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  Bree looked at him, taking in his words but not quite understanding, she wrote her next question.

  "What are you?"

  Faelorn wrung his hands nervously.

  “I'm the protector of the forest. I protect the sacred deer, they are the children of the King's Spirit. The spring only appears to whose hearts are willing. I usually am there to witness that moment they drink and accept the King."

  She found this odd. Bree had been allowed to freely drink and bathe in the spring without invitation. The spring had appeared to her; no one had offered it to her. She scrawled, “Tell me more about yourself?'

  Faelorn struggled with words, "I-I-well. I am Faelorn. I-I-I came to the woods when I was a child. Joltrun-was-is, my mentor. I serve the deer in the herd. I protect them."

  She wrote quickly, "You change into an animal."

  Faelorn said, "The God of this forest, he who offers the spring water. He gave me that Gift so that I could serve him and protect the herd." Cael, done with his explorations of the cave, prodded and jabbered angrily to Faelorn. Faelorn chuckled a musical sound that made Bree's heart skip. He said, “I am also a friend of the fae and their brethren." Faelorn roasted the pheasant, and Bree couldn't help but stare. She had never seen red hair before on a person. It was curly and messily knotted, his chin was sharp and his eyes a little sunken. His coal-black eyes were wild and reflected the orange fire that he was focused on. Cael, grinning ear to ear, jabbered and pointed out to Faelorn that Bree was staring. Bree quickly looked away, turning red with embarrassment. Cael let out a raunchy little chuckle and danced wildly, and Faelorn turned red at the ears. Faelorn didn't meet her eyes but instead offered her a piece of roasted pheasant.

  She took it, and their fingers brushed, Faelorn looked down at her nervously, and for a moment, she thought she saw a hint of green flash as animal eyes did when reflecting the firelight.

  Cael was roaring with laughter, and Bree asked, writing, "Is he alright? Why is he laughing?" Faelorn, embarrassed, said, "The fae are bastard's, it's best I don't repeat the vile little things he says." Cael mischievous climbed onto Faelorn's back and, with another naughty chuckle, dived into Faelorn's jacket peeping out at Bree through the leaves. They sat in silence, Bree hugged her knees in wonder.

  “Grandma, the fae are real..." she whispered in her mind. She had so many questions about the King, Faelorn's powers, and the fae. Just as she was about to ask, Elo came running from the herd.

  "Faelorn!”

  She changed as she ran, and her body became blurry transforming; she ran to Faelorn throwing her arms around him. Elo exclaimed, "there you are, boy! How long have you been here! I hadn't a clue until the wind changed direction, and I smelled you." She gave him an affectionate noogie before sitting beside him. She sniffed the roasted pheasant disdainfully. "Ugh, that's dreadful, I used to love pheasant before I changed. Now it smells like the dead." Faelorn annoyed said, "then eat the roasting mushrooms, Elo." Elo sniffed the tea and then stole Faelorn's cup.

  “I still love tea. Let's see when I was alive. I liked roasted pheasant, but we only had that at Christmas. Chicken stew, lamb stew, beef stew, mushroom stew, cream soup, cream of mushroom, bread, and oh the bread. I would give up being a deer to eat bread again. Bread with butter and milk rolls, the fluffy ones with crisscrosses on em." Bree's mouth watered just at the food Elo described, and Cael hopped out of Faelorn's jacket and pointed to the forest. Bree's eye's followed to where Cael gestured to. Whatever Faelorn saw, Bree could not see. His face looked troubled Faelorn turned to Bree. She said,“I-I must go, t-t-thank you for your offering at the river. My friends need me." He tightened his cloak of leaves and, Cael burrowed into his jacket. She said, “Elo, I'm sorry I will visit the herd, I promise."

  Bree watched him disappear out the cave, and then a moment's later, he was running on all fours, no longer a man but a creature of the forest. Elo sat, sipping her tea.

