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Hunters Moon series

Characters Pelnak and Cassiopeia are

© Cederwyn Whitefurr used with permission

written by Possum and Cederwyn Whitefurr

Cassiopeia's mind reeled, as she stared at Ely, then she ran to his side. Cassiopeia's eyes widened, as she seem the blood that soaked Ely's head, then she shook her own and moaned softly.

'No...he - he can't be - he just can't!"

Pelnak was slower to respond, still not fully healed, as he struggled to his hooves and walked over, then nuzzled the corpse of Ely, his eyes widening.

"He's...gone, he sacrificed his own life - "

"He's not dead!" Cassiopeia shrieked, then her mind seized on something - a distant memory. "I...I can save him...I will save him!"

"Cassie, love?" Pelnak sniffed, as he shook his head. "Look at him! It's too late, he gave of his own life, to give me back my own! There's nothing we...wait - what are you doing?"

Cassiopeia was beside herself, as she dashed off into the forest they called home.

"Cassie!" Pelnak squealed in fear.

Cassie returns shortly with a half-rotted back gripped tightly in her teeth, before she drops it and falls to her knees, her eyes closing as she starts whimpering in agony.

"Cassie, no, please my love - don't...not that - you're still too weak and - " Pelnak pleads.

Cassie growls at him, as she forces the transformation on herself. She writhes and shrieks in agony, as hooves split apart into toes and fingers. Bones snap and writhe, tendons and muscles tear and stretch, all as Pelnak whimpers and watches his beloved rush her transformation back to her anthro form.

As quickly as she can, it not being as bad as a full feral to human transformation, but it still causes her agony, Cassiopeia forces it faster - mindful of the consequences it'll later have on her.

Cassie writhes and screams, feeling the last vestiges of the agony flooding her mind, before she lays in her anthro form, panting and whimpering. Pelnak steps closer, but Cassiopeia shudders and shakes her head, before clawing her way towards the bag.

Struggling with it, she loses her temper and begins tearing the half rotted bag apart, bandages, syringes and ampules going everywhere.

"That belonged..." Pelnak began, then shuddered and turned away. "Why did he force us to murder him..."

"Snap out of it Pelnak, I don't have time for your grief and misery - help me! Roll him over, now!" Cassie snarled, as her hooflets flickered over syringes and other things. "It's here..I know it is..."

Tears streaking down her furred cheeks, Cassiopeia starts panicking, knowing the time is running dangerously low to save Ely.

"Cassie, honey..."

"Shut up!" Cassiopeia snarls at Pelnak in rage. "If you're not capable of helping me, get out of my way! I know a little of the human medicines - you think its the first human veterinarian I murdered? Do you?"

Pelnak cringed visibly at Cassiopeia's unbridled rage.

Finally, she finds what she hopes is right - hurriedly overfilling the syringe with shaking paws, she drops the syringe and grabs it back up, before she shuddered and slammed it into Ely's chest, about where she assumed the heart would be.

"Pelnak, hurry - I need you to compress his chest, force his heart to pump blood - I don't care how you do it, just do it, and do it now!"

Pelnak submit to Cassiopeia's orders, awkwardly straddling Ely's chest and kneeling over his chest, before he began using his knees to push down on Ely's breastbone.

Wrenching Ely's head back, Cassiopeia presses her lips against his nostrils, then exhales into them, nodding for Pelnak to continue.

"For fucks sake Pelnak!" Cassiopeia screams at him. "Jump on him, break his breastbone if you have too, we need him!"

Pelnak began exerting everything he had, rearing up and slamming his cloven hooves against Ely's chest. Partially he was driven by fear - reminded of Cassiopeia and her father - part of him was grief and loss at Ely's sacrifice to save him and his mate.

"OH COME ON!" Cassiopeia yelled at Ely, tears streaking down her cheeks, as she exhales again, then draws the deepest breath she can and does it again and again.

"You are the last of your kind! You said so yourself, you have no right to lay down and die! I won't let you! You hear me? You haven't earned the right to die!"

Pelnak grunted, listening to Cassiopeia's heartfelt cries, as he reared and slammed his hooves down again and again.

*

Ely awakens to darkness - there's nothing - no ground, sky, walls...nothing. He is alone in an infinite void.

Panicked, he runs this way and that, running until surely his heart must give out, but there's no escape, no release, there's...

nothing -

Faintly, like a brief whisper - he hears Pelnak and Cassiopeia's cries, but he can't see them, can't answer them - no matter how he runs and cries out for them.

