Fae Woods Ch 07

Well guys here is chapter 7. I'm working on making longer chapters but still posting in a timely manner. I know I hate waiting for the new chapters to be released because the wait is agony. I hope you like it there is a lot of action that I hope will keep you engaged. Please vote and comment I read them all sometimes more than once (wink). They fuel me to write better chapters for you.

Looking forward to see what you think,

~sylentpoet ~

***

Cernunnos stretched opening his arms wide expanding his massive chest. He dropped equally ripped and massive arms to his side. Dillon didn't think that he had ever seen something so amazing in his life. This god easily stood eight feet tall with enormous muscles covering his deeply tanned body. Cernunnos' cloven bottom half was just as muscled as the top but was also covered in fur including his manhood. The cloven feet reminded him of the character of Puck from Shakespear's 'A Mid Summer's Night Dream' and his furred man junk could leave the most confident man with a bad case of penis envy.

Long wavy light brown almost blond hair reached past his waist. The most startling feature he had didn't have anything to do with the way he looked but the power that emanated from every poor of this being was off the charts. The only adornments the god wore were two match golden torcs hanging from his magnificent antlers and another as depicted in most of his pictures in history hung snugly around his thickly muscled neck. Dillon felt his knees about to buckle under the pressure of Cernunnos' power. Then he thought about it, this was a god it was probably in his best interest to bow to this powerful being anyway. So, he went to his knee bowing before the god.

Cernunnos crossed to Dillon, looking him over. The sound of his hooves clopped loudly and rung in Dillon's ears as the god walked over to him. Dillon could see that the god was giving him the once over as he saw and heard the clop of hooves appear, disappear, and appear once more. But Dillon was smart enough to keep his head bowed just in case he risked angering the god by inadvertently breaking some rule or other.

The god began to speak and Dillon dare not interrupt him. "I cannot say that I am surprised very often but the fates have done a good job of it this time." He did say much after that but Dillon had a good feeling that he wasn't done so he didn't say anything. Cernunnos gave a long exhale of breath "As I said before your doubt will have you defeated before the first blow thrown. That endangers my children and I cannot allow that to happen. The fates did not choose you arbitrarily. They must have seen something in you that made want to choose one such as you to give you such great responsibility and power."

Dillon still had yet to speak to the god but did have a response to the last statement made by Cernunnos. "But what if I do not want the responsibility or the power? I did not ask for any of this to happen." Dillon dropped his head heaving a weary sigh. "It's just a lot to take in. Really, what would you do if you were in my place?"

Cernunnos waved his hand magically manifesting a chair or better yet a thrown was made of the trunk and branches of trees paying homage to his connection to the forest that are his domain. It rose behind him majestically as he settled his large frame into it thinking a moment before he answered Dillon's question. "This I cannot say, for I have always been and had my power in me. But all you need to know is that everything you need to defend this world has already been provided for you. The first thing you need to do is get out of your head. The more you think on the things you cannot do the more you neglect the things you can. What you can do will never come to the fore and you will be defeated before you start. Here is a hint for you; your emotions are connected to your powers. The stronger the emotion the more your powers are affected whether it be good or bad is up to you. You have the ability to focus these emotions and powers to be a strength if you so choose."

With that Cernunnos got up and turned to leave his thrown dissapearing as he did so. His form started to waver as he strode away. Dillon got to his feet, "That's it, just a few words of wisdom. And off you go. I'm still in the same predicament as before you decided to show yourself."

Cernunnos stopped and turned back to Dillon, "Yes that is all. If you are wise you will head my words." Dillon was about to say something else but the flash of anger that made the god's eyes glow golden made him stopped before making further comment. Cernunnos then turned to leave again but thought better of it and in a move to fast for the human eye to see, had Dillon of the ground. Dillon dangled from Cernunnos hand by his throat. Dillon struggled trying to free himself from the prison of Cernunnos' hand with no affect the god only tightening his grip more. The god pulled him directly to his face.