  She muttered, "well, that was unpleasant. I thought I'd finally get to see Faelorn for once." Bree shot her a look, and Elo explained. "Ever since he brought you here, Faelorn hasn't been around like usual. Usually, when a new person comes to the spring. He'll avoid them, but not the herd. He usually hangs around the little one's like Eli." She poured herself more tea, hugging it to her ample chest, looking at Bree with her doleful eyes. Elo said, "Thing's are usually boring around here, day in day out. On occasion, a poor soul weary from the world's abuses will seek out the spring, and when they find it, they drink and become part of the herd, but at night. Things have been happening. The fae are moving; there's a great evil in these woods, I've seen it," Elo shuddered. "It has cold eyes, white, almost icy. I saw it once on the night you arrived. My herd had just come back from migration, spring was almost in. I thought I saw a man made of shadow."

  Bree remembered the icy eyed man. Panic set in, and she began to experience a flashback. Bree gasped for breath. She was a rabbit in a cage, the way her captor had sneered over her. She still remembered his last words to her, "It's a pity..." She felt his icy hands on her throat. She covered her ears, she could hear him, she could see the village men watching; their boorish eyes on her. She remembered the sound of the slaver's gavel. She breathed in and out, in and out. Her throat grew tighter and tighter as if she were being choked. Elo was patting her back; she comforted Bree, "just breathe, love."

  Bree felt tears in her eyes, and then she felt nothing as if the world was devoid of color. Elo handed her a cup of tea, "are you alright?" Bree's eyes were red-rimmed, and Elo wiped Bree's wet face. She said, "was it something I said?" Bree shook her head and went to her bundle of fur's and laid down. Without another word, to the bewildered Elo, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Chapter 6

  Bree woke to someone shaking her awake. It was Bakura, the large black woman spoke. "Wake up, child. I would like you to spend time with us today." Bree got up uncertain. This was the first time that Bakura had addressed her since her second day in the spring. She was an enormous woman, bigger than any man in Bree's village. Bree got up, meekly intimidated by the woman's great strength and presence. Elo was using Bree's makeshift sling. She said, “I gathered her breakfast for the day, ma'am" Bakura nodded, " Alright, child, let us go; the meeting will begin soon."

  Sleepy eyed Bree groaned as Elo half dragged her to where a group of people had gathered in the spring. Bree blinked frantically, trying to wake up. She looked at the group confounded. Everyone wore white, and they came in every shape and form. Some of the people wore deer heads, others had hands or arms like a deer. Bree shook her head in disbelief. She must have lost her mind, she thought. Bakura stood center of the group of people; she wore a yellow dress that was long and loud.

  She announced, "everybody, this is Bree. The Spirit of the King has allowed her to stay among us. She may dwell in our forest until the King calls her to become one with the herd and join his side in everlasting paradise or return to her home and live out her days among those who walk the dead land's." Bakura was met with silence, she continued. "I would like you all to greet her, and then as we have done for hundreds of others like her, we will tell her our story, why we came to the spring, and how we are finding our peace with the King."

  The deer people sat in a circle around Bakura. Bree stared. Some herd members were human-looking, but others had deer-like appendages. A few had deer-like ears that stuck awkwardly from their bodies. Elo leaned over from where she sat beside Bree. Elo said, "Not everyone gets that hang of changing, and some prefer their deer bodies so much they have no desire to change back. Bakura and I are the lucky ones. We've learned how to completely change back into humans." Bree hugged herself, nervous. Bakura continued, "This is a place of refuge for those the world has discarded, all who pledge allegiance to the King become one of the herd and are granted an eternity to graze among the herd until they find their peace with their old lives." Bree glanced around nervously. Bakura said, "today, we tell our stories, who shall go first?" The group was solemn
when no one volunteered Bakura said, "Jaren shall go first."

  A woman with jet black hair stood. Her dress was long and white, her hair was pulled back into a black bun. She said, "I walked the earth in a land far away. I lived a simple life. I did as the elders taught me. I became a good wife and mother. Then, I was killed by my husband when he wanted a new wife. Half dead, the forest found me, it swallowed me whole. I came to the spring, and I drank and joined the king." There was silence, then the woman sat. "Thank you, Jaren."

