I, Corinthius (The Vasterium Saga)

by Shae Christi

  "Elkuri, please. Why are you so threatened?," pleaded Corinthius again. "There is no need to be angry. I am no threat to you."

  This time Elkuri furrowed his brow with such menace and his breathing became angry and primal.

  "Me threatened? By you? How dare you address me as such."

  He rounded up on Corinthius and his sheer size was intimidating.

  "If you want to stay, you will fight me. Do you know why? Because that is our code. It is not normal you hang back with the does unless you intend to mate with one of them. Which I will never allow. Males herd with other males until the mating season begins. But, I know nothing of you, Corinthius, or where you come from. And from what I have seen and heard you are by far too strange to roam with.”

  Corinthius didn't know what to say. He wasn't bullish or territorial like Elkuri. All he wanted was to feel safe and have a home and know he belonged some place he could call his own. For some peculiar reason that made him strange in the eyes of Elkuri and the does.

  "I will meet you in the Arrondon valley and we will fight tomorrow during the midday sun, do you understand?" demanded Elkuri with his powerful voice that scattered the birds out of their trees.

  "No, Elkuri, I will not fight you," said Corinthius rather too pragmatically for Elkuri's liking.

  "Oh, yes you will."

  "No, I won't."

  "Give me one good reason why you won't," retorted Elkuri impatiently.

  "Because you will beat me easily. Hooves down. It is no contest. You've already won," said Corinthius simply. "But, if it's just the rage inside of you wanting to hit something that you don't understand then why don't you just plough your mighty antlers in to that tree once more to rid yourself of it? It doesn't matter if it impresses the other does of your prowess because you clearly own them anyway."

  Elkuri stood and stared at him long and hard for what seemed like an inordinately long time. Mia and Corinthius were not sure quite what he was thinking but the very act of thinking appeared to pain him.

  "You are by far the oddest, cloven hoofed creature I have ever met."

  Then, Elkuri turned and strutted off. He then stopped to look over his shoulder staring in Corinthius' direction.

  "I'll be watching you, Corinthius. I can assure you of that. Step one hoof out of place or mate with my does and I shall kill you."

  "I promise you, Elkuri, I won't do those things," said Corinthius earnestly.

  Elkuri gawped, a dumb puzzlement etched in to his muzzle and frown. Then he shook his head and let out what sounded like an irritated sigh before disappearing in to the forest.

  The following evening Corinthius bedded down close to the three does. Burwin and Bremo were huddled in to their mother, Zelna, in the long grass. Corinthius laid next to Mia and he gazed up at the stars twinkling in the distant firmament. Mia watched him mystified.

  "What on earth are you looking at?," she finally said in a whisper so as not to wake the rest of the sleeping clan.

  "I'm not looking at anything on earth. I'm staring at those glittery things in the sky."

  "Why?"

  Corinthius turned to Mia surprised that she would even ask him such a question.

  "I don't fully understand why. But, I feel they are important. Like they are the moon's little babies. I believe they have been there for such long time. So they must be very wise. When I look at them I feel like I am a part of them, as if for a brief moment, I am made up of stardust too, and everything, all of us, becomes connected and infinite. I sometimes wonder if they are looking at us and thinking the same thing. I wonder if it's all quiet out there. Don't you ever look up and wonder where it all came from. Where we came from? Where we fit in to it all?"

  Mia shook her head astonished at Corinthius' peculiar way of thinking about the world around him.

  "No, never. I thought I only ever needed to know that night time will turn in to daytime and daytime in to night. That there is enough food to sustain our existence. That me and my clan are safe. If all those things are in harmony then I can have my own children and thus continue my blood line and that we does and bucks can afford to continue indefinitely. The only odd thing that I wonder about is, sometimes I sleep and see pictures."

  Corinthius inclined his head towards her becoming even more interested in the conversation.

  "You dream too?"

  Mia laughed.

  "If that is what it is called then, yes I do. Do you?"

  "All the time?"

  Mia laughed again.

