cum I'd ever shot in my life. It felt like I was peeing I was cumming so much as I squirted deep inter her cunt. My seed spurted deep, through the folds of her warm pussy and into her womb. "I can feel it filling my body!" She wailed in delight.

"Yes!" I cried exuberantly. "I love you, Clarity! You are the woman of my dreams! Take my load deep in your cunny, luscious pony!" Our bodies writhed as we felt ecstasy beyond compare, completing ourselves with each other.

We gradually came down off our orgasms, trembling and shaking in exhaustion after a huge adrenalin ride. My cock let out a few more weak spurts inside her, and her pussy kept involuntarily winking on me, a sensation that was nearly maddening now on my sensitive, tender glans. She kept nickering and gasping, her muscles tense.

I relaxed and felt elated. I had just made it with the woman of my dreams; a big, beautiful, strong equine-human hybrid that was so unbelievably sexy... my thoughts were interrupted as I realized she was still very tense and looked on the brink of something. For a moment I thought perhaps she was going to cum another time, so I started fucking my tender penis into her still-winking pussy again.

"Drew! Unnngghaaah!" She squeaked at that and squirted all over the place. I looked down in surprise, thinking for a moment she was cumming again as she soaked me down with a gusher of warm fluid, so I madly pumped her, making her shriek. I looked down and saw that it was a clear fluid, whereas her cum had been a butter-colored, much thicker liquid. In shock, I realized she was pissing all over me, spraying erratically because I was still trying to fuck her while she did it. It was spraying all over my chest, hips and legs, streamers squirting out from somewhere around my penis.

I sort of flopped over backwards, intending to pull out and dive to the side out of the way, but instead losing my balance in the hammock and falling clumsily right in the path of her piss so that it continued to rinse off my cock and balls, and soak down my lower body. She was jetting an impressive amount of the warm fluid a rather amazing distance.

I squirmed around and at last managed to roll out of the way of her streamer of piss just about the time she finished and stopped. I rolled over on my back and propped myself up on my elbows, panting and staring between her and myself. I was soaked; it looked like I'd been swimming I was so soaking wet, and the smell of it was strong in my nose. Clarity looked completely relaxed and dreamily happy and satiated now, with an affectionate smile on her pretty face.

"That was great!" She moaned. "You are so kinky! I can't believe you did that! Wanna wash off, or go to sleep soaking in my scent?"

I felt a quick flash of indignant anger. She was blaming the fact that she'd just pissed all over me on my actions, like I'd made her do it? Then my anger dissolved as quickly and sharply as it had emerged. Apparently I'd done something to solicit this out of her, though I hadn't meant to, and it was just something I'd have to take in stride, taking a creature like her to bed. It had actually felt sort of sexy, that warm gusher of her fluid streaming from her body and soaking me down, marking me as her mate...

I panted and relaxed a bit. "I'd like to clean off. What did I do that made you piss on me? It was an accident."

She stared at me, then gave a little gasp, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "You didn't mean for that to happen? Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed!"

Shaking my head I gently purred "Easy, love, easy. I don't mind, it was actually sorta sexy, it just caught me by surprise is all." I wanted to hug her, but I wasn't sure she'd want me soaking down her fur.

She swallowed. "I'm sorry, Drew, I sure didn't do it on purpose, I couldn't hold it. W... when a mare orgasms, she almost always loses it and has to pee afterwards, so her mate either gets soaked or has to get out of the way when finished. I was trying to hold it so you could move, and then you slid back in and fucked me again! I couldn't believe it, I've never seen that! But I figured you wanted to be fucking me when I pissed, so I let go for you. Please forgive me."

Trying to cheer her up, I giggled and grinned. "Wow, I didn't realize that was what was happening, I thought you were on the brink of an orgasm again so I fucked you to try and send you over the edge. Don't feel bad, baby. It was pretty kinky, and I kinda liked being marked by you. How did it feel to have me fucking you while you pissed?"

She swallowed, looking partially mollified but also still looking shamed. In a tiny voice, she squeaked "It felt really good to me, just letting go while being fucked. It felt like a mild orgasm to me."

"Good!" I said, happily. "Then as long as we're someplace where I can clean up, I'll do that for you every time we make love."

She stared at me, then weakly croaked "Do you mean it? You aren't mad or grossed out?"

"Nah. Making love to you was wonderful. I don't mind a bit, and I'd do it again gladly to make you feel good. Besides, every stallion within a hundred miles is gonna know I'm your mate now, right? I like that thought."

She nodded mutely, and I felt the hammock suddenly descend towards the ground from where it was, high in the treetops. Like a living thing, it scrambled down the trunks of the trees and let us off right next to a lovely pool of water. She stepped out of the hammock, naked and luscious, and motioned with her arm for me to follow her.

* * *

All around the water, mushrooms grew and suddenly burst into bright glowing light, illuminating the area with a soft, romantic glow. She nodded in satisfaction at this and stepped gracefully into the water. "C'mon in. I warmed it up for us!" She called.

I eased a toe into the water, expecting it to be cold like the healing pool had been. Instead it was warm, even pleasantly hot. I cooed in delight and slid into the water. As I submerged into it, I caught a whiff of the steam roiling off the surface, and realized it smelled like wildflowers. "Warm!" I laughed happily.

She giggled back and splashed water at me, making me splutter. I dove under the water and swam for her, grabbing her hips and lifting hard out of the water, tipping her over as she shrieked, splashing into the water. She came up laughing, and grabbed me, dunking me. "You cad! How dare you put your hands on a lady!"

When she let me resurface, I came up and hugged her tight. We laughed long and loud, feeling jubilation and delight. We kissed for a long time, pressing close to each other, wrapped in the lovely smell of lilacs in bloom. "I love you, Clarity, my gorgeous and perfect wife." I whispered when we at last broke the kiss. I pulled her gently into the water on her back and massaged her, working to relax her muscles as she floated in total relaxation.

"I love you as well, Drew." She whispered. "I'm so happy, being here with you. I'm thankful for the day you wandered into my domain. I no longer believe as I once did, that all humans are filth. You aren't, you are beautiful, and your coming here was not a curse upon me as I at first thought."

A gentle smile was stuck on my face. "Thanks, I guess. I hope we humans aren't all so bad... You probably get a rather warped view of us, if all of us you ever meet are ones coming into your forest to despoil it. I'm not the only human who loves animals and nature."

After a moment of silence, she clucked her tongue. "You have a good point! I suppose I do have a warped view of humans. You aren't all like the trappers and hunters which enter my home, are you? There are many more humans living just in your village than I've ever seen enter my domain, and I live at peace with a majority of them."

Softly, feeling more than a little worried, I hesitantly spoke. "Clarity... I... I do eat meat, you know... Does that make me bad in your eyes?"

She nickered softly. "Of course not, dear. Many of the animals who live here are meat eaters, like the little fox you rescued. My decree to all who enter here is that they may not kill and eat each-other while in my forest. I do not begrudge carnivores their nature, all I want is my land to be a safe-haven for any animals who are here."

That was the first time I'd ever heard her delineate the laws of her kingdom. It had always been a vague, ominous threat to me that I might at any time do something which would make her furious with me. It was very comforting to finally know her wishes. "That's what you want? Why didn't you tell me that when I first entered here?" I asked, feeling a little petulant at her for leaving me in the dark about it all this time. "I've been worried I would do something unintentionally to make you mad all this time. I was scared to tell you I eat meat!"

She raised her head up out of the water and looked guilty. "You're right. I'm sorry, Drew. There was a time I would warn all the humans entering the forest of my laws, but I found they never once listened to me. First, they would become terrified at hearing a voice and seeing nobody. Then, after they got over their fright, they would decide they'd imagined it, or that their friends were playing tricks on them. A few even left and came back in greater numbers, intending to challenge and overcome me if I tried to stop them."

She rolled me over on my back, trading places with me so that I was floating in the water and gave me a turn at getting a massage. Her hands were strong, but very gentle, and it felt wonderful. She continued to thoughtfully speak as she worked. "Whatever the case, my warning was never heeded, not even once, in all the humans that entered my forest for over a hundred years. The only thing they ever responded to was violence and violence alone. Tear off the leg of a trapper who sets a trap meant to clasp and crush the leg of an animal, and he loses all interest in exploiting my domain."

"In the end, the result was always the same, so I gave up warning and simply watched and punished any who entered and attempted to harm an animal. Drew, my sweet, you are the first human who came in here with nothing but peaceful intentions, save for a few children." She cooed to me, kissing my chest.

I thought about all of that for a while. "So, there must not be many carnivores living here then? It must mostly be a haven for herbivores to be safe from harm?"

Shaking her head, she softly said "surprisingly, many carnivores spend a great deal of time here as well. A fox fears wolves, wolves fear bears, bears fear wildcats... even to carnivores there are many dangers, and they are safe while here. Unlike the herbivores, however, they must forage elsewhere for food. Many herbivores live here their whole lives, content and safe."

"I'm actually surprised it isn't even more packed with animals than it is, then..." I mused, thoughtfully.

Again she shook her head. "No, I've reached equilibrium for many years now. The territorial nature of most animals leads them to seek elsewhere in the event of overcrowding. I don't permit males to fight over females and such things, which drives many of them to leave. Even herbivores thrive on violence sometimes, it seems."

"But there are plenty of animals here, very abundant, in fact. That is why I struggle against human incursions constantly. They see the plentiful wildlife and lust after it." She finished.

I looked into her brown eyes. "Do you remember a trapper named Brandy? Nicholas Brandy?" I asked. Having made love to her, having made peace with her and married her, I at last trusted her completely and wished to know the truth of what had happened these last few weeks.

