Daring and Her Human

It may not have been very good, or very complicated, but the plan, if it could even be called that, was set. Daring had been keeping a watchful eye on their captors, who had already set up camp. They built a fire and ate. For the zebras, dried fruits and vegetables, while the jackals contented themselves with long, leathery strips of jerky. Daring scrunched her nose in distaste.

In the more civilized world, it was considered greatly offensive and impolite for one to partake in the consumption of meat while in the presence of a herbivore. That meat-eating species such as the jackals, griffons, sphinxes and, if the rumors were to be believed, isolated tribes of minotaurs, had to consume the flesh of others for sustenance had long since been accepted by their vegetarian counterparts, but there were certain unspoken rules that one just shouldn't break.

From what she collected, the larger of the two zebras seemed to act as the brains of the group, not that that was saying much and could be considered a leader of sorts. His frame was massive and his muscles rippled with his every move, easily towering above Daring, but somewhat shorter than Solomon.

A large, vicious scar spread across his midsection, leaving one to wonder as to whether he’s been disemboweled and his mane was shaved clean off. He radiated an air of complete menace. Daring did not like him one bit and so had dubbed him 'Scumbag.' The other three mercenaries clearly served as muscle.

The smaller zebra was covered in faint scars, most of them concentrated on his muzzle. and one of his eyes was coated in a milky film, indicating blindness. Both sides of his flank were branded with what looked to be a sword and sickle crossed together. Daring knew that symbol. It served as the brand for the Crimson Pitters, a slave ring with a penchant for hosting underground fights between their victims and whatever else that they could get their hooves on, be it other slaves or wild beasts.

Either this zebra had won his freedom after years of brutal fighting, making him a potentially troublesome foe, or, much more unlikely, he had somehow escaped and found a place among fellow lowlifes and criminals. He eyed Daring unabashedly, stealing more than a few glances at her flank, making the pegasus shiver in disgust and it was for this that she dubbed him 'Sleaze.'

As for the two jackals, well, they just were. There was nothing particularly unusual about them, save that one was bigger than the other, whom Daring dubbed ‘Thing One’ and his smaller counterpart ‘Thing Two’

"First step is getting out of this cage. I'm pretty sure I can pick the lock, but there's nothing to work with. Those grunts took all my stuff," she looked to Solomon. "You know what? I just realized they didn't search you before they threw you in. Got anything in those pockets there?"

"Uh, yeah, I think I do." He started to reach down, but Daring put a hoof on his arm.

"No, not yet. That jackal is watching us. Let's wait for nighttime and then we can see what you got there. Until then, let's just lay low and not do anything suspicious."

Solomon looked both relieved and disheartened at this. "Okay," he nodded.

"Good. Now, we need to work out what's gonna happen after we get loose. Those guys have something that belongs to me."

"What is it?"

"Just a little something I've had my eye on for some time. Let's see, I also need my clothes and saddlebags if possible. They're not really a must, but they'll make thing way easier on us."

"Why? What's so special about them?"

"You see where we are?" Daring asked, waving her hoof around. "It's the jungle here and the nearest town is at least a three days walk from here. Even if we can get away, we won't last long without supplies, especially water."

He nodded vigorously. "Oh, right. I heard somewhere that jungles really suck the moisture out of you."

"Exactly. That's why we need to have a good means of nourishment before doing anything else."

"Uh-huh," realization dawned on Solomon's face as he tilted his head. He rose one of his forearms and, to Daring's mild interest, rubbed two of the digits in his paw to make a sharp, snapping noise. "Oh, I just remembered, I had a backpack with me. Did you see what happened to it?"

Daring nodded and pointed to a mound of supplies in the distance near the camp. "Yeah. Those guys put it somewhere over there. Why?"

"I got a bunch of supplies over there too. There's some water, food, and medicine. And a few other... wilderness survival things."

Daring nodded in approval. "Nice, nice. We'll need that as well," she then blinked and returned her attention to Solomon. "Say, what was that thing you did?"

"What thing?"

"You know. That thing." She brought both hooves and clopped them together in a clumsy imitation. "With your paws."

