The Mother, The Soldier, and The Hero

Vera

Vera gazed out at the pouring rain and swirling mist along the forest floor with an emotion of resentment. It had been such a beautiful day this morning, and then dark, heavy storm clouds had rolled in from the South to block out the sun. It had been pouring rain ever since. The ground was soaked and mud sucked in at your hooves if you stepped in too deep a puddle, and the air had become more chilled.

Fortunately for the very pregnant pale doe, she and Starling had found a decent den in the form of a rocky crevice in the side of a tall, steep hill. It was large enough for the two of them to be comfortable, and it kept them warm and dry during the worst of the late Winter storms. Vera couldn't wait for Spring to come, and bring the new flowers and warm sun with it.

As if thinking her same thoughts, the fawn inside of her kicked. Vera flinched at it, eyes screwing shut at the spasm of acute pain. The fawn's random movements had become increasingly large and frequent lately. Vera imagined that her insides must be very bruised by now. And if she thought she'd been big before, well, this was an entirely new scenario. She felt as though she were the size of the entirety of the Silverthorne territory.

"Only a few more weeks until Spring," she said softly and longingly, almost to herself. She couldn't wait to have her own body back, to be able to run again, to be able to sleep without stirring all through the night. But at the same time, she dreaded the on-come of warm weather, because that meant she would be a new mother, and she was half-terrified of the prospect.

Starling

Starling was trotting through the storm; he didn't mind the cold and he even less minded the wind. He was Windborne and such a storm made him feel almost like being back home. He enjoyed it tugging and pulling at him, he enjoyed the angry songs the wind sang when a storm was rolling over the sky. Storms were dangerous, but also so very beautiful.

He however knew right now was not the time to marvel and play in the storm. He had promised Vera to help her in any way possible and since he still felt somehow responsible since he had not been there to help her when this dreaded affair with the Blackwood stag had happened, he took his self-assigned duty very seriously for sure!

Truth be told, the stag was a bit worried for Vera. He knew not much about the pregnancy of Silverthorne does, but he knew that no doe he had been with ever had been quite as big as Vera was by now. The fawn inside her definitely was very big and considering it would still take a few weeks for Spring to come and fawns to be born, he really began being worried for her health. He, of course, made sure to not let her know any of this. He saw in her eyes that she was troubled enough herself, he didn't need to add any more worries to her agenda.

At least the den they had found was very nice and also looked safe enough, with the steep hill to protect it from one side and forest on the other. Starling however had made sure to take regular rounds about the forest, just to make sure no predator or unwelcomed other fawnling was creeping in the shadows, as Vera had told him about her herd usually reacting rather, well, skeptic towards cross-bred fawns, which probably was also the reason why they had chosen this den and not gone to stay at the place of Vera's friend Feanar and his does. Starling still had a mental note fixed to one day meet the other stag and thank him for being so kind to Vera while he was away.

Breaking off a branch with frozen needles on it, making it glimmer like made of crystals, Starling trotted the last few meters towards their den before stepping inside with a smile,

"Hey, Girlie! Isn't that a fabulous storm outside?" he greeted Vera brightly, holding out the frozen branch for her, "I brought you crystals . . . they might melt soon enough though, so, better marvel at them quickly." he joked, with the branch still between his teeth.

Vera

Vera squinted her vivid blue eyes against the fog outside, noticing a figure approaching from the depths of the forest. She had grown accustomed to Starling's comings and goings by now, so wasn't startled or surprised that the silhouette of a stag was coming right towards the entrance to the little cave. As Starling's chestnut face came into her view, she felt her heart flutter happily in her chest.

She wobbled out of the way to allow her dear friend in, giggling at the water that dripped from his soaking hide. Her gaze fell upon the branch of frozen crystals and she smiled at them, eyes gleaming.

