Aspects of Life

II
Dune

The sun hadn't even come over the horizon, it was still the black of night, and Dune was already gone. Dune knew he couldn't trick his mom into thinking he was still in bed with pillows under the bed, so he didn't even bother. He flew over the wall almost waking the night shift guard who was of course asleep on duty. There wasn't enough recruits in the kingdom to where they could fire them at will, they simply punished them. Dune wondered why they didn't just quit themselves. Probably because they were too lazy to get a job that required skill or they just don’t have another job to go to. He thought to himself. The economy in the kingdom of Saddle Arabia wasn’t doing too hot. More middle class workers were becoming peasants. Though the nobles, and the lords weren’t bothered as much, everyone else was taking the hit. He was lucky, he couldn’t get a job himself, but Star worked as a chef in the castle, and the residents in the castle don’t want to be going hungry.

Dune was about 10 miles out when the first sign of dawn came over the horizon. The patrols would be out soon looking for violators of curfew. A brown pony flying in the sunrise covered sky would be seen quite easily. He decided to go on hoof from there on out. The Altus mountains were about twenty-three miles away from where he was standing. “Dammit,” he said aloud, “It’ll take forever now to get all the way over there, I didn't leave early enough.” Dune let out a long sigh and trudged on.

Dune estimated he had traveled roughly four miles until his stomach grumbled. Luck must have been feeling generous today. Lying in front of him was a barrel cactus of fair size. Looking up he said, “Oh thank you, this is better than I could have hoped for.” He found a nearby stick and swung it to knock the cactus over. Dune wondered why they were so delicate, yet so deadly when he came into contact with it. He remembered when was just a filly and he saw one. He had taken a survival class in case the kingdom, the town, or his mom wouldn't be there to take care of himself on his own. His teacher taught him basic stuff, like how to make or find shelter, find water, and what you could eat in the desert. Now there wasn't much to eat in the desert, but there were some bugs, a few bushes here and there, and of course cacti. Dune’s teacher explained how they were a package deal. “If you can pluck the needles, then you can break it open, and get the meat, which is juicy so you also get hydrated from it.” He had said. Dune decided he was going to be smart and asked, “Why can’t we just kick them from the start.” After his questioned he preceded to a demonstration, where Dune kicked the cactus with his hind legs. Though he knocked it over, the pain from the needle seared through his body and left his feet bloody as his teacher had to carry him back to the town. Dune promised himself he would never do anything like that again. He continued to pluck the needles until the cactus was bare.

After his somewhat satisfying meal, he proceeded on. There was nothing between him and the mountains besides about seventeen miles of desert and two miles of forest that surrounded the mountains. Dune still had no idea what he was looking for, or even why he had decided to do this in the first place. He continued for he doesn’t know how long. Dune stopped. He felt like there was something wrong. It’s quiet, he thought, there’s usually always wind blowing through the desert, but there’s not even a lick of wind. He continued on cautiously. The desert here was nothing like the one where Inivo Vicus was. That desert was all barren hardly a living thing, but here there was actually life. There were a few bushes scattered, a tree was visible,(And there was usually never a tree within the limit of travel), and lizards lay in the sun and some were eating a bush. Dune had honestly never seen so many living plants in one area. He found a few more cacti and decided to feed himself.

The sun was high in the sky and the closer he got to the mountains, more life appeared. Dune was amazed, he never thought that so many living things could ever live in the same place at one time. The sand was turning into dirt, and more, taller trees stared to appear, Dune assumed that he was either getting close or he was already in the forest surrounding the mountains. The farther Dune traveled the thicker the trees became. Strange noises filled Dune’s ears as he continued. Though he would be in the air, the storm clouds and fog didn’t make it easy to see his way around. He didn’t even know where he was going, least of all where he was flying.

Dune was starting to become a little frantic. He couldn’t walk through the forest for a minute without hearing a growl behind him, he was starting to worry. He started to contemplate what could be following; though, he had no knowledge of creatures outside his barren region. All these thoughts ran through his head and he heard a snap of a branch in the same direction where the growls had come from. Dune slowly turned to find nothing. “Hello?” he called out, “Anypony there?” Dune was afraid there would be no response, and he was right. He sat in the eerie silence as a breeze rustled the trees, which was strange because his entire time in the forest there wasn’t even a breeze. Dune just stood there, not knowing what to do. Part of him wanted him to run out of fear, the other half wanted to investigate out of curiosity. His indecisiveness was his mistake. Without having any time to react, two vicos jumped out of the bushes. Vicos were wolf like creatures but much larger, not to mention they were capable of standing on two legs as well as four. They both smiled wickedly at Dune, barring their razor sharp teeth. Their claws have got to be at least a foot long, he thought to himself. The vicos began circling around him laughing. “A stranger in these protected woods I see,” the first one said. His voice was deep and smooth. Dune might have taken him for something else if his voice spoke to him in the dark. Dune asked questioningly, “What do you mean protected woods? I thought this land wasn’t ruled over.” The vico’s smile was intimidating Dune admitted, but the large build and huge claws weren’t helping. “You are correct, these lands aren’t ruled by anyone. But our patron has instructed us to keep anyone or anything out of this forest. Whether we kill or chase, it doesn’t matter, that’s up to us.” Before Dune could even lift off the ground, the other vico came from behind and pinned him down. Dune struggled to release himself, but the size difference was playing a crucial role.

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. The vicos laughed and had their fun with Dune, whether it was pile driving him, kicking him or beating him up, Dune wasn’t having fun. One eventually took his claw and dug it into Dunes face leaving a trail of blood flowing down his face. He was about to do the same thing to his leg. “If you’re lucky, then you’ll survive this and we can have some more fun,” he said. “Yea *panting* that sounds great,” Dune replied. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this. Wait, he thought, they haven’t touched my wings at all. The other vico got bored of torturing Dune a while ago, he was off snoozing in the shade of the trees. The vico’s claw had punctured Dune’s leg, he used his other leg to kick him square in the jaw. The vico stumbled back and when he looked back there were only a few leaves falling back to the forest floor.

Dune was lucky the vicos hadn’t paid any attention to his wings or he would’ve never gotten out of there. But he knew he was bleeding out, whether or not the main artery was hit remained a mystery. Dune was too far away from his town to make it back in time. Plus the blood would raise some questions. How did you get all that blood over you? A guard would ask, Oh you know, got attacked by some cacti. He would reply. Dune thought that cold would slow the bleeding, then he might have a little more time left. “No, you’re not dying here.” The wind was even stronger in the mountains than down in the forest. Flying was getting difficult, and Dune was becoming woozy. Landing on the ground, Dune kept off his left hind leg. The bleeding had slowed but without bandages, the wound was prone to infection. Dune collapsed into the snow, Strange, he thought, It reminds me of the sand back home. The cold wind continued to blow and to Dune, it was getting colder. No this can’t be it. He sat there for what seemed like an eternity until he saw a silhouette in the distance. The figure just sat there watching Dune with what seemed like great interest. Something was flapping around in the wind, which Dune assumed was some sort of clothing. He attempted to call out, but there was only enough energy left to breath. His vision was becoming fuzzy. Dune’s eyelids were struggling to keep themselves open. The last thing he remembered was something hovering over him mumbling, “How the hell did you get up here….” After those words, Dune blacked out.