Solomon blinked and brought up his paw, turning it that and which way. "They're called hands, not paws." He sounded a bit reproachful about it. Being a pony from the relatively isolated nation of Equestria, Daring had often made unintentional faux pas when interacting with other exotic species. She still did to this day.

"Hands then. Sorry about that," she said with a tint of impatience, not sounding very sorry at all. "So what was it?"

He did that snapping thing again. "I snapped my fingers," he said plainly.

Daring tapped a hoof to her chin. "Huh. Neat." Then, without warning and without asking permission, she grabbed Solomon's hand with her own two hooves and brought it close for inspection, poking and prodding at it, and lightly manipulating his fingers to see which way they would bend.

Solomon was so taken aback he could only stare in disbelief as the pony before him invaded his comfort zone, but came to his senses and jerked his hand away, clutching it to his chest. "Don't do that," he said firmly.

Daring nodded and gave a small shrug. "Fine, fine. Sorry about that," she said, holding up a forelimb placatingly. "You're kinda squishy, you know that?"

"You don't say," he said dryly.

"Huh," Daring did not know what to make of that. "You humans are a curious sort. I think I'd like to travel to your homeland one of these days."

Solomon averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhh... right. Maybe after we get out of here?"

Daring smiled. "Sounds good to me," she then blinked and shook her head, adopting a more serious expression. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. The next part is dealing with those guys," she pointed to their captors, who were too busy in setting up camp to pay them much attention.

"What about them?"

Daring did not answer right away. She returned her attention to Solomon, studying his face and watching him with a measured gaze. "Do you know what they are?" she said in a steady, even tone and cocked her head to the jackals and zebras.

"Um, bad guys?"

Daring hesitated, her face now blank. "Well... yes, they are bad guys. Very bad. They have to be to survive in this place. Types like those... they're not nice creatures. They kill, rape and torture others, just for the fun of it. They do a lot of bad things, mostly because they can. I know, I've seen what guys like them are capable of."

Solomon's brow furrowed in worry. "O... kay..."

Daring huffed wearily and looked away, running a hoof through her mane. "Look, what I'm trying to say here is that... well, we may have to... dispose of them," she said gravely.

Solomon did not blink as he processed Daring's words. He leaned back an looked to the floor, fiddling with a large splinter in the wood. "Dis... pose of them?" he said the word slowly, as if it was foreign to him. "You mean like... like," he looked over to check they were not being watched. "Kill them?" he said quietly.

Daring gave a stiff nod. "Yes."

"Is that... necessary."

Another nod. "Yeah, it is. Look, suppose we make a clean getaway and just, knock those guys out or tie them up, or something. What do you think will happen next? They're gonna get up, they're gonna be pissed and then they're gonna come after us again, and call me crazy, but I got a feeling they won't be so nice this time around." she grabbed Solomon's chin with her hoof and tilted his head upwards to look into his eyes. "Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"I think so, but... I mean," he swallowed. "Couldn't we just like, knock them out or something and then scram, like, put a lot of distance between us and them? Enough that they don't catch us?"

Daring shook her head regretfully. "No, we can't. Even if that works, we still have to march through to the plains and into town. That's a three day's walk and there's no telling what other nasty surprises can pop up. And then we have to deal with the very real possibility that these guys will be on our flanks all the way. For all you know, they could ambush us or sneak up in the middle of the night. No, it's a risk we just can't take."

Solomon exhaled heavily and closed his eyes, covering his face. "Jesus Christ..." he mumbled. "How can you be sure?"

Her face hardened. "Because I've been in this same exact situation before. A few years back I got captured by a group of nasty mercenary types, like just now, but I managed to get away. I knocked out a couple of them, others I'm pretty sure I broke their teeth and bones and another I tied up. Didn't kill one of them, but I still managed to get away."

She shifted her sitting posture and bit her lip. "Well, like I said, I got away and thought that was the end of that, only it wasn't. A few days later I was camping out in a cave for the night, hadn't seen any trace of them, so I thought I got away scot free. That night, those very same guys ambushed me. Got the crap kicked out of me. They really liked beating my face in and to this day, I can't see very well out my left eye. They tried to... use me. But they were also dumb and overconfident."

