//------------------------------// // Bandages // Story: Chains Tales // by BookyBrony //------------------------------// Bandages A tall human wearing a set of old military clothes and a beat up half shredded chainmail vest, and with wild graying hair and beard, trudged painfully through the Everfree Forest. Each step he took seemed to thump harder against the ground than the last. His steel gray eyes growing heavy as he fought to keep conscious. He was covered in bleeding wounds, caused by a pack of timber wolves that had ambushed him after he had caught what would have been his dinner that night. He had a large gash in his right arm where a wolf had bit him and deep scratches in his torso along with a bite on his shoulder and one on his left leg. His left arm was missing, the stump ending just above his elbow, but that was a much older wound that had healed over years ago. In his right hand was a short blade made of bone with a makeshift grip. He groaned as he almost tripped and lost consciousness. He wasn’t even sure of where he was going anymore as his vision started to fade. ‘Damn it, so many years, and this is how it all ends?!’ he cursed to himself as he tried to push on, though to what purpose and destination he didn’t know. He just knew that if he stopped moving that would mean death. He let out a grunt as his foot slipped and he went to one knee on the ground. He braced himself on his sword, and tried to push himself up, but lacked the strength to put his foot back in front of him, and he fell on his face, his sword left in the ground. With his last ounces of willpower, he put his single arm in front of himself and tried to drag his body on. He lost consciousness as his fist clenched the blades of grass, and a gentle humming was heard nearby. ……….. Fluttershy hummed sweetly to herself as she was gathering a few rare seeds that grew from the trees on the edge of the Everfree Forest. She was hoping to serve the seeds to the birds she was recruiting to sing at the Summer Sun Celebration in a few weeks. She wasn’t worried so much about the forest, especially during the day. This part was especially tame, and a pony could even see the sun through the treetops on a clear day. While scanning the ground for any loose seeds that had fallen to the forest floor, when she noticed some of the spots of grass with pressed down, indicating tracks of some sort of animal. She looked to the forest and saw that they came from there, and then looked to the other way they traveled, and just a few feet away she saw the unconscious form of a human. Letting out a nervous gasp, she galloped over to the unmoving form. She looked him over, and her breath caught in her throat. He was badly hurt, and losing more blood by the moment. She almost cried when she noticed his missing limb. The yellow Pegasus looked around to see if there was anypony else nearby, and her eyes landed on the bone sword. Such a cruel looking tool didn’t likely belong to anypony nice. She was torn on what to do. This human could be an escaped slave, which meant somepony maybe looking for him, and if he had a weapon, he may have been hurting ponies. She considered alerting the town watch. The human let out a groan of pain. Fluttershy took a deep breath. There was no question now. She almost tried picking him up herself, but stopped, knowing someone of his size would be just too heavy for her. She flew off quickly, not wasting a second to think or second guess herself as she looked for one of her friends who could carry him. …………. Luckily for Fluttershy, her friend Harry, the bear, was nearby, and was happy to help carry the human into her cottage and laid him down on her bed, as it was the only place that had enough room to work. She made a mental note to pick some extra berries for him later. She had quickly removed the injured human’s clothes, suppressing her own blush as she looked over his wounds. She was somewhat relieved to see that the stump of his arm was healed over and that it wasn’t a new wound. But he still had many deep cuts and gashes that she recognized as Timber Wolf bites and scratches. She did what she could to stop the bleeding as fast as possible, and managed to do so with little difficulty. Treating wounds wasn’t much different no matter who, or what, you were doing them on. After the bleeding was stopped she did her best to clean him up, and even put his clothes in the wash, with the exception of his chainmail, of course. The more she worked on his wounds and clothes, the more she wondered who he was, and why his clothes looked so militaristic. Humans were slaves, not soldiers. At least not that she knew of. She remembered something that Dash told her once, that there used to be some rich ponies that had human slaves act as bodyguards. ‘Could he be one?’ she wondered to herself as she got her needle and threat and began doing her best needlework to stitch up some of the larger gashes after they stopped bleeding. Once that was done, she began to carefully wrap clean bandages over his wounds, and checked his pulse once more, and let out a sigh of relief. He seemed like he would be okay, though she didn’t know how soon he’d be awake. It was then that realization suddenly dawned on her. She had taken a potentially dangerous or deadly human into her home, treated his wounds, and had sent the bear, which had carried him there, home, leaving her alone with it. Her eyes widened as she looked at the still unconscious form of the human she had cared for, her mind running wild with possibilities of what he could, or would do to her. He was much larger than she was, and all those wounds, new and old, meant he was at least experienced in fighting. She had cared for his wounds, so maybe he’d be grateful and would be nice? Her thoughts went to the sword she left sticking in the ground at the forest’s edge. She shuddered as she thought of it. She wondered if it was made out of the bones from his arm, but dismissed that as it was far too long an instrument. It must have been the bone of a much larger animal. Her eyes widened further, realizing how big the creature would have to be to have a weapon made out of its bone like that, and putting together the fact that this human had taken it. Fluttershy quietly stood up, and slowly backed out of the room with her eyes on the sleeping human as if he was a dragon with a hair trigger temper. She slept downstairs that night, and had the door to her room locked from the outside. ………. The next morning she had made a light breakfast and had made a little for the still unconscious human in her bed. It was small and would be easily palatable for a human, even an injured one. She quietly unlocked the door and opened it, going inside to find the human still resting where she had left him the night before. Now with the sun’s light coming into the room she could better see his features, his wild and messy hair and beard gave him the look of a fierce creature. She could even casually compare him to a manticore. Fluttershy shook her head, ‘Shame on you,’ she scolded herself. ‘He’s hurt, and your patient, Fluttershy.’ She went to his side and set the plate down on the nightstand. ‘You can’t treat him like he’s a rabid monster.’ He began to stir, and she froze like a deer in headlights as his gray eyes opened and tried to focus on the world around him. After a moment, he looked in her direction and their eyes locked. His steel gray eyes seemed to look into her soul with a tiredness that went beyond mere physical exhaustion. Gathering up what courage she could find, Fluttershy attempted to break the silence, “Um, hello,” she spoke softly, almost inaudibly. He opened his mouth as if to respond, but instead he had a coughing fit, and when he could, he croaked out a scratchy plea for “water.” Fluttershy quickly nodded, she had brought a small glass of water with the plate of food. She grabbed it and quickly brought it to his lips carefully with one hoof while the other pressed his back to help him up. He sipped at the water and tried to drink as much as he could. His body was still aching greatly from his ordeals and soon he was leaning back. “Thank you,” he scratched out. Fluttershy smiled to him, but it faltered when his steely eyes locked with her gentle green eyes again, and she shrank back a little, “Um, i-is there anything else I can do to help you?” she asked nervously. The man tried to push himself up on the bed with his single arm, wincing in pain as he didn’t get very far. Fluttershy quickly put her hooves on his chest, “Wait! You’re still hurt, don’t move too much!” she pleaded to him, her fear overmatched by her concern for him as she gently pushed him back down. Lacking the strength to argue, or even move much, the human let himself fall back onto the bed without much of a fuss, relaxing into the soft bed. He then spotted the plate of food that was brought in. Fluttershy smiled, “Are you hungry?” she asked. The man simply nodded his head, his throat still hurting for him to give a vocalized response. Fluttershy smiled and gently helped him into a better sitting position, and then took the plate of food off the night stand and brought it to him. Once he was seated the human leaned back and gently took the plate of food from Fluttershy and rested it in his lap. “Thank you,” his voice scratched out again before he looked down at the food in front of him. The meal was comprised of a couple of slices of buttered toast, hash browns, and even a fried egg. The human paused for a moment, and then took hold of the fork that had come with the meal, looking as if it had been a long time since he had last held one. Fluttershy was going to ask if he was okay before he began to move again, using the fork to cut into the egg and separate it into small bites. With the yoke oozing out, he mixed in the pieces with the hash browns and shoveled them into his mouth, careful not to drop any of it onto the bed. The yellow pony stared in amazement at how well the human handled just having a single arm. She was fully prepared and willing to help him if he struggled, but it seemed like it didn’t bother him one bit. Finished with the eggs and potatoes, the human wiped up what remained of them with the toast and ate both slices. The plate cleaned off, he lifted it and handed it to Fluttershy who took it and smiled, “W-wow, you must have been hungry, would you like some more?” she asked. The human seemed to take a moment to think before shaking his head, just relaxing against the headboard of the bed. He looked to the glass of water again, and motioned to it. Fluttershy nodded and took the glass, handing it to the human, who drank the rest of it in one gulp. The yellow mare looked about nervously, but smiled, “Um, my name is Fluttershy,” she introduced herself, “What’s your name?” she asked, wanting to try and make him a little more comfortable being there. His eyes were looking more tired by the second, and he seemed moments from going back to sleep, but he looked at her, and shook his head, “Not important,” he managed to say, before, blissful unconsciousness took him once more. Fluttershy grew more worried as he drifted off to sleep, but as she saw that he was breathing still, she felt a little better. It still bothered her that he didn’t share his name with her, but maybe he was just shy about it like she was. She grabbed up the dishes, and made sure her patient was comfortable, before leaving the room, this time, not locking the door. ……… So it was for about a week. Every day she would bring him breakfast, clean his wounds, and change his bandages, with little protest from him. He still wouldn’t share his name, but he let her speak without interrupting or even looking bored. Not even when she would go on long winded tirades about some of her favorite cute woodland critters. She thinks she may have even seen a smile form on his lips once or twice. Then, on the fifth day, he asked her a question. It was the only time he started the conversation. “What do you plan to do with me?” he asked. It didn’t sound demanding, or harsh, just curious. Like someone asking where they were going. Fluttershy was caught off guard, and wasn’t sure how to respond right away. “Um, well, I don’t know, I guess you can leave as soon as you feel better,” she mumbled lightly, her voice betraying her. Part of her didn’t want him to, but this was something she was accustomed to by now. She would find a wounded animal out in the woods, nurse it back to health, and it would return to the wild. The man nodded, “Thank you,” he said, not looking her in the eyes now. Looking outside, Fluttershy saw it was becoming dark, “Oh my,” she said, fluttering to the window. “Is it night time already?” she asked aloud. The sky was clear, and even though it was the middle of summer, it was looking like it would be a fairly chilly night. Turning back to him, she smiled, “I have to feed the animals, how about you get some more rest?” she suggested. He nodded as a silent response as he watched her exit and he closed his eyes and went to sleep. He didn’t sleep for very long. …………… It was during the middle of the night, when the nameless human was sitting up in his borrowed bed, and carefully pulled on each piece of his worn and tattered clothing, sliding on his chain shirt last. Standing up, his body ached and his joints cracked over not having been used in a week’s time. He was still a little light headed as he made his way out, when he stopped in the living room, before the front door. Looking over to the couch, he saw his host and caretaker laying there, shivering slightly. The thin blanket which she was using had fallen to the floor. He narrowed his steel eyes, noting that the bed he had been sleeping in had much heavier and warmer blankets. He walked carefully and quietly over to it, and with his one arm, he gently and carefully picked up the sleeping Pegasus, and carried her to the room he had been sleeping in until now. Putting her on the soft bed, he pulled the blanket over her, and unable to help himself, smiled gently as she snuggled under the warm covers. Standing up straight, he cast a lasting gaze upon her, before shaking his head and leaving the house, leaving no sign he was even there to begin with.