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

Hunters Moon New Moon Rising Chapter six

Ely comforted Cassiopeia for some time, doing his best to give her strength whereas he had none,but ever mindful of Pelnak's increasingly aggressive behaviour

"He went over the top - " Ely muttered quietly.

"He did what he thought - " Cassiopeia began, before she shuddered.

"You sense it, don't you, little one?" Ely sighed softly, then put his nose to the bowl of vegetable stew and began eating thoughtfully.

"He's my mate, he is - "

Ely weakly lifted his muzzle, then stared into Cassiopeia's eyes, watching as her anger rose and her dewlaps started curling back aggressively

"You want to rethink that option doe - " Ely grunted, then lowered his head again.

Ely shuddered, then shook his head again. He was doing his best to keep his head cleared. Whatever drugs that woman had administered, had hit him hard and fast. He never wanted to be that helpless again.

"You got no right - " Cassiopeia began, as she stood and stepped closer, her body beginning to tremble with rage at the insinuation he'd planted in her mind.

"No right?" Ely snorted, but one ears swivelled towards her. "You are but a fawn, in the ways and knowledge of our kind - of your own kind!"

"I - " Cassiopeia began. "I know enough - I've guarded and -"

"Is that what you call - this - " Ely snorted contemptuously. "Humans enter your domain, and you don't even know about it?"

'Don't push me buck..."

"Why not? Go ahead! Tear my throat out, bleed me like you would a rabbit! See if I care! I'm trying to help both of you, you young, naive fools!"

Cassiopeia paused mid-step, before her cloven hoof fell to the ground and she stared at him, eyes widening.

"No, you begin to understand - " Ely sighed, then a wracking cough tore through him.

"You're weak, you're no threat! Why would he - he's not cruel and vicious and - "

'...in control anymore - " Ely muttered, taking another mouthful of the stew. "You saw it! He murdered in cold blood! How did you both know I wasn't willing in - in what that woman was doing?"

'I...saw your eye, the fear and the anguish and - "

'Aye, you're observant little one," Ely grunted and shuddered. "Now, what of him?"

"He..."

With a snort, Ely slurped the last of the stew, then lay his head back down and closed his eyes.

"Listen to me, please?" Ely murmured. "I've seen it before - a young Therian, turned or pure blood - "

'There's nothing wrong with him!" Cassiopeia wailed, turning to look at her unconscious lover.

"Don't lie to me Cassiopeia, please..."

"I..." Cassiopeia sniffled, then walked over and lay herself, down, folding her legs beneath her.

"It's growing, like a - a cancer - within him. I know of the mating bond that exists between our kind - I have not experienced it myself however - "

"We're carnivores and we hunt and kill and - its natural for us...It..."

Ely growled quietly, his lips curling back before he shuddered and snorted.

"What if I told you, that was a lie? Would you believe me? Once, yes, our kind were killers! We hunted humans with impunity, murdered them, tortured them - did unspeakable things to them..."

Cassiopeia shuddered, remembering some of the things she'd done alongside her father.

"I see your thoughts little doe - " Ely sighed. "How I wish I could take them from you... Yet, this is not who and what we are, well, not who you should be. Yes! By all means, defend your mate, your wood - absolutely! Do not kill for pleasure, kill quickly, painlessly if you can! If a human, like the hunter, comes to hurt - or does hurt you or Pelnak - then by all means, but please - kill swiftly."

"You're sending me - "

"I'm telling the truth!" Again, Ely choked and coughed, drawing a gasping breath. "Our kind evolved, we matured over a thousand years ago! We raise livestock to satiate the blood-lust within us. For a thousand years, we never harmed a human - unless absolutely necessary! You - knew not the truth, you're innocent and absolved of the terrible things you have done. Your memories will haunt you forever, and so they should - but leave them in the past Cassiopeia! Listen, heed what I wish to tell, please?"

Cassiopeia shivered, then lay her head down and listened.

"We are not murderers, cold blooded, feral killers who kill for sport and pleasure! Our ancestors evolved, outgrew it, learned to control who and what we were! Yes, I know, how bad the blood-lust can burn within us. We control it it does not control us! You have changed, I think that is partially Pelnak's doing, partially - because deep down inside you - somewhere - you sensed the truth, you just did not know it as such."

