Daring Hearts

Chapter III

Escape

The man was lying in a very comfortable bed as the sun shined through his window. He heard a groaning noise and weight on his naked chest. He looked down to see a tuff of messy black hair and soft snoring sounds. The woman was stunningly beautiful and had her arms wrapped around his torso as she nuzzled his chest. “Morning already?” She asked in an annoyed tone.

“Yep.” He said as he gently kissed her head. “C’mon, we gotta go.”

“Don’t wanna.” She furrowed her brow. “Too comfy.” He removed the woman’s arms from his body and stood up.

“Fine. I guess I’ll eat all the pancakes then.” That got the woman’s attention and she sprang up.

“Over my dead body!” The man felt the room shift to the left and the whole house seemed to jump three feet into the air. As he landed face down on the floor he saw cracks starting to form on the walls and the floor before falling into darkness.

~~~

Grant felt like throwing up as he slowly opened his eyes to see the ground moving underneath him. He shook his head and his vision cleared. Grant looked up to see that his hands and legs were bound to a long pole that was being carried by two masked creatures. Judging by their features, they too were of the same race as Daring, only lacked the wings and attitude. They both appeared to be female, judging by their bust which was covered by nothing more than two triangles of dirty cloth, while their downstairs was covered by a longer piece that stretched down close to their hooves. Grant looked ahead and saw two more carrying an unconscious Daring. He saw what looked like a wooden gate lit with torches that contrasted against the orange afternoon sky.

Damn, how long was I out for? One of the masked creatures noticed him stirring and glared at him through the mask. “Um, hi?” He said with a gulp. The mare spoke some odd language the man had no hope of understanding.

As they got into camp, the man noticed several of the locals staring at him. He noticed that there were many women and children, while the males didn’t seem to be in abundance. The two were cut down, but found themselves still bound. The falling sensation made the Pegasus stir and sit up. She scrambled to sit up right and gulped.

“We are so bucked.” She said as the two were brought before a large tent.

“Who are these guys?”

“They’re the Sun Hoof Tribe. They have lived here for centuries and they hate outsiders.” The two were thrown to the ground and a crowd gathered around the tent. One of the masked ponies spoke in a commanding tone and the other tribe members all got to one knee. The tent’s flaps open to show a pony wearing a ceremonial headdress and a long cloak that covered her dark grey body. The two were put on their knees and one of the masked ones stepped forwards and started speaking some odd language.

“Um, subtitles would be appreciated.”

“She’s saying they found us near the Pool of Wisdom. It’s a holy place for their people.” Daring stated.

“You understood that gibberish?”

“I’m an adventurer, you tend to learn a few things.” The leader of the tribe and put her face in front of Daring. She grabbed daring by the cheeks and pressed her lips against hers. Grant’s jaw dropped.

Okay, I’ve seen enough porn to know where this is going.

“Bow chick a bow wow!!” The chief broke the kiss and glared at the man.

“If you want to keep your tongue, I suggest you close your mouth.”

“You speak English?”

“Our tribe can speak any language through lip contact.” She then pointed her stick at the man. “Now speak your case creature.”

“My case?”

“It’s a trial moron!” Daring said.

“What are my crimes?” He was hit with the stick silencing him. “Ow!”

“You have entered our domain and bathed in the Pool of Wisdom, such a crime is punishable by death.” She glared at him with her dark brown eyes. “We are a fair tribe and we will judge you accordingly. If you are innocent, you will go free, guilty and you will die.” Grant looked at Daring who just gave him a nervous shrug.

“Fair enough.” The man started his tale when he arrived in the ruins, he left the part out about the gauntlet and skipped to the part where they were on the shore. “Then I got knocked out and found myself here.” The chief raised an eyebrow and sighed.

“Kill them.”

“What!?” Both of them yelled.

“The mare first.” Two of the tribe ponies grabbed the golden mare and set her head on a chopping block.