"In the future mortal, it would do your existence well not to question a god and heed the wise words freely given. You will protect my children at all cost and I will leave you with a parting gift and your life though you disrespect me with your tone. I cannot involve myself personally for this is your destiny to meet." Cernunnos opened his mouth directly over Dillon's and squeezed until Dillon opened his. A golden smoke started to ease from the god's mouth. It floated around Dillon's head then into his nose and mouth filling his lungs with the magical smoke. Dillon struggled harder choking on the smoke, legs flailing beneath him, but was still unable to budge the fingers around his neck. As the last vestiges of the smoke entered his lungs Cernunnos dropped him to the ground, Dillon crumpled to the floor still choking barely catching his breath. Then Cernunnos said, "Heed my words and you will find yourself among the living longer for it."

Breathing heavily light headed with a gravelly voice Dillon asked, "Wha... what was that? What did you do to me?"

"As I said, it is a parting gift. And for me, just think of it as an insurance policy."

In the blink of an eye and wavering form, Dillon was once again in the room by himself.

He slowly got himself back to his feet feeling a little shaky after his latest ordeal. He was thinking, already this has been one hell of a day. Dillon made his way out of the room passing the guards on his way out and they each gave him a curious look then looked at each other fisted their hands over their hearts with bowed heads. Dillon didn't give it a second thought and continued out down the hall he used when he originally entered and marveled again at how amazing this place was.

He walked out of the cavern and past the bowed heads of the entrance guards with the familiar tingle of magic running down his spine as he crossed the thresh hold once more. He walked away then stopped as he realized he had no idea where he was or which way he should go. Just when he had decided to do a little exploring, Zhana came to retrieve him meeting him on the path that led to the cave.

"The others are at the clearing for the midday meal. Follow me." She did not wait for a response but tuned to go back the way she came then swiftly whipped her head back around as something about him registered with her. She took a look at him gazing at his neck. Judging by the severe tightness he could still feel there, he was sure she was looking at the beginnings of bruising which was a testament as to how tight the god's grip had to have been with Dillon's skin as dark as it was. He thought he saw surprise flash across her face but it was quickly replaced with barely contained hostility.

The growl from Dillon's stomach caught her attention and his; she hissed then started walking away with him following close behind. He did not realize he had spent so much time in the cave but the stomach didn't lie. They reached the clearing with no further conversation between him and Zhana. He figured that she must still be a bit upset about the not so pleasant end to their earlier conversation ending with her and the others flying across the room and slamming into a wall. Dillon knew he would have to apologize for that he would just wait until the opportunity arose.

When they reached the clearing, if it was even possible, Dillon received even more stares than those he received that morning at breakfast. He noticed that most of the stares went to his neck. Those must be some awfully bad looking marks in order for all the people to be looking at him the way they were. Zhana led him over to an area where Sienna and the little nymph Ayla sat already eating their meal. As he approached he noticed that the stopped eating and were also staring at his neck. That was not a good sign. It kind of made him self-conscious and he nervously wanted to start fingering the very tender marks he felt every time he turned his head. The marks had to be showing more vividly than originally thought to garner all the attention he was getting now. Dillon was able to he stopped himself before executing the movement that he was sure he was going to have to give explanations for. He took a seat as the questions started to flow his way.

"Where did you get that? What happened after we left?" Sienna said with an extreme look of confusion on her beautiful face.

"Well I... I ... had a little encounter after you guys left." Dillon said sheepishly thinking she spoke of the hand print around his neck.

"That looks like it was more than a 'little' encounter. Who did you get angry at you now?" Sienna said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes turned away from and went back to eating effectively letting him know that she was no longer open to conversation from him anymore. Even Ayla wouldn't make eye contact with him.