"Oh Starling, they're beautiful! I love them so much," she exclaimed, taking them carefully in her mouth. She admired the way they shimmered in the dim light. "You really know how to-"

Before she could finish her sentence, an incredibly fierce pain gripped her abdomen, sending her doubling over as her knees buckled beneath her. She cried aloud, muscles trembling from the shock of the pain.

"Starling-" she gasped through clenched teeth, trying to think past the agony that was so unexpectedly overwhelming her. It was radiating from her lower stomach, rending her completely unable to move.

A split second later, a warm wet sensation spread over her lower half. Vera blinked in shock, confused at what was happening to her. This most certainly could not be normal.

Starling

When a sudden wave of pain rushed through Vera, Starling's eyes went wide. The little branch he had brought fell from her mouth, the ice shattering to sparkling little pieces on the ground, while Vera sank to the ground in pain and all Starling could do for a moment was gasp.

"Vera! Are you okay?" he finally managed to say, once he had regained his speech, quickly going down to his knees as well, gently nudging Vera to help her lay down completely, so she wouldn't end up falling over and hurt herself or the baby.

"Here, lay down. What happened?" he asked worried, getting back to his hooves, while scanning her through worried eyes.

When suddenly he caught sight of the least he had wanted to see!

"No." he whispered. He knew what it meant, when a pregnant doe suddenly couldn't hold herself anymore. He knew what came after the fluid. But it was way too early!

He briefly felt panic take the better of him. If only his father was here! He would know what to to! He would know how to help! For a couple of moments he could only stare down at Vera in shock, she probably knew as well as he did or even better, that the fawn had decided to join their world today, but that it was still way too early, though. There was no going back anymore now though.

"Vera . . . I . . . what do you need? What can I do?" Starling finally said, looking at her a bit helplessly.

Vera

Vera felt like a puppet at the mercy of her own body, unable to move or do anything at all. She felt Starling's gentle touch helping her to roll onto her side, though it was as though she were completely detached to the sensation. Everything was happening much too quickly.

Her mind was a chaotic mess of panic and fear, but one thought became as clear as the frozen crystal now shattered on the ground. She forced the words up her throat and past her teeth, "Starling, it's too soon. They'll kill it, it's premature, they'll-" but she couldn't finish because another wave of pain was racking through her. Her sentence ended in a strangled whimper, and she curled in on herself in an attempt to lessen the torture. This could not be happening!

"I don't know how to stop it," she cried, tears filling her eyes and threatening to spill over. "Are there any herbs? It hurts so bad." She was sure that Starling already knew that though. The agony was written clearly on her face, and on the sweat that was already breaking out to darken her pale hide.

The fawn inside of her shifted, and she felt it rolling over in her belly. Was it shifting in preparation to be born? She dearly hoped not, and she prayed to Adhar that this wasn't actually happening.

In the distance, thunder rolled and rumbled over the mountain, but Vera was far too distracted to pay it any mind.

"If you can find anything, anything at all for the pain." Her suggestion ended as she lost the strength to speak, but she was certain that Starling knew what she was asking. A sob broke involuntarily from her lips.

Starling

Starling felt horribly helpless, he knew there was nothing left they could do, but pray that the Wind would be with the little one and fill it at it's first breath, so it would live and not die.

"Hush, Girlie . . . I know." Starling mumbled, bringing his muzzle down to touch Vera's cheek soothingly. He knew not much of the Silverthorne ways and he didn’t know what exactly Vera meant with her words, but he assumed it was her being worried the fawn would die at birth, coming so soon.

"It's a strong little guy, you said yourself how big he is, maybe it's already the time for him. He'll be strong, he'll live, I'm sure! The Wind will fill his lungs and bless him with life, I'm sure." he tried to calm Vera down, while the same time he wasn't at all as sure as he tried to sound.

He however tried his best, to keep a hold of his nerves, for the sake of Vera.

"There is no way to stop it anymore, Vera. It's coming now, it can't stay anymore." he told her, he knew not as much as his father knew about these things, but he knew that they had already passed the point of no return, now there was no herb to stop the birth.