  "Helena, your next." Helen was an older woman.

  "I was never loved, even as a child. I served many in brothels until one day, I grew ill and died. This is my story. I was never wanted. My wandering spirit found the spring, and I drank. Now I have peace with the people of the deer." Bakura said solemnly, "Thank you, Helen."

  Next a man stood. Bree blinked surprised and realized that some of the does where stags without horns. "I am Fredrick. Most of my life, I was a military man. I served my land with honor. I lost my mind, and I was no longer wanted by my wife, for I could no longer provide. I came to the forest looking for a tree to hang myself. Instead, I found the King, and he lead me to the spring to drink. I am one of the herd. I graze in peace until I travel to the King's Land, and I will no longer need the spring."

  Bree heard each and every story. There were fifty in all. Each story was so sad and depressing that, in the end, she was weeping. Especially when a woman holding a child stood and was the last to speak.

  "I fled my man in the night with my son. He beat me every day from the day my father forced me to marry him. I could no longer bear it, I took my child, and I fled to the forest where no return. We found the spring and drank. We are now with the herd." Bakura acknowledged Moira and turned to Elo. "Thank you, Moira and Eli. Elo, you are the last."

  Elo looked at her feet. "I'm sorry, mum, could I pass?" Bakura nodded understandably. "Elo, you may pass. No one is forced to tell their story." One by one, each stood and became a white deer. Bree was in tears and could not bear it. She cried and cried over their tragic stories. She had to walk away, Elo followed her. Bree sat at the entrance of the cave, looking at the beautiful spring. Elo spoke softly. "We should at least say goodbye to them. Many came here to say hello to you, and some might be disappointed if you don't talk to them. I've been telling them all about you."

  Bree, frustrated, ground her teeth. She could not shout her frustration at Elo, and Elo could not read her written words. It was Bakura who provided relief, dismissing Elo to leave. She said, "this is a place of healing, that is why their stories are so terrible. We do this when a new one walks among the herd."

  Bree turned glaring at Bakura, her hands clutched into pained fists and dry sob escaping her throat. Bakura said, "you may speak freely, I will not judge. It is my job to help you when I can. Remember, I can read your thoughts."

  Bree started at her arms crossed, red-faced, and asked with her mind."What the hell is this place? Why is everyone's story so terrible!" Bakura leads her to the field. The woman's pale yellow dress billowed in the breeze. She said, "The forest you came from, the people call it the Forest of Lost Souls. The name is terrible. In your land of magic and machine, there are people like yourself who go through monstrous things. They die, their souls lack rest, so some souls wander from their reality into this forest. They usually find the spring and join the herd, when they find peace: they finally move on into a place where no mortal may travel." Bree wiped her eyes, "The way some of those men, women, and the children...they died so awfully." Bakura nodded, "That is how things are here, the souls that find rest and kindness move on, the souls that dont find either; they quickly become bereaved." Bree shivered, and Bakura went on."Bereaved are souls that haunt the forest. Over time they become lost in their own grief and go mad. They cause all kinds of trouble. The worst of it is when a soul becomes possessed by a witch and her demon familiar, they become corrupted. They become something worse than the bereaved they become a nameless." Bakura paused, "The monsters that haunt the forest are terrible, stay out of the forest at night."

  Bree shivered, thinking of the horror stories her grandmother had told her over the campfire. Walking corpses and cruel ghosts, the tales had given her nightmares as a child. Her own mother had told her they were nothing more than an old wife's stories gone daft. Demons weren't real; neither were witches. Learning that they were made her second guess staying in the spring. Bakura, reading Bree's mind, said, "Child, Faelorn guards this forest for a reason, and you have no reason to fear. It is also my job to keep you and the others safe. You are stuck between mortality and immortality. You died, but your body still lived. The spring gave your soul life again. For that, I hope you are grateful; not everyone ends up like you, child. Some almost immediately become the bereaved and will be forced to live out their entire existence in despair." Bree swallowed nervously, suddenly looking at the deep dark forest in a new light. Bree asked projecting her thoughts "what of the men that tortured me, are their souls wandering the forest?" Bakura hesitated. She said, "I do not know. It could have been days or centuries since you last saw them, and its more likely they would have become bereaved." Bree was amazed she thought to Bakura," a century or two?" Bakura nodded, "Time passes slowly in your world, but for us in this realm of the fae. Time is relative, sometimes it passes extremely slow, in certain seasons years can pass as seconds."

