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Therian Dreaming II

Chapter Thirteen

© Cederwyn Whitefurr

23rdApril 2023

All Rights Reserved.

Glaring balefully, the Stag tossed his regal head and kept his gaze locked on the black, inky depths of the Therian that'd taken Pete. It was a battle of who would twitch first - Therian or the Buck.

"Father! ..." Kelsie whimpered.

"Fallowen, be silent!" Snapped her mother, Silverhoof. "You want your mate to live? Then be silent."

Kelsie gasped, her vocal cords immediately frozen, leaving her helpless to speak. Tears gleaming in her eyes, Kelsie retreated, curling up protectively around their sobbing fawn, trying to comfort her as best she could.

"So, now what?" Growled the Therian, its lips curling up in a cruel, vindictive smile. "Ooh, scary - ghost deer going to go boo or something?"

"You'd be wise," Silverhoof sighed quietly, as she walked over to Kelsie and lay down, gazing at her with love and admiration, before looking back at the Therian. "_Not_to antagonise him..."

"Or else...what?" Sneered the Therian, snapping its gaze to the Doe. "He will...urk..."

Pete's body convulsed, as suddenly, the stag vanished and Pete fell onto the bed.

Kelsie tried to scream - Fawnie _did_scream - for both of them...

"I warned you..." Silverhoof sighed sadly.

*

With a startled, breathless scream, the Therian stag spun about again and again, staring into the empty void.

"NO!" It shrieked. "He's mine, That bitch of a doe - "

It suddenly shrieked, as spectral antlers gouged through its rear right leg, the agony worse than the bite of silver itself. Gouges appeared, yet there was no blood - but the leg itself was almost useless.

That 'bitch of a doe' - Come the voice from Shadowmane, seemingly everywhere, yet nowhere. Is my daughter, you'd be wise not to insult my bloodline...

"Fight me fair, you coward!" Shrieked the Therian. "You think I'm afraid? I die - my host will die with me, think she'd be thrilled with that? Do you?"

A mocking snort through spectral nostrils was heard. Really? You really believe you have the power like - that -? You honestly - think _ - _you're the first dark Therian I've had to battle? My own was a true rival - you? You're a spiker with delusions of challenging the herd leader! No, you have no power, not such as I - as for fighting fairly? Why should I? I could give you countless chances - I'd have you on the ground, my fangs at your throat in a thousand different ways...

It snapped and thrashed its own antlers, passing silently through the void as it grew increasingly frustrated and irrational. Again, it screamed as it felt itself knocked sideways, rolling over and over, before leaping back to its cloven hooves and quivering.

"You're a coward - won't fight honourably and...urk..."

It felt powerful teeth and fangs clamp down on the underside of its throat, cutting off its cries and even thought it itself, was just a spirit, it _felt_like it was strangling. It's vision became dim at the edges, its lungs burning in its chest as it stumbled, muzzle open and eyes wide.

NO!_It screamed in its mind, unable to voice the terror and pain it was enduring. _I will take him, he in turn, will...will...

Tighter and tighter, the teeth and fangs bit down, implacable, unstoppable, irresistible... Strangling, the Therian dropped to its knees, nostrils flaring and muzzle open - tongue poking out as it desperately struggled - feeling its very spirit draining away with every imagined heartbeat. Facing death - true death - the Therian immediately went limp and submissive.

It felt the tightening jaws relax, still sunk deep, but now, allowing it to breathe, if such a thing was possible.

Stupid, mindless beast - Shadowmane's dominant presence filled its mind. You really thought - you could fight me AND my own inner Therian? It alone, would destroy you - cast you into the abyss of non-existence - you think...

An image, like the stag tossing its head, filled the Therian's mind.

You think - _ this _ - is what awaits you? This would be a vision of our afterlife, compared to what truly awaits one like you... Think on that, you _ will _be bonded to Fallowen's mate. You will bond, you will protect and strengthen him - as he in turn strengthens and protects you. Without him, you are nothing, less than nothing! That - darkness, which inhabits you and gives you your power? Without our host - we would be destroyed, do you comprehend me? They enrich us, they give us life, where without them, there would be nothing but darkness, pain and suffering - such as you can never imagine! There are - far - worse things than death, Therian, far, far worse things...

"Let me go - " Squealed the subdued Therian.

Go? I'd love nothing more than to crush your neck bones beneath my jaws, willingly, cast your dark, cursed existence into the deepest, darkest hole I could find - where you'd linger in suffering and non-existence for eternity!

"You can't...you wouldn't..." It wailed, genuinely terrified now, its will and spirit broken.

"You - _ ever _ - even - look - at my daughter, or her fawn - with even a momentary hint of violence or cruelty... I will stop you, and what I've done to you, here and now? You'll wish I'd been so...gentle... with you..."

It's head bowed, ears flat in submission, the Therian trembled helplessly.

"I won't...I promise..." It whispered.

Shadowmane sighed, materialised into his ghostly form and pulling his jaws out of the Therian's neck, then stepped back.

How I wish I could believe you...

*

Pete gasped, his whole body suddenly feeling like it'd be electrified, every muscle twitching and nerve endings over-firing, overwhelming his mind within a single heartbeat.

"It is done - " Shadowmane sighed quietly. "It took almost all of my strength, but it is done - for good or for ill, human? I wish there was another way - I do..."

Pete drew panting breaths, laying on the bed, eyelids screwed painfully tight as he gurgled and moved - reaching up for his neck - he felt his body move - but what he heard- was no longer human...

His eyes snapped open and he stared down at the white and black speckled fur that spread from shoulder to ankle - then a black cloven hoof. As he lifted his head, he felt it was heavy - almost unbearably so - his neck muscles straining and aching, before he shook his head in disbelief. Widely spaced eyes took a moment to focus themselves, as he looked towards where Kelsie now stood - her own eyes wide - her muzzle hanging open in total shock.

He tried to speak, but his throat burned like fire and Kelsie's father shook his head slowly from side to side.

"Give it time young one - "

Pete flinched, trying desperately to get all four legs under him, to get them to make him stand - he got as far as his knees, before he gasped and collapsed back onto his side.

Silverhoof stood on the other side, gazing over at Shadowmane, both of them in turn looking at Kelsie.

"Pete..." Kelsie's sibilant whisper was heard. "You..."

Feeling as weak as a newborn, Pete dragged his head off the bed and glanced at the mirror - before his eyes went wide as a full moon and he started at the piebald deer that stared back at him...

TO BE CONTINUED...