//------------------------------// // Dead or Alive // Story: Playing With Fire // by Orion97 //------------------------------// My body heaved in agony as I struggled to retain consciousness. I felt numb around my waist. I remembered landing on something. I think it went through me. My clothes were soaked in blood and my eyes refused to focus, but my ears picked up voices. There were many voices around me. I think I was being carried at some point, then I blacked out again. Torches surrounded me. I could see that now. They illuminated the walls of a thatched hut. My head felt light and my veins felt cold. A voice whispered "Fight it. Death will not claim you today." My shirt was cut down the middle by a sharp talon, exposing my injury further. "This will hurt. Badly." I could barely make out a pair of clawed hands covering my wounds. A soft red aura swirled around them and made contact with the wound. I screamed in pain. It was as if the ice in my veins suddenly ran hot with fire. A few more claws grasped my limbs and held me down as the pain multiplied. "Wait! There's something still inside him. We need to pull it out first." I glimpsed a clawed hand descend to my abdomen and reach at something. I howled in raw agony as something was pulled from me. "That's...not good. Will he make it?" A voice called from behind me. "I don't know. His strength is fading. Keep him calm. There is still pieces from the wood that impaled him in his belly. If he moves too much it will only do more harm." The pain dragged on and spiked until it flooded my brain. I could barely register a soft voice behind me. "Come on. Just hold on a little longer. You can make it." "One more!" A final piece of wooden shrapnel was pulled out and this time the pain forced me to black out once more. "Run, my daughter! Take the man and hide him somewhere. They only want him.I shall stall as long as I can. If they find him they will not be kind." "Yes, mother." I was suddenly aware that I was being carried somewhere quickly. In the distance I heard angry voices. "Where is the human?" Similar questions were asked but grew harder to hear as I was carried away. "Gone now. We glimpsed him running somewhere to the East. Timberwolves will have him by dawn." "We didn't say it was a he. Spread out and search the area!" Another voice called out. The sounds of footsteps approached rapidly as my rescuer frantically searched for a place to hide. She dove into a large, thick bush and dragged me inside. "Please be quiet. These are bad ponies. They wish you harm." She whispered as they approached the area. We sat in silence for what felt like hours until a familiar voice began calling out. "Valerie? It's safe to come out now! They're gone now!" "I'm over here!" The voice next to me responded. She dragged me out of the bush with her. "Good, there you are. Quickly, we have to return him to the camp and get the others to help finish the healing, the longer we delay the less chance he has." I was picked up again but I felt even weaker now. I probably wouldn't be able to stand if she were to set me down. Eventually we neared a large campsite lit by torches campfires. "Quickly! Get the healers! He's dying!" Valerie's mother called out upon us approaching the camp. "He's the creature from the visions!" "It doesn't matter! If we don't help him we will never know what he has to say!" "His kind will doom us all!" A voice shouted. "Doom us? They will be the ones to save us!" Another replied "Stop bickering! He is dying and needs help! The visions could be true or false but all I see is an individual that will die without intervention!" Valerie's mother answered. "Bring him to the matriarch!" An older voice responded. A moment later I was carried into one of the larger tents and laid on a table. Although my vision was blurry I could see a large gryphoness walk closer and stand over me. "It's the one from the visions!! Where did you find him!?"