Chapter Text
The ice cracked like glass as Jack’s face was repeatedly slammed into the cold, hard surface. He tried to push up, to fight back, but his staff had been lost somewhere during the attack and his attacker was much larger and stronger than he was. A combination of blood loss and a massive concussion skewed Jack’s thoughts and after another hard slam into the ice covering his lake, he stopped feeling pain. It was as relieving as it was frightening.
It was OK if he died like this. He’d saved a bunch of kids. They couldn’t see him but he drew the monster far enough away. These big muscly types weren’t all that bright so it probably wouldn’t be able to find its way back to the kids he’d led it away from. It’d probably spend hours toying with his body anyway, long enough for the kids to get tired and head home.
Jack rose from the lake ten years ago. He spent the first five completely invisible. No one could see him. No one could touch him. He’d been convinced that he’d been punished for something, only, he couldn’t remember what. Maybe this was the hell they talked about when he’d sat in on church gatherings. A unique kind of hell designed especially for him. He must have been a really horrible person.
Then five years ago Jack had been seen for the first time. It was both the best and worst day of his life to date. Well… except maybe today. He had been seen by a broken, shriveled woman-like thing, with long tangled hair and wicked fangs. It had been eating corpses. Child corpses. It had seen him, licked the blood off of its lips, and screamed. It came for him, he fought it off. Since then he realized very quickly that the only things that could see him wanted to kill him… or worse.
Most of them were things that preyed on children. So Jack made it his duty to prey on them instead. He had been getting pretty good at it too, until today. He’d saved quite a lot of lives during the last five years… The world around him was becoming nothing but white noise. If this was the end he could at least take comfort in that. He had saved a lot of children.
It started here… at his lake…
In a weird way he was glad it would end here. This is the only place that had ever felt close to… home.
It was the only place the moon had ever spoken to him.
It happened so quickly that Jack barely registered the transition. One second he was being pulverized the next he was still and the white noise faded out into complete silence.
He was turned from his stomach over onto his back with soft, warm hands. Were they in furred gloves? Or they could be paws… weirder things had happened, specially to him. There was a blurred shape over him, it was dark but was definitely larger than him. Not as large as the monster.
The monster!
He tried to push the shape away, he managed to raise himself of a lopsided kind of crouch and tried to push the blur behind him. He wasn’t sure who it was and they seemed to be covered in fur but so far they hadn’t attacked him. He couldn’t let them get hurt. Not that he could do much without his staff.
Jack’s efforts to defend the creature are weak at best and it ignored his fumbling attempts at putting it behind him. It steadied him with its strong arms around his shoulders. This close Jack could make out more. It was a rabbit. A giant rabbit. If he had the energy, he would have laughed in its face. He’d heard of the Easter Bunny; could this be him?
“Hey, it’s ok, you’re alright. I got it, it won’t be hurting you again. Do you have any family? Or friends? Is there anywhere I can take you to get help?” A young Pookan buck asked the youngling softly. The deep red of his eyes shining with worry. He wasn’t sure how much the young creature understood but he had to try. It was injured pretty badly and seemed to be losing a lot of blood. Its face was a mass of angry red and purple bruises, the flesh around its eyes was swelling at an alarming rate. Judging by the damage it was a toss-up between whether it would die of blood loss or the head injury… it was really bad. The buck wasn’t even sure where the blood was coming from but judging from the purpling of its abdomen (it’s shirt was badly torn) there was likely internal bleeding as well. “I need to get you out of here. You need a doctor.” He spoke slowly, loudly and made sure to pronounce each word carefully.
It seemed to be trying to speak to him but Jack still couldn’t hear anything and his vision was swimming with black spots. He didn’t even know if he could still speak. He’d bitten his tongue at some point and it was swollen and painful, so was his mouth and jaw. He managed to feel with his painful tongue that he still had all his teeth. “I s’iiww haff aww mah ‘eeff!” (I still have all my teeth) Jack managed to mumble gleefully with a combination of blood and drool running down his chin before he passed out completely.
The Pooka blinked once before lifting the youngling gently into his arms, ignoring the blood smearing through his black fur. The little creature was so fragile… but the young buck had seen it lure that monstrous brute away from the younger children. He hadn’t been quite fast enough to join in the fight, for such a little thing the youngling was incredibly fast. It had fought valiantly, with the skill of one who knew battle. Strong and without fear. The Pooka couldn’t help but respect that immensely. Right now, however, the youngling needed help. With cautious steps the tall black buck held the youngling securely and made its way back to the settlement where there were others of its kind. Hopefully there it would be able to find help for the poor little thing. It would be a shame for such a brave youngling to perish, particularly after fighting so courageously. No youngling deserved to die, ever.
Most of his people may be gone but he would never let their values die. All younglings had a right to be protected, whether or not they were of his kind. Snowdrop Harestone flicked the snow out of his tall ears. He was tall, slim, with broad shoulders and he was a fit Pookan warrior. His curved daggers were strung across his back with a short sword strapped against his hip he cut an impressive figure. His coloring was mostly black with the exception of the tip of his left ear which was white, his namesake. Snowdrop’s eyes were a deep, piercing burgundy – an unusual coloring for his kind. His patterns were dark grey and almost blended in entirely with his fur, it was a strange pattern. A kind of egg like shape on his forehead with patterns feathering down the side of his face. He had plain bands around his upper arms and hints of the grey pattern on his back, but he’d never been able to figure out what it was. He was wearing a long, grey tunic which covered it up anyway.
He still shivered slightly in the cold, looking back down to the bundle in his arms. He curled himself as much as he could around his charge, praying to El-Ahrairah that the youngling would take his warmth. The little one was so unnaturally cold.
“It’s alright. We’ll be there soon. I’ll find someone to help you, I promise.”