Chapter five: A psychological effect
Bright and early the next morning Lucky is shoving my arm trying to wake me.
“What?” I miserably groan.
“Wake up. Wake. Up!”
“-Huh?” My hat falls off of my head and onto the ground. Lucky has closed up shop for the campsite. Some of the ashes still smoldering, giving off precious heat on this overcast day. Lucky himself seems to be freaking out while trying to wake me.
“I saw something wonderin' over by the treeline this mornin'. We need ta' go.”
Upon hearing this my heart skips more than a couple beats as I spring up and grab my coat. My mind goes into panic when I do not find Jade by my side.
“Where's Jade?!”
“I got er'.” He says as she pokes her head out of his saddle pack.
I almost forget my hat through the rush of it all. We sprint though the crumbling rubble of the schoolhouse, down the steps and off down the road.
“So where.... where did you buy all that stuff?” I ask between breaths.
“Over.... over the crest was a couplea' pegasi. Two of em' went up inta' the city to buy fer me'.”
“W...what? Really?”
“Little charm and couple'a extra bits'll git'cha far in life Miss Darlin'!”
We both come to a dead stop at a crossroads. It would've been an intersection had the signs not been bent into metal balls on the ground, and the post torn to scattered splinters. Lucky is speechless.
“Wha... what could'a done...this?”
“Where are we supposed to go?” I ask.
“Remember. Its west right? Keep going west.”
Following what he said, a screeching, almost deafening howl is heard ahead of us. Seemingly right over the hill, unfortunately, to our west.
“WEST?!?” I yell at him.
“Come on!” He yells back at me, grabbing my arm and bolting off with me in tow.
The howling grows angry. Louder and louder as we run along what I presume to be the northernmost path we could have taken. At this point I begin to realize something: He's going to get me killed....
“Do we even know where we're going?!” I ask quickly.
“We'll head north an' loop back round! It's too dangerous fer' us ta' go west anymore!”
We never did. We ran until snow laden evergreens began to seemingly sprout out of the ground around us. Until we were completely encompassed in a forest, still harbored by heavy winter snowfall. Miles away from anything that I would even remotely recognize, I begin to panic as I trudge through a thin layer of snow on the road.
“Why did I follow him? He's going to get us both killed.” I brazenly think to myself.
We approach yet another bridge, with a measly creek running underneath it. I stop on the cobblestone to catch my breath, and lean against the metal bar railing.
“Hey! Hey hey. We need to keep moving, get up.” He says.
“Give me a second...” I wheeze.
He looks up for a second, back the way we came. Shock printed on his face. I look too to see the diamond dogs trailing us, emerging from behind the trees. Though not close enough to see us, but enough to know where we are.
“Wh-” I look back to Lucky, who is not there.
“Lucky?” I croak.
Just as I say this someone grabs my leg and pulls me under the bars and into the river.
“Wha!” I land in the river, throwing water everywhere.
I get up and look at him, scowling. He has a look of utter frustration as he jerks me under the bridge.
“Lucky! what are you-” I try to ask.
“Shush!” He tersely orders as pulls me into his arms, holding one arm over my mouth and the other over Jade's.
He looks worriedly up as we lean up against the foundation of the stone arch. Icy water continuously sending shivers down my spine as it runs by. The scratching of heavy paws rings out along with the sound of a hand sliding across the railing comes right over us, I can feel Lucky's heart about to leap out of his chest behind me.
“They were just here!” One of them says, demonically deep and terrifying.
“You utter cretin! Do you know how much is at stake here?” The other roars, even more horrific than the last.
“I just saw them. I still smell them!”
We hear a sharp smack, and a yelp.
“We do not have time for- wait....”
Metal clanks and persons shift. To our horror, a huge diamond dog jumps right in the river in front of us. One by one they all jump over the railing and down after him, the rags that they wear long and draping over their thick armor. Miraculously none of them notice that we are hiding directly behind them in the shadow of the bridge, and they keep facing downstream. All of the diamond dogs fall in behind the first, he himself towers over them. Bulky and well weathered with scars across his back. He turns his cheek to us, it is obvious that his right eye is blind, pure white against a clear scar stretching the length of his face.
“What is it?” One of the lackeys asks him.
“The royals... They're close... Find them!” He points with his paw and his subordinates shoot off down the river. Waiting a second, he sniffs the air, cocks his head slightly, then begins to jaunt after his comrades.
Lucky lets go of me, peers down the river at the running diamond dogs. Without saying a word he shoos me along and we traverse under the bridge and up the riverbank.
“That was way too close.” He whispers.
