This story picks up into the last few moments of Desperate to keep you near….
If you have just stumbled upon this story by chance then head over to the Story hub to get caught up.
Warning: There is violence and death present in this story.
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Seshi rose to his feet quickly and tore after the nameless. He had noticed it lingering in the edge of his vision since they lay down to rest for the night. After a few hours of no activity he curled up next to Kita and dropped his guard allowing restful sleep to take him. Only a few minutes after he was woken up by her desperate cries and stumbled blindly through the dark after the thief. He did not know the significance of why the nameless continued to torment his female nor was he going to allow it any longer.
Seshi flew past Kita and cornered the nameless up near the stones of the playground. The nameless was taking slow labored breaths and could barely stand let alone run to escape again. Seshi walked forward and lowered his antlers. The nameless taunted in turn and they began the brawl that would decide the true owner of the mask.
The two stags went back and forth cracking their antlers against each other for some time. Seshi was appalled by its fighting tactics. This was no proud fighter of the forest or respectful competitor. The nameless was..scum. He ducked to the side to catch the nameless’s antlers again and twisted his head violently to push it back again. The nameless did not want to crack antlers or fight fairly. Every chance it had it would dive for his side, leg, or chest in an attempt to rake it’s antlers across his bare exposed flesh. Each move was calculated to try and cause flesh wounds but no fatal blows were exchanged.
Seshi could hear Kita shuffling on the stones above them. Her eyes were focused on the mask slung around the nameless deer’s neck. The foolish girl, she was letting her emotional attachment get her into a dangerous situation. He forcefully pulled the nameless by the antlers out of Kita’s reach and inhaled sharply before throwing it to the side.
Sickness. The nameless smelled..wrong. Something was wrong with it. He took a defensive stance and focused on the underside of the beast’s throat where a large bruised sore was visible. A weakspot! As the unnamed deer charged again he ducked low and raked his points across the vulnerable flesh. The nameless struck him in return and pushed itself onto him in a last ditch effort. Seshi shoved it off easily and tore the soiled mask from its back before leaving it to suffer. He had delivered a crippling blow and the pathetic creature probably would not even survive the night let alone be able to return to steal his female’s possessions again.
He carried the mask to the crying idol and washed it off in the stream as he waited for Kita to retrieve it. No doubt she would be avoiding him for some time. It’s not every day you see someone you trust tear another to shreds. He stepped under the waters of the crying statue and washed off the blood. Normally he would have worn it proudly as a badge of honor for some time but the pestilent stench was getting to him. He held his breath and tried to stop his stomach from churning as the water activated the vile smell of illness again. How disgusting…the creature probably would have been dead within days even if he did not intervene.
He picked up the mask and trotted back for the clearing where his child rested peacefully. He gently nuzzled his gray cow and trembling fawn before lying between them. He could still see Kita in the distance poking around the playground. He raised his head and roared loudly to get her attention. She glanced back and gave a short nod of acknowledgment but her gaze quickly returned downward. The nameless. Kita was such a bleeding heart at times and she was probably staying with the pathetic thing until it perished. He laid down his head and waited patiently. It would not be long before she was back at his side and the whole mess was behind them.
Kita stared down at the shuffling nameless below her. It was bleeding out across the playground and made no attempts to rise from where it fell. She couldn’t even fathom how she should be feeling. Yes the deer has stolen from her twice and tried to hurt Seshi, but it was still another being. It didn’t deserve this. She hesitantly peered over the side and kept her body posture low. Should she go down there and comfort it? She took a hesitant step forward and softly called out to the trembling creature below.
The nameless snapped its head up to Kita and it’s voice came out in a rattled choke. ”Don’t. Don’t…you can’t…don’t want your hurt..d-disease.”
Kita recoiled immediately and her heart beat out of control. Disease? She had heard of such a thing before. She knew it had claimed the life of a few deer in the past. A nameless from another forest occasionally came in and unknowingly delivered a fatal illness upon the unlucky it came in contact with. She frowned and climbed higher away from the nameless. One of the already tainted deer of the forest would sense and remove it by force. There would be rain in a few days to cleanse the site and everything would go back to normal. She kept her head low and gave the scene of the fight a wide berth. The last thing she needed was to contract the illness and endanger the lives of Finata, Kalpita and Se-
Her heart lept into her throat. Seshi. He had traded blows with that creature. He had come in direct contact and swapped blood with a plague bearer. No. Not again. He couldn’t go through that again. No deer should ever have to experience that slow and painful death.
She turned one mournful glance back towards the nameless and locked eyes with it. No anger or hatred peered back, its face was contorted into a weak smile and its empty eyes stared back. It was gone. Her heard sank. She had never before witnessed a death in the forest. It was a scene that would haunt her nightmares for some time. No doubt the nameless felt regret for wasting away its life trying to steal a mask and it's lasting expression was some sort of taunt. Or maybe it was genuine, she did not know. She did not want to know. She shook her head and trotted back for her adopted family. Everything would be alright. It had to be. She could not take any more tragedy.
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As there was a side story that chronicled Furfur’s adventures previous to this story I am omitting it this time. I will probably publish it as a separate entry later as a bridge between this story and the next again OR it will appear regularly in the next story. I did not want to overwhelm the reader with information. The next one with Furfur is going to be quite the plot bomb drop and I didn't want to retract from this story.
funfact: I've been abusing Chekhov's Gun this whole series. 
cineri gloria sera venit means “Fame to the dead comes too late”
Gorgeous and haunting. Once
Once again beautifully written, even despite the darker subject matter.
Thank you trig. I was
I was hesitant about posting it due to the recent trend of "violent/gory stories" but finally sucked it up that it was inevitable. The story lead to a fight and I couldn't get out of it by going "uh..they ran away no fight hehe!" or else the rest of the plot wouldn't fall into place.
I attempted to be as reserved as possible to soften the blow.
We're slowly plugging forward to the climax of the story where everything picks up.
Yeah, don't worry about the
It seemed to have just the right weight for the story.
That was awesome. Now it's
Poor Seshi. ;;
BWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
-late reply as my father unceremoniously kicked me off earlier to go pick up my sister-
I will try to get the reply up soon once I think of where to go with it <3
This will be fun.