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Well here's the final installation to Tenja's Trials. I hope that those who've followed this enjoyed it as much as I did. Please leave your comments on the series here, both criticisms and compliments if you have them. I very much enjoyed writing this series and wanted to end it with a few twists and turns. Though in a first for me, I'll admit I teared up on one or two parts in writing this. Also my hands are going to go soak in some warm water after all this typing.

Illthar balled his fists up and pushed them against his temples as he felt the drain on his magic summoning back Tenja. He didn't summon her to his chambers, he forced the magic to send her to his rooms. He didn't trust himself at the moment to speak to her. He didn't trust himself to answer her questions. She'd failed. Of all the times to fail, she had failed with a creature that had gone to the surface and given himself over to death. He looked again at the mirrored surface of his table and watched as the lava was vomited forth from the heavily populated island. The fiery bird like form was nowhere in sight. It had been like a shoot star as it launched itself into the sky and all too quickly had been lost from view.

He knew that people were dying there. He ached to save them, to snatch them back from the death that awaited them at the hands of the lava and volcanic ash. Yet there was nothing he could do besides watch the small forms stumbling towards the shore in their panic. He knew some would survive. Some of them would escape. They always did, but so many would be lost and overcome that it made his chest tighten. The grief was one drop in a sea that rolled through him and he dismissed the vision to find an even more unsettling one. Rufus turned his head on the edge of the bowl and heaved himself up with a strength he knew was feigned.

"Rufus." His voice was roughened as he used his pet name for his Familiar. A name he'd come up with the day he'd first summoned the beast at the end of his apprenticeship. "There's no feather, Rufus. The Phoenix has gone to the sun she can't try to snatch it again."

"There are other firebirds in the world." The Salamander settled himself half a foot away and sighed wearily. "You can send her out again."

"Even you know that's hopeless. He was the oldest and the wisest, his feather would have carried the very essence of fire from living within the earth's core. I can get another feather from another bird, but it would lack the potency we need." The mage dropped his hands and stared at the Salamander. The creature's scales were patched and dulled as they seemed burnt from his inner fire and it's spade shaped head rested on it's forepaws.

"There is another source of fire in the world, Mage." The voice was quiet, oh so very quiet and the old man jerked and shook his head violently.

"No." He said the word flatly and turned his head to look at the window. The sigh that rattled free from the Salamander seemed to shake him to the bone.

"Illthar, Master, old friend. Do not deny me this." The voice was soft, but firm and the mage closed his eyes as they started to burn. "Prepare the magic that you must."

++++

The fire burned through Tenja until she was shaking as it erupted past her feathered form and blinded her eyes into a realm of white. It felt as if it were crawling down her throat and through her stomach. She wanted to scream but as she opened her lips the heat ripped her voice from her throat so that only roar of the fire filled her. The roar of the flames was so absolute that when it ended and her naked form collapsed on a thick rug that she thought she was deaf. The room was dark after the brightness of the flames and she dug her fingers into the rug. Her breath came in a ragged shudder as she tried to recover herself and she forced herself upwards onto her knees.

The Mage was nowhere to be seen. That alone made her stomach roll in fear. She drew in a breath and tried to calm the panic she felt. He wasn't even there to chide her or speak to her. Instead she was left in the darkened room with only the small fire in the fireplace to cast light around her. She forced herself to her feet and then moved to pull out a robe to cover her nudity. Her eyes automatically looked around to try to see a door and to her shock one was set in the far wall. The rich dark wood caught the gleam of the fire and the brass handle glittered invitingly. Perhaps he meant for her to escape? Was it all just some strange joke? Did he intend her to learn a lesson.

She turned the knob experimentally and it pulled open surprisingly easily. The sound of the hinges creaked and she blinked her eyes at the firelight that surrounded a room that didn't seem to have any windows. The marble floor was streaked through with gold veins that made patterns to dance in front of her eyes. She tightened her hands around her robe as the place was vaguely menacing. One corner held a strange stand built of freshly cut wood. Three alternating sets of poles rose up from a heavy base, and each pole held a half circle padded with leather and what looked like wool. It almost looked large enough to fit a draft horse if she wasn't mistaken.

Nearby was a massive fireplace that was actually set in the middle of the room. It was lined with waist high stones and a fire crackled inside of it to rise up all the way to the chimney set above it. The scent of the smoke was almost sweet and it clung to her nose. It was laden with spices and made a strange shiver run down her spine. Her eyes fell to a gleam of white and red to one side and saw the prizes she had so painstakingly gathered through her trials. She saw the ruby of the samebito's egg and the white from the wyverns, the darkness of the tree's egg and the pearly gleam of a glass container of the Naga's venom. Everything except the feather she was supposed to have gathered on the last trial. Dread filled her stomach. What did the Mage want?

++++

Rufus felt the bone deep ache of exhaustion making his entire body seem heavy and he resisted the urge to close his eyes and give in to sleep. He could feel that magic he had slipping away as the moments passed by. What he did have was gathered together deep inside of him to preserve the spark of his life, the very essence of fire hidden within his body. Each breath was one he felt grateful for, it filled his lungs and expanded his ribs before it rushed out again. How had he ever taken this for granted? The very perfection of how his body was supposed to work. He looked at his forepaw and flexed his toes. The muscles joined the bone to tendons and they moved at the barest thought that trailed from him. How his creator had made him!