  "All the time? What do you dream about?"

  Corinthius looked back up at the stars again and he saw a silhouette of an owl delving in front of the thin milky white face of a crescent moon. Everywhere was quiet but for the usual low drowsy din of nocturnal life in the trees and on the forest floor.

  "Sometimes I dream I am around people and they seem to like me. I sometimes even dream I am one of those people. Perhaps I lived with humans before and not a herd of deer. I've wondered about that since the forest fire.”

  Corinthius looked back down on to the moonlit meadow peppered with sleeping flowers and sighed.

  “I wish I could be a man. They seem to have the capacity to live such interesting lives from what I have seen when they pass through the forest. But, so many seem to squander it on trivialities. I could be a better man than a stag, I think. I notice when I dream all the colours are brighter and more vivid than they appear when I am awake. I wonder if that is the fundamental difference between living a life as a woodland creature and living a life as a human that has so many possibilities. I like dreaming a lot. Have you ever had a dream like that when it appears more real than the waking world?"

  Mia stared at him and then shook her head.

  "No. My dreams are very boring compared to yours, Corinthius. Sometimes I'm running from something and can't quite run fast enough. Those dreams are frightening."

  “Oh, yes, those are horrid ones.”

  Mia spoke about a couple of dreams she considered strange and Corinthius listened intently to them.

  "But, usually, I'm searching for food. Though I have to say, my dreams of finding food shows me where to find them in the waking world. It means I am an integral part of the herd."

  "That's an important role, Mia. I wish I belonged some place and felt like I was integral to its existence. To live peacefully under the trees and wish no bad tidings ever take hold over the land."

  Mia studied him for a long time as he craned his gaze back up in to the night sky again.

  "I am truly concerned for you, Corinthius. You are too gentle a beast for this life. The forest will eat you up and swallow you. I honestly fear for your safety. It's too wild out here for you."

  "I think I'll be okay, Mia. If there is one thing to get me by it is I have my wits about me. They should keep me in good stead."

  Mia agreed that he might be right and then watched Corinthius continue to ogle at the star dappled heavens as if he was in a wakeful dream of his own and she wondered what it would be like to be inside his mind for a day and a night. It was probably a whole sight more interesting than the life she had been living with Zelna and Geru. It wasn't long before both Corinthius and Mia slipped in to a soundless restful sleep and dissolved in to their own dream worlds.

  Geru had been watching them both from the long grass under the guise of a half sleep and didn't like the weird, strange thoughts and dreams Corinthius was sharing with Mia. He was clearly having an influence on her and Geru was now fearful for Zelna's two bucks. What would happen to the entire cervidae species if all the males morphed in to a peace loving, gentle natured, stargazing oddball? No, Corinthius had to go, she decided.

  Chapter 4

  The following afternoon Corinthius roamed alongside a river and drank from its refreshing waters. He watched his reflection in the slow moving water as it gently swelled and diluted his face in to comical distortions. He marvelled at the reflection of his wide antlers as they reached out over the moving water and l
ooked like bare tree branches being buffered under a wind.

  "I imagine you wish to see a man when you look in to that wet mirror, Corinthius. Do you not?," spoke the distinctive deep voice of Elkuri as he strutted up powerfully beside him.

  Corinthius swung round alarmed by the unexpected company.

  "I'm sorry?," he said puzzled. What on earth would Elkuri know of wanting to be a man? he thought.

  "You should be sorry. For ever wanting to dream of becoming a man. They are dangerous, vulgar. They are a irrevocable disease over the natural lands and they destroy it. They have an infinite greed to control all territory and wield and bend it to a shape that is pleasing to them. Stone by stone, tree by tree, and acre by acre."

  "The same could be said of us, Elkuri," said Corinthius as he went back to sipping the water.

  Elkuri bristled at his words and stood over Corinthius deliberately intimidating him with powerful effect. But, Corinthius chose to ignore him and continued to drink from the stream.