"Ely, please - you're weak and -"

"How can I help, if you will not listen and obey? I'm old Cassandra, older than both you and Pelnak together. If I can impart even a little wisdom, to ensure your survival and future - isn't it worth the pain it will cost me, to do such?"

"Not if it kills you - " Cassiopeia sniffled.

"Aye...but it is a sacrifice I choose, now, Pelnak is - troubled, dangerously so! He is submitting to that beast within him...oh, he fights, but I fear he isn't strong like you."

"I should never have turned him - "

"Shush!" Ely growled, then wheezed and shuddered. His throat felt like someone had scoured it with broken glass, so acute was the pain. "We need to help him Cassiopeia, you and me both - help him - or kill him...before it is too late."

"I couldn't - " Cassiopeia began.

Ely looked at her, his lip curling again, as he heard the lie in her voice. "You nearly did once - didn't you? He was food, a plaything for you and your father! A weak, pathetic human, unworthy of licking your hooves!"

"I - he..." Cassiopeia sniffled, trembling. "Yes..."

"Yet you spared him - why? He was weak, pathetic, miserable - probably half starved, abused, mistreated! Why would you take pity on him?"

"He...I love him!"

"Ah, there it is - the most powerful and primal of all emotions. Things we do for those we love...right? If you truly love him - then you will hear me out, with open mind and feeling - before it is too late to stop him, and I will have to do that which I currently can not..."

"He's really - fallen that far? Is there no turning him back?"

Ely was a moment, coughing up blood and saliva, before he shuddered.

"His aggression is rising, sure, a strange, larger and more dominant buck in his territory? Of course he feels threatened - Doe's always go for the strongest, most dominant Buck. He views me as a threat - despite I've told him multiple times - I have no desires to supplant him as your lover...if you would share yourself with me, I would be honoured - but I would never claim you as my own."

"So he's - "

"No, little one - that is just a visible sign. It is natural to feel that way. How many Doe's has he hunted and taken during the rut? How many died beneath his fangs, after he put them with his seed?"

"I...he doesn't tell me..."

"No, he wouldn't, would he? How many of your species lived in this wood, when you first come? Hundreds? Thousands?"

'There's only a few dozen left - " Cassiopeia sobbed. "I never..."

"No, you never saw that side of him - I know how strong the rut urge is is my race. Truly, I understand his urges. He cares for you, you were with fawn - not to say you didn't enjoy each others affections - either traditionally, or in - other ways, but during the rut, it is harder to maintain control! Not to give in to those mating instincts that drive we stags mad!"

"You think he..."

"I don't think Cassiopeia, I know - he would have run them down, forced himself upon them...then murdered them, the beast within him revelling and pleased at his lack of control and empathy."

"We...we can't interbreed - "

"For which, is a fortunate thing, but that's beside the point! He could, I believe, put me to fawn...as we're not that dissimilar, really. A feral doe? No...it doesn't work that way, nor could a feral buck put you to fawn. Of course - not that a feral buck would come within scenting range - if he could help it..."

Cassiopeia nodded and sniffled. "They'd smell the...what I am - "

"Indeed..."

*

For hours, Cassiopeia and Ely talked, him instilling in her the imperative desire and drive to try to help her beloved, before it was too late. Ely could sense - through the fickle flow of his magicks, Pelnak's aura was shot through with red and black streaks. When he'd first met, they were green and blue and good colours. Since then, Pelnak had slowly been changing - and it wasn't a good change...

*

Cassiopeia clutched one of Ely's shed antlers between her furred knees, looking at it curiously. Ely had worn himself out and lay dozing as best he could, sometimes his pelt would tremble or ripple as pain flashed along agonised nerve endings.

"Interesting..." Cassiopeia murmured, as she squinted, focusing her eyes on the shed antler.

It was covered with small, almost impossibly so, runes and intricate patterns within the outer grain structure that were only visible when they reflected the direct sunlight slightly.

"Cassiopeia?" Ely's husky voice asked softly over the crackle of the fire.

With a startled squeal, Cassiopeia dropped the antler. "Ely?"

Ely had seen her drop the antler, but let it pass for the moment. "I need to tell you and Pelnak..."

He coughed and winced, before resuming in a weak, strangled voice.

"What I did that resulted in - my condition. Can you...wake him, please? Its important..."

Cassiopeia looked from Ely to Pelnak, who lay near the fire, before she climbed to her hooves and walked over, nudging him until he woke with a snort and shuddered.

