Dawn

Chapter 6

Into The Wild

"You don't know what's in someone's heart until you truly know them!"

Rumple's head swam as he was bumped and jostled between two soldiers. That previous morning these same men had sat beside him like brothers as they shared their dinner portion by the fire. Now they were hauling him out of the camp as if he was but an unpleasant hunk of enemy carrion. The same men who had pledged to fight alongside of him forever now roughly tossed him into the snow. The spinner cried out and gasped in pain as the feeling radiated through his leg. He could hear their Snickers of derision. "Forget it. Leave him out here. Let Scar find him, have his worthless hide as a chew toy." The other soldier snorted. "That's all he deserves."

The cold snow started to soak into his clothing. He knew that he could not linger here. The other soldiers were right. Ogres could be waiting to prey upon him as well as their fearsome new ally. He was no longer within the protected border of the camp. If only his fellow soldiers hadn't seen him injured himself! He'd be taken back home with an honorable discharge of being injured in the front line instead of being tossed out as a disgraced coward. He tried to move his leg with a grunt of pain. His head burned. His vision swam. His stomach was constantly turning. The pain was unlike anything he'd ever felt. He was out here on his own and unable to move. He might not have died on the battlefield but were his chances any better out in the wild, her territory? At least in the battlefield if he came face to face with the famed lion queen he would have had other soldiers at his side. She could also take the form of a golden skinned maiden but he doubted it would ease her predatory instincts. He knew enough about the animals of other realms from books he read as a boy to know that the females did the hunting.

Injured and alone, he came to terms with the reality that he made a very easy meal for her or for any predator for that matter. He started to painfully slide his body forward as his form exploded in pain. He had to keep moving. He had to get back to his child, and he'd do anything, and he'd go as far as it would take. No matter how much it hurt, his love for his child would propel him forward. And even if he didn't make it, they would know that he did all that he could. His papa didn't abandon him. He wasn't his father. His son was going to know just how much his papa loved him.

His blood froze and not from the cold. He heard a roaring sound in the distance. No. It sounded too far away. He grabbed the nearest stick that he could find and tried to pull himself up to stand. The pain was too much and he immediately buckled. Blood spurted out into the snow which once down on the ground again he quickly covered up. He didn't know if the creature knew his scent but he made sure that he couldn't be tracked. He kept trying to move painfully forward, tears stinging within his eyes but determination never leaving them. His breath froze in the air in cloudy white puffs of mist. An hour passed. He hadn't even moved the length of a few trees. The woods had fallen silent, except for a slight rustle in the grass. But there was no wind. The breeze had been gone. Trying to see through aging vision and the pain, he spotted yellow amber eyes staring back at him through the tall dry wintered grass. A slim outline of tawny fur moved through the brush, nearly invisible.

Run. He had to run now. But he could not move that leg. He was helpless. He was done. He couldn't help but scream. At this point the creature bounded towards him at a full gallop, her powerful paws crunching The frozen ground. The lioness ran in an elongated and almost lopsided pattern with a hitch as if she was limping and uncoordinated but it was no less terrifying accompanied by sharp teeth and claws. Her huge yellow fangs hung down from her black lips like daggers and came up through her lower jaw like knives. Her hypnotic Amber eyes had him paralyzed, and his breath slowed and yet his heart raced. He wondered if this was what a gazelle saw before it's doom. He was staring doom right in the face. But then he remembered that unlike her subjects their queen had an almost human conscience. Perhaps she could be reasoned with. He had to try something. He lay at her mercy and began to beg for it. Tears flooded his face. "Beast! Please! Your majesty! Please spare me! Don't eat me! I…I have a son! Beast…please…don't ye have a family?! Don't ye have cubs?! Please don't kill me!!" He wailed in a pitiful voice which possibly sounded to her like a mouse squeaking for her pity. He crossed his arms in front of his head in defense and prepared for the worst.