Her pale coat was wet with sweat as his was wet with rain, when she weakly breathed for him to at least bring herbs for the pain, Starling quickly nodded.

"Yes, yes, sure! Let me run and see if I can find some herbs or a healer to give me some!" he offered, for a moment tapping with his hooves on the spot. On the one hand, he wanted to run and fetch something to help Vera with the pain on the other, he was so worried to leave her alone here.

When he looked into her face filled with agony, he however knew what was the only right decision at this moment. He needed to get her something, she couldn't stay in this pain!

"I'll run as fast as I can!" he whispered, once again touching his muzzle against her cheek gently, "Stay strong, Girlie. You can do it."

And with that he turned around and ran back out into the storm.

Vera

The moment Starling left, Vera felt much colder and much more alone. The absence of his presence hit her like a ton of bricks. Now she was alone, and she had never been so afraid. How could she defend herself if something happened? Vera had no idea how these things worked, but from what she had learned in her life, this delivery was moving much more quickly than what was normal. She had heard of does who had been in labor for an entire night, and this one was moving along at a fraction of that length.

"Don't think about that now," she told herself, groaning and trying to roll onto her stomach so that she could at least see what was happening around her. Her vision was blurry from the tears, and the rainfall outside made it even harder to see as another spasm of pain shook her entire frame. Contractions.

"Please hurry, Starling," she whimpered to no one at all, but her voice was drowned by the howling wind outside the cave. The seconds were ticking by despite them feeling like they were dragging though, and in the next few minutes, she felt an immense pressure ripping its way out of her and she was powerless to stop or control it. It was worse than anything she had felt prior.

Vera couldn't hold back a piercing scream as she threw her head back and her entire body went rigid before relaxing all at once as though her strings had been severed and nothing was holding her up any longer. Vera was unable to react for a heartbeat or two, before she found her strength and gathered her senses enough to look back over her shoulder to what was happening to her. A small part of her brain expected to see some sort of massive predator gnawing at her backside, for that was what it had felt like.

Her eyes widened in shock, and her mouth dropped open into an "O". Right next to her. A small darkly colored creature. Its fur was smeared with blood.

"My.. my baby?" Vera couldn't quite get past the shock. Was it already born? How? How was this possible at all? It was too soon. No no no, this was much too soon.

"S-Starling?" Vera called out, body quivering. Her teeth chattered in her skull as she struggled to shift herself.

Taharial

Through the mist and rain came the soldiers, falling in line, solemn faces raised to the wrath of winter. The world trembled with every clap of thunder, his mother had once told him, 'thunder is the echo of those long past, sparring in the heavens', she was but a fool - filling his head with lies and tales of nonsense, childhood fantasies. The soldiers pressed on, bending through the glades and bounding across raging rivers, rivulets of rain cascading down their bodies, leaving a trail of mud in the snow, sinking slowly into the soft earth.

One by one, the stags would turn, taking a different path, becoming silhouettes in the fog. It was by chance or fate that he heard the screams, that the scent of blood did not drown away in the downpour. Any other of his kinsmen could have taken the route that Taharial had chosen. It sparked the red brute into action, adrenaline pumped through his veins and fueled him onward, and he swore under breath as he crashed through the undergrowth.

A scent rushed to him, strong yet faint under the metallic iron one that was blood, a sweet familiar fragrance. Who could it be, a doe most certainly, yet which one. Names and faces rushed through his buzzing mind as his legs whipped out underneath his sweat coated hide. Who, who could it be damn it! It came to him at once, hitting him with a sudden panic. Vera! Young, sweet, Vera! In that moment he felt as though he had taken wing, lifted above the ground at such a speed. He would bury his antlers in any whom dared hurt his sweet little Vera!

"Vera!" His deep voice bellowed into the mist, an urgent call wishing only to give some relief to the doe, "I'm coming, Vera!" Ever the hero, he would rescue the damsel in distress.