"I won't do it!" Illthar's voice was strained with grief as he paused with his hands on either side of the Salamander's scaled voice.

"Death chases us all, Illthar, it stalks us through our days and unlike all the other predators in the world it is sure of its kill." Rufus lifted his head up to see the tear trailing down the wrinkled face. "I will die. If I must die, I will choose the manner of my death and I am the last thing that you require."

"Is this my lot in life, Rufus? Am I to be nothing more than a pawn and take the life of not only a young woman but yours as well? At least she will live after this!" His voice cracked and Rufus felt the grief of his master roll over him. It was thick and dark like some weight that threatened to crash over him and envelope him.

"No, you will save others. I will save others. She will understand, I promise. My flame's will fuel her and she will grow to know why you came to do this." He rested a paw on the scaleless arm of his Master. "I will save my people. What more can I ask for my end? If my choice is to fade away or to gloriously fall in the fires that gave me birth, it will be the fires I choose."

"Rufus...." The Salamander smiled a little at that name, a memory flitting over his mind of other times before he turned his head to the door that hid the work room. The girl was in there waiting for them.

"She's waiting, Mage. Let us not keep her waiting. Do not keep me waiting." He flicked his tongue out and licked the arm as the aged hands moved to gently wrap under him and picked him up from the table. How glorious the feeling of those gentle hands on his body. Why hadn't he realized that it wasn't simply servitude he felt for the old man. Over forty years he had served Illthar and for once he realized that he loved the old man. They had guided each other until he felt he was no longer simply a Beast, he was something more, something better. Did this happen to humans? Did in their last moments they realize such revelations or did they simply clasp to their lives desperately?

++++

Tenja jerked as the door opened with a clang and she saw the Mage walk in looking decades older then he had when she had left. In his arms he held the limp form of what she thought was a lizard with its head cupped in the palm of his hand. He closed the door behind him and looked at her for a moment and she stepped back. The emotions that stirred behind his eyes made it seem as if some great leviathan stirred through deep waters. A shimmer of something too large for her to fathom showed through before flickering away again. It was only when he came closer to the fire that she saw the dulled hide of the lizard. Ruby red, fiery orange, pale blue. Rufus.

"Wh-what happened to him!?" The words burst out from her lips before she could stop them. Despite her ordeals the Salamander had seemed almost understanding and kindly to her.

"You know what's happening to him, Tenja." Illthar's hands shook as he placed the beast on the edge of the fire and she saw the scales along his back were fused together if melted. "He's dying. A creature that should live as long as fire does is fading away with the rest of the magic in the world."

"Can't you heal him?" She faltered a little and stepped back as the Mage came closer to her and when he passed by the fire light she saw his eye lids rimmed in red.

"No. Our last hope died with the phoenix." He spoke the words bitterly. "His last hope died with the animal."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" She faltered and swallowed. "I tried! Please, I tried! Let me go!"

"I cannot, Tenja." The words were like a hammers blow and fury spiked through her as well as despair.

"Why? I tried! I cannot save your pet, I'm sorry!" Her voice cracked on the last word as her tone came frighteningly closed to pleading.

"Even If you had succeeded I could not let you go, little thief." The Mage looked her in the eyes and there were more wrinkles then she had thought there were. "You know what's happening to the world. The stories have shown you that, the creatures themselves have shown you. I have one hope of bringing the magic back into the land. To create a creature a new to breathe life into the world. Magic is sustained in this land by two things. Wonder and new birth. The power of creation was meant to fuel and sustain our magic, but as the years have turned we have forgotten much of what we learned.

"It was our fault, we became so involved in petty things that we forgot our sacred charge. It wasn't until the unicorn was slain and we heard the world reverberate with its dying breath did we remember. Then it was too late, we had lost much of our knowledge and what we did have was incomplete and the ingredients it called for things we could not take ourselves. It wasn't until you came that I realized that it was possible. A thief to take what we needed from what was left in the world, a thief to touch every element in different forms and come to understand them. Yes, you Tenja."

"You have what you need! You don't need me!" Her voice did crack now, her stomach hardened into an icy coldness.

"Yes, I do. The stories are spread all through the world of Mage's having human sacrifices. No, Tenja, I'm not going to kill you, but they have the root of truth." The mage drew a breath as she shifted her gaze around the room, there had to be something she could use for a weapon. "Your sacrifice is your life, your very living. A human touched by every element to bind the spell together and in that spark bring forth a new life. With the birth of a new creature the magic will begin to flow more surely again."

"NO! You can't have it! It's mine!" She stepped back and another step as her eyes slid to the door before Illthar's hand cast out and she found herself frozen in place by unseen bonds.

"I'm sorry, so very sorry, Tenja. You will never know how sorry I am for this. I cannot be the one to sacrifice myself. Only you have lived through each element, with your change and Rufus' d-death." He stumbled on that word, forced past quivering lips and her eyes flicked to the Salamander that watched her with blue eyes that seemed darker then she remembered them. "Between you both, you will return hope to the world. I hope one day you will come to understand why I've done what I've done."

