Antonio's PoV:
Days passed, land scenarios changed and we began to face yet another problem on the way to one of the strongest kingdoms in the World. My little crew passed the France-Spain borders without any complications as I decided to choose mountains for our already dangerous journey. As I looked at the stony "road" in front of us, I began to actually curse myself and deeply regret my decision.
The weather has been cold and unpleasant for the past few days, the thread of it changing only to worse in the mountains reminding me of how stupid I was to think this way it'll be better. Yes, if we were to cross the border like any normal person, we'd face the army etc., but as we weren't used to this kind of coldness, a high chance of illness took place and such case wasn't welcomed at all.
I was damn-well acknowledged with death caused by sickness but there was no way out of this suicidal mission.
As the colours of dark blue and later black filled the sky above our heads, the weather tipped to the bad side, wind increasing at powerful and stopples speed. However, my command only sent the horses to a faster pace, as if on a race with the element. Hours passed and we carried on with the merciless tempo, the animals funning and scoffing through their noses into the night air.
Hoofs wrecked stones underneath, that one and only sound echoing into silence. Trees lined up our road as if accompanying our steps and the moon with its little stars watched over us as we hurried down a hill, then up one and then dashed across a plain, boring country.
We came to a stop at last, putting off most of the pressure the animals had to carry as we stood on our own. Heat creeping into me through thick fur and skin trembling with exhaustion, water dropped from glassy objects and slick tongue licked around to get the desired liquid inside.
"Déjalos descansar por un rato," I said in a breathless pant as my very own body stood and basically leaned against my horse. Head sunk lowly, ears twitching for any upcoming sound and tail slashing around, the mammal's breath came out in small puffs, forming hot clouds on the dark background.
After some time, I finally managed to rush air into my lungs and filled them enough for my system to be pleased. The others seemed to be the same or at least on the best way to recovery, just like the horses around us. I dipped forward in a hopeless gesture, my vision going blurry and small, white sparks began to fill my eyes. I cursed quietly when this illness of mine spoke up violently as it didn't sooner like I expected it to.
Once the spotless surroundings were to be replaced by actually silhouettes of near objects, I pressed my back against the nameless creature behind me. Dizziness never leaving, I felt a sharp shudder from behind that set off the loud alarms in my head.
I straightened up, not caring one bit about the symptoms from just a second before, gun appearing in my hand but still lowered as I listened to the world around me. Nothing unusual caught my attention; strong wind finally died out and now only a breeze played with leaves somewhere in the distance but nothing too dangerous took place.
Crack went a piece of wood in the forest and I turned towards it, hand now tightly clasped around the metal thing. My eyes quickly scanned the scene and just when I thought it was nothing, my paranoia or just a small animal, a shushed growl filled my ears.
"Señor,¿qué pasa?" Carlos asked as he stepped towards me. "Cállate," I barked out which didn't surprise him at all as I was still facing the trees in front of me, completely drowned in darkness. Another growl now joined by another one and louder could be heard and hair on the back of my neck rose in unspoken fear.
"Fuego. Tráeme un fuego maltido," I ordered at last and the man behind me got into work right away probably because of how uptight I must've sounded. Just seconds later, I felt heat coming from a wooden stick behind me, flames lightening up environs. And so, I waited, waited for another sound, another hungry cry of a beast to reach me. But nothing came.
The tired fellow seemed to get annoyed by all of the tiring standing and holding the torch and so he leaned against my horse, the flames flickering and sparks flying onto the ground. Thud thud went steps against it and I picked up the gun, stepping forward and around the scared animal. Eyes shone in the distance, confirming my fear of an unwanted company.
Glimpses of black and dark grey fur flashed through my vision, now more than many noises of growls, howls etc. filling the night. "Me estás bromeando jodiendo...," I sighed out, irritated to the core but got onto my horse. "¡Todos arriba!" I growled under my breath and the three other men did as they were told and took out their weapons as well.
Just like I expected it to happen, once we were up, a wolf came into the light and his mates followed him right after. An annoyed sigh darted its way out of my throat and shoulders sank at the sight of hungry and angry beasts.
I shifted my weight quickly for my horse to know to move backwards. It did so and with a fast glance at the others, three other well-built bodies of horses closed the little circle we formed. "Dispara solo cuando te atacan," I ordered firmly and positioned my own weapon apace with my horse's neck.
