Shadowdance

by nightbird47

Garak takes a trip down a holographic yellow brick road with his best friend, one which will change both their lives. This is the next story in the series begun by Seduction and follows a month or so later. Takes place during the Dominion war, with the variations introduced in Seduction.

10. Abandoned

Retreat

o0o

In the pitch dark night, Garak could not sleep, surrounded by the hoots and rumblings of the wildlife around them. In the other camp it had been somewhat muted but here it made the place feel even more alien. In the darkness he sat listening to the increasingly labored breathing of his friend, wondering if he should have done things differently. The rescue should have come. They had not run, not yet, but everyone had plans. Above them were caves, and perhaps, if they were lucky someone would come in time.

Their protectors were getting nervous. They still brought food, but less. The medicine was growing short and Julian was not fit to travel up the rocky hills. Dragging him up the slopes in the cold of night would kill him if the infection didn't first. Then Garak would be alone in his cave to live or die. But the patrol would kill him on the spot. He preferred the small chance of survival over the certainty of execution.

o0o

Scattered along the hills, hiding in any cover they could find, the survivors hid as they ran. Garak helped carry his friend, the young doctor and friends of a few of the other wounded making a small group slowly making their way toward the hope of safety in the caves. He knew Julian would not survive, but he would not leave him to be murdered.

Word had come the day before. The ship sent to rescue them had been intercepted. There would be no rescue. They had dispersed on their own, their worried hosts having abandoned them. They did not presume that the same people who had sheltered them would not in the end shoot them too.

The young doctor checked Julian's arm. He did not bother to change the bandage. At least unconscious he was not suffering. Garak watched as the young man pulled back the bandage, seeing a vanishing echo of the friend who would soon be dead.

"If we can find shelter, perhaps I can do an amputation."

Garak stared at him, wondering if Julian would say the same. But soon even the bitter man whose labored breathing muted the animals calls would be gone. And Garak would be alone. When he ran out of food, or fell and injured himself, or was discovered, it would finally be done.

It did not have to be this way. He could have given the stone. They would be away. Julian would be in a hospital. And how many others would die in their place? He missed home. But it was in the grip of traitors and the Dominion, and everyone else he might have cared about was dead. Julian would understand. Whatever was left of his home when it was liberated, it would be more than if everyone fell.