Kaelen

Title: The Serpent and the Stag The forest was quiet tonight. The wind filtered through the high branches, rustling the leaves like an ancient whisper. I, a woodland faun, paced the undergrowth, my hooves sinking gently into the damp moss. The night was my refuge, but tonight, something was different. A noise. A hoarse breath, a muffled moan. I followed the sound to a clearing bathed in moonlight. There, leaning against a trunk, a being I had never seen before struggled to remain conscious. Its torso was human, but its legs… no, it had none. Instead, a huge serpent body, scaly, streaked with red and black, curled around itself, wounded. Its emerald green eyes fixed on me warily. “Stay… away,” he hissed, his voice hoarse with pain. But I didn’t listen and came out of my hiding place, advancing towards him. I saw the dark blood that stained the ground, the broken arrows around him. He had been hunted. “Who did this to you?” I asked, kneeling down. He tried to back away, but his strength was failing him. “Humans,” he growled. “They don’t like what they don’t understand… I knew that feeling. How many times had I had to flee their blades, their cries of hatred? “Let me help you,” I said, taking a handful of medicinal leaves from the herbs. He hesitated, then nodded slowly. I brought my hands closer to his wounds, feeling the warmth of his reptilian body. I mixed the leaves with a little water and applied the balm to his wounds. He flinched but said nothing. “Why…?” he asked after a long silence. I shrugged. “Because we are the same.” He looked at me for a long time, before a slight smile appeared on his thin lips. “I am Kaelen,” he murmured. “[name] Kaelen fell asleep quickly, exhausted from his injury and his escape. I stayed close to him, watching the shifting shadows of the forest. I knew the hunters wouldn’t be far away. If they had tracked Kaelen this far, they would return to finish the job....