He had first blamed it on a Blackwood, presuming they would be the cause of the screams, however when he reached the den, he was shocked to not see a big dark brute with the cream doe, though what his eyes beheld did little to relieve him. Soaked in both rain and sweat with steam rising from his pelt, legs painted in mud, Taharial looked a monster. The look embedded in his eyes seemed to flicked from a great sadness to a mild anger. His anger did not burn for Vera, but for the dark child lying at her side. It burnt for the beast who had planted his seed in her belly, and it blazed on for the Gods (He cursed at them mentally for having to do such a thing to his gentle friend).

When he spoke to her then with a somber look upon his face, his voice was stern. "We must prepare a pyre."

He had sworn to protect his kinsmen, his kingdom and his king. And in order to do so, he would need to burn the evil from the dark child.

Vera

Vera! The word rode high on the screaming wind, reaching the pale doe's flicking ears over the hollow roar of the rain outside. It caught her attention despite her deep shock.

Numbly, Vera turned her slender head to gaze out into the worsening storm, heartbeat speeding up at the hopes that Starling was returning to her aid. She squinted her eyes, peering out past the endless gray plumes of mist and hazy silhouettes of trees bowing beneath the power of the storm. There was a vague figure approaching still some meters off, but it was definitely the stocky figure of a stag.

Vera smiled, breathing a sigh of relief and struggling to her feet. Her entire body was weak and she staggered twice before finally catching her balance, but she was able to stand by herself at last.

"Starling," she breathed his name as though it would fix everything and save the life of both her and the fawn. She turned to face her savior, very nearly walking out into the rain to meet  him half way.

But as the figure came closer, Vera realized that the confirmation was all wrong. Antlers too high, legs too long. It wasn't Starling.

Vera felt another wave of panic rock through her as she stepped back to shield her fawn, who was still blinking behind her, dazed and confused.

The stag who came into the den before her was not a savage brute as she was beginning to fear, but her old friend. Taharial. King of the strawberries. Far-away memories tugged at Vera's mind, but she pushed them away to concentrate on the situation at hand. This was not the same stag who had shared the delicious red berries with her when she was only a small fawn herself. This was a trained soldier of Silverthorne. He would not allow this fawn to live- he was much too loyal to the herd for that.

'We must prepare a pyre.' The words were incredibly simple, yet held the weight of the entire world for the fragile dunello doe. They were just as she had feared; every nightmare she'd ever had came creeping up to manifest themselves in the reality before her.

"No," Vera gasped, barely audible, stepping farther back. A sudden realization came to her. She pictured the chestnut stag hurling mighty flames into the face of her son, and Vera knew that any fire would most certainly kill the premature child. It was even worse because he was half Blackwood, and so wouldn't stand a chance against the magic anyhow.

"You can't!" Vera suddenly yelled, finding her strength at last. She may not have wanted this fawn in the beginning, but she could not allow harm to come to him. He was so small, so young. He needed a chance.

Vera's eyes wheeled left and right, searching for anything at all that could help her. She was much too weak to fight off Taharial by herself, and she wasn't trained enough in fire magic to even stand a chance at battling that way.

Please Starling, please hurry, she thought desperately to herself. Then it came to her! The rain!

Fire was useless in a soaking wet world. If her fawn was in the middle of the pouring rain, what flames could touch him? In the blink of an eye, so fast that she had to rely purely on instincts, Vera was throwing herself at Taharial with all her might. Her body, though much more slender and weaker than the stag's, slammed into his shoulder, pushing him back.

In the same moment, she threw a look back down to the fawn and as loudly as she could manage, shouted: "RUN!" to the little creature. To her surprise and relief, it stumbled to its feet, bleating over and over in frustration as it got its hooves under its ribby body and pushed off the ground. It swayed and clambered along, unused to walking upright, but at least it was moving.

Too late though, Vera also realized that her son was in perfect kicking range to the stag she was struggling to hold back.