She nodded immediately. "Yes, he was about the most stubborn human who ever came in here. Traveled to the village here with his son, put down roots when he explored the forest and saw how teaming with wildlife it was. He would not give up his onslaught no matter what I did to him. It was sickening."

"I met him. He was missing his right eye, arm and leg. What happened, babe?" I pressed, wanting to know her side of the story without any input from me.

She interrupted the conversation. "I can't stay in the water as long as a human, my skin gets too dry. Let's return to bed, OK?" I nodded and she took my hand, leading me out of the pool. Again grass sprang up and wove itself into a hammock, let us crawl in, then climbed its way up to the treetops high overhead. The grass seemed to absorb all the water from our bodies, leaving us dry and squeaky clean from our luxurious bath.

I thought she wasn't going to answer me and was trying to decide if I should give up or insist on knowing the truth, when she spoke again. "He came in with a rifle and fired on a doe before I could hardly get there. The bullet would have blown a hole in her brain, right through her eye, so I instead stopped the bullet and plucked his own eye out of his head. At that point I warned him to leave and never return, for the forest was under my protection. Though he could not see me, he called me every misogynistic and hateful epithet he could think of and swore he'd kill me."

"He returned a month later, laying out traps. That is something I have trouble detecting unless I'm there watching, and I do occasionally miss it. I sense the whole of my forest through the trees and grass, and to my senses, all he was doing was strolling along, stopping now and then to sit in the grass, then stir up the leaves. In all my times confronting stubborn humans, none have ever returned after I wound them the first time, so I honestly thought he was just strolling along, or perhaps hunting for me. That he would have the audacity to return and again attempt to harm my creatures did not enter my mind."

"Unfortunately he had set quite a number of traps by the time I finally got suspicious and went to investigate in person, and I apparently never did find them all, as that poor fox blundered into one of them. I was furious and ordered him to retrieve all his traps or I would take his other eye. He refused, again insulting me, so I tore off his right arm, preventing him from setting traps or firing guns for all time, or so I thought. Again he ran, swearing to kill me, and left me with the arduous task of searching for his cursed traps, which I had to do for weeks, never finding them all."

"I was certain that would be the last I'd see of him, but half a year later, he again trespassed where I'd ordered him to leave and never return. I was absolutely shocked he would try again, and of course this time I wasn't going to ignore him for even a second. I immediately hurried to where he was, and found he'd also brought his son and a hunting party. I ordered them to leave and was ignored. Even when I threatened to take his leg, they ignored me, and left me no choice. Again I was forced to attack him."

"His brave hunting party immediately fled upon seeing it happen, save for his son, who began to frantically drag his legless father away. I had thoroughly had enough by that point, and told him and his son in no uncertain terms that I would kill either of them on the spot if they dared to step foot into my kingdom ever again. Old-man Brandy again threw every epithet he knew at me, but his son swore neither he nor his father would ever return. It has been two years since then, and I have seen neither of them, so I hope he keeps his father from trying again."

I shook my head. "Unbelievable! Did you ever show yourself to him?"

"No, never." She grunted softly.

"Why would he think he could even begin to harm what he couldn't see after the first time, let alone returning twice more?"

She shook her head. "I have no idea, save for the fact that he was always drunk. Perhaps it clouded his judgment. I hated doing it. I hate violence and try everything I can to avoid it, but I had to at last threaten him with death to make him stay away." She was silent for a moment before cautiously asking "What do you know of him?"

I told her everything. I told of the old man's lies about her, of his potions and poison arrows, of his wooden leg that I was building for him so that he could walk again. She listened to it all, sometimes with sadness, sometimes with total shock. That he would be planning to try again seemed to terrify her the most.

"He's one of the Empty-Men. It has already begun." She whispered suddenly, a look of withering gravity on her pretty face.

I was lying on top of her, her arms and legs wrapped protectively around me as I snuggled her and told her these things. At this, I raised my head a little bit. "Empty-Men? Who are they?"

Swallowing thickly, she shivered. "What he told you of that is true. Once upon a time there were thousands of forest spirits protecting the land and creatures therein. Humans lusted after the wealth of food and resources we guarded, and began to strive to find ways to kill us. I don't know the true origin of the Empty-Men, but the legend is that they sold their bodies to Satan in exchange for the knowledge of our weaknesses and the power to kill us."

Again she shivered, harder this time. "I don't know if that is true or not, but I can tell you that the Empty-Men ravaged the Forest Spirits mercilessly. I watched my brothers and sisters cut down like wheat in a field all around me. They could not be seen with our magic eye, and being struck by their weapons, be they sword or bow or even dart, was always fatal. We could not fight them. For every one of them we captured and killed, they killed a hundred of us."

Tears welled up in her big brown eyes, so full of sorrow. "There were only a few of us left, and we decided we needed to hide or we would be killed. We abandoned our posts, relinquished our hold on our lands, and went into hiding, sleeping for two-hundred years. The world we emerged into was far different from the one we had left, with clanking machines and far more humans. Some went back to sleep, hoping times would be better in the future, and I was the only one that stayed awake and resumed my post. That was long ago, and never once have I heard even rumors of the Empty-Men. I had thought... I had hoped that they were all dead, even though I knew deep down they were not."

Our conversation turned to happier matters then, but as we fell asleep, entwined together in the hammock, I reflected on old man Brandy, wondering what his side of the story would be. Where had he gotten these magic Forest Spirit slayers? Was there any chance that I could learn these truths from him? One thing was for sure... he was a huge threat to my wife and our happiness.

5) ** **Our Forest Friends

Clarity was, without a shadow of a doubt, head over heels in love with me. It felt incredibly good to know that, because I'd been so crazy about her I hadn't known what to do about it. She was in charge of every life in this forest, but she didn't have to work frantically at it every second of every day. For the most part, all the animals behaved themselves, and if they didn't, she could resolve most disputes from right where she was.

It was fairly rare but not unheard of that a problem arose which required her personal presence and attention. In those circumstances, She would turn to a normal, four-footed horse, and let me ride on her back while she galloped out to wherever things were happening. In these times, though the sound of her thundering hooves would not speed up, the forest would rush past us faster and faster, until we were shooting through the trees like a bullet.

Her forest was well over a hundred miles long and seventy some miles wide at the widest point, but she could gallop from one end to the other in what seemed like less than five minutes. Everflow, of course, wanted to come along too, so Clarity would share her magical speed with the little doe, and I would watch her bounding along next to us as we tore through the forest at breakneck speed.

She would squeal in delight at the speed, and beg Clarity to give her that ability all the time, which she was not willing to do. "Dearest, it is safe when I'm with you and watching you, but I would be afraid you would hurt yourself running that fast without my supervision. Besides, if you could always run that fast, it wouldn't be a treat anymore, would it?"

The doe accepted the ruling, but I could tell it didn't make her happy. "Clarity knows best, honey." I said, trying to console her. "And she is right, if you just get to do it now and again, won't it be that much more special?"

Now pared with Clarity, her husband and lover, I suddenly found myself the center of more animal attention than I knew what to do with. An endless parade of wild animals appeared out of the forest, wanting to meet her, and by extension, me. None of them seemed the least bit frightened of me, perhaps because they knew they could trust the Forest Spirit to only take a mate who was worthy of trust.

With Clarity translating, I greeted every animal that lived in the forest, small to great, until I was sure I'd greeted every creature on the planet multiple times. The whole process took weeks. "Thank you for the hospitality, for welcoming me into your kingdom!" I repeated thousands of times.

There were a few encounters that stuck out. As the three of us wandered about aimlessly, enjoying each other's company, an old bear suddenly crashed through the forest and charged Everflow, roaring. I leapt into the way without hesitation, ready again to give my life for my little fawn, but the blow never came. It stopped moving mid-leap, dangling in the air, looking about in surprise. "I told you when you came here what the rules are. And you have the gall to try and break those rules right under my very nose? You will never be welcomed here again." Clarity crossly declared, then motioned and the bear was thrust away, howling in shock.

She turned to me and shook her head. "I have the most trouble with bears. They are big and strong, and therefore think themselves invincible. They're also incredibly stupid and narcissistic, so some of them do what he just did, perhaps because they are too stupid to even remember the rules I told them. It's a constant problem I deal with."

Everflow, for her part, was learning to speak far faster now that she was around Clarity. I wondered if the Forest Spirit was responsible, using her powers to teach words and pronunciations to my little pet. After several months, she was fluent and had proper grammar, having no problems with word tenses or anything else.

The only rain on our happy, wonderful times together was Nicholas Brandy. I'd given him the means to walk again. I'd given him the chance to hunt my lover with magic she could not counter. I was very afraid that he would come for her, and felt a preemptive strike was in order. When I tried to talk with Clarity about it, however, she seemed to not want to talk about it. "That is a dark and dangerous problem, dear." She would say. "Let us leave it for another time. I just want to enjoy being together with you for now."

I couldn't exactly understand her reluctance to do anything about it. To me, it seemed like it should be the first thing we should be worried about. "Clarity, let me go meet with him and scope it out at least..." I asked her, at last.

She looked at me with a bit of sadness in her eyes. "The town tried to kill you several months ago, my darling. Let's just leave it for a while in the hopes that they will calm down, alright?"

"But baby!" I protested in frustration, "He could be in the forest right now and we'd never know it! I'm scared he will kill you!"