"Cassie?" Pelnak murmured, groggy and still struggling to return from the exhausted sleep. "What's wrong..."

"Ely needs us...please?"

Stumbling, Pelnak crept to his hooves and walked cautiously over, staying well out of striking range, before he flipped heavily on the ground and blinked, then yawned.

"It's...past time, I tell you both the truth." Ely began, then shuddered. "I'll tell you both the full story no doubt you have noticed there's something dangerous about me by now."

Pelnak frowned, but Cassiopeia nodded in agreement her ears flattening momentarily as she remembered his form with the swirling dark magicks surrounding it and the fear it instilled in her briefly.

"What? Whats wrong?" Pelnak muttered, trying to stifle another yawn.

"We're about to find out I guess" Cassiopeia answered, then nuzzled him and lay beside him, her attention fixating on Ely.

Pelnak noticed her gaze, and a brief tremble rippled through him, as his eyes momentarily closed in a cruel, vicious glare.

"Make yourselves comfortable this could take a while and I'll answer any questions you have as best I'm able. No holding back information this time." Ely says laying down his head gingerly.

Ely had seen that look in Pelnak's eyes, and he shuddered, both deer thinking it was just pain from his injuries that were reluctant to heal.

Cassiopeia starts "OK so explain exactly what you did, I've heard of magicks being cast but never heard of anything so... frightening."

Pelnak nods quickly in agreement, scepticism on his muzzle, as he refuses to believe.

Ely shuddered, then coughed violently for several minutes, before he swallowed and sighed. "Very well, as you recall I said I am half Lupid though my Fèidh side is dominant. Hence, why I appear as a Red Deer."

Pelnak frowns, but Cassiopeia is more open, her head weakly nodding, her ears perked towards Ely.

<That's it...> Comes a voice in Pelnak's mind, as he shudders and suppresses it - just -

Ely continues. "Both sides can command magicks but they're different and they are not intended to be compatible with one another. One the Lupid magicks is natural to take life to feed upon it, the darker, primitive, predator instincts. To a Lupid, it is natural, and food is - food. They care not if its animal or human, well, mostly... While the other the Fèidh is the other side of the same river. Theirs is to work with Gaia using that what surrounds them to use a little from many sources without impacting any one source harmfully."

Ely pauses and waits while the stunned whitetails absorb this revelation before Cassiopeia finally responds.

"So that's what you did you turned against yourself and forced a incompatible combination of magicks?"

Pelnak a little slower catches up now "That's why that magick hurt when it restored me it wasn't natural!"

Ely nodded weakly. "They're...incompatible..."

Cassiopeia continues "So...that energy it was Lupid?"

Ely looks at her and frowns "Yes and it was a stupid stupid mistake!"

Overcome with grief and rage, Cassiopeia's lips curled back, saliva dripping from her gums as she lunges suddenly, her intent to tear Ely's throat out, but barely a hairs breadth from his fur, her jaws slam shut and she growls threateningly at him.

Cassiopeia's ears pinned back. "How can bringing Pelnak back be a mistake?!"

Ely recoils not expecting this reaction from her and still powerless to defend himself if required

"No! No! you misunderstand! Please calm down and let me finish I implore you!"

Cassiopeia growls menacingly, but reluctantly steps back, her hackles raised.

"Cassiopeia sweetie?" Pelnak whispers, as he nuzzles her ears, trying to soothe her. "Calm down, he meant the method not the outcome"

As fast as it began it was over Cassiopeia resumed her prior position on the grass and curious expression like she had never moved before saying

"I'm sorry about that. You were saying?"

Still shaken by her attack Ely shudders wincing at the pain that caused before regaining his composure and continuing

"I'm sorry if I offended you, Pelnak is correct I shouldn't have used the Lupid magicks, I should have killed that hunter where he stood, then used Fèidh magicks to reinforce and accelerate his healing."

Cassiopeia was clearly about to ask another question but Ely raised a paw asking for her to be patient while he explained.

"On that clearing when I saw him get the best of Cassiopeia, I saw into his mind, I saw what he had done in the past and what he would do to you! He would turn you, break you, forge your love into a weapon to torture you both. The Lupid side was disgusted by this... this complete abomination of the natural order!. Kill clean. Kill quick. No undue suffering. That is the mantra of the predator!"

Cassiopeia winced at the implied implications. Ely had been aware, quick and deadly, just she imagined a Lupid, when they first met Ely.. The swiftness and strike sure and sudden, faster than anything she had imagined. Such perfection within his strike on their first meeting.

