A/N: I wanted to provide Jed's pov, which I think is important =] hope it came out alright, let me know!
I do NOT own NATM, its chars or anything related.
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The Absent Cowboy Ch4
Jed awoke that morning with a gasp, his mind was instantly alert and racing as he went over his plans for that morning while walking towards the edge as quietly as possible to avoid drawing any attention. He was on a mission. Sneak off, get Octy to come with him as quietly as possible, complete his plan which he'd been plotting for the past week, sit back and enjoy his hard word pay off.
It'd all had started when he's been wandering the halls in search of the Roman General or any of his men in the mists of one of their games of 'Rome vs. The West' hide and seek. The Roman General was clever, and Jed always had to look in the most random places to find him. That's how he ended up under the vending machine in the security office staring at a collection of lost change beneath the machine.
Jed had whistled and slapped his hat against his thigh in excitement under the dark, dank space below the machine.
"Hoooooot dog! That's enough to get anythin' from this dang-gum machine!"
An idea had struck him suddenly.
'Hm…anything…enough for both groups..' Jed thought while glancing around. The more he thought about getting a treat from the machine to share between the men, the more he liked it.
The Western People and the Roman's had been getting along more and more lately, it was nice to see them standing in mixed groups talking and laughing amongst themselves. Jed would love nothing more than to see them together in excitement at the sight of such a rare and sweet treat which was larger than life.
Jed sized up the coins, the machine, the climb he would need to make it. After a moment he sighed while he admitted to himself he would be unable to carry the amount of coins needed up the machine without assistance. Together their weight was too great, and separately it would take too many trips for the blond western man to complete alone.
But he wanted it to be a surprise…..
'Octavius!' Jed thought with excitement, 'I bet Octy would think its'a great surprise for everyone! an' I bet he'll be able to help me get them coins up there without no one else!'
Suddenly Jed heard Larry calling for the nightly roundup and He realized the time. Sighing he knew it would have to wait until the next night, when he reckoned it'd be better anyway since they'd have more time to eat the treat and hang out. Grinning he'd run off to return to the Hall of Miniatures and get ready the the sunrise, and he's amazing surprise.
Jed now found himself slowly climbing down one of the knotted ropes first thing after he'd woken up calling only to Clay a loose promise of returning with Octavius and a surprise for everyone. The town above him was beginning to wake up and sounds of nightly routines started to slowly fill the hall. He's made it about a fourth of the way down when he suddenly heard a commotion from the Roman Exhibit above. Cocking his head Jed paused and identified the noise as a very large, and angry sounding Bul.
"Must've busted free and be runnin' amuck." Jed muttered and began to resume his descent, this time with a little bit more haste as he tried to imagen the Roman General wrangling the bull, and failed. He was just over half way when he paused for a breath and a movement below him caught his eye.
There, just below the Mayan Exhibit which Jed now noted was in fact open, were a group of about 3 men slamming large rocks they held in their hands against the granite floor. Puzzled Jed also noticed 2 more Mayan standing within shouting distance below him.
Jed was just about to call out to the 2 Mayans in an attempt to reach out to them. He was only going to ask if they should be out, or if they should go home before Gigantor came in and got angry, when suddenly the taller of the two drew back a bow and shot the rope he was dangling from and it broke a few yards below his feet.
Shocked Jed tightened his grip on the rope while his anger surged and he shouted at them. "What in tarnation do you think yer doin'?! How DARE you shoot at me!"
Another arrow flew just inches above his head and bit into the rope, causing it to begin to fray apart before falling to the ground to meet its waiting owner and its bow.
Before Jed could react with more than a gasp, before he even tightened his grip, another arrow was shot toward him, this one hitting its intended target his thigh.
The impact of the arrow caused Jed to jerk violently which caused the frayed rope above him to snap as Jed's pained cry was drowned out by the Roman's victory cries over catching the Bull rang throughout the hall.
He fell to the ground and landed harshly on his shoulder. Dazed and consumed by a deep burning pain radiating from where they'd shot him, the blinding pain of his shoulder seemed to mingle mind numbingly until he felt himself starting to fade in and out of conscious thought.
Hovering above him the 2 Mayans that had attacked him made sure he didn't have weapons hidden by removing the man's strange other clothing and dropping it to the ground.
He was aware enough to feel a sudden spike in pain as there was an eruption of agony and then pressure on first his shoulder, and then his thigh. He choked on a pained cried and almost begged them to stop whatever it was they were doing. He couldn't though he realized, his thoughts came sluggishly and without a linear transition, but he did know he was unable to move, and that the burning pain in his thigh had turned into a welcoming wave of numbness and blackness.
An unknown amount of time later he came back to himself long enough to ponder the idea of stairs which were an appropriate size for a man of his stature, and why he was being carried up them.
'Why are there stairs our size?' he tried to ask the Romans who were carrying him. They must've gotten into some trouble and he 'must'ta gotten hurt again' he thought sluggishly until he registered the tanned and un-armoured legs of the men carrying him looked unusual.
"Not Romans.." he managed to mumble with a ghost of a breath as they turned him around and laid him down until his back met a cold, rough and hard surface. Rough hands pulled his limbs straight out and held him there firmly. Muffled voices above him belonged to ghostly black shadows of figures that Jed was suddenly terrified by.
Lights from above blinded him as his mind reeled weakly, trying to grasp onto anything and made sense of the situation.
Jed felt horror suddenly rise up in him giving him strength as he caught sight of one of the men holding his arm out. 'NOT ROMAN' His mind screamed again as the brightly color feathers stood out and the thought stuck. He began to struggle with all his might and his captives were taken aback by the previously compliant man's strength as they struggled to hold him down.
Jed's writhing frame was held down with more and more men until he suddenly felt painfully tight ropes begin to bind themselves around him while voices he couldn't understand spoke harshly to him. Once the ropes were tied and he could barely take a shallow shudder of a breath, the hands that had previously held him down returned and gripped him painfully.
It was unnecessary at that point however, he was rooted in his terrifyingly exposed position and couldn't find the breath or strength to even whimper. The fight he'd put up had left him with barely enough energy to breathe and stay conscious, let alone fight and escape.
Time blurred drunkenly and Jed felt like his body was both on fire, and drifting numbly away from him. He felt wracked by weak shudders as he gasped weakly.
Somehow he suddenly thought he'd heard Octavius, he voice alone cutting through the blond's drug induced state. Jed tried to focus on it but felt himself drift until suddenly the ground shaking and Larry's voice echoing jolted the man's mind awake for a moment. 'Shouln'ta..made 'em angry..Gigontorssa giant..' he managed to thing before time seemed to blur again and suddenly he could feel the constricting death grip the ropes and terrifying men had held him with lessen. Instead Jed felt the what he knew to be the Roman General's breath card across his face as he panted while cutting the ropes, attempting to free the Western man.
Jed was weakly aware of himself falling and then being caught propped up gently by the Roman as the man attempted to apply pressure to his thigh while avoiding his injured shoulder. Jed struggled to take a breath deep enough to allow him to speak while his body resumed its intent to burn him from the inside out as numbness simultaneously crashed in waves across his body and mind.
He lacked the strength to even open his eyes, but he managed to gather enough will to gasp a weak. "Oc..Oct..y..?"