Sighing, she calmly pointed out "Dear, he must have heard of the lynch mob by now, and of your flight into the woods, and of my rescue of you. He is bound to feel very suspicious of you after all this. You've been here with me for many days, and he will suspect you have learned the truth. He'll never trust you with the potion or the poison, he'll keep them hidden."

I hadn't really thought of that. "You... have a point, but what do we do? We can't just sit by and do nothing, it's like waiting for death to come upon us! It's not if, it's when will he strike!"

She looked even more sad. "I'm thinking about it, trying to figure out what we can do, but I'm having very little luck. The Forest Spirits have no defense against the powers of the Empty-Men, that's why they slaughtered us."

I swallowed and shivered. "Let me go with a rifle, and I'll take care of him. Then I'll burn his house and everything he has."

Tears formed in her large brown eyes. "Could you really do that? Could you really kill a man in cold blood? You would be no better than he is if you did that."

It was my turn to tear up. "But he's threatening to kill my baby! I... can't let him hurt you, Clarity... I love you so much." I threw my arms around her neck and cried into her mane.

She hugged me tightly and cooed lovingly at my words. "He hasn't won yet, dearest. Why do you think I am still alive when so many of my people were slaughtered? I like to think I'm rather clever myself, and I have survived several attempts on my life by Empty-Men. I don't simply look upon my world with my magic eye. I smell and look around me always with my flesh and blood senses, and that makes it very hard for a human to get the better of me. Many of the Forest Spirits stopped looking at their forests with their normal eyes, because they could see better with magic... but that blinded them to the Empty-Men, and when it was needed that they use their physical eyes and ears, they no longer knew how."

"You mean you can still see him with your normal eyes?" I asked, feeling hopeful. "I thought he would be invisible."

"The potion only makes him invisible to my magic. He is still physically there, so yes, I could see him just fine with my eyes. I defeated several Empty-Men that way. So you see, we are not altogether without hope. We shall try to think of another solution, but until then, I shall keep doubly alert, and take heart in the fact that I doubt he has the training and abilities of the Empty-Men, even if he has their powers."

I still didn't like it, but no matter how much I tried to convince her of my fears, she remained obstinate. It almost felt to me as if she had some other overriding concern that was coloring her decision, but what that was I could not be sure. I at last gave up trying to convince her and simply tried to form my own plan for removing Nicholas Brandy as a threat.

* * *

While Everflow certainly missed the human children she used to play with, she was now spending a great deal of time with a new group of friends; the animals that called this forest home. Of special importance was her little fox friend, whom Clarity confirmed was the one I'd rescued. She would come right up to me and hop up in my lap looking for petting, just like a dog.

It was quite a sight to see a fox and a doe playing and chasing each other, but the two of them were best friends, almost inseparable now that we lived in the forest. Clarity and I would lounge around and watch as the two of them played together, talking happily with each other. These days were idyllic, and months seemed to slide by like a breeze. Fall was upon us in no-time flat.

Clarity had kept me well fed, building food for me up from the world around us. It was tasty, if unidentifiable. "Just enjoy it." She said when I inquired what was in it. She would take on her equine form to feed, as she said it was much easier to graze on grass in that form than when in humanoid form. Often little birds would land on her back and sing for us while we ate together, something which she seemed to like very much.

I would approach, and they would fearlessly let me near, even letting me pet them. I learned they loved to have their tiny necks rubbed, and would spread their wings and close their eyes and soak up the touch whenever I would do it. "Be very, very gentle, dear. They are so tiny and delicate and you are very strong." Clarity warned me at first, but she saw how careful I was and quickly came to trust me in doing it.

To my surprise, however, word of my massages apparently spread through all the flocks of birds living here and even abroad, and suddenly they were coming from far and wide to get a neck rub. It was not uncommon for me to have a dozen little birds landed on my arms, shoulders, and even ears as they patiently waited their turn for attention. Both Clarity and Everflow thought it was absolutely darling.

I actually became acquainted with some of the other animals that lived here as well, including several bobcats who acted like big housecats. Clarity brought us to the cave she called home, though she said in the summertime when the weather was nice, she preferred to sleep in a hammock up in the trees, it was now growing cold and the shelter of the cave was preferable. In that cave I met the cats, who apparently she'd let move in with her. Like the fox, they instantly trusted me and were friendly and sociable.

As time passed, I became more and more of a wildman, living off the land with Clarity. She began to clothe me in similar living grass garments to what she wore, and while she liked me better with my beard shaved off, my hair grew longer and longer. Everflow was very nearly fully grown as the first snows hit. She was always a Daddy's girl and I found there was nothing she liked better than spending alone time with me, even if Clarity was still with us in spirit no matter where we went.

She was fully grown as winter began in earnest, though she still acted like a young girl or perhaps a teenager, the bucks began to grow an interest in her. I was out exploring with her one winter's day, and she had wandered off from where I was resting for a minute, having greater difficulty moving through snow than she did. Suddenly, she came bounding back through the forest at top speed, her white tail high in the air. "Daddy!" She shrieked.

As she skidded to a halt behind me, a buck appeared out of the trees, chasing her. "Daddy, he tried to jump on my back! I just said hello an' was tryin' to be friendly and he started acting all weird!" She warbled in great distress.

Like all deer save for Everflow, when he saw a human standing there, he stopped and wandered off. Was she that age already? She seemed rather young to be an adult, and yet she had seemed to grow up and develop faster than most deer would as far as I knew, so perhaps it was so. Though we were deep into the woods, I called for Clarity. Her reply was immediate. "Yes dear, I'm coming. I sensed it happen, so I guess it is time for Everflow and I to have a 'girl talk' session together." She replied.

I was just as glad to let her do it. I didn't know how to broach the subject of sex with a developing human child, let alone trying to explain it to a doe. When the two of them returned several hours later, she looked contemplative and was quiet for several days afterwards. She insisted she wanted to continue exploring and not return home, though, so Clarity went back while we continued on our adventure.

6) ** **Always Darkest Before the Dawn

After a week of camping out and exploring the deepest reaches of the forest, it was time to return home. I missed Clarity terribly much, and I could tell Everflow was feeling the same way, even though she'd had a wonderful time with me. These months had been like a wonderful dream for me. I got to play every day all day with my little doe and my gorgeous, exotic equine wife. I didn't have to work, or worry about food or anything, I could just spend all day doting on Everflow and Clarity.

We'd turned back from our exploration and called out for Clarity. "Baby! We've explored ourselves out and we'd like to come home!" I said, unable to hide the warmth and eagerness from my voice as I thought of soon reuniting with her.

To my surprise, her response was very terse. "OK. Hurry back." Was all that she replied, sounding distracted. Everflow and I looked at each other in instant alarm. We knew her enough to know that something was wrong. Usually, Clarity would have come and picked me up to bring me back as I couldn't travel with such incredible speed using her magic like the two of them could.

"Did she speed you up, Ev'?" I asked, tersely.

"Y... yeah..." She replied, and I could see fear in her eyes. I hoped it was just instinctive, not that she sensed something amiss.

"Maybe you'd better hurry home and make sure she's OK, then." I said, trying to mask the unease from my own voice.

She shook her lovely head. "No! I wouldn't know how to help if there was something wrong! You gotta come too, Daddy! Climb on my back."

Hesitating, I cautiously said "Are you sure? You aren't really large enough to carry a human on your back, honey..."

Impatiently, she snapped "With her magic speeding me up, I can! At least, for long enough to get us home! Trust me, Daddy, hurry!"

I didn't argue, instead vaulting as carefully as I could onto my little sweetheart's back. She staggered a little bit, unaccustomed to the extra weight, but soon recovered, and without pausing, she took off. I was used to the incredible speed of Clarity's magic as I rode on her back all the time when she would do it, but I'd never done it while on Everflow's back.

It was not hard to see why deer were never used for such transportation. Though she was fleet of foot, fast as a horse, and beautifully graceful, her giant leaping bounds were nearly enough to rattle my teeth out of my head. I clamped down with my arms and legs, holding onto her for dear life as she leapt through the dense forest at hundreds and hundreds of miles an hour. With every bounding step I was crushed painfully down onto her back, then nearly torn off a moment later as gravity reversed at the apex of her jump.

All I could do was hold on with all my strength and try to look ahead of us in spite of the terrible rushing wind, to see if there was anything coming up that would require a different response from me, such as a fallen tree or a ravine that would make her abruptly change course and fling me from her back. My muscles screamed in protest, but at her present rate I already recognized the woods around us and knew we were almost back to our little cave home.

"Mommy, where are you?" I heard Everflow shout over the rushing wind. She then veered to the left and several miles flashed past us. She slowed down and stopped about a mile from the healing pool, at a place where both girls liked to browse for food. There was Clarity standing in the middle of it in her equine form, still as a statue, her eyes alert.

"What's wrong, baby?" I whispered, gratefully jumping off of the doe's back. There was no response. "Clar?" I whispered, stepping close.

She was staring at one specific spot in the snow, a jumble of trees. I looked, but could see nothing. Slowly, she replied "I... thought I smelled human from over that direction. A human that isn't you."

My heart caught in my throat. Everflow and I looked at each other with ashen looks, then began to scan the forest with our own eyes. "Mmm... mmm... Mommy... Mmm... mmmaybe we should go to the cave..." Everflow squeaked in a tiny voice.

The glistening mare shook her head gently. "No. If he's here, I want to stand my ground and have it out with him. I won't run in my own kingdom. Drew, there are so many things I've not yet said to you..." Her voice trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

There was tense silence for several minutes, at last broken by the young doe. "Mmaybe you were mistaken? I don't smell anything..." She broke off. We all saw it at the same time. Someone was walking through the trees we'd been staring at, heading straight towards us. I tensed and found the long hunting knife I carried with me all the time in the forest. Though I never needed it for self-defense, I used it often to cut wood, food for Everflow, or other things.