"I got lucky... very lucky. You don't wanna know the details, but the gist of it is this; I made a stupid mistake. I should have finished the job when I had the chance, but I didn't. I was... weak and naïve back then, and because of that, I was left half dead and with a whole lotta scars. Only reason I'm here to tell you this is because a nice giraffe couple found me and nursed me back to health."

"So I learned my lesson. Sometimes, if the circumstances are good, you can just give the bad guys the slip, no messy stuff, and live to fight another day. This is not one of those times, understand?"

"How can you be sure?"

"I've been doing this a while. I know what I'm talking about."

He was silent for several beats, but he never broke from Daring's gaze, and when he found his voice again, said, "If you think that's the best way to go, I'll follow your lead."

Daring nodded appreciatively. "Glad you understand." She then patted his shoulder. "Try not to think about it too much. By this time next week this whole thing will seem like a bad dream. Just you wait."

By the look on Solomon's face, he very much doubted that last statement but nevertheless kept quiet and his thoughts to himself.

***

"Alright, Sully. Let's see what you got there," Daring said once the sun was halfway set.

"Sully?"

Daring shrugged. "Sure. Solomon's too big and boring to say. And Sully sounds way better, so that's what I'll call you."

Solomon looked like he wanted to argue the matter, but he shook his head and reached into one of the pockets of his leg and withdrew a small, vaguely rectangular blocky object made of metal. It was colored a bright red and even in the dim, distant light of the campfire, its shell gave a glossy sheen.

Daring squinted observed the curious object, slightly tilting her head to the side. "Okay. And what is this?"

"It's a Swiss army knife," he said simply. "Uncle gave it to me last birthday."

"Swiss army knife?" Daring asked slowly and looked back at Sully. "So what does it do?"

"It's got a bunch of little things in it. Here, look." He dug the digits of his hand into the center of the object and pulled. There were a number of minuscule tools embedded into the knife. Pliers, what looked o be a corkscrew, two blades; one normal and one serrated, a can opener, scissors, and few other curiosities Daring had no idea what they were for.

The pegasus was impressed. "Whoa, nifty," she took the knife and brought it close, examining the large straight blade. "Hmm. Yep, this could work as a lockpick. This is good. Very good. Nice going, Sully," she said with a cocky smirk.

A corner of Solomon's lip curled, but he held his tongue. "So... you can get us out of here, right?"

"Of course I can," she said confidently. "Just another day at the office." she chuckled lightly.

"Are we doing it now?"

Daring looked t the campsite and held a hoof to her chin. "Hmm. Nah, let's wait till later. Those idiots are so sure they got us by the primaries, they're up and getting drunk." She pointed over and indeed, their captors had broken out a number of worn and chipped bottles, and were cursing and drinking profusely. "We'll wait a bit and then sneak out when they're good and hammered. It shouldn't be too hard to give them the slip."

"So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Just take it easy for now. I'm gonna lay down and let my wing rest. And you're not looking too hot either, pal." She eyed him critically.

He really didn't. A slight sheen of sweat covered Solomon's exposed skin. His breaths came slow and deep, he was trying not to let it show and though Daring was by no means an expert on human body language, she could see a measure of fatigue.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

Daring scoffed. "Horseapples. Don't be an idiot, buddy. Even if we get out of here, we still need to get out the jungle and trot to the nearest town. The next few days are probably gonna suck, so you need to rest and recover your strength. You're not gonna do much good if I have to carry you all the way, now are you?"

He sighed and relented. "Fine, fine. I'll... try to rest a bit." He shifted to a more comfortable position. "What do we do until then?"

"Nothing to do but pass the time. I'll start. Where are you really from?" she asked casually.

He blinked. "I told you already. Montana. Up north?"

Daring arched an eyebrow and studied his face. "Again, horseapples," she said flatly. "There are no humans up north."

He averted his eyes. "Yeah? What makes you so sure?"

