Disclaimer: I beg you not to sue me because, because, because, because, BECAAAAUSE…because-I-don't-own-any-thing.
--------
SHOUT OUTS!
Vince – Shippy is what it's all about, baby! Better get used to it! MUAHAHA! Still working on perfecting Cain, but it will come with time. Yeeees. And! "People of the Tau'ri –you have taken what is mine…" You!
Sanela – You and me both! Although, I ride English and he seems the type to teach you to ride Western…But, then again, I'd think English would be more the style of princesses so he can probably teach both! LOL!
safarigirl83 – Exciting is what I live for! LOL! Here's your next chapter!
scrawn – I'm telepathic. I know what fandoms you like and therefore PURPOSELY write fics for them just for you! HEHEHE! Actually I really have no clue. I guess we just have very similar tastes. ROCK ON US!
Ginny Lovegood – Thank you very much! Hopefully this one will be great, too!
Dr-who-4-u – Your wish is my command, Syd! And this is me. I gotta add a little drama/mayhem, but don't worry! DG is in the hands of the gloriously magnificent and gorgeous Wyatt Cain! What could go wrong? LOL!
neefalco – Thank you for both the lovely review and the good luck wishes! Both mean a lot!
Transgenic-girl – HEHEHE! I don't think I've ever had a review about my author's notes before! It made me giggle. And here you are, more story!
shippergrl25 – I like to surprise my readers. HEHE! And twists are what I live for! Thanks for the revie!
SSGryffindorgirl7 – Awww, thank you! I'm so pleased that you liked both chapters! Hopefully you'll find this one enjoyable as well!
heathenseyes – When in such a urgent situation, it's much easier to throw a person on the back of a horse than pull them up the front. They do it in some sort of Western races at like county fairs and such. As I ride English, I'm not sure what the actual name is, but they'll have one person gallop the horse down to the other end of the arena, grab a second person and swing them up behind them on the horse, and then take off. Best time wins obviously. HEHE! But don't worry. She'll end up riding in the front by the end of the story, I promise! HEHE! Thanks for the review!
WhiteLakePriestess – Don't fall off your seat!! –shovels up brain goo and pours it back inside– You're gonna need your brain to read the next chapter and continue your worshiping :-P ! And I'm so glad you find this story brilliant! That totally makes my day!
Mirgonus – Well, here it is! I hope you enjoy this chapter, too! Thanks for the review!
anon – Gah! I seriously need a beta! –beats error to death– Evil thing! It happens mostly because I write at night and my brain goes a little wonky, hehe. Let's cross our fingers that there aren't many or ANY errors in this chapter!
MythStar Black Dragon – Well, that's what the story is all about, Maria! Lessons! HEHE! And I don't know about you, but I wish I had a Cain protecting me! Yum. Hehehehe!
Kipling Nori – HOORAY for a CLICKY CLICKY! Oh, I'm sure it can get better, and I have a feeling that it will! We just have to wait until my Muse cooperates! HEHE! SOOO glad that you love it!! Thank you so much for the review!
--------
CHAPTER 3
Night had long since fallen by the time the pair was able to stop. They had managed to lose the Longcoats a while back, but had kept going to not only put some distance between them and their pursuers, but also reach one of the resistance hideouts.
Cain pulled back on the reins, patting the horse's neck for a moment before he glanced over his shoulder at DG. He could just barely make out her pale features in the dull light of the moon. She was resting flush against his back, her head lolling to one side, eyes half-lidded. "DG?"
She didn't answer, not verbally anyway. Her eyes drifted sluggishly up in an attempt to meet his.
It scared him what he saw in those languid, blue orbs. Even in the dim light, he could see the agony radiating from them. His breath left him in fear. "DG?" he questioned again. This time it came out more as a whisper.
"Cain," she breathed, finally finding it within her to get at least one word out.
The man looked visibly relieved…until she spoke again.
"Sorry 'bout your coat." Her fingers traced weakly over the back of one of his shoulders. "Got some blood on it."
"Blood?" Cain's expression couldn't have been any more alarmed. "You're bleeding?" He tried to hide the panic in his voice, but was less than successful. He swung himself down off of the horse, keeping a steady hand on DG, before allowing her to slide down after him, catching her in his strong arms.
He carried her into the hideout, a cave strategically hidden by trees. No one would find them there. Placing her gently down, he moved to the corner with the supplies and found a lantern that he immediately turned on. When he turned back to DG, his heart immediately dropped.
Her skin was deathly pale and shimmering in the light with a sheen of sweat. Her expression was somewhat glazed over. And worst of all, covering the front of the left shoulder of her coat was a dark red stain. Blood. Her blood.
"Gods, DG," he breathed as he crouched beside her. "Why didn't you say something?"
She blinked a few times. "The horse," she murmured.
"What?" He frowned, confused.
"Bring the horse in…"
He caught her drift. His light-colored stallion was easy to spot against the dark hues of the forest and if he left him outside the entrance to the cave, they could be discovered. He hesitated for a brief moment, not wanting to leave her side, but then rushed outside for a few moments before returning with the horse trailing tiredly behind him. The cave was big enough for all three of them and then some, so they didn't have to worry about being trampled.
Cain moved back to DG's side. He looked her over for a moment before focusing on her ashen face. "I'm gonna have to take a look at it," he told her, looking deeply into her eyes to gauge her reaction. She nodded slowly and then seemed to hold her breath as he moved to take the coat off of her.