As the figure made its way through the trees, closer and closer, I realized this was not Nicholas Brandy. He had a funny sort of limp because of the prosthetic leg I'd fashioned, and this person was walking smoothly and easily over the rough terrain of the forest. "It's not Brandy, but keep your guard up." I grunted.

She nodded. "I can't see him at all with magic, so there is most definitely something wrong. He has the Empty-Men's spells. Drew, this is bad, dear. I wish we could have talked about it, I shouldn't have stalled..."

Even deeper fears crowded into my heart. "Please, Clarity, please run away and let me deal with this!" I whispered urgently, but she stood her ground.

At last, I recognized the man. It was Brandy's son. He waved to me and smiled. "Hello there, Drew! I've been looking for you for quite some time! You never were able to finish building my father's wooden leg, and he's requesting you do so now. He doesn't believe any of that garbage about you abusing Everflow, by the way."

I hesitated, blinking. What? What was this? Surely it couldn't be that he was simply... Even as I thought it, I heard a twang and a whistle from our right, and suddenly Clarity staggered and fell, whinnying "Drew!" Buried in her side was a crossbow bold, and blood was pouring from the wound. "I got 'er, son!" I heard Brandy's unmistakable voice call triumphantly from another thicket to our right.

My fears had all come true, and my horror exploded in my brain. I looked up, but could not see Nicholas. I could, however, see his son, grinning in triumph. I could vaguely hear Everflow screaming as she stood over the crumpled form of Clarity. White hot rage flared within me and I wanted nothing more than to wipe that grin off the stupid man's face. I charged him with a scream, drawing my dagger and running for all I was worth.

His smile faltered as he saw the insane fury in my eyes. He held up his hands in surrender, and when I didn't even begin to slow down, he turned and ran with a yell. "Paw! Ee's gone mad! 'elp me, Paw!"

I had been crunching through snow every day with my two girls and was well practiced at it. I was upon him before he'd made twenty steps and leapt on his back, sending him crashing to the snow. He barely had time to roll onto his back before I was on him, howling in raving fury and insanity, stabbing and slashing at him until the snow was crimson with blood and it had been a long time since he'd last moved.

It finally dully registered in my brain that he was dead, and without waiting, I was up and charging the most likely spot that Nicholas had to be hiding in. There was a twang and a whistle, and something grazed my living moss jacket, narrowly missing my arm. It had come from that thicket... I had him now.

He saw the blood I was covered with and stood up in shock and horror. "What've yeh done to my boy!?" He cried.

I brandished the bloody knife with wild hatred in my eyes as I closed the distance between us. "You murdered my wife!" I screamed. Hatred filled his own wicked eyes, and with lightning speed, he began to reload the crossbow, quite a feat for a man with only one arm.

I was living off of the biggest adrenalin shot of my life, running faster than I ever would have believed I could, but I could tell he was going to get that weapon loaded and fire once more before I could reach him. "I'll kill ya, you servant of the devil!" He screamed. "You killed my boy!"

He raised the crossbow and fired. No! I couldn't- I wouldn't let it end this way! I hurled my body to the side with all my strength, and felt the bold again slice past my sleeve, narrowly missing my flesh. There was no way he would get it loaded again, and he didn't even try. Instead, he crouched low and ready to meet my wild charge.

I dove at him with the knife, but he used the crossbow with excellent precision, cracking it across my hand. Sharp pain shot up my fingers and I involuntarily let go of the knife. I had a vague vision of it spinning away through the air and puffing down into a snow bank, useless to me for the remainder of the fight.

My rage and adrenalin spiked even higher that he would dare fight me and try to fend off his own inevitable death. He swung the crossbow at my skull, and I raised my arm, deflecting the blow. The soft moss coat I was wearing absorbed the force of it, and it bounced harmlessly off of me. I grabbed it before he could swing again and twisted it hard. His finger was still on the trigger, still in the trigger guard. As I twisted it sideways, his finger was forced to bend a direction it was never meant to bend, and the resulting crack was loudly audible.

He shouted a curse and released the crossbow, letting me yank it away from him and hurl it away. I snarled and dove on him, tearing his wooden leg off to further incapacitate him. I began to strike him as hard and as fast as I could, over and over and over again, willing him to no longer even resemble a human. "You animal! You killed the most pure, kind, gentle creature this world has ever known!" I screamed, tears flowing as I rained blow after blow on any part of him that I could reach.

"Demon!" He screamed, weakly struggling against me and landing blows of his own.

I howled in inarticulate rage and grabbed his neck, squeezing for all I was worth.

* * *

I stepped away from the vomit. I'd thrown up all over the snow, having recently eaten one of Clarity's tasty but unidentifiable meals. Sobbing, drooling, still wretching, I stumbled back to the fallen form of my loving wife. Everflow was laying down beside her in the snow, bawling her large brown eyes out in anguish. I fell to my knees before her, sure she was already dead. Feeling me close, however, she opened her large brown eyes.

"Hello, Drew." She said, smiling sadly.

"Clarity... what can I do to help? Can we put you in the healing pool? It isn't far..." I sobbed, grasping at vain hopes.

She blinked, and I got the distinct impression that she was blind as her eyes moved around widely with no focus. "No, dear-heart. I'm so sorry, Drew. I have long known this was to be my end, my sad destiny. I am perhaps the last of the old Forest Spirits, the dying memory of a bygone age. This was going to happen, nothing could stop it."

"Nooo!" I howled in agony. "Clarity, I love you! Please don't leave me! I can't live without you!"

"I have to, Drew. This, our relationship... was destined to be short. I do not begrudge a moment of the time we spent together, though I knew it would be my last act on this earth. Do not be sad, I love you so much."

"I wish I'd never met you!" I screamed. "He used me to get to you! He used me to find you!"

She shook her head, blinking, but unable to focus on my face. "No, Drew. We had to meet."

I tore at my hair, ripping out great clumps of it with my fists. "Because of me you're going to die! All these animals will lose their home, their safety! This will never be a bastion of safety again!!!" I shrieked, hysterical.

"Drew. Shhhhh. Please don't be so loud." She gently soothed. "None of that is true, dear. I already told you, it was my destiny to die at the hands of the last of the Empty-Men. What you have done by coming here, was to save this place. You are a hero."

In agony, I sobbed "Save this place? W... what... I haven't done a thing of use to anyone..." She reached for me, unable to see, and I took her black-furred hand, clutching it in both of mine.

Her voice was growing weaker and slurred. "No, you did the greatesss thing of all. You brought my heir to me, and you single-handedly saved her li'lll llife."

Slowly, I turned my blurry, tear-filled eyes upon Everflow. Clarity reached out her other hand blindly in the general direction of the doe, who tremblingly stood up and stepped closer, falling back on her side and pressing her lovely face into Clarity's shoulder, sobbing silently. "She is young and will need your help and strength as she learns what must be done, but she will be far stronger than I, and from her will spring up many Forest Spirits who will not be defeated by the wiles of men."

"Daddy..." Everflow sobbed, her voice pleading.

Clarity blindly reached for her and clumsily stroked her neck. "No, daughter. He is not your father, you already know that. He is Drew. He is your protector, he is your love. Much more, he will need your protection just as much as you will need his. Cherish each other, my loves. Drew, you will understand this all in time, I swear it to you."

Her voice was just a murmur now, and I had to lean close to hear it. "I treasured these months with you, Drew. Every day has been a joy and a pleasure to me. I would not give up a single day of that time to live forever. Thank you... for loving me, for caring for me... for restoring my faith... in hum... an... it..." She was gone, her hands falling limpy from Everflow's neck, and my trembling grip.

The forest was solemnly silent, paying respects to its fallen protector. The only sounds to be heard were the anguished cries of a human and a doe, echoing through the snow-blanketed wooded hills.

7) ** **Newness

"Drew! Wake up!" came a loud, excited cry in my ears. "It's a lovely spring day outside!"

I groaned and tried to hide my head in my moss pillow. Everflow wasn't having any of that, and she tromped forward and grabbed my blanket in her teeth, yanking it off me. She'd thrown the cave door wide open, letting in bracingly cold mid-spring air and light. "C'mon, sleepyhead! You'll never believe what I learned I can do this morning!" She exuberantly crowed. She was growing vastly more powerful every day as she was filled more and more with the powers of the Forest Spirit. For her to be this excited over some new development had to mean it was something very extra, extra special.

"Up! Up! Up right now, or I'll pick you up and fling you down the hill naked!" She growled in mock anger. I groaned, but sat up, rubbing my eyes and trying to figure out what she was so happy about.

I grabbed my coat and pulled it on with a sigh. It was new... the one Clarity had made for me withered and died when she passed, leaving me naked and freezing in the middle of the snow in winter. Everflow's first act with her new powers had been to save my life by fashioning me new clothes. It had been her first attempt at it, and the results were predictably poor. The shape and size tended to be all wrong, but I was still proud of it. She was endlessly embarrassed by it however, and begged me to let her make me new clothes, showing me all the fancy creations she could now do, but I doggedly held on to this coat for sentimental reasons. I'd even had to make her promise me she wouldn't destroy it while I slept.

She looked at it now with distaste. "Oh, do you have to wear that old thing? It's such a dumb coat, and it'll ruin the mood I'm trying to create!"

I laughed. "My sweetie saved my life with this coat. I'm very proud of it and I'm very proud of her. It's just a coat, honey! What mood could it possibly spoil?"

