A/N: Sorry about the delay. I didn't think anyone was still reading this anymore.
Chapter 11
Seiji knelt beside Sye. "I'll take it out." He whispered and Sye nodded, still gasping. Seiji broke off the tail of the arrow.
Sye cried out, but stayed calm whilstSeiji tenderly wrapped his hand around the neck of the arrow, near Sye's belly, careful not to touch the head of the arrow.
"Hold him tight." Seiji ordered. Rowen wrapped his arms around Sye's neck and they held each others hands. Sye leaned back against him.
"Do it." Sye nodded and held his breath. Seiji pulled hard and straight and the arrow came out drenched in blood. Sye bit his lip until it bled, trying to hold in a scream.
Rowen winced in pain as he saw Seiji tear out the dreaded arrow. He kissedSye all over his face and neck, trying to soothe him.
"It's out." He whispered continuously. "You'll be alright." More soft and tender kisses. "Will you heal him?" Rowen asked, calm again as he looked up into Ryo's eyes, and Ryo came closer to him. He touched Sye's temples with his hands and once again healed Sye. The hole in Sye closed, leaving a tingling sensation behind where the wound had been,and he grimaced.
"Oh, shit that hurt!" He sighed. "Thank you." He gasped, speaking to Ryo.
"No, it is I that should be thanking you. You saved my life; I owe you."
"You repaid me already." Sye replied -his mind barely able to focus on their conversation as the tingling went away and coldness settled around the wound. As the coldness began to slowly spread, Sye realized what it was, but he wasn't about to say anything.
"I only healed the wound. The poison I can not take away from you. My powers do not go that deeply into any being."
"We should get going before any more warriors decide to attack us." Sephiroth encouraged anxiously as he looked down to his other half.
"Yes." Ryo nodded, and they all stood. Sye wobbled. "You should perhaps ride with me." He told him.
"I can ride." Sye insisted.
"Now you can, but you won't be able to for long." Ryo smiled briefly, as if to lift the grim atmosphere. "Please, you would make me feel better if I knew you were with me and I could monitor your health more carefully."
Sye nodded. "Fine."
They all mounted and Asriel towed the extra horse next to his own while he and Sephiroth talked.
Seiji now rode on one side of Ryo,with Rowen on the other.
"You should rest." Ryo insisted after a while of riding in quiet. Sye needed no more encouraging than that and he was fast asleep in front of Ryo. The horse's fluent movements just lulled him into dreams.
When it started to rain, they all pulled out cloaks from their satchels. The cloaks had been madewaterresistant by a wizard and were quite warm considering how thin they felt.
The adventurers continued until they found a small cave to hide in from the storm. They slept there the night, then continued their journey in the morning.
After another hour of travel, they made it to the rope bridge. It crossed a very large gap about two thousand meters deep, with a raging river at the bottom. They all paused to look at the bridge for a moment as they sized it up to standards.
"This is something straight out of Indiana Jones." Rowen commented.
"It makes you wonder how they make bridges like this, and who would be stupid enough to try." Sye continued, his voice dull and weak.
"We should go across one by one." Seiji deemed. He thought about having Ryoand Sye go across first, but he wanted to make sure the bridge would stand up against that much weight. "I'm first."
No one seemed comfortable with it, but they didn't argue either.
Seijistarted across quickly, not staying on any board too long. Some were missing and some were broken, but he managed to get across quickly and safely, his horse bravely obeying his commands.
"Ryo, you next!" He called across the gaping wound in the ground.
Ryo thought about it for a second, then started across very slow and carefully. The boards creaked dangerously under them.
"Go faster than that. The wood used for this bridge isn't very sturdy. I think it's like fir, but it should be mahogany or something. It will break if you stay on it too long."
Ryo made his horse move faster, but the beast was scared and onlyinclined its speedslightly. They made it across with no more delay and Seiji was relieved.
"Rowen!" Seiji yelled.
"No.Sephiroth before me." Rowen replied. "You first." Rowen told Sye's other half. Niether Rowen, nor Asriel were afraid at all. Asriel agreed with the idea. Sephiroth hesitantly agreed, as he felt quite outnumbered with two pairs of worrying eyes on his back. He went across the bridge with no difficulty; his horseextremely happy to be off the thing.
"Quite the gentleman, Rowen. Now get you ass over here!" Seiji yelled. They heard an echo from the valley below.
Rowen trotted across, then it was only Asriel, but he had the extra horse.
"Leave it!" Ryo yelled to him. "I do not care. Just get across!"
Asriel untied the horse and started across the bridge. Half way across they all heard a loud snap.
"It's breaking! Get over here!" Ryo ordered and Asriel started to gallop.
More snaps.
The whole bridge was going.
Five feet from the edge, all the remaining ropes snapped under the pressure and it fell. Asriel leapt off of his horse, snatched his saddlebag as he went, and grabbed the edge of the cliff.
Sephiroth jumped down from his horse and grabbed hold Asriel. Seiji jumped down and helped pull Asriel shaking form up.
He was gasping and startled... but alive.
"That was close." Sephiroth breathed a sigh of relief as he briefly embraced his lover -glad that he was still there to be hugged.
"You're telling me." Asriel glanced back over the side of the cliff. "How will we get back now?" He looked up to Ryo.
"We will have to take the long way home. It will add another day onto our trip; possibly two, but it will be safer than the other bridge down the path from here."
They agreed.
