The Guardian Shadow

by KnightBrony

Chapter 7: Jade

Chapter 7

Jade

After Scarlet had finished cleaning and dressing my wound, we decided that we'd travel a bit more and then set up camp for the night. Before we left though, I had Scarlet help me dig graves for the dead diamond dogs.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at me and said “Why would you do that, you do know they were trying to enslave you right?”

I looked at Scarlet and said “I know what they were trying to do, but since they didn't succeed and lost their lives in the process, they at least deserve a proper burial”I said sadly.

“Why, they were bad guys, why shouldn't we leave them to rot?” Scarlet said rather coldly.

“Because all creatures, regardless of allegiance to good or evil, deserve to have honor in death” I said, my tone as serious as I could make it. Scarlet just blinked , dumbfounded by my sudden philosophical statement.

“Now if that's all, I'll dig the graves while you prepare the bodies, sound good?”

Scarlet blinked and said “Uh, sure, I can do that”.

“Thank you” I said, and went to dig the graves.

Before we buried the dogs, we stripped them of anything valuable we could find. The three dogs I had fought didn't have much on them apart from their weapons, a few gems, and collars made from rope. The leader however had a belt of glass vials filled with a strange liquid, which Scarlet explained was a knock out gas the diamond dogs used to capture slaves, and a leather collar with a ruby hanging from it.

The graves were simple, just holes in the ground big enough to accommodate the size of each body, with their weapons being their grave markers. I had no idea what kind of god or gods the diamond dogs prayed to, or if they had any gods at all, so I closed my eyes, bowed my head, and said a silent prayer that they have safe passage to the afterlife. After I had finished my prayer, I saw that Scarlet was doing the same, her lips moving in silent prayer, and her hair covering most of her face like a scarlet veil.

She lifted her head and looked at me “You ready to go?”

I nodded and said “Yeah let's get going, but first I think....” just then a branch snapped behind us. I drew my blade and turned to the source of the noise “Who goes there, show yourself!?” I barked, getting into a fighting stance as Scarlet readied her bow. The source of the noise came into view, revealing an injured diamond dog with a bloody bandage wrapped around it's head and numerous other injuries riddling it's body, shackles on it's wrists. The dog limped toward us, wincing with each slow step, it's paws raised in defense.

The diamond dog wheezed and shakily said “Please..I....I mean you..no harm” a feminine sound to it's voice.

Scarlet pointed her bow at the I assumed female dogs head “Who are you, state your name” Scarlet said.

The female dog wheezed again and said “My name is...Jade....I was..captured by..the dead ones.” Her voice sounding weaker with every word.

I lowered my sword and asked “Are there any more captives?”

She shook her head slowly, wincing with each shake and said “No...I am...only one..I escaped from..mines but they...found me...were bringing me back.”

Scarlet still had her bow pointed at Jade “Yeah, like we're gonna believe that. Stripes, she's just trying to trick us, we should kill her now and bury her with the rest. She's probably got a whole other group waiting to strike as soon as we let our guard down” Scarlet said, her bow not leaving it's position.

Jade held up her paws and said “I speak truth....I am only...one..give word” her pain becoming more evident with every word. Jade stepped more into the moonlight, allowing me to get a better look at her. She was at least two feet taller than both Scarlet and I, with a wolfish face and a matted brown and white coat, blood slowly trickling from her open wounds, a green choker around her neck with a claw hanging from it. She looked like she was about to say something when she began to cough violently and fell to one knee. I stuck my sword in the ground and ran to her side to help her.

Scarlet saw me do this and yelled “Are you out of your mind Stripes, she's just trying to trick us and make us slaves in their gem mines” Scarlet said coldly, still not lowering her bow.

I got to Jade's side, her coughing getting worse as I drew closer. I got a better look at her injuries, to find that she was in worse shape than I had first thought. The bandage around her head was almost completely stained red with blood, her other cuts much deeper than I had thought and bleeding more profusely.

I turned to Scarlet and said “Scarlet, come quick, she's seriously injured, she needs help now!” I said, my voice urgent.

Scarlet blinked once before saying “You cannot be serious?”

Jade coughed more violently, this time blood coming up with it. I turned to Scarlet and screamed “Damn it Scarlet, she needs help, now get your flank over here and help her, NOW!” I ordered rather than asked.

Scarlet flinched at my sudden change of tone, before swapping her bow for her first aid kit and trotted over muttering something like “I'm gonna regret this” under her breath, and set to work on healing the injured Jade.

While Scarlet was busy tending to Jade's wounds, I set to making camp for the night, which was more like early morning by this point. I gathered some stray bits of wood and used the flint to start a fire. I looked through my rations and saw that what I had wouldn't feed three people, especially considering two of those people, me included, were heavily injured. I went to Scarlet's pack, which I didn't notice until just a while ago, to see if she had any food to eat. As I was about to open her pack, I was met with an arrow whizzing past my face and embedding itself in a tree. I looked over to see Scarlet releasing her bow from it's levitation spell, not even looking up from healing Jade, and said to me “If you even think about touching my stuff I'll pin your soft parts to a tree faster than you can say wonderbolts, got it?”

I shook my head rapidly and squeaked out “Got it.”

“Good” she said, not even looking up from the task in front of her.

After another hour or so, Scarlet walked over and sat next to me, her hooves clean of blood.

“How is she?” I asked, concern present in my voice.

Scarlet sighed and said “Not good, she's got massive head trauma, some broken ribs, and multiple lacerations and puncture wounds all over her body. She's fine for now, but we need to try and get her to a hospital soon.”

I thought for a moment and said “Ok, she's stabilized that's good. We can get her to a hospital tomorrow when we reach Trottingham.”

Scarlet went wide eyed and said “Whoa whoa whoa, we're taking her with us?”.

I cocked an eyebrow and said “Yes, was that not clear?”.

“You can't be serious, you can't be seriously considering taking this mutt with us?” Scarlet asked with a mix of confusion and anger.

“She's injured, you said she needs a hospital, so we're going to get her too one, end of story.” I said matter-of-factly.

“But Stripes I..” I cut her off by grabbing my sword and sticking it into the ground with so much force the ground cracked.

“She's coming with us and that's that, if you don't like it, then you're free to leave, I'm not stopping you.” I said, my voice serious and angry.

Scarlet looked at me with a combination of fear and shock, and after a minute or so of trying to come up with a counter argument, she harrumphed and said “Fine, but you're carrying her there!” as she trotted over to her pack

I pulled my sword out of the ground and said “Fine. Now, I think it's time you got some rest, I'll keep watch.”

Scarlet just ignored me as she got out her bedroll and went to sleep. I couldn't help but think about why Scarlet was acting this way. What was her problem with diamond dogs? From the way she was talking she made them out to be monsters, which I could see given that only a few hours ago I was almost made a slave by four of them, but that's still no excuse. I could tell Scarlet had some kind of grudge against diamond dogs, but I could also tell whatever it was had to pretty bad for her to be acting this way. I wouldn't ask her about it though. If she wants to tell me, she'll tell me in her own time.

I sat against a tree with my sword against my shoulder, simply listening to the sounds of nature and the rhythmic breathing of the sleeping Scarlet and Jade, and thought about what kind of adventures and dangers I would have in this strange and wonderful world.

Comments

[Cade117]

I AM A MUFFIN!!!
I MEAN BAGEL!!!
WITH CREAM CHEESE!!!

[Not_a_Brit]

3509633

I WILL EAT YOU!!!!!

[Phobos]

I would have said wonderbolt just to spite her.

[Wolfblood2203]

5118762
NOT IF I TRAVEL BACK IN TIME AND DO IT FIRST!!!!!