"I want everything to be perfect for this." She fussed. "I been waiting for this for months. You gotta at least promise me you'll take it off when we reach our destination."

I sighed and stood up. "Alright, alright, I promise, so long as you don't make it disappear when I'm not looking." She rolled her eyes at that but did not reply.

I took one last look at the family of bobcats, still peacefully sleeping on the other side of the cave, and wished I was still with them. Then we stepped out of the cave and into a very bright, very beautiful morning. The snow was almost completely melted off everything, and early spring flowers were already growing and would soon bloom. The day was already warm, too warm for my thick moss coat, and I would soon have to ask her to make me something lighter for the spring.

She pranced around me, urging me to go faster. She was fully grown now, rather large for a doe, perhaps more around the size of a buck. She was urging me with every breath, and I finally laughed and paused. "I'm going so fast I better take a break for a rest, or you'll wear me out!" I said, leaning against a tree.

"Daaareeeeewwww!!!" She groaned in frustration. "Please! I'm dyin' to show you thiiiissss!"

I laughed and scratched behind her large ears. "I'm only joking, honey. I'm coming."

"Ride on my back if you're so tired." She said grumpily, though I knew her well enough to know her anger was just an act.

Shaking my head, I held my hands up in pleading. "No! Have mercy on me, sweetie! Your leaping bounds are as graceful as they are beautiful, but they make the proposition of riding on you next to impossible."

She sighed and nodded. "I'm workin' on that. I'm trying to figure out how to walk like a horse, so you can ride on my back like you did with momma... I mean..." She broke off, faltering and glancing at me worriedly.

My brow furrowed at the painful memory of Clarity and her death. I struggled with sorrow and anger at it, because I felt more than ever that her death had been avoidable, had she let me act to stop Brandy before he struck. It made thinking about her difficult. At first I'd not wanted to live without her, but then I'd seen Everflow, sobbing beside me with just as much sorrow, and I knew I had to live, for her.

It had all happened four months ago, and I was still trying to come to grips with my feelings. I hadn't known Clarity for that long, and the sad truth of the matter was that I felt like I'd lost the most precious thing I'd ever had in my life. More than anything, I felt cheated out of having her with me still by choices she'd made that had seemed foolish to me then and seemed more foolish to me now. I didn't believe in fate.

My task after burying her had been to comfort Everflow. She'd just about died of a broken heart, not wanting to do anything but sob at Clarity's grave, saying over and over "This wasn't what I wanted." Only when I got firm with her was I able to make her start eating and drinking again, for my sake if not for her own. Really, I think saving her was also what saved me.

For months I'd comforted the despondent little deer, and slowly she'd seemed to come to grips with what had happened. I had the distinct impression that she actually knew a great deal more about the events of that day (and for that matter all the months we'd been together) than I did, but the pain of having to think about it had prevented me from ever asking her.

As she'd regained her desire to live, our relationship had dramatically changed. No longer did she call me 'Daddy,' but 'Drew,' or 'dear.' No longer was I a paternal figure and a protector, I was now the one being protected by her. No longer was I her teacher, explaining the world to her, she was the master and I was the student. Though she was not yet one year old, she had the wisdom of one far older than I already. I supposed this was Clarity's spirit and power passed on to her when the equine had died.

"Drew!" She snapped, jerking me out of my deep thoughts. "We're here."

I looked around and saw she'd brought me to the bathing pool where I'd first spent time with Clarity as her lover. I always used it to bathe, the gentle lilac-scented water doing a magical job of cleaning me to spotless. The Forest Spirits, both of them, kept it warm for me so that I could enjoy it at any time.

"The bath? You want me to bathe? Is this your subtle way of telling me it's time to clean up?" I said, with teasing hurt in my voice.

She clucked her tongue in exasperation at me and stalked over, giving me a playful head-butt. "Yes, you dummy! You stink awful, so get in there!"

I hung my head in shame. "You cut me to the quick, honey. I shall slink away in embarrassment now, I fear."

She wasn't feeling any pity for my mock pain. "Slink as much as you want, so long as it is in that pool! Hurry up, or you're going to make the Forest Spirit very angry. I mean it now, enough of your little games."

I sighed and did as she ordered. She watched me disrobe and slip into the wonderfully warm, steaming water. I sank down in it up to my neck and turned to look at her expectantly. "Well?" I asked. "I'm in the water, now what do you want?" For some reason, I thought I'd seen hunger in her eyes as she'd looked at me stepping into the warm pool.

She drew herself up and grinned happily. "Now it's time to..." She froze and turned her head to the side, dialing her ears to catch an inaudible sound. "Oh no! Not now!!! Crummy! Drew, a hunter just entered my eastern border, I gotta go take care of it. I'm sorryyyy! Don't you dare get out of the water, I'll be RIGHT BACK!" She said and bounded off with amazing speed.

I sighed and relaxed back into the flowery, fragrant water. That sort of thing happened with annoying frequency. All manner of towns, cities and farms bordered the hundreds of miles that formed the perimeter of her domain, and it seemed as if there was always some hunter, trapper, or carnivore testing her borders. I knew from both her and Clarity that there was nothing to be done about it, and that I just had to wait it out. It seldom took her more than ten minutes to deal with any situation.

I rested back in the water, floating and closing my eyes. Yes, I'd been sleeping so peacefully before she'd woken me up, and this water was so warm and comforting. I dozed off to the sound of spring songbirds.

* * *

"Drew! Up!" I was awakened for the second time that morning to the sound of Everflow calling my name.

Straightening up in the water, I squinted up at her as I woke up. "Get it all taken care of?" I asked, smiling.

She nodded. "I ripped his gun up and gave him a spanking." She said it so matter-of-factly, I laughed. I knew she'd really done it too, because it was one of her favorite ways to treat trespassers, and the humiliation seemed to keep them from returning.

"OK, now what's your surprise for me?" I asked, smiling expectantly at her.

She lowered her head, and all at once began to melt and reform. I pretty much instantly knew what was happening, having seen Clarity change her form many times, but Everflow had never shown the least bit of ability to do this. Bones shrank, muscles reformed, and in the end she stood before me on two legs, a beautiful little human-shaped doe with pretty brown fur and dainty hands and hooves.

"Ta-dahh!" She said, beaming proudly at me. I'd looked at her enough to see she indeed had the full figure of an adult woman, but beyond that looked part-way away from her out of respect.

"Wow! That's great, Ev'! I didn't know if you'd actually be able to do that little trick or not." I said, beaming at her because I could tell how proud she was of it.

To my surprise, I heard a splash and realized she was climbing into the pool with me. I glanced over at her in surprise, and found her gliding into the water towards me, a definite hunger in her large brown eyes. Before I could exactly figure out what she was doing, she pounced on me, hugged me close, and pressed her tongue into my mouth, kissing me.

It was just about the shock of my life. Everflow was French-kissing me with heated passion. "Umph!" I muttered and caught her shoulders, firmly pushing her away from me. "Honey! Don't do that!" I admonished angrily. "That isn't... what are you thinking? It was only a few months ago that you were calling me Daddy. That is not appropriate!"

She snorted. "Goose. You aren't really my Daddy, I know that. I'm in love with you, dear. It's time we learned that together."

I gaped at her. "No. No! Good God, Everflow! My love was for Clarity! I can't... this isn't... I don't... no, no, no. I don't have any intention of sex with anyone else. Whether you call me Daddy any more or not, I feel like I'm your father, and this is just not happening... I gotta think about this." I released her and headed for the side of the pool and my clothes. I couldn't believe she'd just tried that, and I had no idea how in the world to handle the situation.

I made it about two steps past her before a gentle but firm hand caught my shoulder. "Hold on there, dear. It's time we had a talk about a great many things."

Without turning around, I declared "Not while naked in a pool together, Everflow. This is bad and I'm not happy with you right now."

I tried to pull out of her fingers, but found she had, in fact, used her magic to root me to my place. Before I could protest, she turned me around to face her again and gently said "Yes, right now in the pool. This isn't at all what you think, dear. Just calm down."

She sighed and froze my lips before I could begin to loudly protest. "Drew, you of all people should know me well enough to trust me a little bit, I would think! Hear me out, OK? It's time we talked about what happened all those months ago. I've achieved the fullness of my powers, so things are ready to proceed."

She released me then, knowing that would be enough to stop me from leaving. I swallowed and shook my head. "I... I'm not ready to talk about that, Ev'. It hurts too much."

Her voice was gentle. "It is because you are hurting that now is precisely the time to talk about it. You've suffered long enough and been brave for my sake, to help me. It's time you learned the truth and had peace and happiness again."

"Short of Clarity still being alive, nothing is going to make me have total peace and happiness, honey." I said, softly.

Nodding, she looked supremely satisfied with herself. "Precisely. I couldn't have said it better myself, in fact. Drew... what you think you knew of her... what you think you know of me... is not exactly the reality of it. I don't know how to go about explaining this to you, so I guess I'll just start at the end of it all: I am Clarity."

I stared at her for a moment, then tears filled my eyes and I looked away again. "You are her daughter, you are the heir to her powers and her kingdom, but you are not Clarity herself, Ev'. I love you to pieces but you aren't the same woman who declared me her husband."

She shook her head. "No, you are wrong, there. I am indeed Clarity herself, and I am in fact the same woman, the exact same woman, who you took as your wife those months ago and made love to in a hammock stretched between two birch trees. I'm the same woman who had an- ahhh- accident with you the first time we were intimate, an accident which you kinkily enjoyed repeating from then on. I have changed my body and changed my name, but it is me, dear, from ear to hoof."

