A Fawn's Journey

Has been five days since Elain woke up in that place. She was walking in a line of deer escorted by some changelings, like every morning, going to her next job without knowing what it would be. During those days, Elain was forced to do different jobs, such as making weapons, sewing uniforms or carrying heavy materials. The changelings had said that day was the time of the weekly love harvest. It was a particularly cold and cloudy day where the heat of the sun did not reach.

Elain looked at the ground as she walked slowly, the pain in her back and front legs was unbearable. She was afraid that the harvest would kill her, she was worried about finding Elmer, but there was nothing the weak doe could do except accept her fate.

Is this the end? Will I die in here? Elain thought, She felt tired, the headache didn't let her think about anything else.

A buck walking next to Elain patted her on the back. Elain looked up to meet his blue eyes with a tired expression on hers. His name was Rainer, he was eighteen years old and arrived to the camp two days ago, since then both of them had gotten to know each other, chatting to pass the time during those long nights at the shack. However, Elain deep inside thought he was another changeling playing a cruel prank on her, like last time, he looked too carefree.

"Don't worry, we'll get out of here" He said with calm, trying to cheer her up.

"You already said that" She snipped and fixed her gaze on the snowy ground.

Rainer rolled his eyes, then took his hoof out from under his brown coat to look at his watch tied to his hazel fur with a black leather leash. He used to look at his watch frequently.

In the middle of the walk, she heard a distant explosion that made her ears twitch. She looked up and saw how all those changelings who were escorting the deer ran in one direction, shouting words in their language, a siren began to sound. It didn't take long for Elain to realize that they were under attack. At that moment, all her good memories flashed through her mind, she wanted to go back, she realized that was worth to fight for it, and she saw the perfect time to act as a ray of hope enlightening her light blue eyes. She turned around and ran away towards the buildings, then the herd dispersed. Rainer followed her.

Elain wasn't running, rather she jogged with difficulty due to the pain. She reached the shacks and then walked through the gaps between them, It didn't take long for her to feel fatigued, she was weak due to the weight loss. Despite everything, she continued her march towards the front door.

Some shots began to be heard coming from one side of the fence. Elain stopped for a moment as her ears twitched again, then she spontaneously changed direction towards the battle. The short journey went without problems. Among the narrow corridors she only found another doe that was running towards the door and almost collided with her, but at least she didn't see any changeling.

Elain's breathing, slightly labored, left puffs of steam that faded into the frigid air. She reached the last line of shacks facing the fence and stood behind one of them. She took a deep breath and then stuck her head over the edge to take a look.

A hoof grabbed her by the coat and pulled her back almost instantly. Elain could barely see a pair of changelings shooting towards the mountain in front of the destroyed fence before feeling the cord strangling her throat. Elain sat down, getting covered by that wooden wall as she clasped a hoof on her throat while coughing.

"Was that necessary?" She complained and glared up to meet Rainer's eyes staring down at her with disappointment.

"What do you think you are doing? Do you want your head to be blown off?" Rainer said with unusual indifference as he dropped her coat.

"I'm getting out of this hell!" She replied upset.

"I told you we will get out of here, just wait" He said with a dull voice.

"Wait for what?"

He genuinely shrugged.

Several heartbeats passed until another explosion sounded near them. Elain pinned her ears back as she ducked on the ground reflexively with shrunken pupils. Rainer chuckled at her reaction, Elain glared at him again, but it's like he really knew what was going to happen.

"Who are you?" Elain kept staring up at him, now with a confused look.

"What do you mean? You already know me" He offered a hoof to help her up with a smirk on his muzzle.

"Nevermind. . ." Elain accepted his hoof, getting up on all fours.

the shooting had stopped after a few minutes. Elain came out from behind the shack to peek towards where the fence was, despite of what Rainer just said to her, but this time he didn't pull her back.

The field was weakly defended, the few changeling guards laid dead in the snow. In front of her were a large number of convoys parked, Elain counted at least thirty. The vehicles were the first models, the truck bed at the back was short and covered by a fabric roof

Around the trucks, several deer soldiers wearing the Olenian military uniform, some of them riding skis. It wasn't an army, but an expeditionary force that had come to rescue the prisoners.