The wild dogs, meanwhile, built a small pack, nearing at a slow but forceful pace as growls and other dangerous noises left their stretched lips. Two slender ears twitched, tail swishing behind and I could practically feel the mammal's fear. I placed my hand on its neck, just above the leathered saddle to give the poor being a little relief from the stress.
My own heart beat faster than untamed waves on open sea, storm and wind cheering for them to join their torture on random victims. It's been many years since my foot landed on a steady ground for more than a week or so. It's been a long time since I've seen faces of other people than my own and talked to them in a friendly manner rather than a commanding voice. And it's been a long time since I've last seen different animals than the ones of unknown east or west, so meeting something like wolves in dark and in mountains, surrounded only by trees and clear sky made the tiniest fire of anxiety awake in me.
Meanwhile, the alpha's fangs began to show, the soft rays of our torches making them glitter and its lips were agape as a high-pitched howling left its body. At that, other wolves dashed towards us and, as my hand shook and eyes went wide, I kicked the poor horse with such force it stood up onto its rear legs.
Mud and grass flew into every direction from this sudden move and it all landed on the wolves' faces, my heart skipping a beat and hands firmly gripping the reins before it all could get out of control, and stroke out for an escape. All I could take in were the fast-paced steps behind me and with one glance, I realized the glutton-driven beasts were close to me; alarmingly close.
However, I cared less about the situation and only drove the horse to a faster pace. Nature around me changed, went up, down, formed into different shapes and that made me later question myself just how much I ran until I heard a heart-piercing cry, swallowed by the darkness that seized up my frame.
My eyes darted around, searching for the person or an animal which let the sound out but I saw nothing. In fact, I was completely alone in the foreign place, the horse's and my own rapid breathing the only sound in the closeness. When my heart calmed down and the urge for air wasn't so high, my mind was shook with the fact I left others alone.
Three shots echoed through the air and I instantly rushed the animal I rode into yet another race 'till my eyes caught a sight of fire glowing in the distance. Once I came to the scene, my hand went forward and finger clenched around the trigger without thinking, bullet piercing a wolf's head. The beast went limp right away, falling onto the ground with a final scowl of pain.
Everything went still for a split second, the animal's mates seeming to be shocked but quickly regained their anger back and wrath sparkled in the leader's small, black eyes. They all took off but so did we and it looked like a run for one's life.
Yet again, the forest disappeared into a long meadow before arising into death-cold stones atop each other. The pack never left us as I noticed from my place on the very end of our group and I was all but fed up with it. Galloping further more to one of my men, I snatched his torch from his hand and threw it onto the stony ground, not caring about what would come next.
A simple scowl reached my ears followed by an angry growl and then nothing; silence took over the world as we rode deeper into an upcoming hill. Only God knows how much time passed as we galloped forward without stopping, me somehow coming to the leading position.
After that, I finally came to a halt and the three other men mirrored my move. I gave them all a glance as we all tried to catch out breaths, the horses joining us in this task. "¿Están bien, hombres?" I left out at last and my eyes switched to the young Italian for a split second, heart clenching at the thought of him being hurt but went free went they all nodded.
"¿Que hay de los caballos?" I questioned right afterwards and unconsciously darted my sigh over the animals. "El mio fue mordido, señor," Federico said before getting down and I followed his moves, snapping at Carlos to give me our only and last torch to get a better look.
The black-haired man pointed at the wound; deep traces of sharp fangs were circled around his horse's white leg, blood rolling down its hoof and soaking into the grass beneath. An irritated sound left my lips, sigh of destruction following right after. "Necesitamos tratarlo antes de que se infecte," I mumbled, partly to myself and partly to Federico, before standing up properly and going to my horse, searching for one of the protected flasks full of water.
After washing the red liquid away, (with a lot of protest from the animal), I managed to get a clean piece of cloth, creeping it around the bitten ankle and ending it with a tight knot. "Eso debería hacer por ahora," I announced and packed away the glassy object in my hand, settling into the saddle yet again.
With eyes checking the three men, I pulled my reins closer firmly but still so gently breathing wouldn't be a problem for my horse. "Es peligroso quedarse quieto ahora," I breathed out, the small puff of air turning white in the darkness. "Necesitamos movernos al menos hasta el amanecer." They all nodded in agreement and we set off again.
As the Sun finally began to rise and first rays of light touched my skin, I slowed our group down onto a nice, unhurried trot. The dark blue was soon replaced with a fresh set of warm orange and yellow, bringing everything around us back to live. The birds started to sing their morning song, leaves sounding as if they wanted to hush them for not everyone and everything was up like they were. The air was crisp in my nose and I noticed small drops of water sparkling on every grass straw.