"How... how did you know... about that?" I weakly managed.

She sighed patiently. "I know because I'm the one who did it. Drew, I'm telling you, I AM Clarity!"

I continued to stare at her, hardly comprehending, let alone believing, her words. She stepped close, turned me around so my back was facing her, and hugged me close, gently squeezing me to her and speaking into my ear. "It is a terrible burden to bear, but a Forest Spirit can see the time, place and circumstances of her death, and despite all our powers, we are helpless to stop it in any way. Or at least, that is what was believed."

"I knew that I would meet my love, and that it would signal the coming of my end. When I first laid eyes on you and watched you rescue that little fox, a look of gentle compassion on your face, I was head over heels in love with you, and I knew that things were being set in motion that would signal my inevitable death."

She sighed and continued. "I was scared out of my hooves of you because of that, and for a time I tried to run from my feelings for you, inexorable though they were. I ignored you when you entered the forest, searching for me like a lovesick puppy. It was so endearing, but I was afraid; afraid to face my own death."

The beautiful deer-woman drew her fingers through my hair as she continued. "Then one evening you charged into my land with a dying fawn. You were crying and full of fear as the tiny life you held in your hands snuffed out, and I suddenly had an idea. Though I had reacted too slow to save her, for she died after you had taken but two steps into my domain, I saw in it an opportunity. How could I die and yet live on? If I placed an anchor of myself into the body of this poor dead creature, I realized I might be able to transfer myself from my doomed body to a new one."

Her voice grew soft. "I filled her with myself, as much as I dared, then kept her alive until you reached the pool. I struggled within myself if this was the right thing to do, and hesitated, again afraid. Your sorrow moved me though, and I did heal her and set my plan into motion. One way or another I'd set into motion a wild stagecoach ride that we both had to endure."

I pushed away from her and turned, staring at her in a mixture of awe and horror. "You mean to tell me all this time you... all this time there was no Everflow, there was only Clarity? It was all a ruse? Why? Why did you do that? I loved not one, but two lies!" I cried at her, filled with hurt.

She shook her head, frantically. "No Drew, I didn't mean it at all like that!"

"You never needed me!" I bitterly spat. "You could have raised yourself by yourself... I was just a pawn."

"No! Stop that, Drew. I love you, but you get too wrapped up in yourself in these matters and won't even listen when I try to explain. Learn from your past mistakes and just listen as I tell you what happened, OK?" She said, firmly.

Feeling chided, I nodded and looked down. She relaxed back and continued. "In fact, I rather quickly could tell I would not be able to raise Everflow myself. I can't exactly explain why, other than to tell you to try and imagine if you were to meet yourself as a child, then try to raise yourself. How in the world would you go about it? Furthermore, I was not yet aware that I was in fact Clarity, which made things all the more mind-bendingly complicated. No, I needed someone else to raise my new form."

"Drew, I chose you for many, many reasons. Foremost, I loved you already very much by then, and there was nobody else in the universe I would rather have caring for me when I was young and helpless. I knew you would be kind and gentle and keep me safe, and at the same time I would be able to get to know you in the most wonderful environment I could ever have hoped. Beyond that, I knew that we would be lovers one day, and I thought that retrospectively, you would have been offended if I had anyone else OTHER than you raise me up. Do you feel better now?"

"Why... didn't you just tell me..." I whispered.

She looked at me closely with her large brown eyes. "Because when I was little, I had no idea who I really was, that I was an extension of Clarity, and in fact would be Clarity one day. I was just a little fawn who loved her Daddy, and that was all that either of us needed to know at that point. As for why Clarity, that is the adult side of myself who knew what was happening, didn't tell you, it was because I was still very afraid this wasn't working right. I could not feel Everflow, she was like a totally different person. How could I explain it all to you when I didn't even know myself if it was going to work? I was trying to cheat death, something nobody I knew had ever tried before."

I hung my head. "I'm sorry I was getting angry. I see why you did what you did, now, Clarity." I reached for her and hugged her tightly, and she gave a happy warble and hugged me back.

As we embraced, she continued. "I began to grow, and began to become aware that I shared my mind with Clarity every day. I became aware of our destiny as well, that you would be my husband, and that we would be the parents of the start of the population of new Forest Spirits together. That was a rather heavy thing to realize, and even more heavy to have be confirmed by Clarity. I didn't want you for a husband, I wanted you for a daddy. I was still a little girl, and because of that, I pushed very had to try and marry you off to Clarity, figuring that would solve my problems."

She sighed. "This is all complicated, but please try to follow me, dear. The Clarity half of me wanted to defer her claim on you to her Everflow self, waiting until I was old enough and then marrying us, but the problem was, she loved you dearly already. When the conniving and clever rebellious part of herself she'd broken away wheeled and dealed her to kindle a relationship with you, she was drawn in inexorably, and despite her desire to spare you the apparent pain of her death and defer her love and bonding until she was fully me, her interactions with you were too much for her lonely heart to bare, and she took you for her husband."

She hung her head. "I'm sorry I did that to you, Drew. I should have waited. I tried to avoid you so that you would not suffer my loss, but I succumbed to temptation, to the desire to know and love you. I feared it would all not work, and that would be my only chance to know and love you. I know it is complicated, but does that make any sense to you?"

I nodded slowly. "Y... yes... but... once you knew who you were and that your plan was working, why didn't you tell me then? Why did you keep this ruse going, keeping me in the dark?"

Cupping my face in her delicate little hands, she stared into my eyes soulfully. "Drew, I dared not reveal these things to you. Firstly, I was still unsure it would work in the end, and secondly, I feared to tell any living creature, lest the Empty-man be listening in and kill both parts of me. I knew that it could still end up a terrible tragedy for both of us. I felt it was too great a risk, so I told no one, not even my husband, who I trusted with my very life. Can you please understand that and don't be angry with me?"

Scarcely able to believe the story that was being unfolded before me, I nodded and hugged her again. "I guess I was just your alibi then, huh. Here I thought I was teaching you and being such a good parent. I'll bet you laughed yourself to sleep every night at how foolish I was."

"No, no, no! Drew, I'll admit that I didn't expect to learn much from you, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth! Your perspective on things was wonderful! You helped me realize some deficiencies in my own life that I needed to change. Even more importantly, you showed me and made me realize that the majority of humans are not evil and wicked as I had bitterly thought. I played with sweet children and did little jobs for their parents, and was loved and respected by all of them. You can't imagine what a shock it was to me!"

Her voice became choked. "I even watched... hunters... who I'd thought to be the most wicked of all... coming home proudly with their day's catch, food that they could feed their hungry families with. I saw the children I played with and loved thank their Daddies and their God for the food they were given to eat. These men were not evil, they were simple, honest people who were working hard to feed their families! I was so ashamed of my treatment of them I felt sick! I had mutilated them when they had done no more wrong than working to feed their loved ones."

She'd fallen into an almost trance as she recounted these things, horror registering on her face. Now she at last seemed to awaken from her reverie and remember where she was. She looked back up at me. "Drew, you may be hundreds and hundreds of years younger than me, but you taught me the most valuable lessons of my entire life, and you taught them by raising me as your own precious little daughter."

I nodded gravely, then slowly smiled. "So now you spank them and send them on their way?"

She giggled. "Yes. I still want my domain to be a place of safety and rest for all who would enter, and I warn and warn the hunters that I will not permit them to harm anything in this forest. If they ignore my warnings, I break their guns and give them a good, hard spanking with the butt of it. The humiliation hasn't failed to keep them away yet. And... if I ever can find any of the poor men I mutilated, I shall bring them here and heal them..."

"Aww Ev'... I mean, Clarity, that's sweet of you!" I said with admiration.

She shook her head. "No, dear. I am Everflow now. Though I am Clarity in her entirety, Clarity was not Everflow in her entirety. I have learned much from this whole experience, and I think a change of name is well and truly in order. Now, why don't you ask me your question? I can tell you are dying to ask me one thing, and that is perhaps the best way to reveal the rest of the story which happened around you unbeknownst to you."

I nodded, and had my question ready already. It was the question I'd been asking myself since that horrible day, a question I still didn't feel she had answered properly. "Why, Ev'? Why couldn't we have just avoided the whole situation? We knew who the Empty-man was, I could have stopped him and saved us both from all this sadness and hardship."

Her smile was tinged with sadness, but before she answered, she said "Let's get out of the water and continue this. I can't stay in the water as long as you can, dear... my skin will get too dried out."

We stepped out of the warm water, and she pulled all the liquid from us, leaving us clean and dry. I hurriedly put on my clothes again, shivering from the bracing cold of the mid-spring morning. To my relief, Everflow sprouted a beautiful grass gown to cover herself with. I still didn't feel comfortable with that part of the situation.

Both dressed and comfortable, she answered me. "My death was going to happen, I had seen it. I don't believe we could have fought the Empty-Man, dearest. I know that is difficult for you to understand, but... I knew my time had come. If I had run away and hid that day, I might have bought myself a few days, but he would have gotten me. And no, before you ask, you could not have succeeded in stopping him, for it was his destiny to succeed. Fighting it might have done nothing more than gotten you killed."

"But..." I started to protest.

She touched a delicate finger to my lips. "Shhh. Drew, I know that it is hard for you to understand, but you must simply trust me. It was going to happen, and you would not have been able to stop it, no matter how hard you tried. Take comfort in the fact that you stopped him, and he will never kill again. Take comfort that despite our sorrows in parting, I'm still here, and I love you more than ever."

