To Court the Fèidh - Chapter Four -
Story by Cederwyn Whitefurr on SoFurry
Alexander learns much with his time with this strange, enigmatic Feidh doe, promising to return and finish what he started - already he learned how to mask himself, to adopt the cloak of feidh magicks to make himself appear human, but will it all come undone?
To Court the Fèidh
Chapter Four
© Cederwyn Whitefurr
4th October, 2021
All Rights Reserved.
He spent four days with this enigmatic doe, as she taught him her ways and started him on the path of Fèidh magicks. He mastered the ability to mask himself, to appear as his human form and even how to shift his form to that of a feral like red deer buck.
“Excellent young one!” She smiled, as he shifted back to his anthropomorphic form and sat down, folding his long legs beside him. “Truly, I never expected you to learn these talents so quickly, then again, I have never...”
He raised an eyebrow at her, then rose and gently lifted her chin to look into her dark, soulful eyes.
“Tell me, please? I've learned so much, yet I feel as if I have barely learned anything at all!”
With a quiver, the Doe looked away and a sad smile curled the edges of her furred lips.
“Please – tell me?” Alexander whispered, as he gently turned her head back again.
With a sigh, she closed her eyes and trembled again, before hanging her head and the scent of her shame and guilt grew strong – Alexander was surprised that he could smell it – everything smelt, sounded and even looked different now...
“I've never turned a human before...” Come her sibilant whisper. “We Fèidh, we do not...we should not...”
Alexander stared at her, before he leapt to his cloven hooves and began pacing, his fear and anger fighting for control within him.
“You turned me... now you tell me you should not have? Why? Who said you should not? I know you now, I know what beats within your body, what drives and compels you...”
Remaining where she sat, the Doe merely shook her head.
“You're not a Therian – or a Were!” Alexander exploded, stamping a cloven hoof. “I know you are kind, gentle and...”
One of his leaf-like ears twitched as he heard the thundering of horse hooves. Even distantly, they sounded loud to him and growing closer.
“We... we can't be seen here, what if they...”
Idly, the doe used a hooflet to draw nonsensical patterns in the loamy soil, before she laid back on the ground and placed her paws under her head and gazed up at the trees, seemingly nonplussed.
“They're coming this way!” Alexander squeaked.
Remaining silent, the Doe merely flicked an ear and waited.
“What...” Alexander moaned, pacing back and forth.
“Still yourself,” Come the quiet voice of the doe.
Alexander stood and trembled, hearing the thundering hoof-beats get closer and closer. There... on the crude road to the south, he watched five riders approach, dressed in the black cloaks of his order...
My former Order – how can I go back to them now – as a...
Raising her head up, the Doe looked at him and raised an eyebrow – almost as if she could read his mind like she would a scroll.
Reining in, the five Order huntsmen spread out and searched the surrounds. Rolling onto her side, the Doe merely smiled an enigmatic smile as they approached to within twenty feet, then walked around the grove and kept searching.
“They...” Alexander's eyes widened.
He focused and saw the faintest glow of emerald green that formed a circle around the edge of the grove – the Fèidh magicks masking and shielding them from detection.
“Did you doubt my ability?” Come the quiet laugh of the doe. “Would I risk ones such as them to find us? I doubt your order even know what the Fèidh are!”
“I – no, I do not know what the Arch Mage and the Elder's on the High Council know of your...I mean, our kind.. I had not earned that rank in the Order to be indoctrinated into the High Council.”
Bored, the doe lay back down.
“Listen to you! High Council, Arch Magi... you humans really have to label everything? Make it so...difficult?”
Alexander frowned.
“I'd...never known any other way. I was brought up from a baby, by the Order and...”
Exasperated, the Doe rolled over and got to her hooves, before she brushed herself off.
“Forgive me, I meant not to be so...judgemental. I was born to the Fèidh, our – ways are different to human's. We do not create...”
With a wave of her paw, she encompassed the still searching humans.
“That – we work with each other, for each other, and only the Elder's of a clan have any real authority over us. We do not have Kings or Queens or Regents or...”
Waving her paw again, she shook her head.
“I think you understand. Your society is fascinating yet frightened to we Fèidh. We have walked amongst your kind for centuries – sometimes openly – sometimes by hiding in the woods and appearing in our animal-like forms.”
“Forgive me, but...just how long to the...we...live?”
“I am one hundred and twenty two years old - “ She answered simply, as if it was no big thing. “I am, by the Fèidh, a young adult. A typical Fèidh, in good health, can expect to live approximately six or seven hundred of your years. Our Eldest lived to nine hundred. As a... I would assume as you have bonded with the Fèidh blood, and it with you, your lifespan would be about one hundred and twenty, give or take half a century. I truly do not know, we, as far as my own knowledge goes – have ever turned a human.”
Alexander stared at her, his eyes wide, muzzle hanging open.
“Yes, so you are, to the Fèidh, a child. You are – about twenty four human years?”
“Twenty...” Alexander told her.
“A Fèidh becomes an adolescent at about twelve years of age for we does, stags mature a little older. We are considered adults at nineteen of your years for does, twenty-two for bucks.”
“Alexander!” Come a call from the party who looked for him.
With an annoyed flick of her ear, the doe sighed.
“I should never have kept you so long, no doubt they are concerned for your welfare and safety. I will remain here, if you wish to learn more, then come to the grove, I will await you...”
“Wait!” Alexander squealed. “I'm a...look at me!”
Raising an eyebrow, the doe shook her head.
“You have within you the Fèidh magicks – well, a sliver of them. It is more than enough to mask your new form. Think of yourself as you were, and by your will, shall it be! Now...”
With a smile and a flick of her paw, Alexander felt the Fèidh magicks surround him, and as his vision cleared, he found himself laying on his bedroll, his mare tied to a nearby branch.
Gone was the grove, the doe, everything... A small campfire surrounded by rocks was nearby, and as he reached out, he found the ashes long cold.
“Magi Alexander!” Come the voice again. “Can you hear us?”
Fearful, he held his hands to his mouth, then blinked and looked down, expecting to see blunt black hooflets and fur...but found pale human skin and nails instead. He felt over himself, checking he wasn't dreaming – indeed – everything was as it should and would be...
“Here...” He croaked, then rubbed his throat. “Here, over here, hail brothers! I'm over here!”
Feya whinnied loudly, drawing the attention of the search party to his location. They closed in on him, swords drawn and eyes alert, before Alexander stood up and confronted them.
“Milord, we've searched for you for days, are you alright?” One asked, as he sheathed his sword with a sound that set Alexander's teeth on edge.
I can smell the stink of their unwashed bodies, their sweat and the leather of their armour – how is this...
“I am a Magi of the Order, do I need your permission to take leave and do or go as I may?”
“Of course not mi'lord, but the Elder's were concerned...”
Of course they were...
Alexander sighed softly. “Very well, let me pack my camp and I shall return to the Order.”
Quietly, they watched as he rolled up his bedroll and packed the few cooking implements he'd had out, before he untied the reins and turned Feya's head for what he'd always thought of as home – now – he wasn't so sure...
To Be Continued...