Far Away

CHAPTER VIII

Jack woke up again, but this time not to the rays of the sun, but to the birds singing their tunes merrily in the trees above. The thick green canopy of large leaves shaded the floor of the jungle from most of the sun’s rays. He found his hoof resting on the sleeping mare’s body. He lifted his hoof up and packed for the day. His back was throbbing with pain when he twisted his body to gain access to his saddlebags. Daring started to stir at the commotion caused by the stallion as he reached for the water and map in his saddlebags.

Daring sat up and turned her head to look at what Jack was doing. She nodded to herself and rose up from the ground, trotting over to her own saddlebags which were on the other side of the fire. Daring picked it up with a hoof and threw it onto her back.

Jack, now content with what he has achieved (getting his water skin and the map), stood up and tried to throw the saddlebags onto his back. “Oof!” he exclaimed as his back jumped at the pain the saddlebags caused.

Daring looked at him and shook her head. She took the saddlebags on her back and said to Jack, “Let’s get cracking.” Jack silently obliged and started following Daring through the jungle slowly but steadily. The vines here were getting thicker and the foliage was denser. Daring had to now pull out a combat knife to slice through the undergrowth. This continued for hours upon end.

“Are we there yet?” groaned Jack as he put a hoof to his back.

“Are you tired already?” asked Daring jeeringly.

“I guess exhausted is a better word.”

“At least you still have your sense of humour,” said Daring.

Jack rolled his eyes. He started down at the yellowed map he was holding to check their location. By Jack’s rough estimate, they were two miles away from the temple.

The two companions walked until they reached a clearing. The sun was high above them in the endless sky and the grass was green and soft. The cheerful chorus of birds echoed through the jungle. It was peaceful. The clearing had a small hill that was basking in sunlight. They trotted happily to the top of the hill and gasped.

“Is that the temple?” asked Jack curiously.

“It should be,” responded Daring.

Without any warning, Daring bit Jack’s mane, dragging him to the entrance. Jack recoiled from Daring. He looked into the looming dark passageways of the ancient temple, the walls covered with moss which covered the cracks of the rough stone.

Jack drew his torch and illuminated the dark passage. ‘Daring must be crazy to go to places like these by herself,’ thought Jack but didn’t complain.

“Watch your legs Jack,” whispered Daring, “All sorts of traps here.”

Suddenly, Daring felt the stone under her hoof give way. She yelped. Jack quickly leapt to her aid but it was in vain. A mesh net was cast over Daring as she struggled to get herself out. Jack yanked the net, only answered with a cry of anguish by Daring.

“I knew you were bad luck all along!” shouted Daring angrily.

Jack just kept his mouth shut and worked on the net. That was when he saw a shadow. Only a glimpse but that was enough to set off alarm bells in his brain. He drew his revolver and turned. He jumped back when he saw a monster, twice the size of him. Jack’s face went white. A whimper escaped his lips before the monster slashed at him with sharp claws.

The monster looked wolf like, blue and back in colour with razor sharp teeth. Jack had stumbled back as his crimson blood leaked from his wounds. He feebly tried to fire his revolver but the monster took his revolver with his tail and tried unsuccessfully to knock Jack unconscious. It was chaos in the dark hallway.

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity” ― *Sun Tzu***

Daring struggled against the net, trying to reach for her knife which was in her saddlebags. The good news; the saddlebags were already open. The bad news; she found it hard to reach. She struggled furiously at her saddlebags, every moment passed made her more frustrated.

“There is only one true magic in the world; willpower” – *Me!** (at one of my 'motivational' speeches for school... yay for me!)*

She tried one final time, she twisted herself painfully. She finally took hold of her saddlebags. Now, all she had to do was to get the knife. She searched through her saddlebags, finally finding the item she was looking for. “BUCK ME!” she yelled as the knife tumbled out of her hooves and landed out of her reach. She cried with tears of frustration. She looked up helplessly as the monster – ‘Aha! It’s Ahuizotl’ she thought – tore at Jack. She cried tears of frustration but they were in vain. It’s all over. It’s all over…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daring woke up in what seemed to be a jail cell. The walls were rough and cracked, and the walls had no colour. They were bleak. She felt a warmth beside her. ‘Oh Celestia!’ she thought, looking at the sleeping brown pony beside her. Jack lay there, unconscious with dried blood caking his fur. ‘Oh no,’ thought Daring. She poked at his limp body. She tried to lift her hoof to Jack’s muzzle but it was tied down to the wall behind her.

Time passed slowly, each minute seemed like an hour. In what seemed like hours later, Jack started to stir. Daring looked at him hopefully. Jack grunted with the effort to sit up, but he yelped in pain.

“Slowly now,” whispered Daring.

The door leading to the prison was thrown open and in came a zebra. The zebra opened the jail cell and unlocked Jack from his chains and yelled at him to stand up. The poor pony obliged and walked like a broken pony, his head hung low.

“Leave him alone!” Daring yelled but no awaited response came.

Tears started flowing down Daring’s cheek. ‘What have I done?’