Tenja writhed and tried to speak until her eyes bulged, she wanted to scream and fight him. This was beyond the rape of her body, he was taking her very humanity if what he said was correct. Her muscles stood out as she tried to break the unseen bonds to run. Instead she found herself levitating as the magic lifted her up and moved towards the stand with the strange restraints that hang from it. She almost managed to writhe as she watched the Mage's eyes flick away from her as if ashamed of himself. Not even his feelings of regret soothed her. The robe she had tied around herself slipped free from her body as her body came over the middle post and the soft wool that lined the curve pressed against her. The buckles rose like snakes and suddenly wrapped over her back to secure her in place while the invisible bonds finally released her.

"STOP! STOP! PLEASE!!" She shrieked the words out desperately.

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Illthar forced himself to become deaf to the girls pleading screams even as they echoed around the room and turned to the fireplace. He would hear those screams for the rest of his life, he knew he would. They would haunt him, but he didn't use magic to still her tongue. Perhaps he was only trying to punish himself, but someone had to feel sorrow for what he was going to do. In the past the sacrifice would have been willing and understood what it meant. They didn't have time to find someone willing, all he had was the thief he had found daring enough to steal inside of his home and attempt to take away what he had collected.

He looked at the cracked parchment and then turned his eyes to the Salamander. His body seemed to be so much less then what it had been. For a moment he remembered the glorious day he had first called the Beast to him. The fires that had shown like precious stones and the scales that had glimmered, oh how Rufus' eyes had gleamed with mischief and hints of secrets he alone knew! It was the first spell the mage had done on his own and he had felt their souls test each other. They probed and pushed until they found the common ground to rest their bond on. From there it had grown, but that day when he had found himself entranced in the glorious blue regard of this creature would always be among the best and brightest.

"Rufus.." He trailed off and cleared his throat. "My friend, my only friend. Dance well, dance the best you know, dance until the fires burn white for me."

"Illthar." The Salamander moved and turned his head to the fire before looking at him once again and a smile tugged the edges of the hard lips. "We will meet again, you know. I only go to show you the way to the other side, when your time comes look for the fire that lights your way. I shall wait there for you. I will wait until the stars die."

The Mage opened his mouth to answer when the lizard pushed himself into the embers of the fire and his body started to writhe. The flames rose up to flare around the dulled scales and rippled over them and he felt in his soul the way the animal pushed the magic he had held inside of him outside to tease the flames. For a moment his mind was disoriented and he felt his vision waver until he saw himself from within the flames. The flames that were his, they were his home, his life, his grave. He called to them with his mind in body to come and join him. In that instant he knew a trembling eagerness and joy for what was to happen. There was no fear, no struggle against it, the only sorrow was that he left his friend behind him.

He pulled his mind from the Salamanders as the fires began to crackle and raise up. He heard Tenja's cry as the scaled form of the lizard twisted and twined through the lapping tongues. He could see the scales starting to brighten as first bright reddish-orange erupted over him and Illthar fumbled and his hands found the fist sized ruby to cast into the flames. His mind cleared as he began the spell, his words formed almost soundlessly. Rufus danced around the ruby and his rough tongue lapped around it as his scales for a moment seemed just as bright as that jewel. It melted under his touch and the magic thrummed through the air as it was eaten by the growing fire until the flames turned into a deep crimson.

First was the essence of water, next earth. The Mage pulled out the seed and cast it towards the Salamander and he watched as the ruby color was leeched away from the beast. It was pulled away into the magic that channeled towards the girl. The runes that were etched beneath the stand started to glow with a deep red before the beast's fires captured the seed. He watched as it broke open and the flames changed into a vivid green as a sprout erupted from it. Even as the paw closed down over the seedling he felt the sudden surge of magic thrum through his body as new runes flared to life under the girl. Her voice raised in pitch as her pleading reached his ears.

The third were the wyvern's scale and spine, the essence of air and ice together that the salamander's flames wrapped around. The green was pulled from the lizard's body and he heard the hiss of pain before the fire paled into a deadly blue. The heat singed against his face as he chanted the words and slowly the hardened spire and scale melted into the fire as the former two had. They were taken into the salamander's flames to channel to the runes that matched up with them. The room glowed with the pulsing power and he picked up the venom next. For a moment he hesitated as he watched the twisting form in the fire.

His eyes blurred slightly as he realized he could see the form starting to fade. It wasn't melting, it was growing more a part of the flames as the magic started to pulse around him. It was like some slow beating heart and he clenched his palm before the beaker that held the venom was cast into the flames. The glass shattered and the fire flared up white and reached the very edge of the chimney as it was claimed by the fires. The hot hiss and scent of it flooded the air and he found himself struggling to channel the magic through the runes. The power that throbbed in the air was greater than he had ever imagined, could have imagined! Tenja's cries became muted as her form was wrapped in the power and he realized only one remained.

