Chapter 8

I opened my eyes and looked at Candice kneeling before the ornamental stone. I looked at her and wondered what she needed to reveal that was so worrisome for her. I looked her over and I could see the same freckles on her ankles as were on her arms and face and neck. She was covered in these? That would be interesting.

“Candice,” I spoke quietly.

“You’re back already?” She said quickly.

“Already? I feel like I’ve been gone most of the day.”

“No, Mick. It’s been a mere few moments. How are you?’

“I’m very good. I had a very long talk with my great grandfather. He told me many things. He asked me to carry on his work.”

“And what did you choose?”

“I chose to fight the evil voices I heard and to take up my grandfather’s quest.”

I stood as tall and straight as I could. My memories came to me and told me what to say and how to say it.

“Deer Woman, reveal yourself to me!” I said the words in a calm and yet commanding voice that I’d never use before.

Candice stood up from her place at the stone and turned to face me.

“Must I?”

“Candice O’Dell. Deer Woman of the Anishinaabe. I am told that for my transformation to be complete that you must reveal yourself to me. I have chosen to take up James life quest.” Then in a firm and commanding voice, I said, “Reveal yourself to me.”

Candice opened her eyes wide, wider than I’d ever seen them. Each eyes had to be three inches across and the deepest softest brown I’d ever seen.

“You have not seen my true form before this time. You have been under an enchantment causing you to see this person. Now, see me.”

I was expecting her to drop her clothes but instead she took off her slippers. There before my eyes were two small cloven hooves, like a deer’s feet. For some reason, that seemed to break the spell I was under.

As I stood, transfixed by the miracle before me, Candice/Deer Woman, grew taller. Her height increased until she was looking directly into my eyes. Her shoulders widened and her hair seemed to fill out and fluff out but maintain its’ shiny brown color. Then from the hairline on each side of her head, straight up from the ends of her eyebrow ridge, two spikes began to appear.

They continued to grow and divide until I was looking at two magnificent sets of eight-point antlers. She reached behind her and, undoing a clasp, let her long green dress drop to the ground, and there before me stood the daemon, Deer Woman.

The freckles that I’d seen before now merged together to form a mottled pattern all over her body. Her breasts were round and firm with no droop or sag to them. The nipples a deep brown, wrinkled and extending out almost an inch. Between her legs was a full and fluffy patch of wavy hair of the same color as that on her head.

“I am Deer Woman of the Anishinaabe,” Candice said with pride and surety. “It is my place to protect women and children from those men who would do them harm. I am given to you by Kitchi Manitou to aide you in this quest and to accompany you and walk with you through all of our lives. We are now as joined as we would be if we were married by your people. We are mated, as I was with James, for as long as your spirit remains.”

I took in the appearance of Deer Woman. Her lips were full and in a slight frown. Her eyes were, for all intents and purposes, those of a large deer, oval and tapering off to teardrop like shapes as they ended above her cheeks. Her ears were like those of a human woman, with the exception that they could change position so she could better hear around her. A little disconcerting but I could learn to live with them.