  "Am I truly dead?" Bree asked, the question hung heavily in the air; Bakura shook her head. "You are more like Joltrun and Faelorn; both of those men still have mortal, sinful flesh, but if you become part of the herd and join the King, you will become immortal as the fae." Bree wrung her hands, she thought, "This wasn't what I expected of death." Bakura responded gravely, "Life is rarely what we expect, child." Bree ran her fingers through her short hair. "What about you, Bakura. Where did you come from?"

  Bakura met her eyes and quietly said, "I was a slave like you. I murdered my master and escaped. I ran into the woods, found the spring, where I met the Lord of the Forest. Then I was asked by the Spirit of the King to be the leader of the herd."

  Bree looked away, her face pained. Bakura was the only other woman who had been enslaved like Bree. Bree felt empathy, and she knew that there was always more to enslavement than running away. There were the beatings, the defilement, and the sense of worthlessness that slaves endured. Bakura glanced at the herd of deer, which were now grazing in the pasture. Bakura said, "You don't need to feel pity for me. I have a good life now, I'm free. I chose this life, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than to help the people who need the spring." Bree wiped her red-rimmed eyes. She asked, "what about the fae, like that little Cael fellow that's friends with Faelorn. What is their purpose here?"

  Bakura awnsered, "the fae… well, they're not all alike. They bring magic to these woods, some are vital to the forest's survival. However not all fae are good. The fairies mostly live for pleasure. Usually they are good folk but they can be dangerous. I would mind yourself around them." Bree watched the beautiful moonlit deer graze. She asked, "what it's like to be part of the herd?"

  Bakura spoke softly.

  "You will have all the time you need to contemplate your life and to let go. When you do let go, the King comes for you and takes you to a place that the elves went. The place is beyond heaven."

  Bree hugged her knees. "Will I ever come back?."

  Bakura shook her head, "No." Bree clenched her teeth angrily, her eyes were watery with tears. She said, "I think it's all awful, I hate it. To live a shit life, then to die, having done nothing!"

  Bakura looked at her evenly. "This is a second chance, those who become bereaved become hatred, eventually falling into darkness separated from all that is good." Bree bit her lip holding back tears.

  She cried, "I hate all of this."

  Bakura spoke evenly, "Just as you hated your life when you were alive in your world." Bakura's words hung in the air. There was an awkward silence; the women watched the night sky. Bree eventually
spoke with her mind. "There were good things; there was the forest I grew up next to as a child. The stories of the fae; hunting with my big brother in summer. Grandmother's bread, the taste of honey cordial in the springtime. I can hardly remember being a slave when I think of those things." She went on, "I want to live. I don't want to sit here and sulk in sadness while I graze, I'm free finally."

  Bakura sighed, "You're not wrong, but if you don't confront your own demons, child, they will consume you. That is what sets us apart from the bereaved. The white deer want to change; the bereaved crave the second death. They often become the evil that they so hated in life."

  Bakura said grimly, "Either way, heed my warning of the bereaved. At night in the forest, they come out, searching for young souls to consume. The farther you go in, child, the more likely you will find them and the witches that haunts the forest." Bree shivered, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. After seeing a real live fae, she hadn't really contemplated that the ancient evils her grandmother spoke of as being accurate. She shivered, remembering the nightmares of monsters she had as a child. "You have time, Bree, but not much. You must choose for your own safety. I must return to my duties and guard the herd tonight. I wish you well-child. Elo will be watching over you. If you need anything, ask her."

  Bakura bid her farewell, shape shifting into her tall, elegant deer form and rejoining the herd. Bree watched Bakura leave. Bree sat alone for a long while until Elo finally called to her from the cave.