shouted at her, "go now."

Claris looked stunned he would raise his voice at her but slowly she backed away and moved deeper into the forest. He now looked down at his fallen enemy below. His eyes must have given him away because suddenly Kragus started to shake. "You really are going to be like Man You really are going to kill me."

Kragus was right. He was going to kill him. He felt his rage build up in his body. He put his two large center point against his throat. All it would take is one lunge and Kragus would die gurgling in his own blood. He deserved nothing better. He thought he heard Claris called from behind him, but he didn't care. All he wanted was this deer's blood on his antlers.

"Die!" he said grimly.

"Stranger, NO!" Claris yelled out from behind. "Please do not do this. Think what Bambi would say. Think about what it will do to us."

He stopped and breathed in deeply. He was breathing like he just run across the forest. His two center points were already pressed against his flesh. He then stopped. He heard and smelled Claris come up from behind, "Please," she begged him.

He didn't lung forward, instead he slashed down with his antler putting two open cuts in the deer's chest. "DAHHHHHHHHHHH," Kragus screamed.

"Get up," he ordered.

He watched the large deer get up slowly and wobble on his legs like a new fawn. It took his a while to steady himself on his feet. Besides bleeding from his chest, he was bleeding from the side of his head where he kicked him. After he was sure he had gotten back enough sense to understand him he walked up into pushed his face into Kragus'; his eyes glaring through him.

"Leave the forest," he ordered. "Go over the hill to the next forest and live there. If I ever see you or smell you again, you are dead."

With that he turned away and started back to Claris. He managed to walk three steps before he saw a look of shock on Claris's face. He turned around quickly his antlers out forward. Sure enough Kragus tried to charge his unprotected rear. The attack was clumsy and weak, but against his unprotected rear quarters, it would be effective. Instead all Kragus hit was his antlers which he bounced off. He lower his head and pushed forward with all of his might. Kragus went flying away from him. The big deer landed a full length away and rolled. He got up faster and started to run. He chased him. He would chase him out of the forest if he had to.

Kragus bounded away from him, leaving a trail of blood he could smell. He kept his head lowered just in case Kragus stopped and tried to attack again. They both ran blindly. In the background he thought he heard Claris calling loudly toward him. He didn't care anymore. This deer was leaving the forest alive or dead.

Kragus fled out of fear and he chased him out of rage. They both ran with him trying to catch the fleeing deer. He chased him for a while before he heard a familiar voice call from behind.

"Stop the meadow," it sounded like Bambi

That brought him out of it. He was about to run into the open meadow. He locked all four feet up to try and stop himself while he was still in the trees. Kragus just kept running and bounded into the clearing. He slid down and hit a tree that stopped him. He felt a pain in his flank, but he was still several lengths in the forest. He watched Kragus run across the meadow. He got almost to the other side when he heard it.

"BLAMMM," came the familiar noise. He saw Kragus' feet fly out from under him sending him sprawling onto the ground. He didn't move for a second and then he tried to get up.

"BLAMMM," came the noise again. This time Kragus looked like he was pushed to his side like he'd just been hit by another large deer. Kragus did not move after that. He slowly got up, untangled himself from the tree and as quietly as possible sneaked back into the forest.

He was still breathing hard when he got back to where Claris was, he was surprised to see Bambi standing there with Faline.

"Kragus is dead?" Bambi asked.

He nodded. "He ran into the meadow and Man killed him. I am sorry; I did not want to see him die like that."

"I know" Bambi said. "Many in the herd will not like this"

Then he told both of them of what happen and everything Kragus had told him. "He wanted me dead, Claris dead, and you dead," he said directly to Bambi. He then turned to Claris. "I am sorry I yelled at you," he said bowing his head. "Thank you for stopping me from killing Kragus myself," he said and nuzzled her gently then turned back to Bambi and Faline.

"Many in the herd will blame you for this," Bambi said shaking his head.

That made him angrier. "If either of you or the entire forest wants to hate me for this, then go ahead. But know this; I was not going to let him kill the deer I care about. I have never had a doe that wanted me, and I never had friends until I came here. I will not lose that to Kragus," he said and walked away.

He walked past the stream and up the hill toward some tall trees. He heard some rapid hoofs run along the ground behind him. Claris moved past him and then got in front of him to make him stop. She flashed her green eyes and looked straight into his eyes.

He said nothing but moved forward and rubbed his long nose against hers and licked the side of her face. Then he told her in a soft whispered tone, "I want you more than anything in my life and no one is going to change that."

She broke off and turned around and walked away. Immediately he was flooded by her scent and new one; the smell of a doe ready to breed. "Come with me," she said and walked slowly back the way they came. Both Bambi and Faline had vanished.

He followed her close sniffing at her tail that she filled with her scent. She walked until they came to the thicket where they had been sleeping. It had bushes and with some oak trees growing around it. Claris walked in and then stopped. She hunched her back and raised her tail. He climbed on top of her as his body exploded outward.

For the next two days they did little but eat, sleep, and breed. As they lay next to each other they said little, but he felt for the first time in his life the true desire to please someone other than himself. He felt Claris was as happy and as content with him as he was with her. The memory of Kragus was distant and fading fast. His only focus was on this doe. From time to time he heard more loud noises at the meadow, but that was someone else's problem. He had all he needed. Those two days pasted in a blur, all he knew was he was happier now than he had ever been before.

On the third day he felt the inner drive of the Season fade. He had done what he needed to do. Claris. while still affectionate, made no further attempt to couple with him again. She too was finished. As they left the thicket they both marked the place as belonging to them. They walked until they found some grasses and ate and drank their fill. He could smell other deer in the forest. It was time for the herd to come together again.

The fist deer they found was Ronno, only he was not alone. He had a doe with him. A young doe having her first breeding season after her first winter. Her name was Marol. They were together and looked happy. He approached them, but they both moved quickly away from him. Ronno looked concerned and the doe looked frighten. He did not go after them. They were the first. Many, but not all, the other deer avoided them. What had happened had become known to all the others in the forest.

They walked as one through the forest eating the grass, tying to put on as much weight before winter snow came. The air was chilly. Few deer talked with them, and then only for a short while. Mostly they acted like when he first came, they were considered outcasts by many deer.

It was at night they came upon the old Oak tree. In the branches the old owl looked at them silently.

"Hello, Friend Owl," Claris greeted him as before.

"I heard what happened Stranger. I understand what you did, but I do not like how it was done. I think you both should leave now," the owl shrieked and flew off without a word."

"Oh," Claris said and dropped her head. "Him too," she muttered.

"Him and others," he heard a voice call out. He looked up and saw Bambi. He was alone. "Many of the others do not want either of you around anymore."

"You did not tell them what Kragus tried to do to Claris?" he asked.

"Yes, I told them," Bambi said. "Some did not believe your words. Most did not care. They tell me you should not have chased Kragus onto the meadow to be killed. You should have beaten him and let him run away."

"So I should have let Kragus kill Claris another day?" he said starting to let the anger in his voice rise.

"Most think that was just talk from Kragus. Most think he would not have done it," Bambi said.

"And the cuts on her side was Kragus' idea of fawn play?" he said loudly.

"Again, they say Kragus was not serious, and to many, that makes you a killer. Bambi seem not to be getting mad, he tried to calm himself. After all Bambi was the herd leader.

"Anything else," he said.

Bambi nodded and dropped his head. "Yes, many want you two gone from the forest. They asked me to chase you out."

"No," Claris pleaded. "I was born here. This is my home."

"Yes, but most will no longer accept you anymore," Bambi said. "I am sorry, but you are both no longer welcomed at my cave. You will need to leave the forest."

"You

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