Incessant Calling

~Chapter Seven: Safe Now~

I wake up on the ground with needles poking my bare arms. Cole is sitting right above me, and the sky is blocked by pine trees. Slowly, I try to piece together what is happening. There was a tree, then I fell... Well that explains this nasty cut. What happened after that?  I fingered a clump of moss while the memories fell into place.

"We were riding... Why did we stop?" I mumble.

"Because you blacked out and fell off the horse!" He says half laughing, an anxious look on his face.

"Oh, ow." I groan. "Here, help me up."

He grabs my outstretched arm and gently lifts me off the ground. On my feet, I sway a little. My head must weigh a ton right now, and I don't think my legs can support me.

"Okay, I know this is gonna hurt, but we need to get going." Cole says urgently.

"Don't Move!" A masculine voice commands us from behind. We slowly turn around. "Now put your hands in the air!" I raise mine slowly, but when Cole lets go of me with his, I can't bear my own weight and crumple to the ground with a cry. He tries to catch me, but Mr. Soldier Dude points his gun at Cole's head. "Leave her there," he commands then raises his wrist to his face, "Commander, this is Tivelt." He pauses as something is said, then replies, "Phoenix Shadow. Yes sir. I have the juveniles in custody. Location is 48.7223º North 116.5277º West..."

A low pitched growl sounds above us and Cole tightens his grip on my arm. The source of the sound is a sick looking Mountain Lion, perched on a rock outcropping to our right. It's faded brown coat is scarred and wet looking, and it wears a vicious snarl on it's face. The Tivelt guy spins around to confront the new danger, while Cole scoops me up and starts running in the opposite direction. A shot is fired, frightening the horse, who charges straight at us. Cole shoves me out of the way, and I land draped over a rock.

From my upside down point of view, the forest is a blur. I make out a blurry thing that looks somewhat like a horse. It has a sheen of sweat on its coat, and is rearing madly. Mr. Soldier seems to have lost his gun and is cursing. I roll over and land roughly on pine needles and dirt. The world is slightly off-center now, but the sky is back where it belongs. The combined shrieks of horse and man send chills down my spine. I look up just as the hooves come crashing down, and the cries of the man cease to be. Through the thimble berry bush I've fallen in, it's hard to make out who just died, but fear grips my heart.

"Cole!" I cry out. My voice comes out like a stranger's, strangled and raspy. I have to get over there, I have to see who it is. To say I crawled would be far too graceful of a description. No, I tumbled like a drunk through the foliage right into a tree!

As I try to clear my head for a second time, a fuzzy tan thing growls and screams. It comes slightly into focus now, and there's a patch of burgundy amid the lion's sandy coat. The lion. I try to get up as I remember what it is that's coming towards me. With a snarl and a shake of its head, the creature charges up a log, then leaps. I'm backed against a rock and for the second time today, am frozen with fear.

          In that moment, everything slows down. I see a drop of blood from the lion's fangs fall to stain a perfectly white daisy. I see the emotions reflected in those golden eyes: Hunger. Pain. Resolution. But mostly fear. Fear of the wounds that had been inflicted, fear of its own mortality, fear of death. I see all of this, and I can tell you now, this animal knew it was going to die. It knew that mine were the last eyes it would look into. My life, the last it would claim. But it had a duty, it had to fulfill its purpose before it could die. And when I saw the cub flash in the mother's eyes, I understand why.