Many thanks to Red Witch who's letting me borrow some of her characters and play in her world. By the way, Àrisaidh Seun = Ancient Magic
Title: Àrisaidh Seun
Author: Kris Ice
E-mail: wknightmare@yahoo.com
Low Light paused, leaning against a tree for a moment, trying to catch his breath, straining to hear the pursuers he knew were still on his trail. He could sense them closing in even though he saw and heard nothing. He cursed softly as he stumbled further into the woods. The wound on his upper thigh was still bleeding despite the tourniquet he'd made out of his shirt, leaving an easy trail for the Night Creepers to follow and he knew that he was making too much noise, but the blood loss was making him light headed and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. "Where's Lifeline when you need him?" he grumbled, leaning against another tree. Unable to stop himself, he slid down the trunk. He hissed in pain as he landed on his knees. They would catch up to him soon and it would be all over. He didn't even have the strength to change into something else to stop the bleeding. He should have changed earlier, but he still wasn't used to the powers he had tried to deny for so long. He shook his head; he had to be getting rusty from going so long between missions. Before he got assigned to being a babysitter for the Misfits, he never would have been careless enough to let the Vipers get a shot at him.
If had seemed like a routine enough mission. Go in, shoot someone, and get out of there without getting killed. A top government genetic scientist had gone over to Cobra and Joe had managed to find out that the snakes had hidden him deep in the Brazil rainforest. Of course, that meant that he had to parachute down in the middle of the night, make his way to the location, wait for days for the right moment, kill the guy, and then make his way out of the area to a landing zone (LZ) all in a week. It hadn't been that big of a deal, he'd done stuff like this before, but he hadn't realized how much the enforced downtime had dulled the edge of his abilities. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain. If he survived this, he'd make sure to practice his skills and his powers more often.
A shadow slipped away from a nearby tree, pausing, watching, trying to determine if the blonde man had lost his fight to stay alive. The figure took a slow step closer, then scrambled back when the soldier moved, trying to stand. When he fell back to his knees and went still, the shadow glided over to him, certain now that the man was no threat even though he still breathed. A silent voice whispered through the night encouraging the shadow forward. A thin boy inched forward into the moonlight and touched the soldier's shoulder.
Low Light's head jerked up as he tried to raise his rife to face the threat, but a small, warm hand wrapped around his in an iron grip, holding the rifle down. Warm amber eyes were the last thing he saw before the darkness that had been eating away at the edge of his mind overwhelmed him.
When he came to, it was still dark but the scene in front of him wasn't familiar. He was lying in a small clearing, facing tall, ancient looking trees. He blinked, confused, but mentally shrugged; he'd probably just blacked out and moved a bit further before collapsing. He sat up, one hand pressed to his head as he tried to ignore the nauseated feeling that moving produced. He had to get moving, the Night Creepers were still out there hunting him and Wild Bill would only wait a few hours after the designated meeting time before leaving with or without him. He hissed in pain as he tried to pull his wounded leg under him so he could stand. He glanced down at it and blinked in surprise. He had wrapped strips from the black T-shirt he had been wearing under his jacket around it to stop the blood, but now there were strips of dark blue wrapped around the wound in a much neater bandage then what he had managed earlier. "What the hell?"
A soft sound of annoyance caused him to look up and he found a shirtless pale boy coming out of the jungle a few feet away. "You shouldn't get up; you'll make it start bleeding again."
Low Light's eyes narrowed and he slowly reached for the knife concealed in his boot.
"I'm not with them," the boy said, walking over to kneel beside the wounded man. "I want to help you."
"Who says I need your help?" Low Light asked, trying again to stand.
The thin boy shook his head and caught the taller man before he could fall. He didn't look much older than Toad, and was rake thin, but he held the older man's bulk with ease. "You are only hurting yourself. They will find you and hurt you if you go out there. It's best to stay here for tonight. They don't like the sun."
"Can't wait," he growled, trying to make it to his feet again. "Ride leaves tomorrow at dusk, gotta get there."
"Where?" the boy asked, sliding Low Light's left arm over his bony shoulder so he could brace his injured side.
Low Light turned to glare at the teen and found himself caught in a pair of softly glowing amber eyes. The boy blinked, breaking the spell. "I can get there myself."
The boy shook his head, shaggy hair dancing on bare shoulders. "No, they'll catch you. I'll help you get there."
Low Light studied the young man for a moment, guessing his age to be somewhere around fourteen or sixteen. He couldn't tell what color the boy's hair was in the moonlight, but his pale skin held a faint blueish tinge. "Why are you helping me?"
The boy looked away and faint dark spots around his eyes caught Low Light's attention. "Because they hurt me, and I don't want them to hurt you."
Something in the younger man's voice stilled the objections in Low Light's mind. He sighed and rattled off the coordinates of the landing zone and the boy's confused look, he went on. "It's a large clearing near a waterfall, about a day and a half walk from where I was leaning against the tree."
The young mutant nodded. "I know the place. I still think we should wait for dawn."
Low Light shook his head. "No time, I'm already running late." He paused. "Name's Low Light."
The boy smiled. "You can call me Kit."