Rufus twisted in the flames as he watched the flames flutter and flicker rapidly. No, it wasn't flickering, the colors were being leeched from him! The rainbow colors that made up his scales were being drained away from his form. Illthar faltered and moved as close the fire as he could as one tear and then another rolled down his cheeks. A sob caught in his throat. His friend, his only friend. His Familiar, assigned to him the onerous task of guiding and helping him until such time he would be free. Who had come to love him and whom the mage loved him as a companion of starless night and explorer of empty places.

Illthar's lips parted and he called out the Salamander's secret name. The one had only been given the moment their souls had joined. He screamed it out as the form wavered and faded. A bright blue eye found him as the form grew more and more transparent. Sapphire blue, cadmium, crimson, orange. They flared to life and drained away as the magic latched itself to the fire that let the creature live. The Mage felt his knees go week as another tear rolled down his face and his chest tightened. His friend, his constant companion of a gentle nature and humor that had seen him through the darkest days faded away. The serpentine form reared back as the fire flared once so brightly it dazzled the old man's eyes before the magic took all that had made the creature up and it flowed into the ruins beneath the thief. His friend, his companion, his familiar.... Gone like a candle blown out from the wind. Rufus...

++++

Tenja's eyes ran with slow tears as she saw the agonized dance of the Salamander caught in the flames. The hissing noises sank into her ears all the way until the flames flared up once and she saw the form fade away and the runes under her glows with a pale orange. What was left of the beast. It was then she realized what trouble she was in. The mage intended to change her! She threw her weight against the restraint as the world hovered in silence for the span of three heart beats and then exploded. The magic broke free over her in a pulsing gripped that wrapped around her body and she found the strength to scream.

:Tenja...: The voice breathed through her mind in the Salamander's hiss. :You will be a wonder...:

"RUFUS!" She screamed the name out. A plea, a curse!

Her body was wrapped in all the colors of the elements as if they were serpents and somehow it was different from the other changes. She felt them sink into her and they seemed to run through her bones as she let out a scream. It wasn't pain, but it wasn't pleasure. As she screamed her jaws spread open and then pushed out longer as she watched. Her nose joined with her lips to form a slender muzzle. Her tongue felt her teeth curve down and turn into a set of fangs, even as her tongue herself was turning more slender and serpentine. She closed her eyes as her entire body seemed to pulse in time with her rapidly beating heart.

Her head reformed and she felt a stab of pressure just above each eye and shook her head roughly as something grew from just above them. Horns? Antlers? Her mind refused to process what was happening to her, she could only deal with what happened each moment. Her neck thickened and lengthened into a powerful arch. The changes traveled downwards until the restraint cut into her body and she let out a wordless cry of pain as her form bulged under it. A pair of hands struggled and she felt it loosen as she looked to see her hands changing. The fingers pulled together as the nails thickened into a set of powerful cloven hooves. The hooves turned into a clear crystal color, it almost seemed as if they were made of quartz.

Similar changes could be felt along her feet as the front of the foot elongated and the heel pulled back. Her knee came in closer to a body that rapidly changed under the magic's touch. Her chest flattened as her breasts disappeared against her skin and it grew broader while her stomach pulled in tighter against her body. She let out a cry that came out a bugling squeal when she felt pressure against her tail bone. The weight spilled out and she realized a tail was pushing from her body and she struggled against it as the weight fell down heavily against her hind legs. Everything felt condensed as if she was being held under pressure. She couldn't even fight when the Mage pushed her elongated neck and head under the curve of the tallest of the restraints.

Tenja stared in horror as the pale pink skin suddenly rippled as if water was being poured over her body. It blurred and spread as a silver speck just on her muzzle and quickly ran its way upwards. Before her very eyes silver-white scales blossomed and chased their way up along her head and she felt her ears stretching and tapering on each side of her head. The world became sharper, the sound of soft rough breathing sounded suddenly loud. The answer to who it was came when she felt hands guiding her trembling legs up and over the last half circle. It cupped under her stomach as her skin trembled and twitched at the feel of the plated scales chasing over her. What had he made of her?!

Her body felt laden under the changes and her eyes unfocused for a moment as the magic seemed to spill through places inside of her nothing should touch. The heat built up low in her body and she let out a wordless moan as something familiar happened in the midst of all the strangeness. The flare and pulse of what she had felt with the naga's venom rushed through her body. Deep inside her womb changed and the ovaries contracted to force out the first potential for new life in her body. She let out a low growling hiss and squeezed her eyes shut as the flash of desire rolled through her. Her mind started to find itself coated in her own desire.

+++++

Illthar stared at the creature held up by the stand with mingled wonder and despair. His heart ached still with his loss, but what he looked upon robbed some of his breath from his chest. The beast that shook in Tenja's place wasn't simply a mish mash of animals as he had feared would happen. It was completely itself. As if it could never be anything else, beautiful and deadly looking. The head seemed almost like a dears with a slender muzzle and broad forehead, yet the lips were parted to show a dark serpent like tongue and fangs. Above her eyes a set of glorious silver horns rose up and curved inwards until the tips almost touched. Beside a tapered set of dear like ears were held back against her head as if it were too much effort to move them.