She didn't lunge at him. She stopped before him. The lioness stood in front of him, having a leather collar around her neck like a housecat, but it didn't make her look any less terrifying. And then the unexpected happened. The creature spoke. "What did ya think I was gonna do, Eat ye? That's a vicious rumor dearie. Show some respect! It's not nice to spread rumors!" the Scottish accented voice not unlike his own started to become high pitched and had a playful sing song way about it. The voice almost sounded younger, like it was coming from the maiden within the lion. He cocked an eyebrow, his shaking subsided. Suddenly she didn't seem so fearsome. "W..what do ye want from me, queen Scar?" The man's cowering voice asked timidly as she circled around him, her eyes never leaving that bad leg of his. He shivered, knowing that it was his greatest weakness and would be for the rest of his life. She could take his life right now, either through Magick or the traditional way of the carnivore, and he wouldn't be able to fight her. The scar running across her eye certainly wasn't helping things.

She looked up at him as if he had actually hurt her. Her lips raised in a snarl but there was no malice in her eyes. The lioness spoke through her translator again. "My name is Goldenstar, /dearie, and if ye know where that name came from ya wouldn't be…" she let out a huff before looking him dead in the eyes, her subtle roars being translated into that high pitched animated voice. "I came to rescue ya. I was just with your wife Milah helping her to bring your son into the world."

That got his attention. His eyes lit up and he felt his heart pounding. He couldn't hold back his mixed excitement and fear. His son had been born. Part of him ached for missing it. Unlike many men of the land he had wanted to see his child come into the world. He had wanted to be at his wife's side. Instead he had left her to be tended to by this monster. "My son?! Is..is he alright!? Is he healthy! How's Milah….wait!" He held himself back. He raised an eyebrow. He had never been what one would call a brave man. But he was smart. He knew the beast's reputation as well as the rumors that she was one of Loki's monstrous children. Agatha had told him stories of the Norse gods as a child and Loki of course was the god of lies. How did he know that this she beast wasn't trying to trap him? How did he know that she wasn't trying to deceive him and stab him in the back especially that she was also the dark ones counterpart fighting on the opposite side of the war?

"How can I trust anything ye say?" He spat back. There was that look again. She seemed almost hurt by his words. "Ye won't even show your true self. Ye want me to believe what ye say, witch? Come into the light and show yourself as ye really are, and then perhaps I'll believe ye. Come into the light." after she showed him another glare and a warning growl under her throat, the light around the creature seemed to morph. She was surrounded by glittering green smoke before her true self came into the light. He gasped and had to look away in shock. Though he shouldn't have felt that way, it was difficult to look into her face. The young woman definitely wasn't human. She was humanoid, like him, with the same short and scrawny frame, but her skin glittered with golden flecks, skin almost scaly from being covered in gold. Her fingernails were claws. What should have been normal human canines were feline daggers. Her eyes were amber and catlike, no different than the eyes of a lion or a housecat, sometimes taking on a greenish emerald color caught in the right light. Her most distinguishing and hard to look at feature was a long thin but deep scar running across one of her eyes. She had a crazed look in her eyes. Strangely she was a mosaic of animal and man, with a tail coming through her tartan and feline ears growing out of her fluffy auburn mane. She was on arm crutches, a sickly shaky appearance taking her entire form. "Now ya see me, spinner." The translated voice was as sarcastic as ever but had a sad tone to it.

