Winded and groggy from my reckless venturing through the disastrous conditions. Distant noises approach once more. Laying helpless in the snow I can’t do anything but watch the distant horizon. My stomach turns as the noises become louder and clearer.
As the distants sounds get louder and closer, slicing through the blizzard at a cheetahs pace. A person perhaps? I think to myself struggling to remain conscious as the spots in my vision start to take root obstructing most of my view.
“HEY!!”” The distant noise cries out in a muffled scream. “IS ANYONE OUT HERE?”
As time is running out as they’ll soon be on top of me, I need to make a decision quickly as whoever it is will soon be heading past. The shadowy outline increasing in size the closer they get.
With no other choice but to take a chance that they would be friendly and offer me aid… Ariel I would have to take but the worst they can do is leave me here…
“I’m here,” I cry out. My voice strained, trying to gather what little strength I have left although I produce nothing but a muffled whisper.
The Jingling of bells could be heard throughout the edge of the storm difficult to pinpoint, as multiple were chiming all at once echoing off of eachother, but they were moving at an exponential speed, coming in my direction.
A shadow rushes towards my numbed body at a abrupt speed, it's too big to be a person the closer it got, fighting the pain unsure what to expect once again doing my best to grab my dagger, immediately dropping it next to my face though unable to muster the strength to move my fingers to form a grip around the handle.
Doing everything I can to remain conscious and aware of everything going on around me, when suddenly six or seven bunny-like creatures appeared from nowhere, each wearing a miniature harness.
My gaze follows the rope from each creature leading backwards towards a medium sized sleigh which appears to be made of old logs bearing a red cloth attached to the back.
A stranger quickly dismounts rushing to my side examining my body, dropping to his knees ,the snow cushioning his fall, frantically shovelling the snow around my face to the side doing his best to free my airways in attempt to help me although, the open wounds across my body make it hard to breathe either way.
Taking a painful breath once my nose was cleared of any obstructions, but at least I was still breathing nonetheless.”Whoa! He’s still alive!” The stranger cries out in surprise, clearly expecting a victim of the storm. “Long Side,” He commands, waving a hand to his small furry companions causing them to slowly approach my body as I lay helpless only able to watch from my snowy confines.
As the stranger frantically digs around my body doing his best to free me as much as he can, and as quickly as possible, tossing my fish to the side without a second thought, he quickly realises how much jeopardy my life is actually in, as I lay watching the sleigh pull alongside my body. “He’s a big one,” The stranger admits to himself,his pace growing quicker and quicker now realising he’s on a time limit to get me treatment.
As he comes into view looking at his sleigh and looking back at me clearly trying to assess the situation he’s stumbled into, as he unclicks the sheeting covering his sleigh at the back, revealing around a dozen or so of crates.
Crashing thuds could be heard as he starts to toss them off of his sleigh in a frantic panic, as the crates clashed together breaking open to reveal various resources, mainly alcohol and food. I imagine both to be a scarcity in these conditions, hard to procure.
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Why would he go so far for a stranger. My eyes widened from the shock of why he would willingly toss all of his supplies away for the sake of a person on death's door.
As I laid watching him frantically shuffle his way around the snow performing one task after another with the sole purpose of helping my sorry arse. I could feel a slight nudging on my side as he tried his best to roll my body onto his sleigh without much success barely able to move me out of this ditch I was stuck in.
Relaxing my breathing in a last ditch effort to gather any remaining strength left in my body, searching frantically for the remaining scraps needed to lift my own weight off the ground, luckily my body wasn’t in a lot of pain anymore as the cold had managed to completely numb my body.
Gritting my teeth, growling, releasing a push off on my completely frailed fingers, all of them looking as if they could snap at a moment's notice, each a vibrant shade of blue spreading right down to my knuckles.
A sudden relief overfills me knowing I’d lifted myself up just enough for the stranger to lower his body allowing me to prompt myself up against him, as we shuffled our way onto his sleigh, laying me down on the wooden surface on the back where his cargo once laid in troves. “My da…gg…er,” My words barely make it from my lips.
“Hug your chest it should help a tad, i’ll grab it,” The stranger said whilst gesturing for me to raise my hands up.
Placing a blanket over the top of me that just covered my whole body in a desperate attempt to raise my body temperature, followed by the red sheet being clipped back on over the top of me, shielding me from further enduring the relentless torment of the blizzard that had already nearly claimed my life once today.
I could hear him shuffling around the sleigh outside, unsure of whether or not he was going to fulfil my request, he took his seat at the front of the sleigh.
“HIKE, HIKE,” He demanded of his furry companions, as they took off without delay.
A large jolt hit me whilst in the back causing my body to shift in all manner of directions hitting my head on the front of the sleigh, producing a large thud loud enough for him to hear up front.
“Sorry about that, but I need to get you back immediately,” he shouts back, apologising immediately, knowing the severity of my condition.
Although I can’t do anything about my body temperature, I can still do something about the wound on my hand, reaching desperately for my belt once more, to reach the small glass vials no bigger than my finger, attached containing some honey inside.
Doing my best to wiggle my fingers trying to gain any extra leverage that could be used to further my reach, grunting in frustration with each failed attempt, trying my best to bend my waist to the side ever so slightly, shortening the distance.
Knocking the vial off of my belt, my heart skips a beat as it falls through my fingers watching helpless from a far, reaching around the base of the sleigh trying to find it, hoping it didn’t fall under the sheet losing it to the depths of the snow outside, Luckily though it got caught in a groove in between the logs, a smirk emerged as things were looking slightly better.
Patting down the area of the sleigh in a panicked manner, the need to do something about these open wounds grew by the second, finally feeling it amongst my fingers although unable to grasp a clear grip on it to pick it up, struggling to move my fingers.
An idea came to mind in my struggling attempts trying once more grasping at the vials between two fingers squeezing them together forming a death grip around the indented curved shape of the vial, refusing to let though for any reason raising it to my head with no alternatives but having to bite the cork seal to remove the contents.
Ideally I would have like to use it sparingly but with my fingers in the state there in, no way was that happening, interlocking the vial between my thumb and my palm gradually tipping, watching the thick, gloopy honey drain out onto the transparent vial onto my hand, a harsh stinging as it formed a thick layer coating over the wounds preventing any more blood loss.
The sleigh begins to slow down as gradually, I can only assume we’re almost at our destination. “I’m going to need you to keep quiet, the people here don’t take kindly to strangers” he asks of me a simple request, it’s the least I can do after he’s gone out of his way to help.