The History of a Lost Dove~II
October 6, 2010 - 2:03am — Kittyo8
Some Violence
Honeycombs are the best thing that a doe could ever wish for. It is a shame how few even know of their sweetness. I sometimes eat them with mushrooms, the sweet celestial feeling that comes with it. You should try it, friend, and then make sure you’re not around anyone you’d have regrets about.
I’m through rambling now, if you must look at me like that. A story you want? Another, you’ll get.
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Ah, now from our last tale. That buck wasn’t the one that killed me. The tines of his antlers went right through me, like spearpoints, but somehow I got to my feet. Um had no hooves so I slipped on the slick blood-soaked grass, and stumbled as I ran. On two legs with one’s chest facing the wind, running is a torture. Regardless of the length of my hind-legs, I could not dream of outrunning a healthy herd of young deer led by the Spirit Stag (which was the name the Um gave to the rare white stags they saw). So of course, they caught up with me, rearing and kicking and lowering their antlers. I had never heard of deer that behaved in this way through the Um’s tales. I had never known the bucks to surround what they saw as a predator and for the lead stag to step in and kill.
It was the highlight of my too-short life as an Um. T’is a shame that I could not observe in the best detail I was losing blood and weakening, my already thin body sticky and the deerskin still tied over my shoulders. I could feel the fur on the neck of the pelt stiffen as it borrowed my spirit…this was also something I had not known about the Um until the end of my life as one. The stag was quick—and very merciful—in planting one heavy hoof to my skull, silencing me without even a hunters cry.
Death was such an odd feeling. It wasn’t even a feeling, it was…I don’t know. One moment I was there; cowering from the stag, my eyes wide open from fear. I saw my reflection in his cold red gaze, I looked so small, weak, and I died as promptly as a candle being blown out.
To awaken was a different feeling altogether. All I could sense was pain at first. Then coolness that seemed to drain me of that pain. It was nighttime, I remember, and a great many faces stared down at me. They were all Um faces on Um bodies…or at least it seemed so. The men looked feirce, unforgiving, and merciless. I remember the hands of all the little children reaching for me and touching my eyes, my nose, and my fingers. Their mothers and grandmothers didn’t try to hold them back, in fact—they asked the little children questions about me. I blinked and they all gasped and stepped back…had they believed me dead? Wasn’t I dead? They all seemed to fade as they stepped back and when I turned my head to see where they were going I saw only deer, the deer I had attacked, their fawns cowering behind the powerful wall of bucks. Confused and afraid myself, I closed my eyes and lay still, realizing that I was only surrounded by spirits. When I opened my eyes again they all gasped, human once more, but now more curious than angry or afraid.
“Step back.” A voice spoke like thunder and the herd backed away, appearing as deer once more.
I shuddered, the cold that had taken the pain away was now my enemy, seeping into my bones and surging into my lungs with each breath I took. It encased me, wrapped around and covered my face like a mask. I was sure that I was going to die again, when the Spirit Stag, the same that had killed me, walked over with the most puzzling expression on his face. Whatever fear and respect I had for spirits was pushed far to the corner of my mind, and I laughed. It is like laughing in the face of a god. Completely out of bounds. He should have killed me there, but instead he dropped the deer look and took a human one, then began to laugh with me.
The spirit herd did not join us. Instead they stared at me like I had killed their leader or had slaughtered the fawns. You look at me strange as well, did you think spirits incapable of joy? You thought wrong.
Please let me know of any spelling or grammar errors ♥
Prettyyyy~ That's an awesome
Thank-you Shaku ^-^