Something wasn't right. He was aware that she could take the form of a young woman but she was no more than a teenager. This was the fearsome queen of the beasts? He got himself to look into her eyes. Though he saw mostly madness there was something else. There was sadness that he couldn't quite place. She hobbled towards him but he didn't shy away. She flopped down next to him, those inhuman eyes looking right into his. Yet inhuman didn't necessarily mean lack of soul. "I came to yer aid, because out there…" she pointed a claw tipped finger into the distance. "...is a little boy who needs ye. Her wife has…." She sighed. "Has rejected yer cub. I'm sorry. She got word of what happened." His eyes widened as he looked into the eyes of the creature that were strangely sympathetic. "That's not t…" he started to snark back with a scowl. But the truth stopped him. He wanted to say that it wasn't true, that Milah would do no such thing. Yet he had always known of her unhappiness with him. She had been pushing him to be more successful, seeming to be ashamed of carrying his name. He began to try to move again in frustration. "I can't get up.." he whimpered in frustration. "...m..my leg.." she huffed at him. "Never stopped me." The she imp muttered and his eyes traveled down to her knee.

Just as he did, she had a twisted knee, healed unlike him but the ugly scar still wound around her knee even visible above her long laced leather boots. She crossed her arms and looked right at him. "Listen. Spinner. The way I see it. You're alone. You're cold. Eventually it's gonna get dark. There are bad humans roaming these woods and animals who can and will attack without me here. You're already getting a fever which means ya have an infection. If ya continue with your stubborn mouse brained bullshite of judging me for what I am ya /will/ leave your child fatherless. Even if ya don't trust me…and I can't say I blame ya if ya don't…," she let out a mad high pitched giggle. "I'm all ya got. Now are ya gonna let me save yer stubborn hide or not?" She cocked an eyebrow. For having no true way of talking she was a mouthy little thing. "Gods she's just like me." He thought to himself but pushed that out of his head.

He wished he'd thought twice before agreeing. He found himself being dragged by the scruff like a kitten as she grabbed his cloak in her teeth and began to gently drag him across the snow. Even in her impish form the witch seemed to act like an animal. No wonder why animals worshipped her as their queen. She was one of them. His knee throbbed in pain. His blurred vision tried to look out for a sheltered place where she could heal him. He almost felt relief flood him when he saw an old abandoned farm estate near the gorge. It looked ancient but the stone was still there. The abandoned stables and fencing still stood like many ancient farms around the village. This large one must have been there for thousands of years. "What about that barn up ahead?" He spoke in a weak voice. "No." She said with a firm growl. He felt her tense the moment the passed it. Her teeth clenched tighter around his cloak and claws dug into her crutches."But it'll be safe! Much warmer than the woods and no one would find us th…" the imp at this point dropped his cloak and whirled around, a wild look in her amber eyes and her teeth bared, mismatched with tears welling in her eyes. "NO! I WON'T GO BACK, YA CAN'T MAKE ME!!" she hissed defensively, her translation a sob. He backed away from her slightly in fear. She sighed, gathering herself and swiped her clawed hand over her hair. "No. We shouldn't go there. Bad spirits. Evil spirits. Come on."

She brought him to a rocky outcrop with an opening. A cave. She dragged him into the mouth of the cave and snapped her fingers. Veins of glowing particles lit the inside walls with blue green and purple light. Ochre and black cave paintings rang around the walls. Some were human and of earthly animals, but the others were strange beasts and cave paintings of large blue humanoid beings with catlike beings. She laid him gently at the center. "This is an old Na'vi cave. They were a race of beings that used to live alongside of your people…before they drove them out just like the ogres and the animals. My kingdom was an ally of theirs too. If I had only known." she sighed sadly. She snapped her fingers again and conjured a doctor's bag. She took off her own cloak and placed it under his knee. He expected her touch to be rough but it was gentle. The cave was warm and humid unlike the outside.

