The serving lads and wenches trembled in the larder and well room. The screams and sounds of killing permeated the larder door. The lads made a brave show of brandishing knives and crude clubs but they were not men. Only Rolf's men were permitted in the Great Hall, until now. Then hall went silent.

The knock startled them. "Open the door. It is only I, old Morgawse. It is safe."

The people removed the wedges from the door and opened it cautiously. It was only Morgawse. "Come on young'uns. There's work to be done before the play."

As the young one's entered a mighty sight greeted them. Against the table, beside the corpse of Rolf, the Great White Stag humped a blissful lady Gweneth while the naked maiden, Allanna, bathed the two in caresses and licks. "What's the matter? Haven't you seen a woman mounted by the Horned One before? Get used to it younglings. Your fathers and some mothers may not remember the ancient Ways, but we elders do. And this Solstice you are going to start it all anew."

Lady Gweneth suddenly arched her backs and gave a great shout of joy. The old woman smiled with nostalgia. Then the Stag thrust his loins in forcefully and grunted. While the buck savored the moment, the doe-eyed Allanna placed her hands on the table lip and presented herself to the new lord's servicing.

The new lord withdrew from Gweneth. His phallus was huge, dark and dripped with hot semen. The girls gasped with awe at the gigantic member. Without skipping a beat the Stag, shoved his massive cock into Allanna. Gwen, legs limp, folded to the floor.

Allanna first yelped, then sighed, then shouted vulgar words of praise and encouragement to her mate. Little drops of blood fell from her womb and speckled the honey colored oak floor. Gwen was still weak from the onrush of rapture. She simply wrapped herself around the Great One's leg and kissed it.

"Well, enough witnessing. Come on, we've got work to do." The avatar had killed or subdued everyone in the room. Most of the war band was dead. Some few were stunned, dead drunk or too wounded to move. The armed elders and musicians held all the Saxon women and children in the corner.

The children were led into the root cellar and bolted in. The Saxons who could walk were forced to carry the dead out into the snow. When the last corpse or drunk was removed the outer door was bolted and they were left to the wolf pack.

"That skald cannot even scream on key" laughed Fleance.

"Bring two barrels of wine." Ordered the new lord. Allanna and Gweneth were licking his phallus clean, savoring each drop of life-giving seed. The servants rolled two barrels in promptly.

"Upturn them." The butler and his steward obeyed. The Stag disengaged his mates and walked towards the kegs. With his elbow, he smashed in the ends of both. Then he picked up one of his leather sacks, the smallest one. He untied the pouch and showed its contents to all present. It was the male part of the first stag.

With the flint knife, he slit the deer's sack, allowing its milky goo to drip into a keg. Then he let the organ follow, dropping it into the red vintage. He picked up a bronze tankard, poured out its remainder and shouted. "Every man here drinks!" he scooped up a cup and gulped it down between breaths. The he refilled and made way for his kin.

The elder men went first. One by one, to keep and eye on the prisoners. Every youth followed. They dared not disobey. The bloody new King cast a baleful eye on anyone who did not fill his tankard to the brim with the first dip. Most men could not swallow so much at one time, so they drank while the Stag executed his next instruction.

He picked up a larger pouch and set it on the portion of the table directly opposite from the girls and women. He untied the oilskin and revealed a large, raw whole liver. "Eat. A bite will do."

Morgawse's eyes grew wide with greed. She took a step forward. "No! Her." He pointed towards Dorcas.

"Absolutely not." Dorcas was ever the chieftain's daughters, even when held prisoner.

"I don't know what got into you Rory Rolfson, but if you think we are simply going to..." Then Dorcas saw sparks. When she looked up from the floor, Gwen, now standing and strong yelled down at her.

"You heard the King you miserable harridan. Now do it! Eat the liver." She kicked the prostrate girl. Then she grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her closer to the table.

Allanna began to beat, pinch and pull Dorcas in a similar manner. The serving girls joined in the fun.

She was bent over the live in short order. "Eat it!" The people demanded. The girl whimpered and cried. "Eat it!" Dorcas tried to get away with a nibble. "No! A whole bite, you foul sow!" A serving girl spanked her with a handled wooden tray until she gave into the inevitable, bit into the black and swallowed.

"Now cage her in a faggot basket. I will have use for them later."

The big girl screamed and resisted, but the other girls had worked their whole lives and so were too strong for her. "Maybe we'll throw you on the hearth!" The girls teased. The lid was tied on the wicker cages. Then the elixir of the Great Stag's liver hit the female's bloodstream. Dorcas Rolfsdotter fell into a stupor.