"Because there are no humans here in Zulu and the only other landmass north of here is Aethea, and there sure as hay are no humans there."

"And you know this for sure?"

"I do," she nodded. "I've traveled to many lands, but you're the first of your kind I've ever seen. So, are you gonna tell me the truth?"

"I dunno. I... don't think you'll believe me and, I'm not really sure, to tell you the truth."

"Why don't you try me?" asked Daring.

He hesitated. "Okay, well..." he paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "Where I come from, there are no pegasuses, the zebras are taller and are stupid animals who can't talk, and there aren't any of those... weredog things," he said, pointing at the jackals. "And humans are the only intelligent species around."

An uneasy stretch of silence ensued, and Daring stared at him as though he had just proclaimed his undying love.

She scoffed. "Fine. If you don't want to tell me then, whatever. Just tell me this; you're not an outlaw or a criminal of some sort, are you?"

"No."

She considered this for a moment before nodding. "Fair enough. You don't look the type anyway." She stood up to stretch her limbs and was rewarded by a number of pops that made her cellmate flinch and grimace in disgust. She paid it no mind and laid back down. "So what are your plans once we get out of here?"

"I need to find a way home."

"Hmm. And how are you going to do that? Are there more of your buddies around here to help you out?"

"Well, no. Or, I don't know."

"Right. Do you have transportation out of here?"

…

"No."

"Really? Well, it seems to me I'm your only ticket out of this pit. I meant what I said earlier, you know. I can get you out of here and back home, but if you don't wanna tell me where it is then there's not much I can do to get you there."

Solomon buried his face and let out a frustrated grunt. "Look, it's not that I don't want to tell you where it is, okay!? It-it's just... complicated!"

"Complicated how," Daring pressed.

He shrugged helplessly, clearly frustrated about the situation. Daring figured he was trying to formulate a way to properly explain it. Maybe he was in trouble with someone back in his homeland and forbidden to go back? She hadn't the faintest idea and didn't much care at the moment. Right now, escape was their priority. Anything else could wait to get sorted out.

***

When their captors slept, Daring got to work. Sully’s swiss knife proved quite handy as she was able to pick the lock of their cell quite easily. She may just have to ask him where he got it. Or perhaps she could convince him to part with it at some point. She did have quite a fortune saved up.

In any case, that would have to wait. Daring knew how to put on a tough face, that's for sure, however calm and confident she may have appeared, she could feel the events of the last few days take a toll on her body.

The perils of the Waliopotea jungle constantly kept her on the tip of her hooves, and sleep had been hard to come by the past few days. In the excitement of finding Pondanolos' helmet, she had also foregone any proper nourishment. She tried no to think of the way her stomach constantly gnawed in hunger, or how parched her throat fell.

What I wouldn't give for a root beer float right now...

Daring had to hand it to them. Their captors were smarter than they let on. They gave them only the barest of nourishment, just enough that they wouldn't collapse, but not enough to recuperate. That or they were just stingy with their rations.

"Damn, I do not need this right now," Daring growled as she fiddled with the lock.

"What is it?" Asked Solomon.

"You hear that?" Daring paused in her lockpicking attempts and held a hoof upwards, staring deep into the jungle. "That sound like a bunch of diseased rats?"

He could hear it. A whiny sort of hiss that to his guess seemed to come from multiple sources.

"Those are chupacabras and trust me, we do not want to tangle with them just now."

"Chupacabras?"

"Right. They can smell blood packs from miles away." She glanced with disdain at the zebras and jackals, fast asleep in their cots. "Probably these morons' fault, blundering through the jungle like a stroll through the savannah. Honestly..." She muttered any number of things under her breath, bemoaning the stupidity of mercenaries and soon enough the lock came undone.

"Stay low and stay quiet. I'll go get our things. Get over there and wait for me to come," she instructed and after looking to see that he did, Daring crouched like a cat and stalked forward. The mercs had all gathered around a campfire, now no more than a collection of blackened logs and glowing embers. They snored loudly and judging by the stench coming out of the discarded jugs nearby, Daring figured they wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Their supplies lay not too far away, stacked under the cage used to hold them both, along with provisions and utilities brought by the mercs. After donning her vest and pith helmet, Daring then retrieved the helmet of Pondanolos—thenkfully intact and unblemished—and grabbed ahold of Sully's backpack in her mouth.