“Way to close?” I say, mad as can be.“They would've killed us! If you hadn't gone and went north like you did we wouldn't be here!”
“Me? Lass, I chose ta' stay an' help you out of the goodness of me' heart. You damn well better be grateful that I just didn't pack up and leave last night!” He says, keeping a level of quiet about himself.
“But I stayed... I want didn't some stranger I just met ta end up dead just because I was feeling selfish!”
I look to myself, ashamed to have doubted him.
“Look, I.... I'm sorry.” He says putting a hoof on my shoulder. “I promise you that I’ll get us both through this. An' we can get on with our lives.”
I look up at him and give a faint nod.
“Okay, good.” He says softly. “Come on, the little one's getting stir crazy.”
Continuing up the stream until it connects to a large culvert going under yet another, but older, bridge. Jade hops out of Lucky's bag and onto my back.
“What the heck are you doing?” I ask, smiling.
She has a dead stare that she holds for a second before giving me a loving lick right on my nose.
“Fan-tas-tic! A road!” Lucky says happily.
I follow his as he mantles his way up the steep gravel incline to the road.
“I...uh...don't...” He says, the brief happiness wiped clean from his face. “Look I don't think this has been used in a long time, Autumn.”
I look around for a sign of some sort, finally finding one toppled over in a nearby ditch for whatever reason. As I try to pick it up it falls in half, thoroughly rotted through and through. Lucky runs over and picks up the metal sign off of the end.
“Wardview Drive?” He reads questioningly.
“Huh...” I let out, looking at it.
He looks up.
“If the road is the same direction as the one we....Uh... then it is....” He ganders over and down the road
“That way.” He says.
I look at him, unsure.
“I ain't a pathfinder. Give me some slack.”
I roll my eyes. “Lead the way then.” I sigh.
The broken road leads us to a blackberry bush covered wooden sign at a dead end. It resembles the one outside the Cranberry ranch. Unreadable though due to the years it has spent sitting there.
“Looks abandoned.” He says.
“Yeah.”
A faint howl is heard in the distance. I turn my attention to the woods, then look back at Lucky.
“I think we're going ta' have ta' make a visit.” He says jerking his head toward the property.
We take a turn up the driveway, and continue up the winding dirt path. Stopping before going any further though. The reason being that it wasn't really a ranch at all, and the roadsign had been all too accurate even though we had not understood it. What it really was is a run down, old sanitarium. “The Healing Hoof” Is printed in peeling letters on the concrete overhang of the front door. The structure itself is slowly being reclaimed by nature. Small shrubs spring out of the window along with various vines stringing down from the mossy rooftop.
“Wow... I didn't know you had these across the pond...” He says, wondering at the building.
“We used to about thirty years ago. Shut them down though.”
“No wonder.”
He slowly walks forward, approaching the building. The front door itself had been knocked off its hinges and was laying on the ground, as if it were kicked in. The rest of the facility looked ominous, eerily calm and looming with its many broken windows and cracked features. It confuses me as to why that, when they decommissioned these places, they didn't just tear them down.
“We're not going in there are we?” I ask, for I am terrified of these kinds of places.
He looks back at me, as if I we're crazy.
“... I don't see any other choice.” He says.
“You've got to be kidding.” I whisper under my breath.
He stops on the doorstep, looks back to me. “Are ye' comin?” He yells.
“Y....yeah...” I say as I slowly follow them into the building.
Glass crunches under my hooves as I walk through the small doorway. The entire lobby is dilapidated, paint is peeling off the walls, and the furniture all sits rotted. The lobby itself was a large room, two hallways connected to the wall behind the receptionists desk lead to the back patio. Two more hallways to the sides of the room connect to the rest of the building. Lucky and Jade are rummaging behind the receptionists desk. He pokes his head up at me for a second.
“There's a map over at the other end of the room.” He says.
“Alright.” I drearily respond.
As I pass one of the hallways connecting to the rest of the facility I notice something move out of the corner of my eye. I stop and give a quick, scanning glance down the hallway. Wheelchairs and stretchers line the entire hall. Giving me a strange, empty feeling. The room that was connected to the lobby almost mirrored it, having the exact same features apart from the front desk. A large map of the surrounding area, behind a layer of framed glass, sits idle between the doors leading to the back patio.
Carefully stepping through the rubble that lines the floor, I make my way to the map. At least six feet across, this thing didn't spare on detail, as old as it is. The map canvas clearly shows the sanatorium, Cloudsdale and most of the Crystal mountain range. Old roads like the one we were just on are spread everywhere, including one very small arrow pointing westward with the word “Vanhoover” above it. It takes a couple of seconds to click in my head that it was above a county road heading into the hills directly behind the facility. I space out for a minute while staring at the map.