“Let her go, she’s my ticket off this rock!” Daring snarled at the words. One of the masked ponies was holding a large bladed axe that had dried blood on it. Grant’s rage was boiling and he felt a urning sensation in his right hand. He felt the restraints coming loose and broke free. He charged towards the chopping block as the axe was coming down.

He extended his right arm and the same shield appeared and shattered the axe before it could touch the mare’s fur. The executioner was flung back by the force and Grant ripped the ties off the mare’s wrists. The tribe ponies saw the glowing gauntlet and all gasped as they whispered to one another. They all got on their knees and started bowing to the man. “Um what?” He said as they started chanting.

“We apologize my lord.” The chief said as she got down on her knees. “We had no idea it was you, please spare us.” Grant only raised an eyebrow as Daring pulled him aside and whispered.

“They think you’re some sort of Deity.”

“Say what?” Daring kicked his shin and threw on a fake grin.

“C’mon your holiness. Use some of that divine influence to get us out of here.” She said through gritted teeth. Grant cleared his throat and hoped this speech would go better than the one he botched when he tried out for the debate team.

“I have risen from the ashes, across sands of time good ponies. I apologize for any transgressions I caused your tribe. Much has changed since I once walked among you. My hand maiden-”

“Excuse me?” Daring glared. She then noticed some of the ponies gripping their spears.

“My hand maiden here, had just summoned me for a matter all to complex for mortal ears. I will overlook the insult this time.” The chief nodded. “Alas, we cannot stay, for we must be spirited away over the great lake that makes waves.” Some ponies looked at one another in shock. “We will leave you now.”

“But my lord we must release you from your mortal prison so you can ascend.” A long silence fell over the group. Grant’s eye twitched and he leaned towards daring.

“Translation?”

“They’re gonna kill us both so we can move onto the after life.”

“Thought so.” He walked over to where his bag was resting and put it on his back. “Very well, but first hear my words.” The tribe ponies listened intently. Daring gulped and primed her legs for a sprint. “Meep meep!” He said in a roadrunner type voice before taking off like a bullet into the jungle with Daring running behind him.

“That was your plan?” She yelled.

“You got a better idea? Now where’s this boat?” The two saw a few arrows fly over their head and gulped as they heard the tribe ponies closing in on them. Daring took the lead and the two ran as the arrows continued to fly. The two came to high rope bridge suspended above a raging river. As Daring started running across the man froze.

“What in the name of the moon are you doing?” He looked stunned and he was shaking. The man’s vision was blurring and he felt sick to his stomach. He forced his legs forward onto the rope bridge.

Damn it Grant, pull yourself together! The tribe ponies caught up to them as he reached the half way point. Daring looked ahead and saw more of the tribe ponies. Her wing was still aching and she couldn’t fly away, not to mention the human was too heavy to fly with. The ponies started hacking away at the ropes and the bridge started to sway. The two heard a series of snaps and started to fall towards the water. Daring managed to slow her descent, while the human hit the water at full speed.

The cold water brought the man back to his senses and reached the surface of the water. He gasped for air as he saw Daring glaring at him. More arrows shot at them and the two felt the current picking up speed. They clung to a large floating log as the river led them back into the jungle.

“What the hell was that?” Daring yelled as she and the human climbed on top of the log.

“That was a tribe of angry locals.” He said as the mare started shaking her hat dry.

“I meant on the bridge!” Grant lowered his head and sighed.

“Nothing, a fluke.” Daring turned around and kept a look out for the ponies while Grant looked ahead and saw the afternoon sun on the horizon. Something made his blood run cold and he gulped. “Uh-oh.”

“Don’t tell me, we’re about to go over a huge water fall?” Daring dead panned.

“Yup.”

“Sharp rocks at the bottom?”

“Most likely.” Daring sighed and fixed her hat to her head.

“Bring. It. On!”

“Geronimo!” He yelled before the rumbling of the falls took them.

