The Fire Inside

Chapter 9

You lay in the dirt, you wanted to call out, but you could barely breathe, let alone talk.

You put your hand to the wound in your side, in a vain attempt to stem the flow. You hissed, as pain ripped through your side. Your life source slowly trickling through the gap in your fingers. Your gasp for breath turned into a rasp, as you regurgitated a bubbling mixture of phlegm and blood.

Your vision began to blur, but not before you noticed The Count, starting to become agitated. If the knife wound didn't kill you, then the likelihood was the horse probably would, as he pranced, threw his head about, and emitted ear splitting whinnies.

"H...elp," you gurgled, in a last ditch effort to call for help, but your voice was barely above a whisper. It was at this point you realised, that there was little point. Kieran had planned his attack well, you were going to bleed out. Then all they would find would be your lifeless corpse.

Strange to think that your saviour would be a horse. But that was how it turned out. The screams emitted from The Count probably saved your life.

The horse, whilst being a complete bastard to everyone he came into contact with, bar Dutch, was usually quiet.

Whether it was the smell of blood, oozing from you. Or maybe he had found another human being he liked, besides Dutch. No one would ever truly know.

After about five minutes of hearing his horse screaming, Dutch decided, he should find out what was wrong.

As he walked towards the hitching post you heard him yell.

"Goddamn horse, what the fuck is wrong with you!"

It was only when he got closer, he saw you, lying there, blood already beginning to pool on the ground by your body. Your breathing, shallow and laboured.

"Blair!" Dutch yelled.

He quickly pulled out his own knife, cutting the reins which secured his horse to the hitching post. He swatted the horse on the rump, causing it to gallop off into the trees, away from your prone body.

"Hosea! Susan! Anyone, I need some help over here!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

Dutch knelt down next to you, cradling your head in his hand.

"Blair, stay with me." he gently tapped your face with his hand.

Your eyes fluttered open, "I..." you gasped, as another cough racked your body, and blood trickled from the side of your mouth.

Dutch gently swept a your hair from your forehead. "It's gonna be ok, I gotcha," he soothed.

John came running over, closely followed by Hosea, and Bill, who was on guard duty.

"Help me," Dutch commanded, "some bastard has stabbed her," he hissed.

Dutch held you under your arms, and John took your legs.

"Gently," Hosea warned, "let's not make this any worse than it is already."

With one fluid movement of his arm, Hosea swept everything off one of the tables.

"Put her here, I'm gonna need to stop the bleeding, and stitch it up!"

Hosea pulled out his knife, and cut your shirt off, leaving Kieran's knife, still impaled in the side of your body.

Susan came running over, with medical supplies.

Hosea shook his head, "At least the knife is still in her, that may have stopped some of the blood flow."