I pressed my lips together, ending the argument to save him the breath it would take to continue it. He didn't have the luxury of wasting it given his condition. Not to mention, whatever he used it to say wouldn't matter. He was dead set on me leaving him behind if it came down to it while I knew that I wouldn't. We may not have been on the best of terms, but I wasn't going to abandon him to my consequences. Just like I would never abandon Ash.
Silas could use whatever tone of voice he wanted, but I wasn't leaving him to bleed out. I dragged him into this predicament and I was going to drag him back out. And with the way his breaths had turned into pants and the weight he leaned against me increased, I may need to literally.
Though the voices shouting after us didn't seem to be growing nearer, hopefully having followed the traces of the path Garvin had left as he took off, the sky chose that moment to open us and lower my chances of hearing them approach. Falling rain drowned out the sound of our footsteps and anything that could warn us. It only took a moment for the heavy and cold droplets to saturate my hair and the coat Silas wore.
My muscles strained as Silas's weight continued to grow whole we made our way across the uneven forest floor. I readjusted my hold, needing to lean into him to keep us both from toppling over. It was the first time that I wasn't the one struggling to keep up. Though I was struggling to keep him up. Guilt and fear churned in my stomach, growing with Silas's struggle to hide how badly hurt he was.
I curled my fingers in his shirt and pressed into his side, shouldering his weight when he stumbled with his next step. We were running as fast as we both could. Me with my short legs and human speed and Silas with the injury that left him unsteady on his feet. He had lost too much blood and was still losing more. I wasn't confident in how much farther he could go.
"How are you doing?" I asked him, needing to raise my voice to be heard over the torrent of rain.
"Fine."
He didn't sound fine. The clipped answer came out slurred while his steps began to drag.
"You're not fine. You're bleeding out. That's the opposite of fine. Can't you heal yourself?" I asked. He would have already if he could.
"No," he confirmed. "They used iron rounds. I can't heal myself until my blood is free of all traces of iron poisoning."
"Poisoning?" I asked. I hadn't known that there was room for my worry to grow. "Please don't die on me. I still need you."
The corner of Silas's lips curled up in amusement. It only lasted a moment before pain contorted the small smile.
"Can't get rid of me that easily, little dryad. I'm not dying tonight." A determined glint entered his eyes as he tried to straighten. His body staggered into mine.
I stumbled back a step, letting go of his shirt to catch myself on a tree. We couldn't keep going like this. We needed to get out of the rain and find a place to camp out until Silas could heal himself. Before he passed out.
My eyes scanned our surroundings, searching. "We need to find somewhere to hide," I said, flicking rain-soaked strands from my eyes as a glint of moonlight drew my attention. Off to the side, the ground transformed into large jagged rocks. With the way some leaned against others, the possibility of finding shelter from the rain started to look promising.
Before I could point it out, Silas was already shaking his head. It was a mistake that had him staggering. His unsteady movements only strengthened my conviction that he needed to rest. He tried to regain his footing, but couldn't. He had pushed himself too far.
"Silas!"
My fingers dug into his sides trying to keep him on his feet, but he was too heavy. My efforts to keep him upright were as ineffective as his were to claim he was fine. It became clear he wasn't going to recover this time and all I could do was soften his fall that took me down with him. I cradled his head and injured shoulder as he fell forward, landing face down on top of me.
"No, no, no," I groaned, trying to ignore the pain shooting up my tailbone while shifting so my breasts wouldn't smother him.
I tried to roll him off me, but his weight which consisted mostly of muscle had my arms trembling with effort while barely moving him. I was going to get nowhere in moving him, so I focused on myself instead.
Straining my muscles to push at him again, I maintained the bit of wiggle room I could manage and began to shift my way out from under him. The rain turned the ground slippery with wet leaves and mud, making it harder to get a grip to struggle my way out while simultaneously acting as a lubricant to make it easier to move under his weight.
Once I slipped free, I rushed to kneel at his side. My chest rose and fell harshly while Silas's had changed to moving with even, unconscious breaths. I didn't have time, so I immediately got to work on rolling him over onto his back. It was easier to do now that I wasn't trapped under him, but it took some time and several failed attempts.
"Silas!" I called, worry and fear straining my voice with tears.
When he didn't respond to my voice or my attempts to shake him awake, I resorted to slapping his cheek. Not hard enough for the swats to be considered real slaps, but enough that they would draw his attention. My fingers left behind a smear of mud as his paling skin turned pink under my attention.
Nothing. Not even a twitch. Not surprising given he didn't so much as twitch despite all my manhandling.