~~~

At the edge of the Forgotten Rainforest, there sat a small steam boat docked and camouflaged by the foliage. The captain was a dark brown Earth Pony stallion with a grey mane and tail. He was sitting on the deck of his boat with a pipe between his lips and a fishing rod in his hands. His line gave a tug and he quickly reeled in the line.

“C’mon you son-of-a-bitch!” A catfish had been taunting him since he started fishing hours ago, now it was his. His smile shattered when he saw a he reeled in a tan safari hat with a few holes in it. “You’re not my fish.”

“Oh for the love of the creator just throw down the rope!” A familiar female voice yelled. The stallion looked over the edge to see a familiar Pegasus mare and some unknown creature.

“Uh Daring, what did you bring-”

“Less talking! More rope throwing!” He threw down a rope ladder and the two climbed before collapsing on the wooden deck.

“Okay, note to self. Fire Sven as my travel agent.” The human said as he spat up some of the river water. He looked to see the stallion pointing a harpoon at him. “Hey, carful man you could hurt someone-” His body started to wiggle and a large catfish came out of the man’s pant leg. “Hoy shit!” The stallion stabbed the fish with his knife and roared in victory.

“Yes! Got you, after seven bucking hours I finally got you!” As he held the fish over his head in victory, an arrow ripped the fish from his grip and it fell into the water. “NO! I worked so hard!”

“Rusty. Drive now!” The stallion nodded and got on the steam engine and threw in a bucket load of wood. Daring and the human took cover to avoid the arrows. “Can’t you do something?” Daring eyed the human.

“Like what? My bow broke before we got captured by that tribe. Do you have a gun?”

“A what?” The mare ducked as an arrow almost hit her. Soon the steam engine started chugging along and the three soon made their way out of the river into the vast open ocean. Daring sat down on an empty crate and let out the breath she was holding.

“Will they follow us?” Grant asked.

“No, it’s forbidden for their tribe to leave the island, not to mention the currents are too strong for them to paddle through.” The brown stallion let out a sigh and looked at Daring.

“I’m getting to old for this crap.” He then set his sights on the human. “What kind of thing did you bring back this time Daring?”

“Hey, I ain’t no thing!” Grant snapped.

“I’ll explain when we get on the Bell.”

“The what?” Daring pointed out towards the sea and the human saw a silhouette of an old ship. It was another forty-five minutes before the trio found themselves along side the hull of the ship named Midnight Bell. It looked like an old Navy boat from the man’s world. A rope ladder was thrown down and the three climbed. Daring was the first, followed by the man. As they climbed, Grant couldn’t help but stare at the mare’s well defines ass, not to mention the end of her tail was constantly brushing across his face.

“Ah Daring!” A slightly Scottish accented voice said. “I trust everything went okay?”

“Aside from one annoying issue, just another day at the office.”

“Okay, now that hurts.” The man said as he got over the ledge. The captain was a rusty orange Earth Pony stallion with a dark brown mane, tail and beard. A corncob pipe fell from his lips when he saw the man.

“What in the name of Luna’s royal arse is that!?” He pointed to the man who was immediately grabbed by two deck hands.

“Hey same team! Same team!” Grant yeled as he struggled.

“Looks like we got a stow away.” The sailor on the right said.

“Over the side he goes.”

“Oh come on! Daring help me out here!” He looked at the mare. The mare sighed and rolled her eyes.

“You can’t throw him over board. He’s got something I need, so he’s going back with us.” The man sighed in relief. “Put him in the brig until we dock.”

“What!?”

“Ya heard the lass. To the brig!” The two stallions dragged the human down bellow the deck of the massive ship and threw him in a cage.

“C’mon fellas, let’s be reasonable!” The two closed the cage door on him. “Can I at least have my bag?” The two sailors shrugged and threw him his messenger bag. “Thank you.” He said as the two walked away. Grant sat in the back of the cell where a filthy cot was laid out. The man groaned as he sat down and rifled through his things before pulling out a harmonica and started playing. After an hour’s worth of music, he pulled out a hard cover book and a pen.

Monday, July 26, 2014.

I. Am. Screwed.