  "They are cold, cruel, unforgiving and ruthless. They regularly hunt us for food like they hunt the lowly boar, every species of fish, and the magpies. We are nothing more than chunks of meat to them. To aspire to such an ideal means you are nothing but a base and inferior animal and certainly not to be trusted. Just as I expected you to be. You have no clue what it means to be a potential king of the forest and you are not worthy of being part of our world. I want you to leave immediately. I am casting you out from this herd for good. Everything about you is unnatural."

  Corinthius looked up startled. He hated the way Elkuri pronounced the word 'unnatural' as if everything about him was to be despised. What was it that was so unlikable about him? He looked over to Mia who had overheard Elkuri's lecture and came cantering over begging him to let Corinthius stay. Elkuri told her to go away, but she stood her ground. Mia looked over to Corinthius who was becoming unnerved by the situation at every turning second.

  "It wasn't me who told him, Corinthius. I swear. It must have been one of my sisters who overheard us talking last night."

  "It's okay, Mia. I believe you."

  Corinthius tried to remain strong and show he was not frightened. But, inside he was terrified in not knowing where he was to go next, to be cast out to walk the earth alone.

  Elkuri charged at Mia driving her hard to the ground. Then he turned to Corinthius and gave him a hard arrogant stare. Corinthius felt utterly helpless.

  "You will leave this instant. Otherwise, I will mortally pierce your sides and send you to your death for the sheer fun of it. Now GO!," bellowed Elkuri his anger emanating towards Corinthius like a tsunami heading for land to destroy everything in its path.

  Corinthius did as he was ordered and he turned and galloped to the top of the hill. Once he reached the pinnacle he looked back and saw Mia limping back to her herd. Elkuri had followed Corinthius to the bottom of the hill and stared. Corinthius could feel Elkuri's anger and immense energy from two hundred feet away. Corinthius then took one last glimpse of Mia. Even Burwin and Bremo appeared to be getting pushed back by their mother from following him. With a heavy heart he turned away and trekked towards the mountainous regions within the forest. He felt sick that he would never see them again. Once again, he felt like the loneliest soul on the planet and walked for a very long time nursing his pain until his hooves could take him no further and he collapsed and fell in to a deep sleep beneath a large hawthorn bush that kept him dry from the incoming rain overnight.

  Early next morning Corinthius woke with a mild headache and felt awful. His mouth was dry and his stomach yawned and growled for food. The instant he roused from his sleep and realised Mia, Burwin, and Bremo were no longer there he felt his stomach knot up. He had to get to his hooves and move around and distract himself just to prevent himself from crying from the loss. He gently loped down to a small thin stream that wound round a weeping willow and he drunk from it greedily to rid the dry, parched grain that had set in his mouth. He watched a small frog hop over the protruding wet stones and disappear in to the thick grass.

  Then he heard an odd sound. First he thought it was one of those delightful little birds he had heard in the glade. Then he changed his mind and wondered if maybe it was distant bells ringing out from some unknown village on the outer reaches of the Vasterium forest. Then it became closer and he turned to find a young woman singing to herself as she weaved out from a forest path and began to pick some berries from close to the hawthorn bush he had been sleeping under a few minutes before.

  Corinthius quickly hid behind the willow tree and was partly standing in the stream. He was grateful for its drooping branches thick with leaves to conceal his presence from her. He remembered what Elkuri had said about the race of men and their ugly human nature. Yet he studied the woman with side braids woven in to her raven hair. She was smiling to herself as she sang and every so often stopped what she was doing and stood to inspect her surroundings as if she had a deep gratitude for it all. She then took a small axe from her belt and walked over to a copse of hazel trees. She took to work by lopping off the long, thin branches then tying them in to bundles with rope.

  Corinthius was so intrigued by what she was doing he was completely unaware he had stepped out from under the willow tree to watch her more closely. The woman swung the bundle of hazel stems over her back and as she stood she caught sight of Corinthius and smiled at him. Corinthius was startled that he had been seen and turned and ran to hide behind the tree again. But, he peeped his head from behind the trunk to see what the woman would do next. She picked up her basket and slowly walked his way.