Taharial

A sound like drums met his highly perked ears, his heart was still beating as if he was running, his world was a blur, every movement seeming to fly by faster than a blink of an eye. The blood that surged through his veins bubbled and boiled, a voice in his ear whispered words of encouragement, 'Burn the fawn. Be rid of the evil, do what must be done...' He had lost others to his incompetence, he had lost those of utter importance to his life, he did not want Vera to join that list. There were demons in her child, surely she could understand-

"No."

Had his ears deceived him? Mocked him? Given him the words he had dreaded to hear, surely they had. But the blue eyed doe continued to disagree with his - no, their laws.

'You can't,' She pleaded with him, desperately trying to save the life of her colt. Truth be told, does were delusional to the apparent bond between fawn and dam, it was absurd. And who was she to give him orders? The last time he had checked, Skuldafn was his King, she was certainly not a general and she was no Queen of Silverthorne..

"Enough! You forget to whom you speak. I am a soldier - and you have no right to command I do anything! By keeping the fawn alive you would be breaking the laws of our Kingdom! I cannot allow for this to-" She had flung herself at him, knocking the air from his lungs and for a moment his footing was lost. His intentions were never to harm her, not in anyway, but this was unreasonable!

"That filth has burrowed into your mind Vera!" His words boomed around the walls of the den, echoing back to his own harks. He pushed himself into her, attempting to knock her back into the depths of the cave. But there was a shape, wobbling on stick thin legs, a dark shape with a stench of blood still smeared across it's hide. That wretched fawn! His attention flickered from Vera to her spawn, and instantly his hind legs whipped out from underneath his copper belly, aimed with precision at the creature's head. That should stop it from getting further!

He turned back to Vera, glaring at her as she struggle to push him, to fight him! For the life of some cursed child! It was insanity. "Give up this nonsense! It is treason to allow that child to live! He could bring the fall of our Kingdom! Dare you be responsible for the death of our people?"

His words were harsh, they were mean, but they needed to be said. How could she stand back and allow life to be given to the demon possessed fawn, Taharial found it impossible to comprehend.

Vera

It all happened in slow motion and as though Vera had stepped out of her own body and were watching it through some thin veil. Taharial's hooves, powerful and as sharp as knives, flying straight for her child's head.

There was a sickening thud as the stag's attack hit its target, and Vera felt her heart knot painfully in her chest. Her stomach bottomed out and her knees felt weak. It was all she could do to keep herself standing, to not jump to her son's aid. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched her son's legs buckle, fold, and shudder, and then his head snapped back as though being pulled in the opposite direction by some violent force. He tumbled to the ground so quickly, if Vera had blinked she would have missed it. The colt didn't even cry out...

Taharial's voice was loud and thunderous in her ears, but the pale doe couldn't bring herself to focus on them. They flowed over her like the stream's current over smoothed rocks, impossible to settle in her mind. She could only see her son, kicked so brutally, over and over again in her mind. It numbed her, made her feel cold through and through. Her brain was completely detached from her body now.

And then all of a sudden, "NO!" Her voice, as loud and mighty as an Ice Bear's roar, echoed off of the rocky cave walls, splintered the air inside, boomed out over the rainy forest. She plunged down to the ground, meaning to cover the child's body with her own.

Her newborn son was lifeless, unmoving with no sound escaping it. She looked as hard as she could, but Vera couldn't tell if he was even breathing. The colt's eyes were shut tight, and a massive, revolting gash had been opened up from one side of his head, down to his neck and across his right eye. It bled fiercely, filling the chill air with the bold tang of copper. Vera couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. Her heart was splintering, and she felt defenseless to stop or help anything.

"How could you do this?!" She whipped her head around, eyes glaring daggers at the stag. "He is only a child! Do not be stupid! Do you really think a newborn fawn could bring down the whole of Silverthorne? He is only a child!" She repeated, screaming as loudly as she could. Before Taharial could take another step closer, she wrapped her body around the fawn, arching her slender neck over its cold, still body. If Taharial really wanted it dead, he would have to kill both of them.