Her neck was supple and arched like a deer's, all the way down to a powerful looking body that continued the deer like appearance. The long legs ended in a set of strong sharp looking cloven hooves. Each one seemed to be clear as if they were carved from crystal rather than any natural hoof. Yet her tail was long and dragon like all the way down to a tapered tip that curled and twisted. Her entire form was coated in silver white scales that caught the light and dazzled the eyes. It was like looking like freshly fallen snow when the sun shown full upon it. The only exception was a ridge of thick white fur that ran in a line along her neck and spine like a mane. It stood up only three inches or so, but it only added to the strange appearance of her.

With a shock he saw the eyes open and the orbs flicked towards him were flared with anger. They were liquid gold, as if someone had poured that metal and formed eyes. The only color was the obsidian pupil that spiraled down to points as they focused. He opened his mouth to reassure her when he felt the magic still on the air like some heavy pressured storm. The feeling grew and he stumbled back ready for an explosion of some sort. It felt as if the world were about to explode in a shattering of fire. As he pushed back against the cooling fireplace a spark and then fire burst out near the former thief and he covered his hands with his arm to protect them.

For a moment the world seemed to roar around him, and even behind closed eyes he saw a flash of light before another sound made him brave lifting his head. Bells. They were bells. He lifted his head to see the prancing form of a silver white creature dance over the stone. Each time his hooves hit the ground they seemed to toll out a sound like music. Despite himself his lips twitched in a smile at the joyful sound of it. The second beast tossed his head and the horns stabbed at the sky before he partially reared up and pawed at the air before landing again. He seemed less substantial then Tenja, the creature seemed otherworldly. When the beast's head turned he found himself staring into liquid gold eyes that seemed to hold a weight of something familiar.

"Rufus.." He breathed out the word hoarsely and the beast threw its head back and belled out a sound like laughter before he turned his head to Tenja. His muzzle brushed her side as the female struggled out of the shattered remains of the stand.

Illthar blinked away tears as he watched the pair of silver creatures in the dim light of the room. They seemed strangely graceful, even as Tenja struggled with her long legs and her hooves struck the ground like higher pitched bells. They seemed made of snow and music, spun silver and bard's tales. But why had the second appeared? He hadn't counted on that, he had counted on Tenja being loosed near animals that were somewhat like her and pray that she could, like others, create cross breeds. The magic slowly faded away and he blinked his eyes rapidly. Was it only because Rufus had given his life that two of their kind was created? Too much energy to be used on simply Tenja? A surge of hope ran through him.

++++

Tenja struggled to her legs and shook herself. Her hooves felt hard and unsteady beneath her as she found herself being supported by a shoulder like her own. The warmth of his body was a line against her own as she leaned against him and shook her head roughly to clear it. She lifted it to find herself staring into twin pools of molten gold and she swallowed as she almost lost herself in that intense regard. Her half formed thoughts of charging down the mage were lost in his gaze. Rufus? A force of personality looked at her through them that defied the definition of beast and the muzzle brushed against her own and breathed out over her lips.

The scent was like clear snow and sweet cinnamon woven together, a tang of musk and the lingering scent of fire. Her eyes widened slightly as the knowing gaze shifted and for a moment she got the strangest feeling. It was if when he looked at her he were both weeping and laughing for them both. She drew in a breath of his scent and the desire that had started to form flared to life. It was more intense then when she had first tasted the Naga's venom. A roil of animalistic emotions pounded against her mind until she was forced to breath in a calming breath that might have centered her if the male hadn't stepped forward. His fangs nipped at her neck and he arched his neck and danced on his hooves as he backed up.

She widened her eyes as he displayed himself for her and raised his legs high like a prancing horse. His body moved like water, a smooth grace that danced down his spine and travelled all the way down to his hooves. She snapped her teeth out and backed away with panic in her eyes from what he offered her. Her mind didn't want to believe she was truly changed. She didn't want to think that this creature was her mate. Yet he came forward with all the grace and confidence of a male and flared his nostrils to draw in her scent as if it were a drug. There was no missing the state of his body as beneath his legs a vent has parted to show a flash of something gleaming and pale silver as he grew aroused.

+++++

Out of the fires Rufus had found himself held in the grip of something bigger then himself. Something greater had captured his soul as it had fled to a better place and pulled him back. He had experienced a pressure and relief that he could only compare it to birth when he found himself in a new body. A new form that was powerful and young. The moment his hooves hit the ground he realized he wasn't dead, nor was it a dream. Muscles rippled under scales and his eyes had sought and found his beloved Mage staring at him with disbelief written on his features. For the span of a heartbeat he had wanted to walk over and greet his Master in his new form. Yet in the moment he considered it a wedge as great as a canyon was driven between them the scent he drew in.

All Salamanders were neuters. They reproduced through flame, not sexual encounters. That was why they were craved as Familiars; they used that lack of sexual need to grow more intelligent and focused. He was only a 'he' as a Salamander because Illthar had loosely assigned him a gender rather than call the beast an 'it'. For the first time in his life he scented a female on the air and his nostrils flared wide to watch Tenja struggle to her hooves. He wanted to weep as he felt the bonds he had with Illthar severed by the rush of instinctual need that rolled through him. He felt Fate itself taking hold of his new body with an urge greater than his friendship with the Mage. She smelled of sweetness, warmth and all that was good in the world.

