Chapter 11

I jumped a little when I heard Taylor start to cough. I turned around to see Ari was standing over him as if something was wrong. I sighed as I jumped over the cage's walls to see if Taylor was okay. When I looked down at him, he seemed to be sweating. The infection was getting worse, and it was moving fast, faster than I thought.

"Taylor, stay with me!" I shouted as Taylors cough got worse. I managed to roll him onto his side as he started to cough up blood. "Shit" I thought to myself as I looked for a bite from a snake or something that he could have contracted poison from. When a bite mark caught my eye, I noticed the skin around it was turning a purplish black. It reminded me of a bruise after a large impact. The bite mark was larger than any Hozen I have seen so far. I lightly ran my fingers over the bite, It was when I lightly pressed on the wound. When some kind of flood came out of the opening. I looked through my bag for the med kit. I managed to find it at the bottom of my bag, I opened it and took out a few bandages. Ari started to whine as he laid next to my bag

"It's okay, Taylor… I got you," I spoke, tripping over my words. I firmly added pressure on the bite mark that was on the middle of the shoulder blade. The bite was definitely tender. I noticed as Taylor groaned in pain; I lifted the bandages off of the wound to see the skin was a light shade of purple. I poured some water over it, patted it dry and then dressed it with the leftover bandages that I had. When Manlan came over the hill, key in hand.

"It's not mine, I promise" Manlan breathed, he looked different he was wearing what looked like a dress. The fabric was a light tan with blue with embellishments that I didn't recognize

"Manlan… why are you wearing a dress?" I asked as he came over to unlock the shackles around Taylors ankles.

"My cloth got shredded, okay I wasn't going to walk up here half naked…and it's a robe not a dress," Manlan admitted as he opened the shackles and rolled him over

"Taylor was coughing up blood. I got him to stop, and he has a massive bite wound on his shoulder," I told Manlan as he stood up. He nodded, then stepped over the cage's walls and gave the key to Karasshi. Manlan help him on to his feet,

"Thank you, I can take you to my village, you can stay there until Taylor feels better," Karasshi spoke as he came over in my direction. Karasshi picked up Taylor almost like he weighed nothing and tossed him over his shoulder like a rag.

"I want you to respect their people, is that understood?" Manlan spoke softly as he placed a hand on my shoulder

"Yes," I muttered as I picked up my bag,

"We will be running through a heavy fight between my people and the Hozen, and another thing my people don't take too kindly to strangers,'' Karasshi claimed as he started to run off, Manlan followed. I sighed as Ari, and I gave chase. "I am not conditioned for this" I muttered to myself, then I fell. Ari jumped over me, I scrambled to get myself on my feet, I looked up. There was a hozen standing in front of me. He was a deep brown. He was also bigger than most of the Hozen I saw running past. He had a headdress like the one a chief would wear, his armor was made from what looked like bamboo, and was not too happy to see me. I scrambled backwards, feeling the handle of the Thrash Blade that I had tied to my hip. I rolled to the side as the Hozen tried to stab me with the spear he was carrying. I got to my feet and drew the blade.

When I managed to focus enough on what was happening. The Hozen seemed to be shaking,

"Aw, is poor wicked scared" laughed the Hozen as he tore the spear from the ground. I started to notice the blade I was holding was shaking. I could feel every nerve in me telling me to run but I couldn't. I heard a low growl come from behind me, it wasn't a Hozen. I took a deep breath and straightened myself out.

"What doing wicked, wickeds got nowhere to run," taunted the Hozen, the spear was in both hands at this point. I watched as he rocked back then lunged forward. I threw myself to the ground as Ari also lunged forward. The Hozen screamed as Ari got a hold of him.

"Ari, Down get her to the village," Manlan ordered as his footsteps passed me. I uncovered my head and saw that Ari had taken chunks out of The Hozen. The one that was most noticeable was the one out of his face, the bite force seemed to have torn off a part of his face, to the point where The Hozen's skull was visible and his eye was about out of his socket "I think I'm going to throw up," I thought to myself as Ari came up to me.

"Good boy, let's get out of here," I stammered out as Ari helped me get on my feet. I was about ready to run when Ari crouched down in front of me. He barked then shuffled closer to me,

"What Ari, what," I questioned Ari then got up and lifted his paw like a step. Just like what my dad taught his horse what to do if he was on the ground and could not get on.

"Ava Go Now!" Manlan shouted, I hesitated getting on Ari. I hauled myself on him and he took off with me on his back. Ari managed to get me all the way through the fight without me sliding off. I heard a slight splash as he slowly came to a stop, I could now feel how bad I was shaking. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest for how hard it was thrashing against it. My vision was starting to blur, when I felt a hand on the small of my back.