Her clawed hand went for the pant leg and as she couldn't roll it up she looked at him with a smirk. "I need ya to…take off your pants." She turned away from him and giggled and snorted like a typical teenage girl. His eyes widened and he immediately shook his head in protest. "N..no! I…I don't know where ye think this is going, imp, but I can't be your mate! I'm still married." And for a moment he did have the horrible sinking feeling that she hadn't actually been hunting him as prey but had been hunting him to seduce him into breeding. At this point she looked at him seriously for a moment before bursting in impish cackling laughter that echoed around the cave. "NYAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!! MATE?! Ya think IM ATTRACTED to ya?!" She snorted and her jaw snapped up and down in a chirp. The she cat was laughing at him! He raised an eyebrow as she kept laughing at him. "That much laughter. Really." He muttered as he grunted in pain and held his injured knee. She kept laughing at him in response and shook her head. "Don't get me wrong I like ya but not that way. First of all I'm asexual and bound to eternal maidenhood. And that means I'm not allowed to take a mate. Light ones don't breed, light one's don't have cubs. Second of all ya look old enough to be my father!" She laughed again. "Males. Always thinking with your willy." She snorted in laughter and cackled again.

Grumbling to himself, he crossed his arms like a petulant child. "I'm still not stripping for ye." She glared at him for a moment before shrugging. "Alright then. I guess I'm gonna have to bite that leg off." Whatever color he had left in his cheeks drained from his face. "Wh.. what?" Fear, his old friend, cropped up within him as well. "Well if yer leg is infected and if yer not gonna let me heal it, the only way to save your life is to lose the leg." Eyes widening with horror, Rumple immediately began pulling down his trousers without another question. She had him there. She gently laid her clawed hand over his injured knee. She was closing her eyes in concentration and muttering some strange language underneath her chirping. Nothing was happening. Something was wrong. She bit her lip. "Well well. Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way."

Reaching into her bag, she took out several vials. Shaking up one of them, she began to lightly pour it over his wound. What followed was the worst stinging pain he had ever felt. Like being stung by a thousand bees all at once. He let out a scream into the cavern as his cry of pain echoed through the walls. "Hold still!" She scolded in a barking meow as he tried to jerk his leg away from the she beast. "It hurts!" He snapped back at her. She gritted her teeth as she straightened his leg again. "Well if ya held still it wouldn't hurt as much!" She countered him, her tail lashing like a whip as she roared. "None of this had ever happened if ya ran away without a plan!" She snapped at him. "If ye didn't frightened everyone I wouldn't have run away from the front!" He snarked back at her in his growling Scottish accent that mirrored her own. "Well yer people shouldn't have been in my territory!" "Well ye should learn to control yer temper!" He snapped at her and she actually took a few steps back from him. She almost looked…scared…of him for a moment.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but feel guilty. Here she was helping him and he was being a brat. He wasn't wrong, but now wasn't the place and the time. Rolling his eyes as sassily as she had, he placed his chin on his hand and gave her his leg. "By the way." He sighed after a few choice swear words under his breath as she began to stitch the wound. "Thank ye for…trying to save my life." She gave him a small smirk. "You're welcome." Once it was time to bandage the wound, she stood up on her crutches with a groan that matched his own. She turned her back to him. "Look away." She muttered before starting to change her tartan before his eyes. He turned his head away quickly with a blush rising in his cheeks. She certainly was like no young lady he ever met. He bit his lip but as his knee jerked in pain he couldn't help but catch a glance at her back. There were scars running across her back in deep lines. He tried to keep up the chatter to keep his mind off the pain. "Why do ye…hate humans so much?" Her ears twitched at the question before she shrugged and replaced her tartan top, and he cocked an eyebrow at the strange thick cloth poking out of her skirts. "I have my reasons."

She still had to stitch up the wound, and the pain he felt was unbelievable. He couldn't take it. He kept writing and twisting in agony, unable to help it. The look of sympathy and worry in her eyes became more profound. She paused her treatment for a moment. She opened her clawed hand and a glass of liquor appeared within it. "What is that?" He asked with a raise of his eyebrow. "It's just whiskey." She shrugged. But the look in her eyes as she said that didn't make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But gods he needed a drink. He sighed and took the drink, downing it in one gulp. His brain felt foggy. Before he knew it, the world had gone dark, vision blurring from bioluminescent cave to the world of dreams, falling deep into sleep and the sting of the needle becoming more dull with each passing moment.