Try as he might he couldn't resist his new desires and he drew closer to her as if he had never known her as the human thief. In his eyes she was female, she was his hind and he would take her as her season demanded. His mind swirled as he arched his neck and pranced towards her and showed off the powerful body he had been given. His nostrils flared and he extended his head to nip her shoulder again and slid his chin along her shoulder. Beneath him he felt something stirring and heating up brighter than the fiercest of flames. His shaft pushed its way free as it filled with blood and engorged. He moved his head down as the hind trembled and made a step forward before he nipped harder at the base of her tail and let out a soft churring noise.

+++++

Tenja froze the moment the teeth dug in against the base of her tail and she felt a tremor run along her spine. It roused nerves she hadn't known she possessed and she raised her tail base slightly while she drew in another breath of the male scent. Rufus seemed drawn to her as if she were a magnet where as he had never shown a hint of desire in her before. She wanted to flee away from this room, she wanted to tear her way out into the forest where she would be safe. Instead she felt the muzzle nose beneath her tail and nibble right beneath it so that she spread her hooves and let out a low noise in her throat. She could feel her sex in ways she had never experienced before. It felt swollen and reddened and even a rush of the stag's breath made her paw the ground.

She expected him to court her, but she found that he had other things in mind. The muzzle brushed beneath her tail base and the hooves rang behind. His muzzle slipped up over her haunches and nipped at her spine until his scaled chest forced her tail to one side of her body. She threw her head back to stare at him, the gold eyes seemed glazed and drained of some spark of intelligence. Had she imagined Rufus' humor and personality staring from them earlier? The question remained unanswered as the beast reared up and his forelegs caught around her haunches. His chest pushed up over her and she locked her legs in place as half his weight rested over her. She let out a call like a wounded dear when he struck out and suddenly teeth gripped the back of her neck.

Tenja rocked back as the forelegs tugged against her roughly and she could feel the clear hooves curl up against her stomach as he walked himself forward. Her eyes closed a moment before something tapered and hard pushed upwards along the underside of her tail and tapped demandingly against her softer more sensitive scales. The movements continued as the tip found and then slid away from her sex before pushing back again. It was a torment as each touch caused a flare of pleasure to run through her heated body only to be taken away until she was snorting and frustrated. Her head tossed back just as Rufus found the purchase she needed and the scoop shaped tip of him pierced her body with a sudden brutal lunge of his hips.

++++++

Such heat! Fire was hot, but nothing like this. Rufus felt his mind riddled with unfamiliar needs and desires that he couldn't control. He wanted her, he wanted her like nothing he had ever craved. He meant to be gentle, to coax and calm her, but the moment he hovered his muzzle just above that rich fertile scent he forgot tenderness. He thrust against her and his jaws clamped against the hard plates of her neck to keep her beneath him. His mind was afire with the need to feel her wrapped around him and his cock pushed free entirely of his vent to stab against her inner thighs. Each inch of him was lined with sharp ridges that lead down to a deceptively cone shaped tip. As thick as her lower foreleg, but he couldn't think of anything more than wanting to feel her.

The moment his tip parted her outer folds and felt the swollen heat of her he slammed forward rather than eased inwards. He forced her body to wrap around him as she shrilled out a sound like an injured deer. Fully half of him drove into her before his forelegs tugged her back and he thrust again and heard the wet noise of the last few inches bloating her passage. The walls were so hot, so hot and wet that he felt like passing out at their embrace. This was what he lacked as a Salamander. What others had forsaken time and energies for! He groaned out around her neck as he pushed his vent up tight against her before he pulled back and felt each ridge popped slickly free of her body and the walls closing down around him.

The next thrust was just as wild and the tip of him drove in until he'd seated the tip of himself in the groove of her cervix before pulling backwards. Her cries spilled out though he didn't know if they were in protest or in pleasure, all he knew was that he could feel thick drops of precum bubbling up his shaft to stain her body. He rocked his hips in hard feral thrusts that ended with his scaled hips slapping up against her haunches with a loud noise. Each time he drew back he pulled the wetness from her so that it webbed against the scales around his vent and the sensitive flesh that was pushed from him. He found his throat letting out short grunts of pleasure as he released his mind into the glory of mating the hind beneath him.

+++++

Pain flashed through Tenja as the beast slammed into her body and forced her to stretch open around him too soon. Her hind legs scrambled and spread open into a slight crouch trying to accommodate him. She was given no time to adjust, the next thrust brutally stabbed each inch inside of her until she clamped her walls down in protest. Yet the drawback flooded her body with pleasure and she trembled as the ridges stroked and rubbed along her passage. She lowered her head down and belled out a call just as he thrust forward again with a lewd slick noise and the tip nudged a place inside of her that made her walls pulse closed.

The silver member plunged in and out of her body in a brutal pace punctuated with grunting noises from the male on her back. She drew in breath after shaking breath as his hooves belled against the ground and pranced up and down. The thrusts rolled through her and forced her body to stretch to accept him before he drug backwards and the ridges popped out of her one at a time. Her folds were scrubbed and tugged around him as he stimulated her. She wanted to flee, she wanted to bolt away, but her body was locked in place in a combination of pleasure and the stag's grip on her. Each time the tip pumped out thick drops of precum she felt the drops being eagerly drawn into her womb as if she hungered for it.