In the darkness of this endless void, two forms slowly materialise from thin air. One is a Wolf; grey and black, the other is a Red Deer Hind.

With a shake of his head, the wolf pads around Ely, almost stalking him, as Ely shudders and turns to face the imminent threat, lowing his antlered head.

"Foolish puppy!" Snarls the Wolf. "Folly, foolish and careless!"

Ely felt a growl rising in his throat, before he stamped a hoof and roared defiantly at the Wolf.

"Who are you?" Eli trumpeted, shaking his antlers threateningly. "Where am I, what is going on?"

"ignorant, stupid, puppy!" Comes the growl again, the wolf pacing and glaring at Ely. "Why did you call on magicks beyond your control? What did you hope to achieve? Do you have any idea of what you done? How your carelessness and incompetence nearly cost more than just your worthless life?"

"Go easy - " Come the more gentle whisper from the Hind, as she stepped closer to Ely, then stood between the enraged wolf and Ely.

"Who are you? What do you want from me? I'm not afraid of you - either of you! I did exactly what I thought was right, to save two lives! How could I stand by and watch them suffer and die needlessly? If my sacrifice required my death, then so be it - I gave it willingly and without hesitation!"

With a snort, the Wolf pads off and lays down, shaking his head. "Foolish puppy, you never listened did you..."

With a sigh, the Hind nuzzled Ely, making him squeal and jump in fright. His whole attention was fixated on the Wolf, he'd neglected the Hind who had blindsided him.

"Mindful on your surroundings!" Grunted the Doe, as she nipped his left ear sharply. "Eloquently put Son..."

Ely's eyes widened, partially in fear, hurt and pain at the cruel bite to his ear, but mostly in surprise.

"Mother?..."

Ignoring Ely, the Hind looked at the Wolf, who snorted.

"Now don't be too hard on him, he learned magicks from your side of the family, after all!"

"I swear, if I'd known my Great Sire was teaching him...I'd have torn both their throats out! Lupid magick is not for the likes of - him - "

With a disgusted snort, the Wolf rose and glared balefully at Ely.

"My Grand Sire should have left well enough alone! Rare it was, for us to sire a child together... What was that mangy old cur thinking? Teaching him our ways and magicks?"

"That may be," Spoke the Hind, continuing to shield her offspring. "Yet, if those two had of died - that Buck from his wounds, and that doe from her grief and broken heart...isn't it bad enough their fawn, conceived out of love - lost its life? That fawn was innocent! There's so many left of our kind - every one of us is valued and treasured!"

Ely interrupted. "I'm...sorry, but did you - call me - son?"

Twisting her head, the Hind nuzzled him under the chin, inhaling his scent and he hers.

"You don't remember me...do you Ely?"

"I.." Ely began, before she sighed and touched her forehead to his.

Ely screamed, as memories long lost rushed into his mind...

Long forgotten, memories of being a fawn, his Great Sire - a proud, battle scarred Wolf, his pelt torn and ripped, one ear missing. Teaching the erstwhile fawn Magicks thought long lost to the Lupid Clan's. Memories of his mother, this Hind - of hunting with his Lupid father - learning everything he would need to keep himself safe. Memories of walking through the forests of his ancestors - at peace with the spirits and the earth itself. Fond recollections of laying in clearings, the wind ruffling his fur, the sunlight dappling down through the branches...

Then other memories surfaced - dark, painful ones...Lupid's screaming and fighting for their very lives. Humans wielding silver swords with ornate runes burned into the, His father - fighting to his last to save his mother and himself - his final, desperate struggles before they were captured...

"Enough!" Snarled the Wolf, as he forcefully pushed the Hind away, making her whimper.

Ely startled, pain lancing through him as memories long forgotten made new connections in his mind. "I'd - "

"Forgotten?" Snorted the Wolf. "Perhaps child, that was for the best...

"You...you're my..."

"I'm your sire, yes." Answered the Wolf, as he shook his head slowly. "I - we - don't have time to play pup..."

Ely gestured with one paw, before dropping it back to what his mind 'believed to be the ground. "So what is this then?"

"This?" Asks the Wolf, as he shrugs. "This, was the last of the great magicks. You brought this on yourself...you're trapped here - for eternity..."

