Her Chastity - Ruibhs POV

The grass and leaves had begun to turn the shades of autumn, from rich hues of green to shades of red and gold.  The thunder of hooves and antlers clashing rang across the plains of Silverthorne, rut had begun.  This was his first rut, although he had been mature enough to participate for several years, he hadn’t been able to due to punishments dealt out for breaking rules.  This season had been different, with the crowning of his brother as king, he made sure to keep himself at his best.  It was time he started acting like a soldier, a general’s son, and a king’s brother.

Ruibh stood near a circle of stags that watched as others fought for the rights to breed the does that stood near.  He spotted a golden doe, Sila.  Her ears were pinned back and her eyes looked sad.  He had only recently heard of the tragedy of her mate, Simba’s death.  He hated seeing a sad doe, he decided to approach her.

“Hello Sila,” he spoke softly as if to try to keep from scaring her off, “Do you remember who I am?  We’ve met before.”

He paused for a moment, unsure of what to say, “I-  I heard about Simba.  I’m sorry.  This must be hard on you.”

A doe, whom he would presume was the lovely does mother, due to her age and appearance interrupted, “Hello!  So nice of you to drop by!”

His eyes left Sila for a moment,  he couldn’t tell if she was annoyed with him or her mother.  Or both.  The doe spoke again, “I made some tea, would you like some? It has some of Sila’s honey! So sweet, you have to try it!”

Sila said something to her mother that he couldn’t hear, the pair side kicked at one another and spoke again.  Clearly a disagreement.  He tried to ignore the exchange.  She then excused the fawns that were standing near her, one looked at him horrified as it’s ran off with the other.  Ruibh tucked his ears back, what had he done to frighten the fawn?  He shook it off for now.

“No, but thank you.” He replied to the mother with a shake of his head.  He paused for a moment, “Your fawns look well.” He said offering an encouraging smile.

He wasn’t sure what to say next, so he thought it best to just get to the point, “I- I was wondering, if you’d be interested in speaking more, possibly spending some time in each other’s company.  I hope I’m not too forwards.  I am at your service if you might be in need of extra protection-  for yourself and your young ones.”  He prayed he didn’t sound too pushy.  This would obviously be hard for her.  He couldn’t imagine losing his mate, though he had never had one, he could still imagine the pain.

He continued, trying to remove his foot from his mouth, “I mean, during this time of year, stags can get a bit… aggressive.”  He just kept digging himself into his own grave.  He looked down and away from her lovely golden eyes, “I apologize, my words aren’t at all coming out as I imagined they would.”

She drank the tea her mother had made.  She appeared more relaxed.  He thought perhaps she was very strung up with the approach of rut and all the stags arguing over which mate they might take this season.  He could see the reason for stress.  She released a soft sigh, “Thank you.”  

He offered a small grin.  Maybe this would end up somewhere after all.  He hated to think like that but the peak of rut was playing with his mind, the scent from the does made him mad.  He swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on what Sila has said to him.  She sipped at the tea her lovely mother had given her, he refused the offer once more when his attention was turned towards the sparring match between two stags.

Several young stags were around, trying to get her attention, clashing their antlers together.  One defeated his opponent before approaching.  Sila’s father, Flint, step forward between the young stags and his prize.  Flint spoke, his word harsh, “She doesn’t want this. She has a young fawn at her feet. She doesn’t need this.”

He couldn’t help but feel guilty.  He had himself come over here hoping to court the doe.  He looked away.  He could tell before the match began, it wasn’t a fair fight.  The opponent was much younger than Flint, in his prime.  His antlers were strong and his maneuvers were quick.  He looked away for a moment, before hearing Sila shout for her father.  He immediately turned to witness the older stag forced to the ground as the young, mature stag stood over him.  The old stag tried to stand but the fight had damaged his knee badly.

The stag approached Sila, ready to claim his prize.  She looked towards the stag and to her father frantically.  Her father tried to get to his feet but his injuries causing him to fall back to the ground repeatedly.  Suddenly, a wall of fire spread between the golden doe and the fiery stag, he continued his approach, releasing an arrogant chuckle.  Sila stared to her father with wide eyes, praying he could find his legs.  But the old stag was grounded, he wouldn’t be getting up to help her.

The dark roan shook his head with annoyance, stomping his right foot hard into the ground.  This would not stand.  A doe might be a prize to be won but it was clear that his doe was frightened, if not completely terrified.  He could see the fear in her eyes. With a snort, he stepped between the stag and his prize, he lowered his head presenting his impressive set of antlers.

“Move out of my way, waterbaby.” The opposing stag said, lowering his antlers to his opponent, “This doe has been claimed.”

“It would appear this doe does not accept your proposal.” He looked to the doe, “I will accept the challenge to claim her, either for myself or for her chastity.”

“It’s against herd law.” The opposing stag proclaimed.

“It is no such law!” Ruibh frowned, “Any stag has the right for claim any doe, it is your responsibility, if you would wish to keep her, to defend her.  Are you prepared to do so?”

Without responding the fiery stag lunged at the black stag, he aimed low for his legs.  Ruibh moved his head quickly and caught the stag, “Who are you to challenge me?  I shine with the fire of the gifted.  Move out of my way halfling!”

The dark coated stag had grown tired of other believing him to be part Blackwood.  With irritation he thrusted forward, the golden stags hooves dug into the ground while he pushed him back beyond the flames on the ground.  The two struggled back and forth.  Tired of this nonsense, Ruibh finally lunged forwards, hooking his antlers with his challenger, picking him up and twisting his antlers towards the ground.  Ruibh stood over the dazed stag, lifted his head with pride he approached the golden doe slowly, hope to keep from frightening her.  Their King, his brother, had made it clean that any doe unwilling would be left to her choice.  

The gold doe’s face was stained with tears, fear still apparent on her features.  He spoke softly, “You are free to do as you choose.  You may choose to take me as your mate this season or I grant you the freedom to be without a mate this season.  I will keep my word and try my best to protect you, whatever you choose-  but I would hope you might consider choosing me.”

She tilted her head and then offered him a smiled.  She got to her feet, and walked wobbly.

Her mother supported her daughter as she spoke to him, “Please forgive her, she is just so overwhelmed by this whole thing.”  She then looked at her mate, who had gotten up, limping towards them.

Sila blinked her eyes a few times before looking around. “This place is crowded… I want to go somewhere quiet.” She stood a little bit more solid, and looked at the dark stag. Her eyes held an open invitation to join her.

“I would love that.”  He smiled, offering her his shoulder for support, which she graciously accepted.  Ruibh picked his head up, proud to have such a lovely doe at his side.

Word Count: 1430