"Crones, slice up the remainder into hearty bites. Women, prisoners, people, then crones; you will all partake of the Great Stags liver. Throw the rest into the second barrel and then drink of the mixture."

To avoid the same beating the prisoner wives, daughters, sisters and kin ate the liver the crones offered. They were not so proud and they had eaten liver before, though the Rolfdotter's stupor did not encourage them. All the rest partook and the remains thrown in the second barrel. The wine washed it down.

All the women fell into a sleep, which is not what the men wanted. All the men, from the youths to the oldest, were panting heavily. Hard members tented their clothes. Their feet twisted into the wooded floor as they watched the women's breasts slowly rise and fall with each breath.

"Come. Brothers, bathe. The doe's will awaken soon. You there, save these two barrels and bring in the rest."

The men ran to obey their King. After the wine had been moved, they melted snow and washed themselves. For Rory's body, the caked blood was hard to get off at first. But the trail dirt and sweat wiped up easily enough. His hair was sticky and he wiped that too. Then he redressed himself in his pelt. "You played the Song of Life well, bard. Can you play the Solstice Dance as well?"

"Yes, my liege and may I say you have blessed me with the finest harp strings imaginable."

"You are very worthy. Ah. They awaken. Man your harp."

The women, starting with Gweneth and Allanna began to rise. The younger and more vital women awoke first. The elders awoke last.

The women stretched and looked about for the men. The divisions between captive and guard were forgotten. They were women, plain and simple. They cast for the males with slow smiles. The men began their panting.

"It is so hot in here." One of the girls groaned and all the rest echoed her plaintive cry. Slowly, in full knowledge of what they were doing, they slipped out of their garments. Then they stretched. Everyone one of them smiled, savoring the delicious knowledge of the effect they were having on their big, handsome men.

Already naked the stag advanced. It didn't matter which one he took; they were all his herd. Thanks to his liver, they were all in season. And all the men were in the rut. They scattered. It was Morgawse he grabbed first.

As he mounted her, she was amazed. She had gone trough the change ten years ago, but now her womb was as slick and fresh as a maiden's. The liver had worked its magic. Morgawse thought she was beyond the age where life called her to create, make her a Mother. What a wonderful discovery!

"Ughoooo!" Morgawse thought she would split open. Goddess the stag was huge. In and out he slid inside her. She could feel his hot breath in his ear, feel his hands grab her teats. In and out. In and out. She used an old trick from the days when boys begged her for a roll in the hay. She used her inner muscle to clench down invader of her body.

The Stag laughed in approval. "Ha! I see you have spirit, woman! Good! Use all your skill, tonight is for joy!" He renewed his thrusting and she began to loose control.

Something more was filling her. She threw her body about. She ground her haunch into his loins. She screamed, she yelled and she begged the great Horned God not to stop. She wanted him to fuck her forever. Something like a great flood was building. She desperately didn't want it to stop building and she desperately needed release. In the end, the damned up emotion had to burst open. She remembered howling with joy; the rest is a blur.

All around the Great Hall, naked females allowed themselves to be chase by naked, rampant females. When they finally caught them they humped in any one of a dozen positions. Or they didn't use their loins at all, but just used their faces. The wine flowed. As a demonstration of his prowess, Fleance kept the charmed magic in the air, while he pleasured a doe at the same time. Two more females awaited his attention. "Women always like Bards." The Great Stag remembered. He had removed himself from the orgy and sat on the bloody ruined throne. He was letting his people have a good time. There were twice as many does as bucks, but that was fine. As soon as a buck pleasured one doe, he moved on tot another, never minding if another buck had been there first.

The females did not mind that fact that the men were constantly hard and ready to rut. After she exhausted a man, all a woman had to do was present her self to a youth and he serviced her with the energy of his young years. Two pairs of does pleasured each other in the manner of lovers. One poured wine over the other and licked the juice from her breast. The other two had their mouths locked on each other's sex and kneaded each other's behinds like bread dough. Moans of love emitted therein.

Saxon or People, it mattered not. Now they were simply men and women. It amused the Stag no end how people thought they were anything else. Amused him, that is until Rory intruded with a memory of how much strife it caused.

Hours of intense fucking and midnight was near. The people were winding down. The stag ordered the restocking of the fires, bathing and feeding of themselves and the children in the cellar. Then he approached Dorcas. It was clear that the baskets were not to keep her in, but the others out. During the orgy, she had screamed for a good rutting until her throat grew hoarse. But whenever a buck approached, the Great Stag warned them off. She knew she was being saved. But for what? Human sacrifice? She did not care. She did not fight it any longer. She was a woman, like these other women, sisters. All the silliness, vanity and pride at being something she was not had left her. It was a like a great weight had been lifted from her spirit.

