Dark Fangs: Forbidden Fugitives

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Okay," breathed Jae, "okay, there you go..." She finished wrapping Midnight Moon's ankle with the soft stuffing in the saddle pad she'd finally been able to knock down with the help of a thin but long and willowy branch the I-Raptor had thrown down--Jae guessed by mistake--when he'd returned to the ceiling cleft.

The mare was in bad shape, breathing with shallow, raspy breaths, blinking rapidly in attempt to remove the oozing pus and blood from her eyes, but nothing worked. Jae hoped and prayed she wasn't going blind because of the pooling liquids, but every time she tried to dab at the Thoroughbred's glazed optics she swung her head away in agony, and had come too close to bashing her skull with several jagged rocks earlier, so Jae had given up on cleaning her eyes for now.

"All right..." Jae lifted a hand to her face and closed her eyes for a moment. She needed to breathe and stop keeping her body as tightly wound and a spring, but she was aware that her muscles right now were not under her control; she was still quivering with adrenaline and there wasn't a way she could stop the stress hormones.

Not with Fright watching her.

Yes, Jae had finally thought of a name for that hybrid creature, and she was rather proud of it, but every time she merely glanced skyward, her heart shuddered with fear, and she remembered his name with a pang of irritation.

It's your fault, she told herself dully, I mean, you could've name him something else. Not like you had to name him 'Fright'. She sighed, easing her bruised frame down behind Midnight Moon, shifting to find a position lying on the cave floor where stones were not stabbing her already sore body.

You could have named him Fluffy, or Breeze, or...Ink....Something shadowy and soft coiled around her mind, slipping through every part of her slowly.

Her mind was submerged by darkness.

Where am I?

Jae blinked, her head aching listlessly. She sat up, but was no longer in the cave. She was lying in sunlight on warm, soft, emerald-green blades of grass, the golden luminescence of the sun dappling the tranquil rainforest floor, dancing through and between branches, vines, and leaves.

There was the softest whispering breeze cascading playfully over the air, caressing the idyllic landscape. It susurrated gently through tresses of Jae's rippled dark brown hair, whispering things to her in a foreign language of the Earth, spellbinding and riveting.

Jae shifted, blinking slowly as she let her eyes roam over her physique that seemed to have not a scratch on it. She ran a hand along her arm and shoulder, her mouth slightly agape.

I'm...Am I healed? she wondered joyfully.

A sudden rustle in the trees to her left--West-- caught her attention. Her head shot to the side, and once again her muscles curled and went stiff. She held her breath, dearly hoping it wasn't a predator--

"Fright!" Jae scrambled back, tumbling onto her back as the black-scaled monster came tumbling from a cluster of vegetation, his eyes puppyish and wide. He panted, regaining his talons, and bounded happily for Jae, his tongue lolling out as if he were a dog.

Jae flinched, dragging herself back as Fright stumbled toward her, his tail lashing behind him. She gasped, horrified, until she hit a tree, her spine pressed against its knotted trunk, and she closed her eyes, bracing for a long, agonizing death.

Fright pressed the tip of his muzzle to Jae's cheek with the most tender, cautious care, his breath billowing warmly out of his nostrils against Jae's face. Jae blinked, her heart pounding. What is going on? Why am I not torn to shreds? She lifted her head up and raised a hand to press it against Fright's jawline. He closed his eyes with a serene, delighted rumble reverberating from his deep throat.