A short time later, Karla leads the fawns and fern hounds into your audience chamber. The fern hounds trot up to you and lie at your feet. Simple creatures, they accept you as their Queen without question. You reach down and pat one. Its ‘fur’ is silky under your fingers, like stroking flower petals, but beneath that you can feel a solidness that is reassuring.
The fawns are less quick to prostate themselves. They look at you and you can see they are confused and scared. Well, that made sense. They started the day as dumb animals, their only cares being food, safety and sex. Now they have intelligence, but lack understanding.
You rise and start towards them which makes them cower. Their entire bodies tremble and their eyes dart back towards the entrance. They clearly want to flee but are compelled to stay by your mental commands. You slow your pace and walk towards the fawns with your arms hand slightly out before you, showing them your empty palms. You approach the lead fawn, a cute buck with the toned, slender physique of a teen boy. His face is equally cute looking, with baby soft skin and lacking any facial hair. A quick glance down at his deer half confirms he is no child though. That’s an adult buck’s balls hanging under there.
As non-threateningly as possible, you raise your hand towards the buck, but he pulls back, desperate to get away from you despite being unable to move his feet. You sigh. Oh well. You drop your hand and, spreading your legs slightly, start to rub your clit. The pungent aroma of flowers fills your nose and you watch the buck’s nose flare. He sucks in a deep breath. He stops trembling, his pupils becoming large and dark. His long buck cock slides from its sheath. Oh, you’re going to have to try that out sometime soon.
You reach your hand back towards him once more and this time he presses his face into your palm, eager. Gently, you push memories into his mind. Basic, vague things from your own childhood. A little magic and you twist the memories, making them less focused on your perspective. You craft a foundation for his new intelligence to flourish in.
You step back and clench your legs to lessen the effects of your pheromones. A moment later the bucks’ eyes focus once more, and you see something in them that wasn’t there before.
The buck folds his legs under him and kneels before you. “My Queen,” he says. “Thank you for this gift.”
You gift each of your fawns with your modified memories and each one kneels and offers their loyalty to you. You can see they are still unsure exactly what has happened to them, but they’re slowly beginning to understand that they have changed.
“Do any of you have names?” you ask. The fawns stare at you, their eyes downcast. They don’t understand the question but fear upsetting their new Queen. You point at the buck who first received your memories. “You. How are you called?”
“My Queen, I… I am afraid I don’t understand,” he says. He prances lightly on his hoofed feet in agitation. “There is so much I don’t understand. What are we, my Queen?”
“You are my fawns,” you say. “I created you with my magic.”
“Why did you create us?” the buck asks. The others raise their heads and look at you, obviously eager for answers themselves.
You think for a minute. “To serve me,” you say. “To become denizens of my domain and to aid me in protecting our home from those that would steal it from us.”
The fawns all nod at that, glancing at one another as if to confirm they were all in agreement. “Humans,” one says.
You nod, and say, “Humans. And elves. Perhaps centaurs and others too. Any being that comes to us in peace is welcome in my forest, but any that comes with malice in their heart is my enemy.”
“You would welcome humans?” the buck asks and tilts his head at you.
“Of course,” you reply. You gesture at the hulking minotaur looming off to the side of the room. “Karla here was once human.”
The fawns all turn and stare at Karla, then start chatting excitedly at each other. Apparently, they like the idea of transforming humans into monsters.
You open your mouth to say more when a sudden, blinding white-hot pain lances your skull. You fall to your knees with a gasp and clutch at your head. Karla is at your side in a heartbeat, growling at the fawns who are bleating in terrified confusion. Then the pain is gone, as sudden as it had come.
“It’s okay, Karla. They didn’t do anything, it was something else,” you say. With the minotaurs’ help you climb back to your feet. You give the fawns a smile to reassure them, but they flinch at the sight. Right, they were prey and baring teeth at prey is what predators do. Well, they’ll learn.
Gingerly you extend your senses out into your network of Watchers in search of the source of the pain. They too had felt it. Whatever ‘it’ was. Some sort of magical backlash from the north. Oh shit, a Watcher was gone. Not damage. Completely destroyed.
“Karla, something has happened. I must go investigate,” you say, turning to face the minotaur woman directly. “Can I trust you to care for my family while I am gone? And to help these fawns understand the world they have found themselves in?”
Karla grunts and nods. She doesn’t look pleased at the prospect of babysitting the fawns, but you don’t have much choice. You summon two of the fern hounds to your side with your mind and order the rest to stay and help Karla.
“I’m leaving most of the fern hounds with you,” you tell her. “If anything happens while I am gone get Honey and the babies to safety. I will come and find you.”
With that you tap once more that vast ocean of magic, step into the shadows behind your throne and vanish. A heartbeat later you re-emerge some distance to the north, Shadowstep once more under your control.
Looking around, you realise this part of the forest looks familiar. Oh shit. It can’t be. You break into a sprint. You need to confirm your suspicions. Trees pass by in a blur, your long strong legs carrying you faster than you thought possible. You burst from the trees into sudden, brilliant sunlight.
“Fuck!” you shout, before you stop yourself.
Rising from the forest on a small hill cleared of trees, like a giant stone cock, is the tower of your former master. The tower you once called home. Off to the right is a smoking crater where one of your Watchers had once stood. Nearby is a man in a blood red coat and black pants. His short grey hair sprinkled with wood ash. Your former master. He turns and looks at you.
“Double fuck,” you say. You look around for something, anything you can use to your advantage. You could run back into the forest and hide, but he’d probably start exploding more trees. You could attack him, but you’re not sure you could take him. Even with all your new power, he is still an experienced mage more than capable of defending himself.
“Halt, creature,” your former master orders. “Are you the one responsible for that spying tree?”
You don’t know what to say. Do you lie? Do you proclaim yourself Queen of the forest? Your head spins. You’ve never been so conflicted in your life.
“Master, it’s me,” you say. “Your apprentice.”