The plan as dictated called for her to bring it over to him, along with the ceremonial helmet and she would then return to dispatch the mercs in their sleep. Daring learned from experience the best way to go about it quietly would be to sink a blade into the brain stem, though half the time that resulted in involuntary spasms from the victim, which could potentially cause enough noise to wake up anything nearby.

The other option would be to rear up on her hind hooves and bring down her front hooves with crushing force on their exposed neck. This she would attempt to secure their escape.

But then, as she picked up Sully's backpack in her teeth, something dawned on Daring. The chupacabras lay silent and no sound save the faint whispers of the wind cut the still night air. Not even the hoot of owls, the growls of jungle cats or even the chittering of insects.

It was as if all living things were now absent in these parts of the woods and as Daring looked into the tree line across, her fears proved right.

Eyes, bulbous and catlike with a pallid yellow tinge to them. Dozens and dozens of them, hungry and lusting for blood. Some almost hugging the ground, others clustered amidst the trees. Many were fixed on the four figures asleep near the fire.

Others had already locked on to Daring and fewer still spotted Solomon's near obscure frame in the distance.

So much for keeping it quiet.

Discarding any notion of subtlety, Daring burst into a full fledged gallop. "Run for your life!" She called out as best she could with the bag's strap in her mouth. From behind her, dozens of bodies moved at once. The chupacabras shrieked as they too abandoned any semblance of stealth and bounded out of the woodwork. Glancing behind her, Daring could see the mercs had been startled awake. They yelled in alarm and hadn't even gotten up before the chupacabras swarmed, their shrieks more shrill than ever, but did not manage to drown out the screams of the mercs as they were drained of blood.

But while the bulk of them focused on the mercs, a detachment chased after Daring, running on all fours and spitting like rabid beasts.

"What happened?" Sully asked as he sprinted alongside her, having taken his bag from her mouth.

"Damn bloodsuckers," Daring panted, already feeling the exertion. "Run faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I can," Sully shot back. His arms waved like windmills as he sprinted to keep pace with daring, who had to slow down to not leave him behind.

Whose bright idea was it to walk on two legs anyway? Daring wondered. She looked back once more and caught sight of at least six chupacabras in pursuit. Not as bad as it could have been, she thought optimistically.

Of course, they couldn't run forever. Chupacabras were not very fast, but what they lacked in speed they made up for in stamina and already Daring and Solomon were putting some distance between them.

Just a little farther.

She could hear it before she saw it. She could smell it too. The air grew moist and the sound of rushing water almost managed to drown out the horrible shrieks of the blood suckers. Heaving and out of breath(well, more Solomon than Daring anyway) the duo stopped at the mouth of a rushing river that fed a waterfall; it must have been a good hundred feet.

"No time," Daring heaved between breaths. "Jump, we can lose them here. Chupas hate getting wet."

Red faced, Sully appraised the long drop and turned back to Daring. "Is this safe?"

"Of course it's not safe, moron," Daring said through gritted teeth. "But it's either this or them. Jump." The chupacabras were drawing closer. Daring could see their diseased yellow eyes bouncing along the ground.

Sully teetered over the edge, clearly anxious and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Are you sure there isn't..."

"Bucking jump already!"

Not waiting for him any longer, Daring tackled the larger human's back, sending them both tumbling over the edge. Daring's wings flared out to balance herself. Her injured wing ached and strained from the effort, but Daring grit her teeth and worked it as best she could.

She grabbed ahold of Sully's arms with her hooves, getting unintentionally smacked in the process, and beat both wings with all her strength to lessen the velocity of their fall. It worked, but her abused wing seized up, cramping into uselessness and sending them both into a renewed free fall.

All Daring could hope for now was that the impact not kill them. And hopefully that Sully would stay conscious long enough to drag her out of the water.

She'd never been a very good swimmer.