  "It's okay. I won't hurt you," she said holding out her hand to him and in such soft tones that mesmerised Corinthius' senses like flower nectar to the spring bees.

  But, Corinthius remained rooted, like the tree, to his spot. What if she pulled out her axe and killed him? His fear seemed to paralyse him and his eyes grew wider. The young woman could see his fear and she stopped walking. Instead she sat down on the grass verge beside the forest path and stream and pulled out of her basket a handful of strawberries. Corinthius eyed the thick, juicy orbs with envy and he could feel his stomach growl insolently from his gaping hunger. He realised he hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. He came out slowly from behind the willow still eyeing the pretty raven haired woman cautiously.

  "I bet you're hungry, aren't you little fellow?," she asked him.

  Corinthius' fear receded a little. He slowly mustered up his courage and walked towards her where she placed the handful of bright red strawberries in the dry grass for him. All the time he looked at her then the berries then her again. Finally, Corinthius was a mere few feet away and he quickly shovelled up a few berries and then studied her face while he chewed. The sweetness trickled down his throat and he felt more at ease next to her when he took another bite from the small fruit mound.

  Then the woman reached out her hand and Corinthius froze at her action. But she stopped a couple of inches from his muzzle and allowed him to approach her when he felt comfortable. He slowly went in to sniff her hand. He could smell the intermingled aromas of all the fruits and herbs she had harvested that morning. Then he lightly touched her fingers and she gave out a sweet laugh. She was delighted that he was comfortable enough to allow her to touch him and she stroked his entire face and touched his antlers and tickled under his chin. Corinthius adored the sensation of her touch and felt blessed to feel physical interaction again, even if it was with a human. He slowly moved in and began to smell her hair which caused her to fall about in to a spasm of giggles. He could smell the sweet smell of apples and cinnamon which tempted him to start nibbling at her long raven braids as if she were good enough to eat for breakfast. The woman fell in to a heap of more giggles and she sweetly told him no and pulled her hair away from his mouth. She stood and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his ears and Corinthius leaned in to her because she was warm and smelled of apples in a spring rain. Then she knelt again in front o
f him and held his head in her hands.

  "I'm Adalheid and I'm going to make you a lovely breakfast. Would you like that?"

  Corinthius studied her deep olive green eyes before he nodded. Adalheid was astonished by his reaction. She didn't really expect a stag to nod to her question but nod he did.

  "Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

  Again, Corinthius nodded.

  Adalheid was delighted and kissed the warm fuzzy part between his eyebrows and scooped up her basket and she began to walk back through the wood urging Corinthius to follow her.

  That morning Adalheid made him a divine breakfast of acorns, blackberries, grass shoots, acorns and herbs and Corinthius devoured every morsel. He washed it all down with fresh stream water. They spent the entire morning walking the wood together, through glade and dell, and she taught him the names of flowers and trees. She even taught him where to hide if there was ever a storm that loomed. In between her lessons they chased each other and laid in the grass together where Adalheid taught Corinthius the types of clouds and their meaning to the incoming weather. She was extremely clever and independent and Corinthius quickly came to adore her lapping up her company like a fine mead. She gave him the name of Hazalia on account of his beautiful hazel eyes. She promised every morning to meet him by the weeping willow and they would accompany each other in their woodland walks and lessons. Corinthius thought to himself how very wrong Elkuri was about humans. He had found a wonderful friend in Adalheid and thought that Elkuri not knowing the same, well, his life was all the more poorer for it.

  After only a few weeks in her company Corinthius knew he had fallen deeply in love with the lovely wild crafting maiden. When he dreamt of being a man he dreamt he was walking in the wild meadows with bare feet and feeling every blade of grass and each droplet of dew next to his skin. He would be holding Adalheid's hand and feel her warm fingers threading through his own. When he awoke a sorrowful depression began to choke him because he knew they could never be. He would get up and gallop like he was madness personified throughout the dells and meadows to rid himself of his negative thoughts.