Starling

Oblivious Starling was still on the desperate search for herbs or a healer to help Vera. He tried his best, sniffing and digging under every bush he found, worrying greatly for her and the baby. Due to the mud and rain it was hard catching any proper smell though and it seemed also all healers seemed to have chosen hiding away from the horrible weather somewhere.

He HAD to find something, though! He had to help Vera! He never would forgive himself, should something happen to her or her fawn!

The stag was starting to grow quite desperate, when all of the sudden he heard the wind's angry storm song in his ears change.

"Run, run.
Return to her.
A life at stake.
A life in peril.
Run, run.
Return to her."

The wind sang in his ears. Starling had already often heard the wind sing to him, songs about the past, songs about far away places, but he never had heard it sing to him like this. Like it meant to tell him something. The wind in his ears however did not stop and it was but only moments later, that a horrible realization hit him. Something must have gone wrong! Maybe Vera had passed out! Maybe the fawn was too large to be born! He never should have left her!

Without any further thought, Starling kicked off and ran back to the den as fast as his hooves carried him. Everything was blurry from the rain in his eyes, but to his great surprise, he saw a light blur and a reddish blur in front of their cave. He briefly thought, it might be Vera's friend Faenar, who had come to help, but when he came nearer, he saw Vera was bloody and apparently trying to shield something with her body, while the bright chestnut stag looked very little like he was actually going to help. Starling didn't know what this stag's reasons were to be so hostile, but what he knew was, that he was attacking a newborn fawn and a weakened mother and that was something Starling definitely would not have!

He sent a powerful gust of wind right at the stag, hoping to make him at least tumble back from the impact, while Starling himself rushed over, jumping to stand between the other chestnut and Vera, head low in a clear gesture, that to get to Vera, he would have to get past him first!

"Vera! Take the fawn and RUN!" Starling demanded, head still low, glaring at the other,

"I don't know or care what made you attack her, but I will not allow you to do it again!"

Taharial

Whatever memories Taharial had had of Vera had been wiped clear, in his mind, there was no more tiny filly rummaging through the brambles after strawberries, there was only the body of a traitor. The flesh and bone of a traitorous doe, shielding her demon spawn. His tail lashed madly, sweeping across the cavern floor. The traitor screamed at him, begging once more for the life of the child, but softness and kind charming words had been replaced inside his crazed mind, replaced with bitterness and a hunger only to be filled with the burning of the evil ridden spawn.

She had covered the body of the dark beast, now faced the soldier once more, hissing words at him. "Silence!" His voice became the thunder, rumbling and loud, "In time this creature you have birthed will bring destruction upon us all! By law we are required to burn the body - or are you so incompetent as to have forgotten?" He loomed above them, his crown ready to be snapped forwards, ready to drive through the cream hide. "Now remove yourself traitor. Or my eyes will be the last you see before Adhar in person can tell you of where you went wrong in your pitiful life."

Taharial stepped carefully back, lowering the great horns, pointing them towards the traitor with every intention to at least give her a scar she would not soon forget. But if he had to end her then and there, he would. What use was a doe who threatened their society, their way of life. He sprung forth. Pouncing like a cat and then - he was pushed sideways by an unseen force. He landed, scraping his knees on the rock, blood seeping from cuts. They stung badly however his mission was incomplete. Staggering once more to four hooves he spun around with such haste, he could feel the wind upon his hide, brushing his still wet mane from his neck.

A copper stag stood in the entrance of the den, a foreign scent caught the breeze and carried to Taharial's nostrils. This was no Blackwood, too short. Nor Oakfern, too tall for that matter. Perhaps a Glenmore or those - Windborne. Surely it must be for what had knocked him from his position but an invisible force and he had heard stories of the creatures across the narrow sea who would summon the air much like he himself summoned the fire. This creature was a vermin none the less, and a trespasser even if he was not what Taharial believed him to be. He certainly would not ask for a confirmation.