Damn. Dillon thought to himself. Guess now is as good a time as any for that apology. All but Queen Rayzahn was sitting there so here goes nothing. "Look guys, I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier. I had no way of knowing that I could do what I did. That doesn't excuse the fact that I did it though." One of the male tygerwud came over and handed him a plate of food and they all ate in silence for a minute. In that minute Dillon really thought about all that had happened in the last few days. He decided right then that he would not fight the pull of the place he was in. He would accept it and help these people as best he could. "I can't apologize enough for my outburst. All I can do is continue to ask for your forgiveness and hope that you... all of you will find it in your hearts to forgive me. I won't fight this anymore. I accept that I have come here for a purpose. I humbly ask that you all help me to become the best 'Chosen' that I can."

With that Dillon rose from meal and walked away leaving his unfinished meal there suddenly now feeling the loss of his appetite. He walked around the encampment with his thoughts weighing on him heavily. He was soon joined by Rayzhan.

"Well, what did you say to Cernunnos that earned you that?" She said.

"That obvious huh? I guess my mouth has been getting me in more trouble than I can handle lately. And by the way, your majesty, I own you an apology..." Ryzahn cut him off.

"No. No need for that. You have had a lot to adjust to and I was recently told of your acceptance of this. It is much to take in I understand. Yet you still did not answer my question." The queen said her interest still keen.

"We exchanged some words and I'm sure I must have said something to offend him, can't remember exactly what, but he said something to the effect that he was.... Going to 'leave me with a parting gift' and 'insurance policy' vowing that I would 'protect his children.' All this while I dangled from his hand. I'm sure that the hand print around my neck is testament to that." Then a thought occurred to Dillon and he spoke on it. "Hey umm, how did you know it was Cernunnos that came to me?"

"I know because we were in his temple in the Tyguard. Something you said after we left must have triggered him to want to show himself in the temple. It is not completely unheard of but very rare. And that is not a hand print on your neck but it is marked letting the world know that you are touched by him along with a torc that has some major power in it. You need to learn to use these powers fast because someone will try to kill you for them." The queen left Dillon with his thoughts once again.

Dillon idly fingered the torc he wore. He thought that the tightness was from nearly being choked to death but was really from the new hard ware he sported and what he was sure was another tattoo looking 'mark' spanning the circumference of his neck. Hell he was so tiered of everything... just everything he didn't even want to see it. At least he had a clearer view of what Sienna was talking about and the curious glances he'd been getting from everyone.

He thought and continued his walk till the sound of the clashing and clanging of metal on metal caught his attention. Following his ears he went towards the sounds and its origin. Dillon found himself walking up to the edge of a clearing of a training field of sorts. Its current occupants were doing just that; training to fighting. Dillon was transfixed as he watched the fight progress. There was a well-built male and female facing off with some wicked looking swords and though he was larger in than the female in size she was definitely holding her own thrusting and parrying with considerable skill. They look to be pretty evenly matched but on closer look he could see that the female was the one with the upper hand. Not to say that the male had no skill, as he did not seem to be holding back putting as much force as he could muster behind his strikes but the female met him stroke for stoke even pushing him back making him go on the defense more often than not. Dillon was thinking that he would hate to have to be the one on the other end of either of their swords. He didn't think that he had ever held a sword in his hands other that the plastic one he own as a child. That would not help him if he had to take up arms against either of the current fighters.

***

"Unf!" Dillon hit the ground for the... hell he didn't know how many times he had hit the ground. All he knew is he spent more time down there than on his feet. Right about now, Dillon was really wishing that he had taken that spot on the wrestling team in college or even in high school. He didn't know if it would have actually helped but at least he wouldn't feel quite so inept in what he was doing now, is what he thought as he got back to his feet once again going into the fighting stance he had been taught.

His thoughts wandered. After a particularly silent night, still no one willing to speak to Dillon after what had happened in the cave the day before, the only words spoken to him were from Ayla and all she said was "Your actions speak louder than words.", yet to find that the person to start his training was the very male that he had seen fighting in the ring yesterday, had Dillon more than a bit surprised. Ayla's words in mind, Dillon thought right what better way than to show the others that he meant what he said about accepting his destiny in this place and his apology to them than to put it in action. When he had asked about beginning his training he had no idea what he had been in for. The strange thing was that when he made his decision of acceptance he felt a since on rightness that seemed to just ring in his gut. He knew that he was doing the right thing and he would do his damned best to do it right.