With a snort, the Doe sighed. "This is the nether - the in-between - you are neither dead, nor alive. This is a prison you cast yourself into, by meddling with magicks beyond your capability or comprehension!"

"I'm...trapped?" Ely whimpered. "I never meant - "

"No, you didn't - " Growled the Wolf. "Those two Therian's? They're fighting hard, incredibly hard, to save your life pup. Do you have any inkling of what they're doing to do? Be grateful that Doe knows a little of humans..."

With a disgusted snort, the wolf turned away. Nuzzling her partner, the Doe continued.

"You were stupid, oh so very stupid...meddling like you did! Yet - you were brave, selfless and acted out of love and compassion. This is why your soul wasn't torn to pieces! Lupid magick has great power - and even more horrendous consequences for the foolish! Now, you need a push - in the right direction - "

"A...push?" Ely stammered, confused.

"You're on the precipice of the void Child - " Sighed the Doe. "One way leads to redemption, the other to an endless agony - that makes this place - seem like a springtime glade."

"How do I - " Ely asked.

"We can not tell you the path, we can only be here - by special dispensation."

"I don't understand, please, help me!" Ely wept.

"We can not - " spoke both spirits. "You must choose."

"You dabbled in Lupid magicks, that are forbidden amongst our kind! Do you understand? You will not recover quickly from what your foolish pride wrought upon yourself. Those who dabble in this magick? Most are cast into the void to suffer unspeakably for eternity. Those who have the strength of will to endure - as you done - it almost inevitably proves ultimately fatal. It is forbidden magicks, magicks beyond anything you should have ever considered!"

"I...wanted to save them - they're young and so - "

'Irrelevant!" Snarled the Wolf. "Their fate was their own, not yours!"

"Easy love - " Whispered the Hind.

"I swear, I'll kill this foolish pup myself..."

"No, you will not..."

"Aren't I already...dead?"

"You're not dead yet - but your life hangs by the most slender of threads. If you choose to return to them, to life? I can not lie to you child - your recovery will be the worst pain you've ever experienced."

"If I don't..."

"Then if you accept death you may find the solace you seek - but it is improbable. That magick you tried to command? It demands its price be paid...a price that will rend your soul apart, and damn it to unending suffering and agony."

"Choose child - and quickly - your time is limited!"

Ely thought hard on this and then answered. "Those two are young! So naive in our history and ways! Her...father - he was driven by rage and callousness, fuelled by a darkness I can never begin to fathom! I fear if the hunters find them the last branches of our race will perish with them. So, I must return to them. To render whatever help and guidance I am able"

With a surprised snort, the Wolf shook his head. "Mayhaps I judged you wrong Fawn... You have chosen the honourable path before you, not the easy, the quick path. Both of your Clan's would be proud of you, now, go - return to those who fight to save your life, take with you our love and our blessing. Teach them, be truthful to them. Protect them...

Both of them stepped back, before the nodded formally, their forms breaking apart and dissipating. Ely wept, before he felt something seize him - before he fell screaming into the void of un-imagined agony and suffering...

*

He felt sunlight on his face...

Agony, unspeakable in its intensity, was only exasperated, as he felt Pelnak's sharp cloven hooves crash down, then come the snap of Ely's sternum. Ely welcomed the agony of the broken bone - he revelled in it - as it told him he was alive.

He choked on blood, black and clotted. His throat seared like he'd swallowed some acidic drink, his very blood within his body burned like fire through his veins. Pelnak's hooves struck again, and Ely tried to cry, to whimper, even to move - but the pain grasped him and clutched him by the throat, holding him helpless.

Cassiopeia was the first to spot Ely's chest suddenly rise right before Pelnak crashed it back down landing on his sternum.

"PELNAK! STOP!" Cassiopeia yelled.

Pelnak was already mid leap when he heard her then crashed onto the sternum once more to be greeted with a gurgling cough and pained whimper from below him. Realising Ely was alive he blinked, then crawled off Ely, who rolled over and purged his throat, the black, sticky blood almost choking him.

"He...he's alive!" Pelnak gasped, his body wet with sweat. "I..."

Cassiopeia shuddered, before she looked around at the discarded supplies, then at Ely, who shuddered and gagged again.

"He...he can't stay here, look at him! He's too weak, but we got - we got to get him somewhere safe, where he can be warmed and rest!"

