Rise of the Night/Run of Night

For the next several hours Shadowstep came in and out of consciousness. He felt his wrist noticing that they had taken the cuffs off and replaced them with simple rope bindings. He heard voices too, sounded like they were arguing.

“What do you mean he's dead? If hes right there breathing he ain't dead.” one of them said.

“Well I have searched every data base I can get into and they all say that this Captain Shadowstep died in a explosion in Manehatten. I don't know if it's a glitch or if it's a mistake.” Another said.

“Well check again and check newspapers and anything think we can find. Hell might even think about calling that diamond dong woman. After all she sells information.” the first voice said. Shadow passed out again a few seconds later.

Shadow woke up to being in a cot, his body ached in pain from the train wreck. He looked around the room. His hands were still bind together. There was a small table with a jug of water and a small bowl of fruit. There was a window that had bars over to prevent escape and also a large metal door. He got up off the cot and staggered over to the table. He nearly choked while drinking all of the water. He ate the fruit with out thinking. He had only one thing on his mind. Getting out of here and making sure Lyla was safe. He had a feeling that with 'Kit' dead the council might take a while to pick their next solider to get Shadow which might give the Diamond Dongs some time to make a plan on how to warn the Princess and to kill the council. He could finally used magic but he focused it mostly on pain suppression. He focused his ice magic on the dark bruises under his shirt and pants. The door rattled as the sound of locks being taken off echoed in the room. The door opened to a man walking inside with a chair. He simply sat down and looked at Shadow.

“So 'Captain Shadowstep' That is your name isn't it?” he asked spinning Shadow's dog tags around one of his fingers. He was dressed in a duster coat, cowboy boots, leather pants with a revolver on his leg, a simple white shirt, and a wore cowboy hat with a ace of spades.

“Yea that's my name. That's what the dog tags say isn't it?” Shadow answered.

“Now now no need to get defensive. I'm just wondering why you were on a train that was supposed to be supplies for me and my men.” the man asked.

“You want answers from me yet you haven't told me a damn thing like where am I who are you and your men and why did you take me?” he asked the man.

“Ok we can play that game. My name is Wildcard, I'm the leader of Crimson Saddles. You're in the desert, can't tell you specially where but you're not that far from the train tracks in case we let you go. Now it's your turn. So tell me, how does a dead man end up on a train heading to Appleloosa?” Wildcard asked.

“Ok fine I'll tell you. Well you see the council isn't much of a fan of me so they tried to kill me in Manehatten or at least that's what I thought was going on when they sent the assassins. So I planted a decoy body, blew up my house, and made my escape. I then fled to Ponyville only to get captured there and well you know know what a dead man does to get on a train.” he answered avoiding details about Lyla and the Diamond Dongs. He knew Congo and the Diamond Dongs had good relations with out of town gangs but he wasn't sure about this one.

“So the council wants you dead. Big deal they want a lot of people dead what makes you so special?” Wildcard ask.

“That's just it I don't know what makes me so special. I don't know why the council is going out of their way to make sure I'm dead or inside their cage.” he answered. There was a soft tapping on the door and Wildcard left the room. Shadow could hear a soft whisper on the other side of the door. He couldn't tell what they were talking about but it sounded important. Lyla popped into his head and he was worried. He left her with only half the bindings cut and alone on the train station. He hoped that he could get out of here and get back to Lyla soon. She had been put through so much and he had to make it up to her any way she wanted him to. He went over to the cot after the whispering had faded away and laid down. He now waited for something to happen or some kind of sign of what he was to do next.