"Pathetic!" a man called out into the night, tossing the other aside like a book. "Impudent fool!" He was laughing at him now as his hand gripped the top of his head by his blond hair, tossing him forward into the mud. "You're such a waste of life…" he wrapped his hand around the smaller mans throat, thrusting him against the tree, his feet dangling just above the ground.
Something sharp pressed against the blond man's shoulder, something cool, something iron; he looked down in horror to find a dagger burning and tearing against his skin. It followed a violent path downwards, slicing any flesh that came into contact with it and leaving burnt bleeding edges. With what seemed the last bit of breath left in his lungs, he cried in pain, choked and just before he went limp, he was dropped.
"And now, you die alone just like your ancestors before you…" the larger man kicked him in the side."Bastard," the large man muttered as he walked off, smiling cruelly at the sound of the other coughing weakly through the blood leaking from his lips.
The blonde man was left there, sitting against a tree, horribly injured and in pain beyond belief. He knew it. He was going to die here alone just as so many of his forefathers had gone out. And as the last of his blood covered the grass, he let out a deep, painful sigh, and let the overpowering darkness take his body into a deadly slumber.
The cool night air was calming as the dog wandered around in the endless woods. Pine trees stretched as far as the eye could see, birds chirped at the perfect hours, and the owls would hoot softly to soothe your jumpy soul if you knew the hour they came out. Sometimes, being miles and miles away from civilization was a good thing.
"Please, Merlin. It's getting late!" Merlin, her shaggy gray and white fluff ball of a dog was her only companion at her house; he acted as a guard dog as a pup, but now that he was older and lazy, he really was only kept as a companion to keep her from feeling too lonely. The dog continued to sniff the ground, in search of a place it hadn't discovered just yet. The shaggy dog began to whine as it sat down and lifted it nose to the air, gesturing a howl. "C'mon Merlin! I'd like to get some sleep tonight." The dog's owner continued to mutter as she pulled on the lead.
Merlin's nose came back into contact with the ground, sneezing as a bug flew up one nostril. Panting, the dog pulled forward, its strength maxing out that of the girl. He began to bark into the darkness, tugging ever so hard on his lead.
"Merlin!" she called out, trying to calm the dog down. "Merlin, quiet!" the dog did not listen to its master. It only proceeded to bark and growl in the direction that faced away from the house in the midst of the woods. She gave one final tug on the lead, but to no avail. "Let's go! We don't have time for you to go off chasing squirrels!" she snapped.
Merlin turned and growled at her. She jumped back a little bit, surprised by her dog's actions. He turned and strained on the lead, all his weight pressing forward. The lead snapped in two and he took off, howling with all the air in his lungs. "Merlin!"
The brunette girl took off after the dog, doing her best to keep up in her slippers. It was dark enough that the dog had no shadow, but the moonlight showed a faint outline of its shaggy form. She continued to call after her pet but she gained nothing more than the dog picking up speed, as if he were in pursuit.
"Merlin! Get back here!" she stopped suddenly when a wicked scent caught her nose. She coughed a little bit and covered her nose with her arm, looking around for its source. She took one final sniff; it had a familiar scent, something like metal, and it was mixed with what smelled like something had been singed. Did some one start a fire nearby? She looked around a bit more, catching sight of something almost pure-white. Trying to be brave, she took a step forward, stepping over a few large sticks and limbs along the way.
She touched the tree, feeling for some sort of sign of fire, but only felt something ooze over her finger nails. She removed her hand from the trees trunk, holding her hand in front of her face. She took a breath before she inspected the substance. There was an odd smell to it that she couldn't quite identify, it could have been tree sap, she licked one of her fingers.
Sputtering, she realized it was blood that was coating the skin of the tree. Searching for its source, she dropped to her knees, her hand tracing down the tree before coming into contact with something soft. It felt like fur.
The fur led down to what felt like a face, which had a body. It's a person! She took their shoulder in her hand, shaking it slightly. "Hey…wake up." She muttered softy, trying to rouse the creature. "It's not safe to sleep out here." The figure groaned, moving slightly, as if it were dreaming.
When she continued to shake him, the head suddenly lifted; pale skin glistened in the moonlight, revealing two different colored eyes to the girl. One was a frosty blue, the other a warm shade of honey-brown. Before she could get any words out, he lurched forward and pressed his lips to hers.
She froze dead center. When he left off, he let out one last breath before falling against her chest and falling back into what seemed a deep sleep. She began to tremble uncontrollably. What…what just happened? Her mind was racing wildly, as if she were a caged bird. Did he just…kiss me? She looked down at the blonde man, moving her hand away from his shoulder, only to find it covered with more blood.
Staring out into the darkness then back to the man and away again, she tried to decide on what to do. Did she leave him here to die or did she take him in and try to heal him in hopes that it was only a mistake? There wasn't much time for deciding, but she didn't want people to find him all alone out her only to determine that she could have killed him herself, seeing she was the only one that lived this far out of town.
Please…don't be a criminal…she threw his arm over her shoulder, finding him to be rather heavy for such a lithe figure. There wasn't much to him. How long has he been out here? She had forgotten completely about Merlin, all that mattered right now was the well being of this man.
Why do I have to walk Merlin so many miles from home? She mentally kicked herself as she continued down the dirt path back to her house. Compared to him, she was almost like a troll. He was tall, and her…short. He was light, but his height made up for it. She had to almost drag him back to her house. There's no way I'm going to be able to make it back to my house any time soon…she cursed at herself under her breath, trying to forget about the weight on her back. The moon was high enough for her to see, but even so, she still felt like she was walking through velvet. It was dark enough that she had to use what she knew of the forest that surrounded her house to get back home.
"I'm going to have to find Merlin in the morning…" she muttered, bouncing him back up onto her shoulder. "That dog's not going to be happy when I find him either…" all Merlin had done was lay around, and when he was on his feet, he would randomly bark his head off like he was about to keel over and die, or like something was outside the house that he protected everyday. She shook her head and breathed deeply, stopping for air. She compared their sizes once more.
If she had to guess, he was at least six feet, if not that, a little under. She herself was about five and a half, making them about at least a six inch difference. He was rather slim, but then again, so was she.
She shivered when she felt blood slipping over her hand, its warm and sticky feeling causing her skin to crawl. I'm going to have to try and get the doctor to make a house call…there's no way I'll be able to handle this all by myself…she again kicked herself mentally as she continued on the trek towards her house. Way to go Sarah. A house in the country was a brilliant idea…but now that you need civilization, you can't get it…there was the possibility she had enough medical supplies laying around her house that she could treat his wounds before the doctor arrived, but there wasn't any telling whether or not he had some sort of infection or if he needed a certain amount of some medicine, or any other thing that was specific and couldn't be given in a makeshift hospital at home.
She starred ahead of her daftly, wanting nothing more than sleep. She had been moving slowly and the night just seemed to drag on forever just carrying this man to her home. There was no way she could keep this up, especially with some guy draped over her shoulder, and having the possibility of bleeding to death didn't help her out either.
"Damn conscience…" she snapped softly. "If it weren't for you, I could be sleeping right now…I don't even know this guys, but the fact that I could be linked back to his murder could be of worse circumstances if they do find him." She looked at his face. "I just hope you don't die…"