Dark Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 5

The sight of Fox falling to the ground was enough to shake
most of us from our stunned silence. Some people started to
yell while one lady in the back started screaming at the top
of her voice.

My reaction was a little more effective for what had
happened. I got out of my seat instantly, and ran to Fox's
side. He was still alive, but his breathing was shallow.
Slicing his shirt open with a claw, I saw how bad it was.
There was a hole in his chest, right over his navel, and it
was bleeding strongly.

Above me Grasion laughed again. "You are under my control
now. Each of you will do as I say if you have any desire to
continue living. Now, all communications inside this
building have been terminated, so don't get any ideas about
calling for help. It's not going to come."

He then smiled down at me. "Feel free to try and save him
Ms. Council Head, but I doubt you will." Then he turned on
his heel and walked out the main door of the hall. The guard
stepped through after him, to guard the other side of the
door, I would presume.

I wasn't a doctor; I had no idea what needed to be done to
save Fox's life. All I could think of was to stop the
bleeding. Quickly I pulled his jacket, and then his shirt
from his body. His shirt I bundled up and pressed against
the wound, then using his belt I strapped it down as tightly
as I could.

It really wasn't good enough to do anything for him. I
didn't know how much longer he would have to live, but I
knew it would be measured in only hours.

"Rachel?" Theo said, setting his paw on my shoulder.

I looked up at him, not saying anything to him. Not sure if
I could say anything at all.

He sighed, looking down at Fox. "At least he's still alive."

"I don't know for how long though... he needs to get to a
hospital, or at least a medical bay."

"The pair of them are old enemies, aren't they?" I was
relived that someone had shut the screaming lady up just
after Theo asked his question.

I nodded, still leaning on Fox. "He's talked about Grasion
before. Mostly it was hoping that he would never have to
encounter him again." I wasn't sure when I started it, but I
was whispering.

"Then why is he still alive?"

I cast him a glance. "Fox is not a killer; you should know
that."

Theo shook his head. "Wrong him. Why didn't Grasion just
kill Fox? He had the perfect opportunity."

I sighed, "I don't know. Maybe he wants it to be a slow
death."

"I'm quite sure that he could come up with a few thousand
more painful ways to kill him than just a shot in the gut."
He shook his head, "This is something else completely."

"What, though?"

He shook his head, handing me a towel he had brought with
him. "Clean your paws off and go talk to Laina."

I started to protest, but he shook his head. "She's trying
to come up with some means of communication. If she does
you're the one who's going to have to do the talking."

He was right. Sadly, I took the towel from him and wiped the
blood from my paws. Then standing, I walked back over to our
table. Laina was still there, hunched over and tapping on
her console. One of her ears had dipped down over her face
and she keep pushing it away.

"Anything so far?" I asked the bunny as I sat down next to
her.

She looked up at me, and shook her head. "The radio spectrum
is jammed and it feels like there's a field over the base to
block the folds."

I sighed. "So it's useless, then."

She shook her head. "No, not entirely. If I'm reading this
right, it's not a complete block. I think some of the lower
bands maybe open enough to send a simple message through."

There came a thump from the main doors into the banquet
hall. Everyone in the room stopped what they had been doing
to see who was coming into the room.

A pair of guards pushed two people inside, resealing the
door behind them. One I recognized almost immediately as
Milgrove, the other I wasn't quite sure about, she was one
of Fox's friends.

As the doors shut behind them, they looked around. Milgrove
found me quickly, looking me right in the eyes. The second
one was now staring at Fox, after a few seconds Mil looked
down at him as well.

Before I knew that I had done anything, I was standing next
to them. "What happened?" Milgrove asked.

"He was shot."

The second lady, an elf I now saw, pulled off the light vest
she had been wearing and sat down right next to Fox. She
reached first for his neck, pressing gently, then placed her
hand over his heart and frowned.

Mil bent down next to her. "What are you doing?"

The elf reached behind her back and came back holding a
small leaf of some kind which she folded in half and put
into her mouth, swallowing it whole. "I'm going to try and
heal him," she explained, panting softly.

"Can you?" I asked leaning down myself.

She didn't answer; instead she grabbed my arm. The spot
where her fingers touched me stung for a second, then she
let go. She did this to Theo, then finally Milgrove. She
paused for a few seconds longer. "I'm going to need some of
your blood," she said.

Mil frowned, "I'm not sure--"

The elf cut her off, "Your blood is an almost perfect match
for his. It will save a lot of time and effort to use yours
instead of someone else's." Her blue eyes started to glow
like fire.

Milgrove closed her eyes and slowly nodded.

"Good," the elf said, and turned back to Fox. With one hand
still holding Mil's wrist she removed my make-do bandage.
The once white shirt was already red from Fox's blood.

Placing her free hand on the wound she closed her eyes.
Slowly she started to chant, the words spoken so low that I
could not make sense of what they meant. Still though, they
hung in the air, the magic of them filling the room.

Her fingers started to glow as well, wrapping her hand and
the wound in their magic. Her face was contorted, pain
showing through every inch of her skin. Soon blood started
to trickle from around her eyes and from the sides of her
mouth. Drops formed on her ears as well.

Milgrove suddenly gasped as the grip on her wrist tightened,
the elf's knuckles white from the pressure. Around her
fingers and through Mil's fur blood started to rise, flowing
over her fingers.

Improbably, it moved like it had a life of its own over her
hand and down her arm. As it reached her elbow it flowed
under her shirt, fluttering it as if it was in a light wind,
though none of the blood showed through the fabric.

From under her shirt it moved across the front of her body
then down her other arm into the light around Fox's wound.
She stayed that way for a few seconds, until she let go of
Mil's wrist. She placed that hand as well inside the glow of
her healing.

It seemed like nothing was happening for a few seconds as
the blood flowed down her arms. Quickly though, her skin was
showing again as the blood finished seeping into Fox. After
a few more seconds she finally broke away, falling back
against Theo's legs. He bent down to hold her and to clean
her bloodied face.

Fox's wound was gone now, not even a scar remained, just
skin. His breathing was stronger as well, and not as ragged
as it had been when she had begun.

"He isn't healed yet," the elf said as she cleaned her face
off with a towel. "He will live for a few days, but he needs
more than I know how to do."

I nodded, "We need to get him out of here."

"How, though?" Theo asked.

Milgrove looked up, scanning around the room. One paw held
her wrist where the elf had drawn her blood. Finally she
looked back at me. "Where's Oriana?"

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
'Milgrove' is (C) 1997 by J. 'Packrat' McCoy, and is used
with permission.