“We might actually make it.”
“What'cha find?” Lucky asks, from right behind me. Startling me somewhat.
“Oh... well uh... Here.” I say planting my hoof on the glass, pointing to the arrow.
“If it really does go to Vanhoover then we should have no problem getting...” I stop as I look back at Lucky. Finding that he is staring at me rather fondly. He shakes the expression off as he realizes that I'm returning the start.
“What?” I ask, slightly confused.
“What? Huh? Oh n...nothing. Carry on.” He says quietly, stuttering just a bit.
“Uh huh.. anyways... we'll have no problem-” And yet another interruption by a loud crash emanating from the hallway that first caught my eye.
Lucky quickly dashes over and peeks around the corner, with me hesitantly following.
“What is it?” I ask.
Lucky, without a word, emerges and begins to slowly walk down the hall.
“Don't you dare...” I whisper angrily.
He looks back at me scowling. This is cut short by a white figure darting by from one room to the next across the hallway. Lucky jumps, his ears shoot straight up as he faces the room where whatever it was went.
“Hello?” He asks as he rounds the corner into the room.
I can feel my legs begin to shake, and my eyes well up in fear.
“...Lucky?” I whisper out of the silence.
I wait for five, ten, fifteen seconds. Stifling my lungs, and listening to my heart beating through my chest.
“Jus' a dog...” He sullenly responds from the room.
I let go a heavy sigh of relief, and shed a held back tear. As I peek around the corner I see Lucky standing next to a pure white shepherd.
“Poor girl...” He says.
The dog's coat around its hind leg is stained red from an open wound. Lucky puts his hoof on its head and slowly strokes down her back. Every breath the Shepard takes as she rests her head in the dirt and dust is a pained, sad, lonely whine.
“Ain't got a collar... And this cut looks real bad...” He adds as he parts it fur along the staggering lash up its side. He pauses for a second.
“What do we do?” I ask.
Lucky sighs heavily, and looks at me with regret filling his weary eyes.
“The only thing we can do.” He mutters, taking off his coat and hat.
I watch as he lays over the dog and twists the folds of his coat tightly over its muzzle. Frantically jerking and pulling in pain, the Shepard pushes at his embrace.
“I don't.... really think you want ta' watch this.” He says, looking back at me and Jade uneasily.
I give a nod and make a hasty retreat out of the room and down the hallway.
I can hear Lucky giving what comfort he can to it. “Shh... It's gonna be alright... shh..” But even though his soothing words help, they cannot drown out it's cries of fear. It's lonely echo of a voice fading through the halls into, in the end, nothingness. I look back down the hall moments afterward to see him emerging from the room, slipping his cap back on before making his way to me.
“Lucky... I-” I try to utter.
“Let's go.” He says shamefully, dust coating fine lines along his coat.
He makes his way through the back lobby and out onto the back patio with me close behind him. I quickly catch up to him.
He glances at me for a second.
“You going ta' be alright?” He asks in a low, concerned tone.
“Yeah... yeah I'll be fine.”
“You want me ta' carry Jade fer' a bit?”
“No... let's just get going.”
We utter no words after this for a while, not until we are far along the aged trail and the dirt turns to rock as the trees begin to clear into outcroppings and cliffs. Our hooves making headway toward our final destination. Mantling rock after rock, befallen logs and other obstacles until we are in a steep climb as the wind begins to pick up. I look back for a moment to barely see the very top of the asylum down in the valley below, shuttering at the thought, but continuing on. We are taken off guard as we climb one last rock to reveal a truly amazing vision of the Crystal Mountain range. I do a literal spin taking in the clear, breathtaking sight of the glistening peaks against the pure, blue sky. A small glimmer catches my eye, a faint tower protruding over one of the many mountain vistas. It immediately clicks in my mind that the spire poking over one of the hills is indeed the tower of The Crystal Empire.
“What is it?” Lucky curiously inquires.
It only takes him a moment to spot it.
“Aye... Isn't that the Crystal Tower?” He asks me.
“Yeah... Reckon it's bout a couplea' miles away though.”
He swivels around and looks back to what I presumed was west.
“If that map is correct, Vanhoover is just through that pass.” He says putting a reassuring hoof on my shoulder and pointing toward a gap in between two rolling hills not too far from where we stood. But to our dismay, the sun was already setting quickly.
“Come on, Let's make it a little farther before we bunk down fer' the night.”
“Right.”
After continuing down the mountain along the narrow ridge line we stop on a rocky clearing before making any more progress into our travel towards the pass. Volcanic rock strewn about provides precious shelter against the blowing wind, along with a jagged cliff face looming above a small alcove in the face of the mountain behind us.
