Far Away

CHAPTER IX

Jack felt himself laying on a cold, stone table. He didn’t dare move after the past incident. He scanned the room around him within his field of vision. The ceiling was also made of stone, littered with cracks and stained with moss. Large, rotting wooden beams lined the stones, as an architectural support.

“Ah, you’re awake,” said a voice behind Jack.

Jack merely shifted his head to get a better view of the room after he knew the presence in the room noted that he was awake. The walls were in the same condition as the ceiling and there was a barred metal door on the far side of the room.

“Who are you?” Jack whimpered pathetically.

“Oh, how rude of me!” exclaimed the foreign voice, “My name is Kasha Stones! Don’t you remember me? I remember you. You killed my zebras. You will pay for that,” his voice ended in a snarl.

Jack tried to move but with no success. There were chains which bound him to the stone table he was laying on. Kasha removed them swiftly with a click and tied his legs up and threw him across the room. He picked up a knife and positioned it at his neck.

“Why are you here?” Kasha demanded.

“None of your business!” shouted Jack.

Kasha looked stunned, as if nopony had shouted at him before. He snorted viciously as he dragged the knife across Jack’s back. The pain was so intense, nothing Jack has ever felt before. He supressed a scream unsuccessfully and then passed out. It was like being whipped but the effects lasted for a much longer period of time.

Daring sat up straight in her cell when she heard the yell of pain. She was sweating. Her magenta eyes looked at the iron door intensely, all she knew was that somepony has elicited a scream from somepony she cared about. Somepony who cared for her. She faltered not when thinking that somepony like Jack would give his life for her. The pure willpower she had to bust Jack out of that room was pooling into a ferocity of a cyclone. She pulled tightly onto her restraints as her nostrils flared.

Guards rushed in to find that amazingly that Daring had escaped the chains to which she was bound. Daring picked up a sword from the rack on the opposite side of the prison cell. She skilfully used the sword to parry and attack the guards who were merely using batons. She whirled the sword using her mouth and subduing anypony who get too close.

The floor was soon stained a crimson red before Daring went to the iron door and peered into the window seeing an unconscious Jack and a Kasha sitting in his chair and observing an amulet closely. She knew exactly what it was and she was going to get it. It could not get in the hooves of such an evil zebra.

She stuck the sword in the lock and twisted ferociously. The door was locked fast. She saw that Kasha had noticed and was smirking smugly at her. He stepped on top of Jack and posed jeeringly.

“You have no honour Kasha!” she screeched, her voice carrying through the metal and rumbled the temple. Daring could only watch as Kasha tied Jack up and throw him onto the floor roughly.

Kasha knew that he could not win against this mare. He tossed the amulet to an eagle that was perched next to him. “Go, give this amulet to Kashin.” Kasha drew his own longsword and opened the door in defeat. At least He will go down swinging.

Daring lunged but was blocked by the longsword. She struck at Kasha swiftly when he was recovering from the previous attack. He yowled in pain as crimson splattered onto the floor. At his time of weakness, Daring stabbed him through the heart in rage and kicked the longsword out of his hooves.

Daring found their things littering the corner of the small compartment and also Jack. Jack was battered and bloody. He was sure to die from infection soon. Daring was relatively unscathed and resolved to use her pegasus magic to call her friend who was also in these parts studying biology. The spell was only used in dire circumstances and was mentally taxing.

She glowed brightly as the message was sent to her friend. She stood shakily and told herself, ‘everything will be fine.’ She knew this was all but a lie.

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

The blue pegasus was flying about in his research tent not far from the temple he was planning to discover in a few days’ time. He was currently studying the fauna native to this area. There is a dark blue chimpanzee and a few others he was currently writing papers on for his university. Being a professor was hard, but at least you got to travel to places like this!

He suddenly felt a tingle and an audio message was playing through his head. ‘Oh sweet merciful Celestia!’ he thought, ‘Daring is in trouble.’ Daring was his friend at university, they both took the archaeology class with Professor Sandstone.

He knew immediately at what place she was. The distress call was a magical signal that all pegasi could send. He got dressed in a coat and immediately set out to the temple of stone he found earlier. It was barely twenty minutes away. There was a hold in the roof of one of the compartments. He dived into it and landed with a thump onto the cracked stone floor.

His eyes widened as he saw the stallion covered in blood and Daring sitting next to him. He walked over next to Daring before he said anything.

“Hello?” he asked cautiously.

“Hi Darwin. We are in a sticky situation, do you mind lending a hoof to get this stallion to the hospital?” Daring asked, supressing the tears that would eventually spill.

“Sure!” said Darwin.