She clenched her eyes shut and splayed her fore legs as well as the next thrust slammed against her and the drawback drew a buck of her hips. Her body tried to force him back into her until he filled her passage and made it stretch taut around him. The wetness of his precum and her arousal spilled down along the underside of her scales. She could hear the squelching noises from each thrust like a mark of shame at how her body wanted this. She flared her nostrils and tasted the hot scents of sex on the air. No she didn't just taste them, she drank them in as if they were water and it only fueled her body on. The ridges pulled and scrubbed over her passage, the stimulation ensuring her body was ovulating for him. She could feel the clench in her lower belly. The raw desire for what would come.

+++++

Rufus released her neck to rest his chin against her shoulder as he started to thrust in shorter bursts of movements. The feral desire wasn't hampered by patience or temperance. The ridges that plunged into her body were being squeezed and sent tension running along his back. Instinct fired his mind to thrust as deep as he could! He pulled her hips back each time he thrust forward and hit up against her cervix before the drag back sent another tremor through him. His breathing came faster as he felt the fur along her spine rubbing against his chest. The very tip of him wedged just inside of her cervix as he bowed his back down and bugled out a sound of pleasure.

The tip of him swelled larger and his stomach tensed up as he felt for the first time the mind numbing rush of pleasure spill over him. The vein along his cock bulged out as he forced up the thick rush of creamy seed that erupted from him and shot roughly into that tight tunnel like passage of her cervix. It was heavy and hot as the ropes was forced up him and into the fertile expanse of her waiting womb. He pulled his legs up tight to clutch against either side of her haunches as he let out a shuddering breath. He felt her walls suddenly clamp down so hard it was almost painful and pulse. Each squeeze sent a new shudder down his spine and he thrust his hips as she let out a low cry.

Her body shuddered and trembled under him as he shifted his weight. The feel of his movements made her haunches tighten beneath him and in turn her body clenched his cock again. In that time she was not Tenja the young woman, she was not even the thief, she was his hind and his and his alone. He turned his head to nip hotly against the side of his neck as another rush of cum belched forth from his cock into her. He could feel the slow thick ooze around his head as he overfilled her womb with his virility. His eyes flickered as he saw the Mage, his friend, his Master standing beside a set of open doors and he saw not his friend. But a rival. His lips twisted back in a silent snarl and he gave a final brutal thrust to ensure the male saw his claim.

++++

Tenja wanted to deny what was going to happen as she felt the ridges seem to swell out even more inside of her as they pulled back. Her body didn't care, her body wanted this. Her walls closed down and suckled around the cock as it plunged inside of her and she pushed back against him. Her nostrils flared open wider as the shaft plunged so deep inside of her and her back hunched upwards slightly. The thickening shaft seemed to mesh against the opening of her womb and as it started to pulse inside of her she let out a squealing cry of pleasure that ran through her entire body. For a moment the girl that was Tenja was washed beneath an animalistic pleasure as the first thick glob of cum erupted into her womb.

She called out her pleasure as the shaft erupted inside of her and she felt the forelegs shaking on either side of her haunches as the stag held her down beneath him. His cheek rested against her shoulder and the sweep of his silver horns clicked lightly against hers as he drew in ragged breath after ragged breath. His shaft spilled out a fiery rush of seed that she could feel her body squeezing and drawing not just into her passage but into her womb. Her eyes lidded shut and she let out a low groan as her mind was rolled under a more animalistic presence. It seemed to snag her as she pushed backwards to help drive the virile cream into her.

Even as she felt the male tense and snarl she turned her gaze to the expanse of the mountainside and the light that showed from behind him. A rush of yearning flooded her as the girl that was Tenja started to be pushed aside. She could feel the heat in her belly spread outwards and some part of her knew what was happening. Her womb was flooded with his sperm already overrunning her ripe ova and claiming them for a new generation of their kind. The sparks of life firmly planted inside of her womb as Rufus shifted his weight above her. He licked against her neck and nipped it as he slowly pulled himself backwards and she let out a bleating call as the movement of his cock reignited her pleasure briefly.

He slipped from her back slowly as each ridge pulled out from her body and when the tip spilled free with an audible pop she trotted forward a bit awkwardly. Her own personality struggled with the other that seemed to hover close by, yet embarrassment warred out as she felt the slow roll of semen running along her inner thigh. As pearly white as her own scales. She had little time to dwell on this as sharp teeth nipped in her haunch in an almost affectionate dominate bite and Rufus trotted up to her side and nudged her. His head was pointed towards where the sweet cool breeze of the mountain brought her a rush of longing. To be away from this place of stone walls and the scent of fire and grief. Away towards their home.

They paused beside the Mage and she turned her head as the human side of her rushed forward in rage at what he had taken from her. Yet Rufus placed his body between herself and him and stood for a long moment staring into the man's eyes. Something passed between them and she could almost feel the weight of words unsaid on the air, something unfinished. Yet the male turned his head with a snort and picked up his hooves to pass through the doors without looking back. And she, she followed close at his side as she felt the stones ring beneath her hooves. The coolness of the mountain air wrapped around them as the old man stared at their retreating gleaming backs.