Cassiopeia didn't want to leave Ely, but as Pelnak was still inexperienced in his change - she took it on herself. Pelnak assisted by bringing back vines and branches, which he carried in his teeth, often dragging them with him as he moved backwards. Cassiopeia began fashioning a crude travois out of the branches and vines, lashing it together as best she could.

Ely's face was still screwed tight mouth in a silent strained scream of pain eyes closed hard as he fought with the pain nothing could be worse than this. He was wrong...

"I don't know if this will work or not - it has too - " Cassiopeia wept, as she dragged it over to Ely, then gripped him by the thighs.

Ely shrieked as she dragged, pushed and prodded him, until he lay on the travois. With a few vines, Cassiopeia tied him as best she could, before she struggled to lift it and slid the vine harness like contraption over Pelnak's back.

"Urf...he's heavier than he looked!" Pelnak grunted, feeling Ely's weight.

"I know love, but please, do your best. You're the strongest of both of us, you can drag him - I - "

Pelnak swallowed and nodded, reminded suddenly of the fawn that lay within Cassiopeia's womb - their fawn - not cold and dead.

"I need to go - take care of something - " Cassiopeia whimpered, before she lay herself down and began shuddering, forcing once again, her painful and excruciating change back to her feral form.

Pelnak, who nothing of magicks, looked back as best he could at Ely, before he shuddered and began straining under the weight.

"We need to get him back to the cave" Pelnak muttered to himself.

Around half way back Ely regains consciousness his weak body tensing in pain once more tears of pain now stain his muzzle as the move him carefully and as gently as they can.

It takes another hour for them to finally reach their cave. Cassiopeia sighed, then looked at Pelnak, who shuddered and strained under Ely's weight. Carefully, Cassiopeia began nudging and rearranging the ferns and branches, trying to make Ely a comfortable bed.

Pelnak frowned, then lowered himself to the ground and slipped the heavy travois off his back, before grunting. Between them, then nudged and pushed Ely across the floor, the broken and suffering Deer trying his best to help them, before he sunk into the bedding with a thankful nod to them both.

"He's hurting bad - " Cassie murmurs, as she glances at him, then sighs softly. "My love, can you - please - "

Pelnak nods tearfully, h can't help himself, as he glances at Cassiopeia's swollen belly.

"Go..." Pelnak sobs, as he lays himself down, trying to warm Ely's cold body.

*

Cassiopiea, tears flowing down her muzzle, reluctantly left the cave, to go do what nature demanded of her - even if it'd break her heart and spirit to purge her body of the dead fawn within her.

*

Cassiopeia returned hours later, her tears having stopped, and she lay down beside Ely, giving Pelnak a chance to go graze and try to recover his own strength. He seen the grief in his lovers eyes, but also the determination - they wouldn't lose Ely as well.

*

Thought of grazing abandoned, Pelnak wandered, grief stricken and sick to his stomach. It hurt him so much, to have watched Cassiopeia's fawn within her grow and form - his heart singing with joy at being a father - now it was all just a dream - because of some cruel, heartless human...

His nose twitched, senses far beyond those of a normal Whitetail alerting him. His head snapped up, his eyes streaming with tears, before his senses fully comprehend and he drops to his belly like a fawn.

Human...female - His mind tells him, the urge building in him to take out his rage and grief on someone - anyone - a lone human would be perfect... Take her, ravage her, make her cry and whimper and scream as he hurt her....

Pelnak's eyes narrow in almost feral rage and hate, it filling him to overflowing. She was young, oh so very young - barely eighteen - she'd make a fine and pleasurable plaything...take her, break her...make her cry and plead...like...like...

Pelnak shuddered, as he fought the darkness within him.

"No...I'm...not like that, I'll never be like that..." Pelnak whimpered. "I'll never turn..."

Not now... Come a cold, chilling voice in his mind. You can not deny who and what you are...

*

After the girl dressed and slid her pack onto her back, then moved off, Pelnak stealth-fully crept down to her campsite. His senses were on highest alert - last time he'd approached something innocent - it'd ended with him in un-imagined agony and death. Now, he was wiser, more cautious and a lot more attentive to the surroundings.

Nosing through her possessions, he smelt her scent, he saw a book laying on her bedding, and he flipped it open randomly.

My time here in this wood have been incredible. I've seen so much, the animals here - whist skittish, are not so afraid of humans, that they vanish at the slightest footstep.

Pelnak frowned, then lipped at the page, turning it as he kept reading.