The Stag's time was ending. He called all his people, new and old near. Even as they listened intently, they reach out and caressed each other's unclothed flesh. "You will always be my People, you newcomers as much as the old. Remember to bring new blood into the herd. This new mortal king is a good man and Rory Rolfson has a plan for dealing with him. Listen to him.

I have left you two barrels of wine, imbued with me essence. Place a tincture of them in each new solstice barrel so you will know life still wanders the wood. Remember that I love you, always."

Then the Horned one draped his pelt over the throne sat down and rested his head. When he looked up again, the people roared "The King is dead. Long live the king!" All but an echo of the Great Horned One had left Rory. He had witnessed and taken part in all.

Gweneth spoke up to her son. "What now, my lord?"

"Now we rebuild. This hall is a good refuge. We will be gamekeepers for the King. We will use him to guard the wood.. I will keep the name Rolfson, so as to not breed suspicion. But the Stedding will be renamed to Herntown, to remind us of our real allegiance."

"And me, my lord?" Rory's beautiful half-sister, swayed through the crowd. She held her hand behind her back, showing off her udders. Her hair was red-gold both above and below. Her hips were full but not fat, she was ready. "You know I always thought you were handsome."

Rory's blood grew warm and he felt a stiffening below. He looked down. Dorcas followed his gaze.

"Ohh, my lord." Unabashedly, she wrapped a cool hand around the base of the shaft. " Her second hand could have wrapped around it too, with room to spare. "Apparently no all of the Great Horned One's might has left, my lord."

This was the first time Rory, just Rory, was confronted by the fertility magic. It was his half-sister. He hesitated. The People almost stopped groping each other; the tension was so great.

"Do it, sir" Hissed Morgawse. "Mother, sister, maiden. It is The Way of the Triple Goddess."

"Join with her, my son." Whispered Gweneth in his other ear. "The people need new blood."

"Fuck her, my love." Spoke Allanna, triumphantly, "No woman can resist my man. If you want her, take her."

Rory met her lips in a kiss. Her mouth opened to receive it. Servant brought out a bed of furs so when the two lovers descended to the ground, it was ready for them

The rest of the people moved towards their own favored partners. The earlier screams and barks now moved into gentle sighs and quiet moans.

Morgawse, Gweneth and Allanna stayed with Rory, caressing the two lovers with hands and tongues. The two young people slithered up and down each other's body. They sucked in each other's body heat.

Rory found Dorcas's lips to be more intoxicating than any wine. Her breast sweeter than a honey and her sex, her sex was a peach, a juicy, sweet, nectary peach. He lingered to savor the juices. Dorcas ran her fingers through his dark curly hair and her sweet whispers of "Oooh my lord, that feels so good." swiftly rose to a shout of joy, "Oh ya! Ya! Yaaaaaaaaa." He wiped his chin on her thighs.

When he stood, she scratched him against her. "I love you. I love you. I love you. Oh bed me now, please bed me!"

Gently, Rory lowered her onto the bed of fur cloaks. Allanna laid our Dorcas' hair so it spread around her head like an aura. She impatiently spread her legs and Rory slipped in to her soaking wet nether lips. She sighed. He hunched his back so they could kiss with the other set of lips as well. Then he bent his hips forward and back in rapid succession.

As the tension built, she broke the kiss and shouted. "Ya. Ya fill me up. Fuck my cunt. Ah my cunt is burning! Fill me up. Och, you are so big. Aya aya ya Aya!!!" Rory arched his back at the same time, spewing his seed deep inside his half sister.

In the afterglow of the lovemaking, Dorcas thought about how lucky she was, how the Stag had saved her form a bitter, fruitless life. She realized, now, that her sex was not a coin. Rather, it was a gift, to be shared with loved ones and celebrated.

As for Rory, he was satisfied he had found a strong, near fearless woman to lead the People, as well as share is bed. Both now belonged to each other.

Mother, sister, maiden, Rory took them all to his new bed, the chieftain's bed. Each woman and all his children brought something to his household. The bounty of babies in the Fall kept the midwives buys.

The king was well pleased with his new gamekeeper and the village that supported him. The Rolfson clan flourished as the Woods prospered. And every Winter Solstice, a bit of the Old Wine was mixed with the new. And thought he effect was not as dramatic, it was still very, very, magical.