While I mulled that over in my mind, she drew up some breakfast for me, silently encouraging me to eat, which I slowly did, sitting down in a dry patch under a tree. She sat down next to me and squeezed my knee gently. "I don't know how to feel, Clar... Ev'. I understand why you did what you did, but I feel like I was manipulated, and everything I knew and loved was actually a lie."

Heaving a big sigh, she hugged me and nuzzled my neck. "Well, I know how I feel; I love you, Drew MacMurdoch. I managed to cheat death itself to be with you, and I'm overjoyed that I succeeded. Our future looks bright!"

Soberly, I eyed her, still feeling in turmoil. "Why didn't you tell me all this sooner, like right after you died? Why did you let me suffer when you knew the truth would be such a comfort?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and stained her pretty cheeks. "I know... but I wasn't fully developed yet, nor did I truly have all of my memories and thoughts inside me yet. I was afraid and fighting within myself what was happening. And... part of it was that after all that, I was still not sure it was all going to work. I was worried that my transformation would fail, and I did not want to rip your torn heart open afresh. I was probably too cautious and should have told you before now, but I waited until I had every last drop of powers and abilities and memories I knew I should have. Then I was at last convinced it had all worked, and it was time to reveal it to you."

I nodded, swallowing thickly. I still felt very confused, and more than a little shocked and hurt by all this. She watched me quietly, patiently waiting for me to continue to question her. "What... happens now? I suppose now you see a new death for yourself, huh? I suppose I'll grow old and die, and you'll live on without me."

She shook her head. "Drew... you've become much more pessimistic since my death. I hope that together we can rekindle the happiness and warmth that once flowed out of your heart. I miss that. No, in fact, I don't plan on letting my husband die. We will need a long time if we are to repopulate the Forest Spirits throughout the world." She giggled shyly at me.

Blinking, I stared at her. I still didn't know how to feel about that. "I'm sorry, Ev'. I don't mean to be sad all the time..." I haltingly spoke.

"Oh, you aren't, dear. I know how hard I made things for you. I really made many bad decisions with you throughout much of our relationship. I know I should never have married you before the changing of my form. I knew I loved you, and I flirted with you on one side, but on the other, tried to push you away. Wisdom fought with desire inside of me constantly and made me a regular witch to be around sometimes, and yet in the end I still did the wrong thing. I'm really sorry, Drew."

She took my hands in her dainty, delicate ones. "I want to put all the turmoil behind us, now. I so want for us to be happy and together and in love, like we were before my death. I want to go exploring and go on adventures with you like we did as best friends. I want to experience love and togetherness and passion as we did as husband and wife. You don't have to be sad anymore... we're at last together again."

"Oh Clarity!" I sobbed, flinging myself on her and letting go my tightly held emotions. I sobbed in unbelievable relief after months of sorrow, drenching her brown fur with tears. All my pain melted away, my hurt and loneliness and anger since her apparent parting replaced with wonder and joy and peace. "Oh Clarity, Clarity, Clarity... I missed you so much... I didn't tell you nearly often enough how much I love you. Please forgive me! All I've wanted to do since you died was just be able to tell you one time how much I love you."

She began to cry as well, clinging to me as tightly as I clung to her. "Nor I you, my prince! I'm sorry I was afraid and didn't share all of this with you. I was so worried I would end up hurting you, I was trying so hard to keep from hurting you... that I hurt you all the more. I love you so much... This is all over, and I don't intend to keep any secrets from you ever again, I swear it."

I couldn't help but laugh through my tears. "I'm so happy!" I sobbed to her. She was not as big as she had once been, and it was easy for me to pick her up and swirl her overhead, which made her laugh in delight.

When I set her down, she tried to do the same to me and failed. "Oof! I'm not as strong as I was before, I guess!" She laughed, her voice shaking with tears. "I can still pick you up like this, though." I felt magic grip us both and lift us up into the sky, high above the trees, still in each other's arms.

She nuzzled my neck and then, giggling, suckled on my nose again, which was a bit of a surprise. "C... Clar...?" I said, laughing nervously.

"Hush." She said, matter-of-factly. "I shall always find this the most comforting thing in the whole world. Numm." After another moment, she paused again and said "And dear, Everflow is my name now. I'll still respond to Clarity, but I would prefer my new name, especially from my husband."

Nodding, I meekly said "OK, sorry... Why change your name, though?"

Flashing a mysterious little smile, she replied "Well, because of how much this has changed me. I meant it when I said you taught me the most important lessons of my life. I no longer feel I'm an island of clarity in a sea of killing and selfishness, I feel like I want to be kindness and love, ever flowing to the people who live around my domain as well as the animals. That is not why I picked the name initially, you can probably guess what I meant by it then, but this is what I want it to mean now."

She gently lowered us back down to the ground, and we began to walk back towards the cave, both with one thing on our minds. I broke the silence a moment later. "What do you see as your death now?" I cautiously asked.

"Oh, sorry. You asked that once already. Strangely enough, I don't see anything. Very peculiar feeling." She replied.

I looked over at her, not sure how to interpret what she meant. "What? How can that be?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. It either means I'm not gonna die, which I've never heard of before, or it means that my end is now shrouded in mystery, that I can no longer see my own destruction. Whichever it is, I'm very thankful for it. You can't believe how hard it was to know how it would happen, and to know that it was, horrifyingly, wrapped up with the man I loved. It drove me half mad some days."

That certainly made sense. "I'm glad for you, in that case, love. And for what it's worth, I hope it's the former, not the latter."

We arrived at the cave and found the bobcats had left for a while, probably at Everflow's request. I somehow knew what was coming from her, and was struggling very hard to cope with what was happening. She sealed the cave mouth, then turned and raised her arms. I felt warmth fill the cave until it was as warm as a summer day.

I made my way over to my bed of leaves and feathers, donated from friendly birds, and sat down, having trouble meeting her hungry, eager gaze. She came over and sat down next to me, beginning to run her fingers through my hair, just like Clarity used to do. "Drew, it's me, your wife. You don't look happy."

I swallowed. "I don't know if I can do this. Even if you are the same woman, Everflow was my little pet, and it feels wrong to have sex with her... you... her... whatever."

She rested her head against my chest and sighed. "I say again, husband. I am your wife, the same woman you promised yourself to. My body may look different, but I am nevertheless the same. It is the right of marriage that we make love. You aren't doing anything wrong to do that."

Raising my head, I met her large brown eyes. Her delicate face and small muzzle were so different from Clarity. Her body was small and slender, not big and voluptuous like Clarity. She could not have looked, smelled, or felt more different. Suddenly she leaned forward and kissed me, her tongue sliding into my mouth.

I gave a gasp of surprise at the sudden contact. Her tongue was larger than mine, but much smaller than Clarity's big, heavy tongue. Kissing her was much easier, I found, as I responded without even thinking. Our tongues swirled together eagerly and in spite of myself I pulled her slender body to me. She groaned happily and push against me, pushing me over on my back so she could lie on top of me and kiss me.

All at once our living clothing began to slither off our bodies. It was tickly, like millions of worms crawling along my body, slithering away to leave us both naked. In spite of my eagerness to kiss her, I felt a massive wave of hesitation strike me again.

Clarity's breasts had been large and heavy and firm, with charcoal-colored nipples as large as my thumb tips. Everflow was small, with little cute mounds for breasts and tiny little pink nipples peeking out of her coarse brown fur. They were so soft they almost felt in-transitory. Her slender tummy and slim hips and little round ass were all so strikingly different, I felt confused. No matter what she said, this didn't feel like I was making love to the same woman.

I was about to call it off and beat a hasty retreat out the door, when she softly whimpered "My love, please suckle my breasts like you used to. I've missed your gentle mouth so much all these months."

Freezing, I stared at her. This wasn't going to get any easier, I just needed to dive in and do it the first time, I decided. I took a deep breath and nuzzled into her breasts before I could think anymore. I slurped her tiny nipple into my mouth and began to suck and smack on it. She gave an impassioned moan and clutched me to herself, her chest heaving as she panted in lust... just like Clarity used to.

Her little chest tasted wonderful and I went back and forth between them, sucking and licking and nipping on one while I pinched and tweaked the other. "God, yes! Oh Drew... I'm so wet for you, my dear." she cried.

I stroked my hands over her squirming body, enjoying the feel of her warm life. When I'd had enough, I reared up over her. She automatically raised her legs and rested them on my shoulders, remembering that this was my favorite position to make love to my wife. Clarity's legs had been huge and long and filled with hard muscle, but Everflow's were soft and slender and long and shapely and as small as she herself was. It felt so different and yet so much the same.

I reached for her dainty, split-toed hooves and stroked over them. They were nothing like Clarity's, but... It hit me all at once; Everflow was sexy as hell. She was laying there, her body relaxed, her legs open, inviting me in to her perfect little body. God, how had I not seen how sexy she was right away? My discomfort was gone in an instant, replaced with lust.

I leaned over and grabbed my penis, stroking my fingers over the fuzzy white fur that covered her pale pink sex. She was very wet and ready, I could tell. As I slid the head of my cock around her clit, I was disappointed to find she could no longer wink; that had been an equine ability only.

I looked into her brown eyes and we stared at each other wordlessly for a moment, then I pushed against her little pussy, her wetness making it open up easily and begin to let my throbbing shaft inside. She felt completely different from Clarity's flexing, muscled pussy, clenching tightly on me each time she winked. Instead, Everflow was just plain tight to begin with, and I gasped in delight as I pushed in.

"Ohhh God! You've gotten way bigger since last we fucked!" she squawked in shock at my penetration.