Ely continued noting her reaction and nodding slightly as he continued.

"My Lupid side would not be quelled. It took over, going so far as to summon dark forbidden Lupid magicks to gain control over me. It took the hunters very soul as punishment for such an atrocity as what he done to Pelnak! Even now, I do not understand? How did it twist Lupid and Fèidh magicks?. Such a thing is - unheard of amongst both my clans. It was the backlash from the forbidden magicks, that drew heavily on me and required much of my own magicks to achieve. the unnatural binding of it backfired causing my physical injuries"

Pelnak frowned, then felt that voice start to whisper at him, as a low, frightened moan escapes him. Cassiopeia is so absorbed, she absently nuzzles Pelnak, then goes back to listening to Ely.

"So why are you not healing?" Cassiopeia asked.

"It is...not as simple as that little one - " Ely sighed quietly, looking down at the empty bowl wistfully. "My magicks are depleted. I fear, they may never return. Deep inside some of us - is what we call the core. It is what gives us the ability to tap and harness magicka. It has been so badly twisted and corrupted, my link to it is all but severed, and it may, truly, never return. I have tapped deep into forbidden magicks, twisted and corrupted them in my foolish naievity to do good, do do right - but such dark magicks, take a frightening and heavy toll on those foolish enough to think they can harness such power."

Ely shuddered and coughed weakly.

"When I was growing up in the Lupid clan? Their Seer, my Great Sire as it happened, tutored me in magicks. He, being a Lupid, taught me their ways. He was old, wise and powerful. He was so used to their way of magicks, he never thought my young, impressionable mind could even contemplate - what I would later do... I remember my first - attempt - at Lupid magicks. It was a simple thing - to light a small fire from the tip of my hooflet. Any apprentice Seer could do it!"

Ely shuddered, his face revealing the painful memory that surfaced.

As I was half Lupid - the - consequences were, to be honest - dramatic and nearly killed me. They were, similar to the magicks that I used on that human... I couldn't control it, sure, I created the fire, but I couldn't command it - make it obey my will and desire... It burned me terribly, and the Healers were a month, healing my wounds from my foolishness.

"My Great Sire was shocked - horrified even - He was no fool, and revised my learning. I leaned at the hooves of a powerful Seer of the Fèidh's magicks. It was found, that my more dominant self - a Fèidh - their magicks were more compatible to my physiology and mind. Lupid magicks are for destruction and harm, the Fèidh's magicks? They're more for healing and helping, do you understand?

Finally Cassiopeia bleats her burning question.

"I...do not understand - you have the capabilities of both?" "I do - some Lupid magicks I can do, easily and effortlessly, but some are - deadly and dangerous to me - and possibly - to others... Now, let me ask you a question, if I may?"

Cassiopeia blinked.

"When you...change, is that what you call it? I - sense it hurts you terribly, why is this?

"It's...how its always been!" Cassiopeia frowns.

Ely is genuinely surprised "Excuse me?"

Exasperated, Cassiopeia sighed. "We've never been able - well - once, only one escaped my father and I. She was a shifter, a Native American lady. We didn't know what a shifter was! My father captured her, tortured her, done unspeakable things to her, to try and break her. Things that sickened me. Her blood though - oh - her blood was like the clearest of spring runoff in the creek. Sweet, delicious, it was hard not to gorge ourselves on it!

"That was probably the magicks that flowed through her - " Ely nodded slowly. "What happened to her?"

"One night? My father come to take his pleasures - with her...as a Stag...he was incensed when he found she had slipped her bonds that had bound her. Manacles, collar and handcuffs were empty! Only a hint of fur was left - he did not understand what Coyote smelled like, but the cellar reeked of its scent. He screamed, as she slashed his hind tendons with her teeth, then fled up and out the trap door. I was away - unusual for me, as I was disposing of our last - victim - when I returned, he took out his...frustration...on me..."

"He....oh dear Gaia..." Ely whispered. "He..."

Cassiopeia shuddered and nodded, tears sliding down her muzzle. "Many times..."

Ely shuddered and managed a weak smile, before he laughed nervously, seeking to ease the tension.

Ely shook his head, then "Now calm down deerie, he - got what he deserved and -"

Cassiopeia's eyes narrow to slits at the pun, Pelnak is also not amused the inner voice demanding he should rend flesh at such an insult but he keeps it hidden for the moment. Cassiopeia senses his turmoil and locks eyes with him sternly for a second diffusing him.