As he hit the ground yet again he almost began to doubt the wisdom of stepping into the ring with this guy. He knew that his body was surly protesting the strains he was putting it through. Thank God they didn't have any swords of any kind as of yet otherwise he would be in a very bad way right about now. It was enough that he hurt in places he did not know could hurt. Bain once again helped Dillon back to his feet. Dillon was hoping and praying that it was time for a break cause he really didn't know how much more his body could take at the current rate but he would be damned if he let Bain, his fighting coach know that.

"You fall faster than a cub." Bain said. "You need to strengthen your stance if you even hope to remain on your feet. You try to hit me with your hand but your body... is weak. On its own it is not fast enough. You have to remember that you are more than mortal who will fight things that are not mortal at all. You must use both sides of your being mortal and fae to even start to compete with one of our kind."

Seeing the distraction and exhaustion written on Dillon's face, he had to give him credit with this being his first time on the battle field. He had determination written in every muscle of his body and Dillon was catching on faster than he than anyone else he had trained before him even the women who were born to be bad ass warriors. Bain called a break. "You need to get yourself together and fast. You have a lot to learn and little to no time to learn it in. You may have a few minutes then we come back to the field. Leave before I change my mind."

Something in the way Bain said that last statement caught him wrong. He felt something inside him rise up. Where just a moment ago he felt like every muscle in his body was screaming in protest now felt as though they crackled with strength? "No. I am no cub or weakling, we go again now. And don't hold back."

"Oh, I don't think you are ready for that cub... I mean 'Chosen'. You cannot even hold a stance let alone stand against me. You are not strong enough to handle that yet." Their little word war was drawing a crowd. Others were gathering to see what the outcome of this would be. There had been many there that morning when Dillon had first started his training expecting something spectacular but quickly dwindled when they saw how inept he was. The obvious tension building between the two had others putting their weapons down to see how the confrontation was going to end.

Dillon said "I am more ready than you think." He didn't know where the sudden confidence was coming from but he was going with it. For this moment in time he did not doubt himself and was ready for anything Bain wanted to throw his way. Bain sensed something awake inside of Dillon and his edging him on was increasing whatever was going on in him. "Alright young one let us see what you 'think' you got." With that he charged Dillon expecting him to go down as he had all the other times he had this morning. And not to his surprise, Dillon went down hard like he had all the other times he had this morning. Bain got up looking down on Dillon with a sarcastic smile on his face.

Dillon stood blowing the dust out of his nose and felt the blood now trickling down his lip. His emotions ratcheted even higher at the smugness clearly showing on Bain's face. He decided to use his emotion as strength. He remembered the words from the god telling him that his emotion affected his powers. Dillon just knew he could do much better than he was doing and it would give him great pleasure to wipe that stupid smile of Bain's face. He wiped the blood from him mouth. Steeling himself for another bout because he was NOT going to stop now.

"Like I said cub you are not ready nor do you have the skill to best me. Yield before you really get hurt." But Bain was sure that was not going to happen as he saw a steeliness enter Dillon's eyes. If he wasn't mistaken there was a bit of magic in his eyes too if the subtle glow in them was any indication. Now we're getting somewhere. This is what I have been waiting for, he thought. Oh this should be fun.

"Yield? Hum, I don't think so. Bring it on pussycat." Bain made for Dillon once again but the clash did not go as any other. Bain made impact to Dillon's body hard but unlike every other time prior he didn't go down. It was like two brick walls running into each other, the shook but both managed to stay on their feet neither giving an inch. Both fighters had their arms wrapped around each other's neck head to head trying to get the upper hand. This was the fight that Bain had been trying to get out of Dillon all day. Judging by the strength Dillon was pushing off this was really going to be one hell of a fight. Bain got his head back in the game or it would be over quicker than it started and that just would not do.