The siren was still sounding, the changeling reinforcements would soon arrive.

Rainer approached to the to the corner of the shack and saw the armed deer.

"Now is time! We need to go" He smiled and grabbed Elain's hoof.

Elain pulled back her hoof so as not to be dragged. "Wait! What about my brother?!" She said worried.

"There's no fawns in this camp, he's not here"

"I know, but he could be near this camp" She tried.

Rainer sighed.

"He will be fine, We will come back for him" He lied.

Elain was concerned and paralyzed by doubt.

"But now we have to go! The bugs are coming!" He pulled her hoof again.

Elain slowly nodded and began jogging behind him towards the trucks.

Most of the deer soldiers had gone into the camp to rescue as many prisoners as possible.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" A soldier shouted. several of the remaining soldiers between the convoys raised their rifles against Rainer and Elain. She stopped abruptly by sitting on the snow as she lowered her ears and widened her eyes, Rainer stopped right infront of her.

"We are not bugs!" Rainer shouted back at the soldier.

"I will decide that!" The soldier spontaneously shot at Elain, the bullet ended up embedded in the snow next to her foreleg, a few centimeters from her. Elain jumped in terror and hid behind Rainer, hugging his hind legs. Rainer was concerned.

The soldiers lowered their rifles. A changeling would not be able to maintain their illusion in the face of such a scare, unless they were very well trained.

"Get on one of the convoys, fast!" The soldier said.

Is this their way of detecting changelings? Elain stood up again. They both began running towards the nearest convoy, taking advantage of the momentum, Rainer jumped into the bed of the truck, Elain did the same after him. There was no one inside, they were the first.

Elain sat, leaning her back against the short wooden wall of the platform, then she clasped a hoof on her chest and raised her head towards the roof as she panted, Rainer sat infront of her, leaning against the other end of the inside.

"How did you know they would rescue us?" Elain asked after recovering her breathing, then fixed her gaze on Rainer.

"I just had faith" He said with satisfaction.

"What? I can't believe that" Elain shook her head. "Do you work for the army or something?"

Rainer cocked an eyebrow, then giggled. "I am neither a soldier nor a seer. Sometimes believing helps"

Elain crossed her forelegs. "That's stupid, what a waste of time" She narrowed her eyes.

"You may not believe in deities or spirits, but doing it gives you hope to move forward" He changed to a neutral expression on his muzzle.

"You can lie to yourself all you want, but you're not going to get anything done if all you do is sit on your ass all day"

"Well, that's not what i meant to say"

"Does that mean you won't help me find Elmer?!" Elain interrupted as she stomped both forehooves on the platform and shouted with a higher pitched voice than usual.

"What?"

The conversation stopped due to the sound of another explosion from the other side of the camp, both of them looked outside. The soldiers were coming back, running along with a large number of prisoners.

The expeditionaries were few, but with their skis they quickly surrounded the field and caught the changelings off guard. Still, they had nothing more than a few transport trucks and rifles. There was no artillery, no planes, no combat vehicles, if they didn't get out of there soon they could be crushed by the changelings.

"EVERYONE ON BOARD!"

"COME ON! COME ON!"

The soldiers shouted as they stood on both sides of each convoy, holding their weapons while the deer began to board the convoys in an uncoordinated manner. Elain moved to the back corner to make room for the others, the truck filled quickly as its chassis bounced. The driver turned on the engine and began to accelerate rapidly right after everyone went up.

"We will talk about this later" Rainer said.

Elain just gazed towards the camp through the spot between the fabric roof and the short wooden door on the back of the convoy.

Whooshing sounds began to be heard in the distance after a couple of minutes, but the deer had not brought any planes. It was probably the Luftwaffe, the changeling air force, Rainer told Elain about it last night. Although she couldn't see it because the roof of the convoy was in the way, She neither wanted to risk sticking her head out of the vehicle to take a look.