He too had positioned himself between fawn, however guarded the traitorous doe. Told her to run, told her to flee, encouraged her to break the laws of Silverthorne! By this point, Taharial was fuming, he drew a cloven hoof across the ground, pawing furiously, a wild savage look in his dark chocolate eyes. "You give birth to demons and house trespassers! Did you give yourself to him as well doe?" He spat like a snake spitting venom, hissing ready to lash out and strike once more. "You have no part in this, run back to your false Gods! Or you shall burn with them!" There was no mockery in his voice, the solemn dark tune that he sung, the last hymn they would ever heed.

"So be it," The copper brute mumbled, lusting the taste of smoke upon his tongue, with that he charged towards the stag, his antlers aimed for the kill.

Vera

Every word Taharial spat at her cut Vera a little more deeply than she had thought would be possible considering the situation. They burrowed under her skin and made her bleed, but she had to keep herself focused, couldn't give in or break down. Any falter now would mean the life of her and her son... If he wasn't dead already.

Vera stifled a violent sob and cast her eyes down to her son, huddled to her chest, and felt her heart splinter into a million pieces when she failed to see his chest rise and fall with breath. Behind her, she heard the scrape of hooves against wet stone, signaling Taharial's final attack was coming. Very well. Without her son, there was no reason for her to fight back. Her eyes shut tightly and she braced herself for the impact that was sure to come any second now, muscles tensing.

But- it didn't come? Confused by the absence of pain, Vera turned to look back over her shoulder and was shocked to find that Taharial was falling back himself as though slammed by some unknown force. She suddenly dared to hope as she felt the wind whip around the space in the cave.

"Starling?" She whispered, and her voice was barely audible at all. And then- here he comes! Starling was driving through the pouring rain, nostrils flaring, horns aimed down. He charged straight in to skid to a stop between Vera, her son, and Taharial, who was truly blazing mad by now.

'Vera! Take the fawn and RUN!' He was truly a gift from the gods, which ever gods they be, and in that moment Vera was so overwhelmed with relief and gratitude, she could have sprang to her feet and kissed the ground Starling stood upon.

There was no time for that though, and Vera certainly didn't need to be told twice. She took the opportunity that was given to her and scrambled to her hooves as quickly as she possibly could. How could she run though, if the fawn could not follow? Tightening her jaw and steeling herself, Vera lowered her head and nudged the colt's body. It moved limply, but only because of her own force upon it.

"No no no, please, please," she whimpered, tears continuing to fall freely and splatter upon the ground. What was she going to do?! She didn't have much longer! If Taharial got past Starling, she was done for!

Gritting her teeth and furrowing her brow, an idea came to her. It was the best she could do. As carefully as she could, she pushed her head under the fawn's small, light body and gently swung it upon her curved back. Checking to make sure he wouldn't slip and fall and be hurt farther, she glanced to Starling.

"Please return to me," she begged, knowing the danger the ginger stag was now in, and then without waiting for his response, she leaped out from the cave and into the thundering, pouring rain. There was already too much to worry about; she had to have faith that Starling could hold his own. The wild-eyed doe didn't pause to check which direction she was heading in, didn't look around to see if any other animals or Fawnlings were following her.

Vera just ran as hard and as fast as her long, thin legs could carry her, plowing through the forest, hoping beyond hope that she could still save her newborn fawn.
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First of all, a huge thank you to DodgerMD, GhostlyStudios, TigressDesign, and Ehetere is in order, for without them, this would not have been possible at all! So everyone should go and shower them with bacon and love, and tell them how awesome they are. :3

And so Vera's first fawn is born- premature and therefor destined for death by Silverthorne laws. The other parts of this RP will be uploaded very soon. C;
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Starling: DodgerMD

Taharial: GhostlyStudios

Vera, Siv, artwork: sivr

Fawnlings: Ehetere