I've seen tracks of deer - small ones, so I'm guessing some Whitetail must live in this wood. I've never seen them, such graceful, majestic creatures! I've always adored them, their large white chest markings, that strange, enigmatic black muzzle stripe of theirs. What purpose does it serve them? I wish I knew - more - I wish I could see one up close and personal! It's always been my wish, to find and befriend a Whitetail. I'm told they're the easiest species to befriend and -

Again, Pelnak lipped at the page, turning it, becoming lost in what he assumed was her personal journal of her time here. How he and Cassiopeia had never got the slightest hint a strange human was in their domain...

Curious, he read on.

These deer are proving to be quite elusive! My professor warned me about this, he'd heard the legends and rumours about this - haunted - wood! Haunted? Hah, who believes in superstition and nonsense?

You'd be surprised, if you knew the truth little one - Pelnak's mind whispered to itself, before he resumed reading.

I'd never harm one of the Earth Mother's children - ever - they are to be protected and guarded. I feel - drawn - to this wood. Something about the magick of the place? Is it a place where, thousands of years ago, witches gathered on the Sabbats to conduct their rituals beneath the light of the full moon?

Witches Pelnak frowned. Only thing I vaguely recall about witches, was children's books and - things of a ridiculous nature on television...television shows and...

A startled gasp behind him, made Pelnak shriek in fright, before his antlers tore through the thin nylon of the tent. It collapsed around him, shrouding him in its confines, as he screamed and thrashed wildly - driven by primal instincts and fear. His antlers ripped and tore at the nylon, shredding it, before he finally struggled free and stood, panting and shaking - his eyes widening as he seen a young lady standing not more than six feet from him...

"Oh my goddess..."

Pelnak froze - it was instinctual and foolish his mind screamed at him. Fight, run, do something...

He couldn't - he commanded his legs to take him from this place, to drive him away as fast as his cloven hooves could...yet they refused to obey.

"Woah!" Gasped the lady, as she crouched down, lowing her head before this majestic Stag.

Pelnak shivered, one ear twitching, as he stared at her.

"Easy...I'm not - not going to hurt you..."

Pelnak's ear twitched again, and a single cheek flicked, his gaze still locked on her as he struggled to understand. Was she a threat? Her posture of submission, crouched and head lowered, suggested no. Yet - she was a human! A human had tortured and murdered him...hurt him in ways Pelnak had never...

"Are you hungry?" Come the girls voice. "I...easy, I got something you might like - "

Nervously, she crept forwards and held an apple, a bite taken out of it, in her hand. Pelnak blinked and nervously lowered his head, his furred lips brushing the apple suspiciously. Hunger won out, and he nuzzled at it, before he took a quick bite and stepped back, chewing the sweet, yet tart fruit.

"See? That's...it - good...boy, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise!"

Pelnak was torn between fear and his desire to murder this woman - that dark voice trying to twist and turn him, but he fought it.

<Pelnak, my love - what has you so stressed and upset?> Come the mating bond between him and Cassiopeia.

<I - Pelnak struggled. He didn't understand how this worked. Cassiopeia seemed to do it without effort. He on the other hoof, had no idea how to do it, it - just happened. There's a human here - a - young woman...>

Through the link, come Cassiopeia's fear and rising anger.

<No...she...she is - different. Not - one of - those - types, I can - feel it, smell it in her scent... She wears some sort of...wait, what are you doing?>

Pelnak shuddered, as suddenly, it felt like Cassiopeia was...inside...him, inhabiting his mind, using his senses, his eyes...

<A White Witch!> Come Cassiopeia's voice in his mind, as the strange sensation released him.

<A...what?> Pelnak returned.

<With a sigh, Cassiopeia tried to educate him, For a former - well - you're very naive my beloved stag! See that pendant? Around her neck?>

Pelnak lifted his head and looked, noticing the five pointed star, over which was imposed a Stag's head with antlers.

<Yes?>

<That is the sigil of Lord Cerunnos! Cassiopeia sighed again. Look, I don't have time to delve into this...what is she doing and what's keeping you? Why are you meddling with a woman, when Ely needs us?>

<I'm...curious - how did she not trip our wards? How did she not get discovered before now and...>

Frowning, the woman sat down, keeping her head down, before she touched the pendant at her throat, then her eyes widened, as some sort of revelation swept over her, her scent changing alarming.

"You're not a stag..."