Elain saw around her how most deer began to pray silently, including Rainer, some of them cried with joy for having left that place, but that joy wouldn't last long until they realized something from the sky was approaching. Elain just looked around with concern, she had never seen a fighter plane, not even now that she heard them approaching. Elain had no idea what could happen to her, yet she couldn't stop wondering where Elmer and the rest of the fawns were.

The truck's chassis vibrated in coordination with the engine, which was operating at maximum power. Every minute that passed the planes were closer, the terrifying sound they produced became louder and louder until powerful bursts of gunshots began to sound. Elain closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hooves as she stuck to the corner, she began to hear screams of fear from the other deer that were with her.

The fabric roof was torn by the ammunition, cruelly ending the life of a doe that sat next to Elain. She noticed liquid splashing on her fur, but she remained trembling with eyes and ears covered.

A couple of soldiers who were in the truck took their rifles out of the platform, pointing towards the sky, desperately returning fire at the plane that was shooting at them. The plane began to fly upwards to prevent any lucky shots from reaching the cockpit.

The chase continued across the tundra. The convoys dispersed as the changeling aircraft continued the attack. Elain noticed how the sound of the planes had decreased, as they all dispersed in order to keep chasing all the convoys, but there was still one chasing the one she was in. She decided to open her eyes. The first thing she saw were five corpses lying on the platform, including one of the two soldiers. Rainer had taken his rifle to take his position, firing upwards at the plane.

The plane fired another burst of bullets towards the convoy. Elain saw everything pass slowly before her eyes, she could hear her heartbeat as she looked at the bullets impacting on the corpses that were lying in the middle of the platform. Fortunately no one died this time. When the shooting from the plane stopped she glanced down to her left side. Her coat was partially stained with blood, as was her fur, but that blood was not hers, it was from the doe that was now lying on the floor.

The sound of that powerful engine slowly ceased, the plane decided to withdraw, maybe to regroup with the rest. Rainer collapsed on the platform, the deer in the convoy could breathe a sigh of relief. Elain remained motionless with narrowed pupils. The situation was uncomfortable, the convoy had managed to escape, but with so many corpses lying on the truck bed no one dared to celebrate.

The journey continued without further interruption for a few hours. Elain managed to compose herself. The blood on her fur bothered her, she thought about wiping it with her own coat, but she reconsidered in a heartbeat and decided that that coat was too important since it was the only thing she had left.

Elain wondered where they were going, the convoy had been driving south for a few hours and had already regrouped with others. Rainer was sitting, staring at his rifle, Elain did not pay attention to him or the rest of the surviving deer, she felt weak.

"Thanks for the help, you handle the rifle quite well" The soldier who was still alive addressed Rainer with a deep voice.

"I was doing military service before the war started, so I already have some experience" Rainer shruged and smiled up at him.

"What's your name?"

"Rainer, what's yours?"

"Elias" He said as he adjusted the collar of his pastel blue coat with a hoof. Her dark fur offset the white color of her horns, then he slung the rifle over his shoulder by the strap.

"Where are we going?" Finally a doe asked, cutting off the conversation. Elain's ears twitched.

"Hjortland, you all will be safe there" Elias cleared his throat and softened his voice. "We have food and shelter for you when we arrive"

"Wait!" Elain interrupted. "What about the fawns?" She met Elias's brown eyes with a pleading expression on hers.

"Um. . . We didn't find any, we have no idea what the bugs did to them" He looked away with an apologetic look.

Rainer coughed.

Elain bit her lower lip and glared down at the floor. Elmer, Where are you? She wondered.

"But we are working to find them" Elias tried to comfort her. Then he began to cover the corpses with thin white blankets as he resumed the talk with Rainer. Some deer looked sadly at the scene, others preferred to look away at the landscape.

"We need as much help as possible, we could use a new soldier in our ranks"

"Sure, It will be a pride to defend the kingdom" He said with a confident expression on his muzzle.

"Come with me after lunch" Elias offered.

Rainer nodded.

Maybe I should join the army too. . . Elain was determined to find her brother at any cost, but for now the best thing she could do was rest. She decided to sleep by curling in the corner of the truck bed until the journey ends.