"Fuck," I cursed under my breath, moving to sit back on my heels. My fists balled on my thighs.
Rain continued to batter down on me as I looked towards the rocks once again. There was only so far that I would be able to drag Silas. If I was even able to.
"I'm not leaving you," I said as I rose to my feet, giving my surroundings a thorough sweep. "I'll be right back."
Without Silas's weight, it was easier to sprint the short distance toward the changing terrain to look for shelter. I didn't want to waste energy dragging Silas there if nothing was waiting for us.
Slowing to traverse the slippery rocks, I made my way down a slope behind a dense thicket. It hid what I had been looking for. I picked up my pace as I darted across the stony ground towards the dry patch under the overhanging ledge of rock. A piece of it seemed to have broken off and fallen to form a small cave. One that wouldn't be spotted past the thicket if those chasing after us came from the same direction we had.
Nearing the entrance to the cave, I squinted my eyes into the intimidating darkness. I couldn't see past where the moonlight stopped. It didn't reveal more than a few steps inside the entrance. Anything could be lurking inside.
Scanning the ground for rocks, I reached for a couple of decent-sized ones that were the size of my palm. Turning my body to prepare to run if needed, I threw a rock into the depths of the cave, listening to it land and bounce across the hard dry floor. All I heard aside from the sound of stone meeting stone was the faint sound of dry leaves being moved in its wake. Once the rock stilled, so did the noise.
I held my breath, listening to the silence that made its way back to me under the sound of rain. My shoulder loosened when nothing jumped out to attack me, but I still threw the next rock, aiming for a different spot inside to make sure the cave was empty. When nothing charged at me for the second time, I turned to make my way back to Silas.
Reaching him, I didn't waste time before hooking my arms under his armpits. It was a little easier to pull his upper body off the ground than it was to push it off of me. What was trickier though, was getting my footing to drag him across the ground. Progress was slow and I wiped out more times than I cared to admit, but I eventually managed to drag him across the distance that seemed much larger now.
When we reached the slope, aside from the risk of things going wrong increasing, it was easier to drag him down while gravity helped.
Entering the cave tentatively, I propped Silas against the wall where the moonlight still reached and stepped back to catch my breath and give my screaming muscles a break.
I didn't waste more than a few moments before returning to Silas's side. I crouched to inspect his wounds in the dim light, the frown on my lips growing the more I strained my eyes to see. It wasn't enough to make out anything aside from blood that darkened his white shirt which was now most likely some shade of red or pink.
Cursing I moved back, directing my attention to his pants and their multiple pockets. Though they lay flat on his legs they could be holding an assortment of items, some of which I could use. Reaching into them, it took searching two of the four pockets before I found what I needed.
Clutching the firestone in my hand, I gathered the dried leaves and small twigs that the wind must have blown into the cave and created a pile over the stone further inside the cave so the flames wouldn't attract too much attention.
Racking through my memory, it took a few incorrect attempts before I was able to recall the word I had heard both Silas and Hilda use to light the fire in their home using fire stones.
"Aingeal."
Flickering flames rose to engulf the kindling, growing to chase away the shadows. Snapping a few of the thicker branches I managed to find, I added them to the fire before shifting my attention back to Silas. I took a deep breath before dragging him further into the cave. I cringed at how saturated his coat felt with water now that I didn't have rain blinding me to it. I moved to remove it the moment I had him settled on the ground by the dancing flames. With his shirt in just as poor of a condition as he was, it was next to go, revealing the coin-sized wound that was still bleeding.
I swallowed hard at the sight. Using fingers I could barely feel, I prodded at the angry red skin surrounding it. More blood rose at my touch to warm his skin which was too cold. It was such a dark red that the drop that trailed down his skin appeared black, but the red trail it left in its wake said otherwise.
I had to stop the bleeding.
Setting his head back to the ground gently, I moved to finish searching through his remaining pockets in hopes of finding something that would help me tend to him. Aside from his phone that wouldn't turn on, a few more stones, dry snacks, and some unhelpful items I couldn't identify, The only thing of use I found was a half-filled flask.
My eyes landed on the discarded clothes I had removed from him and vetoed them immediately. They were too filthy. I didn't want to make Silas's situation worse with an infection. Instead, I began to untuck my shirt. Noting that my coat had done a much better job of keeping me dry.
Raising the bottom of my shirt to my teeth, I ripped long strips of the fabric to make makeshift bandages.
Taken is complete and available on Patreon.
Captive, book 2 of The Blood Stone Series, is being updated. Read more at:
https://www.patreon.com/DRK_Stories