Ely see's he may be fraying some nerves accidentally, his attempt at humour inappropriate and unwarranted. Quickly, he distracts the enraged Therian.

"How do you change forms?"

Cassiopeia blinks at him "What do you mean? We just do. we concentrate on the form we want and then bit by bit out bones fracture and reform and after a while we've changed"

Ely is stunned muzzle open in shock "You mean it takes many minutes and is painful?"

Pelnak shudders. "Terribly so, it is - excruciating, especially for one like me, who is only newly turned... It takes me almost half an hour, I've seen Cassiopeia force it in a third of the time, but not - without nearly killing herself."

Ely shakes his head "This is going to take longer than I thought."

Cassiopeia senses he was about to start up but had to get her question in first

"What do you know of this clearly somethings not right by the way you reacted"

Ely sighs "By everything I know you're correct, in your own way. Therian's should be able to tap their innate magicks. All of our kind have a connection, be it Lupid or Fèidh. It is from this, latent or used, that the ability to shift form comes from. It should never hurt, cause pain and suffering! It should be painless, almost instantaneous - in some cases - even pleasurable!"

Ely bows his head and lowers his ears before looking at Cassiopeia and Pelnak sadly

"I can see much knowledge has been lost to the Therian's of this land."

Cassiopeia replies "Can you teach us?"

Pelnak nods in agreement Ely smile falls as he feels a spike of the inner turmoil from Pelnak "Just as soon as I'm able. If I can...now, please, let me rest a while - all this has left me weak and drained..."

Cassiopeia rose, then nudged Pelnak. He reluctantly got to his hooves, then followed Cassiopeia out of the grove. Cassiopeia's mind swirled with what she'd just learned - Pelnak's was closed and guarded, as it began to turn even darker in its thoughts and feelings.

Pelnak turns to Cassiopeia

"So...what was all that about!" He suddenly snaps at her.

Cassiopeia looks at him left ear twitching "I - honey, what do you mean? I don't understand whats gotten into you!"

"I know what you would like gotten into you!" He growled, lips curling back. "I know how much that must have pleasured you...that long, firm length inside you - the strength of him on your back... I know whats going on, you're turning against me!"

Cassiopeia freezes, then stares at him, her ears flat and eyes wide.

"I'd never...yes, mating Ely was pleasant - but you are my mate, my lover!"

Pelnak growled, lowering his antlered head, before stepping backwards, putting distance between himself and Cassiopeia.

"Pelnak, please..." Cassiopeia pleaded.

"No!" Pelnak suddenly screamed in agony, as he forced himself to the ground and began convulsing. "I will not obey, I will not murder my mate!"

"Pelnak, you're scaring me!" Cassiopeia wailed.

Cassiopeia draws deep of herself, before she forces the mating bond open, then she screams and violently shakes her head as she sees what fights within him.

"Cassie...please!" Pelnak screams and writhes helplessly. "It...it is demanding! A primal rage and it's getting stronger! I...I fight and it keeps pushing me backwards! I keep slipping! Losing who and what I am...its hard to keep it at bay at times."

< Kill her, tear her throat out and feast on her blood! She's only a whitetail, you remember, don't you? Hearing the squeals, the terrified cries as you forced her to the ground! Her tendons severed by the slashing teeth! She was helpless, unable to resist, to fight...it only made it more - pleasurable - didn't it? >

"Cassie!" Pelnak screamed in terror. "Please help me!"

Cassiopeia acted out of instinct and emotion - not thought - as she spun about, then both her cloven hind hooves slammed into Pelnak's forehead with a sickening crunch. He gurgled, before he fell limp on the ground, blood dribbling from his nostrils.

Cassiopeia stood before him, before she twisted away, hot bitter tears coursing down her muzzle. She stared deeply into the swirling current in a stream nearby. She cried helplessly, torn between grief and fear at what her beloved, sweet mate was becoming. She watched they way the water flowed around the rocks. Her eyes focus on the way water coils in an eddy behind a rock in the stream the turbid ripples rolling out before re-joining the main current

"I don't yet know if I can help but I'll stand by you, my love. Now - and always..." Cassiopeia sniffles, the tears dripping off her muzzle and melding with the cold, uncaring water that continued flowing.

To Be Continued...