He unbuttoned the three large buttons holding it closed and then slowly slipped the sides back. He started to try to pull her good arm out of the sleeve but was stopped by a pitiful whimper that escaped DG's lips. He closed his eyes for just a moment before whispering, "It'd be easier if I just cut it off."
DG seemed to be becoming a little more coherent. "Already had one bastard put a hole through it," she replied softly, but to Cain's relief, there was still ounce of her fire in the answer, "So, s'already ruined. Cut away."
"Were you just insinuating that I'm a bastard?" Cain asked her, trying his best to lighten the dire mood.
"Only sometimes." She gave him a weak, but cheeky smile.
In an unconscious move, Cain gently brushed DG's unruly bangs out of her eyes and smiled ever so softly at her before he pulled a knife out of his boot and went to work cutting the coat off of her. "I suppose that's a fair assessment."
They fell into a silence as Cain worked. He cut off the front of her uninjured shoulder first before moving over to the other side. Even touching the material pulled a gasp of pain for DG. He frowned, but didn't look up at her, keeping his attention on his work.
"Glad you missed your lessons today?"
DG gave the man a weak look, but a look nonetheless. "Don't you know it. Anything is better than Mistress Hoffennagel's etiquette lessons."
"Even getting shot?"
"And thrown off a horse, yeah, totally." Her head lolled a bit to the side so she could get a better view of his eyes as he concentrated on removing the rest of her coat.
"You're definitely a strange one, kid."
DG resisted the urge to say, "Yeah, but you love me anyway!" and instead said, "Yeah, uh huh, this coming from the man who makes a habit of getting shot all of the time."
He looked up at her. "Hey, I only got shot twice. And one didn't even pierce the skin."
There was a defiant glint in her pain-filled eyes. "Getting shot is getting shot whether it pierces the skin or not. And that was twice in a couple of days. God knows how many times you've probably been at the receiving end of a bullet before I got here…or, well, back here."
Cain bit back a smirk, but there was clearly levity in the look he gave her. "I assure you, Princess, that I usually make darn sure that I'm the one delivering the bullets." With her focus fully on him, he took that opportunity to quickly peel the remaining part of her coat off of her wound.
DG let out a gasping cry and then scrunched her eyes closed until the pain ebbed back down.
"I'm sorry," Cain apologized. It was ripping his heart apart to see her in such agony and wished more than anything that Raw was there to heal her. He paused a beat to let her get her breath before saying, "I need to see if it's a through and through."
"It is," she said quickly with a slight pant. "I, uh, I was hit from behind, so if there's a hole up front…" she trailed off and finally reopened her eyes to look at him. She watched as he clenched his jaw furiously. It looked like he seriously want to hit something and she had no doubt that his preference would be one of the Longcoats.
He nodded stiffly and then glanced off to the side for a moment to think.
"Why were there even Longcoats out there?" DG asked, shifting uncomfortably. "I thought we rounded them up…"
"Not all of them," Cain replied, returning his eyes to hers. "And the word is that they're forming their own sort of resistance."
She immediately noticed his expression. "And they were after me…"
A sigh escaped the man's lips and he rubbed at the tension in the back of his neck. "Kidnapping a princess could give them a definite advantage as the Queen and your father would do anything to get you back."
"And yet they shot me," she pointed out. "Let us ponder the irony of that one for a moment."
Cain smirked ever so slightly. She was definitely becoming more coherent now. "Well, if it's any consolation, Princess, I'm pretty sure they were aiming at me."
"You'dthink that'd be comforting, Cain, bu-uuut it really isn't," DG retorted before smiling just a bit. Just the thought of Cain being killed because of her made her stomach twist and her heart throb painfully. She couldn't lose him. She didn't know what she'd do without him.
There was a pregnant pause between the two before she glanced quickly down at her shoulder, unable to look at the wound for too long. "So Doc, what's the diagnosis?"
The Tin Man's expression suddenly grew grave, sending a jolt of panic through DG. He licked his lips and then said, "It's not good."
"Well, I kind of figured that much out on my own…"
He looked her directly in the eye. "No, DG," he began slowly, "I mean that you've lost a lot of blood and are still losing more. So, unless I can get it to stop…"
The reality hit her like a ton of bricks. "I'll die."
TO BE CONTINUED…
--------
(A/N: Hehehehe, like the cliffy? So, get this, my peeps, I'm out riding today –or really yesterday as it's 5am right now– and I totally must have been channeling DG from the last chapter because I got thrown off of my horse. Although, unlike her, my fall was a little less graceful and I landed on my ass…REALLY hard. I couldn't stand up for a good ten minutes. I thought I had broken my butt. Needless to say, I'm typing this out while lying on my stomach on my bed, exchanging icepack for heating pad on and off. I think I'll be standing all Christmas, or at least stealing my niece's old Boppy Pillow so that I don't have to put pressure on my poor bruised coccyx when I sit.
Now moving past my woe-is-my-bum story, let us with joyous glee give a hip-hip-HOORAY for me posting chapter three! Oh, wow, that totally rhymed. Forgive the quirkiness. I tend to go a little nutty at this time in the morning. But anywho, I hope you enjoyed it! Chapter four is already in the works and should be up after Christmas sometime. I wish you all a very, VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS –or whatever holiday you may celebrate– and hope you get everything your heart desires this year! LOVE TO ALL and yes, remember to CLICKY CLICKY!!!)