I chuckled, getting more into this all the time. "No, I think it is you who have shrunk, my lovely darling."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "Nnnng... Oh by the roots of life... so much of it..." As she spoke, she grabbed my hips and pulled me slowly against herself until I was buried to the balls in her magnificently tight, hot, wet pussy.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I'd done it. I was having sex with Everflow. I felt a twinge of guilt over it, but when I looked at her smile of joy and pleasure, I was greatly relieved. I moved back, feeling the folds and ridges inside of her scrape along me, wet and slippery as I moved. "Ev'... you feel great!" I enthused. "Oh wow, your pussy is incredibly good!"

She was panting from the exertion of taking a human cock inside. "Nnng... glad you like it, dear. You are just as warm and hard as I remember. It feels good to be fucked by my sweet husband."

I grinned and began to thrust, making slurping sounds as I moved in and out of her. She wailed in passion and shivered. "G... Gah! Yes! Oh my God, I'm stretched out so wide, you're hitting my clit harder than I've ever felt it! Yes! This is incredible! Go, Drew! Go hard and fast! After so many months I need it badly!"

I did as she wanted and began to enthusiastically fuck her. Her smaller, lighter body and tight pussy felt so very different, and yet her words and movements were so much the same as my wife. She was Clarity. I began to believe it, to understand it and accept it. "My love... You are so tight and wet..." I groaned as I worked her.

"Oh fuck, Drew! This is the best sex I've ever had! It feels impossibly good when you hammer me! I'm going crazy!"

I lowered myself, letting her legs slide down my body to wrap around my waist. I laid down on top of her, making total contact with every inch of my body. I slid up and down her, feeling her rough fur tickling over me and stimulating my every nerve. I gripped her hips and struggled to hold back on the orgasm that was rapidly approaching, threatening to overpower me.

I paused and rolled her over onto all fours and looked down at her sweet little ass. Instead of Clarity's huge, luscious rump, Everflow was small and slender. Somehow, though, I thought her little heart-shaped ass and hips were very sexy and pleasing. I stroked my hands over her hips, then raised them up to grip her sides just above her hips as I began to fuck her doggie-style. "Ahhhhhhyeah, Ever. This is great. I love your warm pussy."

She bellowed like ox, her fur standing up. "Ahhh! Oh God! I'm cumming!"

She spasmed and twitched and shrieked as she exploded. I rode her through it, fucking her madly, trying desperately to complete and cum inside her while she orgasmed, but I could not. "Drew! My love! Oh God! It feels incredible! I feel so loved..." Her voice relaxed as she spoke, coming down off her pleasure high.

I expected her to piss all over me as she relaxed, but she did not. In fact she didn't even comment about it, which was surprising because I'd rather gotten used to her peeing on me after a good orgasm. It was further proof that she was the same, yet different.

I kept pounding away at her as hard as I could. Her short, tufted tail lashed and flicked about, the white fur on the underside matching what was around her sex. She was so different that before... I'd loved Clarity's sleek, sexy, shiny black fur. I'd had a huge fetish about it, in fact. While I missed that, Everflow's soft brown and white colors were nevertheless prettier than I'd ever realized. Her pale pink pussy looked so pretty haloed by soft, white fur that was thick and coarse but also fuzzy and pleasant. I liked her body.

"I'm getting close, Ev'... I moaned, driving her slender body back against myself so I could keep going as my muscles grew tired. It had been so long since I'd fucked my wife I was out of practice. I looked down as her small pussy, stuffed so full of me. Her flesh was velvety soft, and pulled out and squished in all along my penis as I pumped in and out of her. "My mate! My beautiful wife! My precious little doe! I can't hold it back anymore!" I cried, jamming her with all that remained of my strength. Right before I came, she rolled back around to face me so I could finish her that way.

She shrieked and warbled and came again even as I tipped over the edge and squirted a massive ejaculation. Wonderful pleasure pulsed over my body as I came, delighting in the feeling of intimacy with my wife. She wrapped her arms and legs around me furiously tight and humped against me, helping me to thrust through our orgasm. She spasmed her tail, rubbing it against my balls, increasing the amazing stimulation. "Clarity!" I sobbed. "I've missed you so much! I love you more than anything in the whole world!"

"Oh, God, Drew! I love you as well! It feels so good!" She squeaked. Slowly or pleasure abated, leaving us contented as we relaxed against each other, panting.

We lay in silence together, enjoying the afterglow, enjoying the touch and feel of each other. I had my eyes closed, just feeling her breathing tickling my neck. Into the silence, I softly said, "I'm... really going to miss Everflow... I mean, the cute little doe trotting along behind me everywhere. She was... you were... it's so hard to wrap my head around this, but it feels like that precious little life is gone..."

I was surprised when she replied in a soft voice I'd not heard for many months; the childlike sound of my little doe when she was first learning to talk. "I'm still here, Daddy. I still love you so, so much. You're my best friend and my protector and my teacher. You are my comfort and my smile. I know I'm different now, but yet I'm still very much the same. Nothing that was Everflow is lost inside me, I promise you." With that, she began to suckle my nose again.

Nothing in the world could ever have felt more comforting right then than to feel her warm lips softly tickling me as she sucked on my nose. "Can we still go on exploring adventures together? And can I gather your favorite foods for you? Can we... just be that way sometimes?"

She paused her nibbling and whispered "Yes, Daddy. And yes, my darling, sweet husband. We can do it all for the rest of our lives."

8) ** **Epilogue

Gavin marveled at his good fortune. The house had been incredibly reasonable, and the town had been grateful that a new carpenter had moved in. "Last one... well... we had some trouble with him. Was a strange time." His neighbor told him as he helped him carry his belongings into his new home.

He loved the house, and it was already set up with a woodworking shop, apparently abandoned by this mysterious previous carpenter. One thing that fascinated him about the house was the giant, beautifully thick forest that pressed in on his back yard. It seemed magical somehow, and very alluring. "What's in that forest behind my house? It looks really old." He asked his new neighbor Kyle, a young man whose wife was expecting with their fourth child.

To his surprise, his neighbor turned abruptly to look at him. "My friend, that place is perhaps the strangest place on earth. Everyone in this town will tell you stories about it, each more impossible to believe than the last. Fact is, all of 'em are true, and the place is haunted. Not with evil spirits though, but with kind ones."

Gavin stared at his neighbor, trying not to laugh at him. "Haunted? Right. Don't kid me."

Kyle shook his head. "I'm not kidding ya. It used to be a bad place, and none of us would get near it. My Paw went in there when I was a little boy to hunt a deer he'd seen run through our field into the place, and he came back out missing his arm. We all hated the place... but a couple years ago, that all changed."

As stupid as it all sounded, Gavin couldn't help but ask. "Changed how?"

Kyle scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Well, one day this strange man walked outta there. I swear, he was wearing clothes that looked like he'd sewn them outta living grass! Was amazing. Anyway the guy came up to my father and asked to speak with him. The two of them went off alone together and he said some things to my Paw. I saw him gripping his stump, then the two of them went into the woods. The crazy part was, when my Paw came back out, he had two whole arms back!"

Gavin stared at his neighbor, who was animatedly recalling his tale. "My Paw was all smiles. We couldn't believe it! Was an answer to prayer for the whole family! 'son,' my Paw says to me, 'you can go into that forest now, it's OK. Just be sure you don't bring any weapons in, not even a knife. In fact, if you ever need healin'... well, just look at my arm. Go in there and ask for help.' I woulda thought he was barkin' mad, 'cept there he stood with his arm back whole and healthy!" Kyle said, finishing up his story with a dramatic flourish.

It was all too much and Gavin began to laugh at his earnest, but obviously addled neighbor. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe in such silly superstitions, Kyle. If you're trying to play a trick on the new carpenter, you're barking mad yourself!"

Kyle rolled his eyes, but didn't seem the least bit perturbed. "Believe what you want, friend, makes no difference to me. I warn you though, don't take so much as a pointy stick in there, or you'll regret it." As he said it, his eyes unfocussed a little and he involuntarily rubbed his backside. After a second, he snapped back to attention and continued, "That's the absolute strictest law of the land around here. You can laugh at me if you want, but I'm telling you straight up right here right now; don't take any weapons into the forest. Don't go in there intending to pick so much as a blueberry. If you do, we will find out about it, and you will be thrown out of the town for it. That place is a place of peace, and that's the law."

The young carpenter looked at his peculiar-acting new friend. "Are you being serious, or is that another joke?"

"I'm not jokin', Gavin. Go to town hall and ask to see the law, it's recorded there if you think I'm kidding. Anyway, I'm just trying to give you a friendly warning. Other'n that, feel free to explore the forest, it's incredibly beautiful and relaxing in there, and you'll feel welcomed and at home by the spirits living there. My daughters love to go in there and play with her. she's still just like a big kid who loves children."

Shaking his head, Gavin decided he'd have to go exploring as soon as he had the chance to dispel this silly man's superstitions. "I don't believe in spirits. That's plain silly talk."

Shrugging, Kyle headed for the door. "Nobody does when they first hear about the place. You'll change your mind when you go in there, though. When you do change your tune, ask around town and hear all the amazing stories people have about the place. Most peculiar, it is, but she's our town's greatest pride and joy."

"She who?" Gavin asked in confusion as he saw his new neighbor out the front door.

"Everflow was raised here. Good day to ya, friend. You need anything, just call on the missus or I and we'll be glad to help get you settled in."

Gavin shook his head and closed the door. Yes, he'd go exploring as soon as he had the chance... he looked back at his front door. Just in case though, he decided to make sure he didn't have his knife on when he did it.

The End.