“Alright... This spot's lookin' cozy enough.” He says, making rounds around our new campsite.
He drops his saddlebag and pulls the small lantern he purchased beforehand.
“We goin' to have a fire tonight?” I ask him.
“Nope... All the wood I used last time was from that shack of a house.” He says, absorbed in trying to to light his lamp.
“Damn...” I sigh.
The short moment of silence is abruptly broken by the crack of thunder in the distance. Lucky's head shoots up and he looks around, confused.
“I don't see any clouds...” He says getting up. “Hold on.”
He traces our earlier steps back up the trail. Just as he reaches the crest of the hill he comes to a sudden, dead halt. He glances back to me.
“What is it?!” I holler at him.
He quickly backs up and makes his way down the mountainside.
“There is one mean lookin' storm headed fer' us.” Him out of breath.
“How bad?”
“Like a monsoon or something.”
Thunder cracks the still silence once again, only much closer than before. Lucky examines our surroundings, then moves over to the alcove. I closely follow him over.
“Well?” He says, looking to me for confirmation.
“It's better than nothin', Ah guess.”
We both take our seats in the small, cramped burrow, watching the outside turn a gloomy gray as the first drops of rain begin to trickle down. The light tapping of droplets on the flattened grass and rock outside of our temporary home becomes a soothing sound as the dusk turns to night. Lucky had the common sense in him to bring a small jar of extra oil for the lantern should the need arise, although it contained more than enough for the time being. As for Jade, she's playing out the last of her energy scampering around our small cave. She quickly settles in my lap, waking me from my nap as I lay with my back to the wall. I loose track of time as the rain begins to come down harder and harder, streams of drainage pouring off of the cliff above and onto the ground. Finding it impossible to even close my eyes with the incessant pounding of the storm, I peek out from under my hat to see what Lucky is doing. He is laying on his side next to the lamp, its faint light shining softly on his face. He seems to be preoccupied with the golden pocket watch that I saw earlier. I take off my hat and set it to the side.
“That's a nice watch.” I say, breaking whatever quiet the storm has left us.
“Aye... It's me father's, I can just barely remember him handing it to me as I boarded the ship.”
He grows a fond smile while gazing down at his father's watch, then looks to me as he purposefully changes the subject.
“You never told me where you were from Miss Darling.”
He catches me off guard with his somewhat random question.
“Where I'm from?”
“Yeah, we got time ta' kill, might as well.”
“If ye insist..” I say, horribly butchering the Irestrian accent.
“Cute...” He chuckles.
“Well... Ahm'... Not really even from around here, Ah' came from a place called Dodge Junction, Way way way to the south. Left as soon as I was old enough, thinkin' I would get my own farm.” I quietly explain.
“Maybe couplea' cows and chickens. Didn't really turn out the way I wanted it to, though.”
“What happened?”
“Oh...Uh... I'm just gonna say that the bank hasn't been too kind to me lately...” I say lamely, slumping my head a little.
“Loosing money?” he says concernedly.
“More along the lines of my house.”
“Eesh... That's one heck of a bad way Miss Darling.”
“Yeah...Oh... And call me Autumn...”
“Alrighty then, Miss Autumn.” He says, playing along with a small grin across his face.
I cannot help but give a faint smile back. His attempts to charm quickly growing on me. After a brief moment of emotion, he creates a new line of subject.
“Ya' know... in all my years I haven't seen a single Pegasi until last night?”
“When you went for the supplies?” I add.
“Yup. Say... Aren’t they responsible for the weather?” He asks, obviously referencing to the current downpour.
“Maybe...” I sigh.
“Well...” He says, pulling his saddle bag close to him. “I'm off ta' bed... You want the lamp fer' tonight or should I put it out?”
“It'd be best if we put it out... Don't really want to wake up to one of them ugly dogs looming over me.”
He quickly blows it out. “Me either... Night”
“G'night...”
“Good night...” A young, petite voice says.
I shoot up, Lucky startled by the commotion.
“What's wrong?” He asks.
“Who said that?”
“Jade...?” He responds.
I look down to her, I can make out a small smile as she innocently blinks. Gently leaning back again I attempt to get some sleep. No such thing is achieved, every time I would close my eyes it felt as if something was creeping around on me and I would jerk awake. Having no other option, I stayed up just listening to the rainfall, again seeming peaceful. It stopped around one or two in the morning, the moon shining brightly on the countryside. At this point I confided within myself to muster up the courage to close my eyes for more than a minute, and gently fall asleep.