+++++

Illthar rubbed his aching back and rested his weight back against the winter dead tree with a soft groan. The last ten years had not been kind to him. He had aged faster than he had thought, weighed down by guilt and longing. Yet he had lived his life to the best of his ability. He had felt it so long ago when Rufus and Tenja had mated, he had felt the world give a great sigh of relief. It was as if it drew a breath and life flooded back into it. Magic flowed through the world like water freed from a dam all by the single moment in which the hind had conceived in his work room. If he closed his eyes he could remember that day and the wild frenzy of Rufus when he had taken her. The look in her eyes that haunted his days.

He had only had a moment before he last saw them to stare into his changed Familiar's eyes and the grief mingled with triumph that had been there. He would never return to his former Master, Illthar knew that. He was beyond the old man's reach, yet he lived on and that was enough. He and Tenja both lived. At least that was what he told himself as him companion had left him behind and disappeared into the mountains with the former thief behind him. The memory was the brightest of any in his years and the one he most regretted. The sacrifice's they had all three made would not easily be forgotten. The entire tail was written down back at his home, left to the care of his apprentice along with the rest of his worldly goods.

Rumors of the pair had reached his ears. They were said to haunt this forest as if they were ghosts. The sight of them inspired fear and awe as the silver-white forms could be seen in the early hours of the morning leaping through the forest. The sound of bells and music rang after them, yet no hunter came closer than the fresh cloven hoof prints they left behind. Those rumors had brought him here, he wanted to see them. Just to know that they lived still, lived and breathed. Perhaps it was just his conscience that wanted soothed. Yet for whatever reason he set his cloak out onto the snow and leaned back against the tree to wait out the last moments of the bitterly cold night.

In the hour before dawn he awoke from his drowsing to the sound of clear bell like sounds. They seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. The sound swelled and made his heart beat faster as he held still, half afraid to move lest he scare them away. Would they still be Tenja and Rufus? Would they know him? Would they attack or flee? How could they forgive him what he had done? Doubts chased his mind around as the bells grew louder. They sounded like the ringing of sleigh bells and gave him the same thrill of joy despite the bitter cold that nipped at his stiff body.

A crunch of breaking snow and he turned his head slowly to see a proud stag entering the clearing. His scales shown and reflected the last bit of moonlight and he froze and turned his head to stare directly at Illthar. The eyes were molten gold and locked on his own while his breath caught in his throat. The stag flicked his ears up high and for a moment the mage was sure that Rufus would come to him. The moment passed and he watched as a slender hind came beside him and turned her head in his direction curiously. There was nothing left of Tenja in that gaze, the soft gold seemed mild as she leaned against her mate and her tongue flicked out to gently lick his neck. At her heels a pair of twin fawns crowded and seemed to half dance over the snow around their parent's legs.

Illthar didn't move, he didn't stand up or draw attention to himself. He stared at the gleaming forms beneath the moon and against the snow and drank in the sight of them. From the silver horns to the crystal hooves they made his heart beat faster. His eye lids drooped a little bit while he watched the little ones play under Tenja's watchful eyes. There was no regret or anger that he saw, the moment held an air of peace. It was as if they lived in a peaceful world of their own making. Of snow and moonlight, silver bells and gleaming horns and silken manes. He stirred and opened his lips to breath out the words in a whisper.

"Sacrifices...I named them after you Rufus.. ibairt" He sighed the words out. Rufus' secret name. His true name and now the name of the beautiful creatures in front of him.

The small family remained in the clearing as he watched them and felt his body grow so tired and so very heavy. The guilt that had racked him for years finally loosened as he watched Tenja frolic beside her young and Rufus' dignified form guarding over them. How beautiful, how very beautiful they were. His eyes fluttered as the cold didn't seem so cold anymore. He knew he should get up and head back to the town, but it suddenly seemed like too much effort. The sound of bells rang in his ears as he felt himself slipping away and as he drew in his last breath a soft voice brushed his mind. It was feather light and full of warmth and welcome.

:I said I would guide your way home, old friend. ...: Rufus' mind voice was light as a feather and tinged with welcome, warmth and love. :Come, Illthar. It's time to go home. Your work is done.:

It wrapped around him and in his mind's eye he saw a silver white path open up before him. Suddenly it seemed so easy to stand up, what was he doing lying here? He had places to go! He stood up and felt himself young and strong again. He set his feet upon the path with a laugh that spilled from his lips. The trail of silver fire that Rufus had left for him beckoned him and oh the adventures that awaited him!

The mage passed to the sound of the belled hooves of the ibairts and the mental embrace of the sweetest creature the gods had ever sent to companion mankind. After ten years he had felt again what he most longed for. His body lay against the tree with the lips curved up in a smile as if he had found the answer he had for so long sought. Beneath the moonlight the stag nuzzled his mate and she rested her head over his furred hindquarters at peace with the world. A world of silence and simplicity where the world flourished around her and magic traveled upon their very hooves. Her trials had come to an end.

---

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