This pleasant scenery and my peaceful thoughts were, however, soon interrupted by a quiet but sharp sneeze. Carlos and Federico in the lead didn't even notice such little noise but I turned my head around to see Romano with a hand against his nose while the other one squeezed the reins, head sunk low and shoulders, basically whole body shivering.
That one tiny thing in my chest cried out, clenching and tightening out of pure fear the poor boy has been cold all this time and did not say a word about his discomfort. I gave the other two men a glance before slowing my horse to a walk, Romano's catching up to me but slowing down afterwards, as well.
"Are you cold?" I asked, not really caring about the answer as I knew the Italian would deny it and there was no way for me to let it slide just like that. Just as I thought, he certainly did disagree with a scoff. Smile decorating my face, I shrugged off my thick coat and carefully placed it around his shoulders.
"What the fuck, bastard? I don't need this!" he hissed, eyes sharpening and burning a hole into my head. I chuckled softly at it but only gave him a shark-like grin. "Didn't seem like it a minute again." The air was filled with curses and I barked out a laugh at his flustered sentences and crimson cheeks. Then, on its own accord, my upper body leaned to the side, lips pressing atop of his crown.
When I finally let my eyes fall onto his face, Romano was shocked and the crimson was replaced with blood red. "Do you know how fucking dangerous that was?!" he yelled in a whisper and I waved him off dismissively, my gaze darting into nowhere as he continued on scolding me.
I watched his features change from furious to all kind of emotions and despite all of that, my chest tightened, a ticklish feeling appearing in the deepest corners of my stomach. I stared at the boy, no, young man next to me and couldn't help the heat rushing into my face.
Just then, I stopped my horse completely and his voice carried on, my hand yanking the reins of his horse towards me and the animal stopped, its head bumping into my horse's one. My other hand soon found Roma's cheek, guiding his face to turn to me, smile lifting my lips up as I noticed the cute, confused look he put on.
Our lips were sealed for a heartbeat, two, five and a few more before he pushed me away forcefully, a new blush settling upon his cheeks. "You fucking bastard!" he yelped out and rode his horse away from me. I laughed at his behaviour but my smile soon froze when I noticed two pairs of eyes on us, question in them.
I squeezed the horse's lower regions and it walked right into a fast trot, catching up with the others and actually taking the lead. I could hear them tease Romano about something after he, also, caught up to us and I let a small beam rest on my lips, his soft voice being way sweeter than honey to me.
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"Déjalos descansar por un rato." - " Let them rest for a while."
"Señor, ¿qué pasa?" - "Sir, what's wrong/what's happened?"
"Cállate." - " Shut up."
"Fuego. Tráeme un fuego maltido." - " Fire. Bring me a freaking fire."
"Me estás bromeando jodiendo...," - "You're fucking kidding me...."
"¡Todos arriba!" - "Everyone, up!"
"Dispara sólo cuando te atacan." - " Shoot only when they attack you."
"¿Están bien, hombres?" - "Are you Alright, men?"
"¿Que hay de los caballos?" - "What about the horses?"
"El mio fue mordido, señor." - " Mine was bitten, sir."
"Necesitamostratarlo antes de que se infecte." - " We need to treat it before it gets infected."
"Esodebería hacer por ahora." - " That should do for now."
"Espeligroso quedarse quieto ahora." - " It's dangerous to sit still now."
"Necesitamosmovernos al menos hasta el amanecer." - "We need to move, at least until dawn."
Okay, so, today, the chapter's a little bit late. But it's long. I hope you liked it. I wanted to upload it sooner but I was out with my friends and we were making a video for one of our projects, went for a dinner and I went to my psychologist.
Also, sorry for any mistakes but my Brother punched me, (with my computer screen), and my mouth's all messed up because of it. Thanks, bro, I hope you rot in hell. Ouch, my teeth though.
So, Yeah. Nothing really funny happened; only the fact I'm failing, like, 4 subjects and one of my professors freaking hates me. Oh well, so much for trying to be nice and a proper student.
Anyway, I have no idea why, but when I was writting this chapter, I thought about Robinson Crusoe and remembered a scene where he fought against wolves. Somehow, it happened to pop into my story. Does that count as copying an idea?
Please, leave a comment and a vote. I'll be happy if you did. Love you all!
- Boora-chan