Banished

Cyraith shivered as she looked back at the rest of her family. She felt worthless, she was an outcast on her own accord and yet she couldn’t help but feel hollow inside.

The fresh wounds on her snout, and side were deep and bleeding heavily. She never thought that members of her own family could be so cruel. All she had wanted to do was try out for mating rights, and even though she was the only non related in her small group, she still was not allowed. No, Hairth just had to wait until another roe deer came, one that wasn’t daughter to the weakest, one that didn’t have the look of love in her eye every time he looked her way. No, Hairth had to wait for the daughter of a story teller, who was already heavily pregnant and who would take a whole two seasons to be ready again.

A tear fell from her tired eyes and as it landed in the grass beneath her, she lay down and let out a great sigh. She knew that she couldn’t stay there for long, but she couldn’t bare to leave her home, the place that had held her tight since her birth only to let her down at the worst possible time.

Cyraith laid her head on her rear and let her eyes close lightly. She thought back to the days when she was loved by her family, back to the days before Hairth’s brother, Ragane turned his eyes to the mountains high above them and left them. There were flash backs of happiness, of sadness and of misery. She remembered her father, before he was thrown off of the cliff and fell to his death. He remembered his words and his stories, his love to her and her mother. And Cyraith cried more than she could ever remember having done so. After all, remembering her mother brought the most pain of all. It was she, who had denied her mating rights, saying that it would not be her fathers wishes.

‘This is not what he would have wanted to become of you! The dominant, is not your calling in life!’

‘Mother! You may be wise, but in your later years of life, have you not became delusional? Have you not became secluded and deceitful? You may be our matriarch, but mother there are no dominants in our herd! I am sure there are no dominants in any herd! Dominants are for those who believe that there is a need for over protectiveness in their lives! We roe deer do not need that, we bond together as we must, we have our own rules within every herd!’

And then the fighting started. The pain and the bloodshed, the tears of anguish and despair. Cyraith knew it was her fault for saying what she had, but she could not continue being overruled by the only member in the group, who was not strong enough to even run with the rest of the herd, even in times of danger. She could not keep being denied even the most simplest of rights by the one deer who was keeping the rest of the herd from resting for more than half a day.

In a way Cyraith was glad that she was not living with them now, but deep down, her heart was scarred and she felt now that she could not keep on fighting back the many years of fear of her own life.

Yet more tears fell from her sweet eyes and a change ensued in her. She began to realise the differences between her and the other deer and then maybe why she was never allowed to achieve many of her goals. For one she was much larger than many female deer and she had three colours in her dark brown fur rather than just the two in small bands. At the top of her petit head, grew a pair of tiny antlers, and as she looked upon every female she realised that she was the only one with the tiny stubs on her head. She could not believe that for all this time she had not realised just how different it was. And as she thought once more, of how her family were always on the move, she realised in horror that it was not because of her mother, but because of something more precious to the herd.

Her thoughts were cut short as there was a rustling in the undergrowth around her. There was the slightest sound of whimpering and then there was a harsh thud from below her. She spun round and there, peering weakly up at her, was a mother wolf. There was a spike protruding from her stomach and the earth around her was stained a deep red. Cyraith gasped as the mother wolf far below her let out a weak cry and behind her, came the figures of three tiny pups. In the shadows each pair of eyes peered at Cyraith and as the wolf rested her head and there was a whispering in the wind.

Cyraith knew what she had to do. She stretched her head and as she tore a large branch from the tree above her, the pups stepped towards her. She looked tenderly to each pup and then dropped the branch over the cliff. And as the branch landed softly over the poor mother wolf, Cyraith lay down in the long grass and as the pups cuddled up to her, she shut her eyes and dreams filled her mind once more.