"Ride with me." Sephiroth insisted and swung his leg over his own horse's back. He pulled Asriel up behind him and they all continued on their journey.
Going up the next mountain took the better part of the day, but they finished with it, then paused at the top so Ryo could check the map again.
The valley in front of them looked deadly. It was all black rock and dirt. No life, or trees, not even parasites.
"This looks inviting." Sye whispered sarcastically.
"We must cross it to the other valley, then over another mountain and we'll be there. The full moon is tomorrow night. I think we will make it with plenty of time to spare." Ryo nodded and stuffed the map back into his satchel.
Sye floated in and out of consciousness as they traveled through the dead valley.
"Something's watching us." Seiji whispered. They all remained close to each other as they traveled. "Don't start to look around for it. Something is there, though." He paused asa pregnant silence formed. "What lives here?"
"You do not want to know." Sephiroth answered eerily.
"Tell me." Seiji demanded.
"Wolfoz." Sephiroth whispered. (A/N: I totally spiffed the name off of a video game, but I'm not making any money off of this, and they aren't losing any, so it doesn't matter. They're not even the same thing, so it doesn't really make a difference.)
"What's that?"
"They are exactly like wolves, only around three times the size of any wolf. They are slightly smaller than our horses and they can run twice as fast."
"Great." Seiji groaned sarcastically. "Finger your weapons and prepare to fight." Seiji warned. They each touched one hand to their swords casually.
Asriel took the reins from Sephiroth and looked around as they continued through the valley.
These horses didn't seem to mind the rocky ground with their cloven hooves, but they were being touchy. They knew that the Wolfoz were following them. They walked on without a whimper until the red eyes peered out of the rocky area around them.
It was nearly pitch black out now because the clouds hid the moon from view.
"They're here." Sye whispered hoarsely and he took the reins from Ryo. "I can ride while you fight." Ryo reluctantly let Sye go. He would need both of his arms to fight these huge beasts. He had done it before once or twice whilst out on a hunting expedition, so he had some experience.
They heard screaming howls pierce through the night easily. A fog started to form in the valley and the shadows were covered. It was becoming thick and making it hard to see anything farther than ten feet forward.
Suddenly, heavy stomping sounds started erupting behind them.
They multiplied.
"They travel in packs?!" Seiji yelled angrily, kicking his horse into a gallop.
"I told you they are exactly like wolves except for their size and speed!" Sephiroth retorted.
"Then they will also try to surround us! They outnumber us and they are going to try and take down our horses first!" Seiji yelled, speaking to all of them as they forced their horses to move faster. It didn't take much influence.
Seiji stuck next to Ryo and Sye to protect them, and Sephiroth and Asriel were already together with two swords to protect themselves so they were safe as well… technically.
The Wolfoz peaked through the fog and Seiji saw their long thin bodies. They looked like they had been starved and torn apart. Their ribs could be seen clearly through their shaggy fur.
One of them, who was missing an eye, trotted beside Seiji and tried to bite his horse's legs. Seiji swung at him cutting his neck open, but only the top. The beast retreated slightly then came back to try again. He clamped his teeth over Seiji's horse's hind leg. The horse toppled over, throwing Seiji off and a distance ahead.
Sye stopped Ryo's horse and forced him back toward Seiji to help guard him.
Seiji jumped back up, en guard andRowen rode over to Seiji, pulling him up onto his mount. A Wolfoz attacked Rowen and he sliced the beast open. He was bleeding severely and wouldn't survive. That one could be disregarded.
Rowen and Sye kicked their horses back into a gallop and they were off.
Asriel had continued to ride ahead and as they gained speed, they saw Asriel and Sephiroth both on foot, back to back, and surrounded by Wolfoz. The horse lay dead to the side.
Rowen rode in and swiped his sword at one Wolfoz while Seiji swiped at another, but the beasts wouldn't go down easily. The horse reared up and Seiji nearly fell, but he held to Rowen tight, as he tried to calm the horse and fight at the same moment.
Sephiroth and Asriel killed another beast with team work, but there were still three. Seiji jumped down from behind Rowen and he wounded one. Rowen laid the final blow to the beast after it cut his arm open. He dropped his sword and waited patiently as Ryo took on a completely black Wolfoz. Its right eye was marred with blood and it's leg was already wounded. It limped a pace away from Ryo as he approached on foot. The wound in the creature's leg would definitely kill him, but Ryo wouldn't just leave him there -he might hurt another creature.
It started to rain and Sye groaned with pain from the poison as he floated in and out of a dreamy state.
Ryo was about to kill the beast.
"No!" Sye shouted and Ryo stopped. "Just leave him."
"But, Sye…!" Ryo yelled, not taking his gaze from the creature.
"Ryo, please! It's cold, its raining, and he suffered enough! Should you really kill him for merely being hungry?" Sye pleaded. Ryo cautiously turned back to Sye and mounted behind him. He took the reins.
"There should be a cave just up ahead!" He yelled. "Let's go and get out of this rain!"
The Wolfoz remained there. Unmoving. He was no harm anymore, and he seemed to have lost the will to fight. As long as it didn't follow them, it would be fine.
Seiji picked up the fallen sword and boarded behind Rowen.
Sephiroth and Asriel ran beside them and they all took off toward the cave. Sephiroth grabbed his saddlebag before leaving his dead horse and ran to catch up to Asriel.
Sye glanced back one more time at the lone Wolfoz they had left standing.
I hope you survive this… What a beautiful creature. He thought and fell into exhaustion, asleep against Ryo.