A firefly blinked in front of him then another, not much further away. Then another. A line of them. He followed them. Every few feet another blinked, stretching out into the woods, leading him away from danger. She was with him, even if She couldn’t help more than this.
Breathe. He could do this. He focused on the little glowing forms until the pain got to be more than he could ignore. He stumbled, caught himself against a tree and tried to fight back his cry of pain.
Something crunched in the undergrowth. He wasn’t alone.
He adjusted his weapon and forced his body into a fighting stance. He wasn’t going down without a fight.
He could see movement. Something big was coming through the trees. Really big. He fought back another whimper of fear.
A huge horse pushed through the trees into the small clearing where he’d stopped. It was a silvery gray that shimmered in the moonlight. Its back was taller than his head. But instead of losing his mind to terror, he calmed.
“Help me,” Sawyer whispered. He sounded weak and he hated it. He tried to force himself to stand but his legs weren’t cooperating.
The horse looked at him and Sawyer realized this wasn’t a normal horse. No, he should have figured that out sooner from the sheer size of the creature. His eyes were intelligent, knowing.
“Please,” Sawyer whispered.
The horse gave a slight nod then moved slowly forward. Once it was within touching distance, it lowered its head then its front legs.
It took a minute for Sawyer to realize it was offering to let him on its back, the position so similar to the one Draco took when he offered Sawyer a ride on his back. “I don’t… I don’ t know if I can get on,” Sawyer said.
The horse huffed before shaking its mane. Something else moved in the woods behind him and Sawyer knew he’d run out of time. He grabbed a handful of mane, whispered an apology and he used the last of his strength to pull himself up and onto the huge back. He kept the staff, but arranged it down the horse’s side so it wouldn’t catch on anything.
The horse turned and walked back the way it had come, maneuvering through the trees more quietly than a creature its size should be able to manage. Sawyer clung to its back, one hand tangled in the mane and his thighs attempting to hold on more tightly. The horse weaved through the trees until the sound of the ocean grew stronger.
Sawyer tried not to freak out. The fireflies had led him to this creature. The goddess had a hand in it. He would be okay.
They walked out of the trees and onto the sand. The horse didn’t stop. He walked to the waves, and then into the water. Deep. Deeper until the water was at its neck and then the body between his thighs trembled and shifted into something else, something he couldn’t quite focus enough to understand as they began to move through the water. Fast. Faster than Sawyer could even explain. They flew through the water, going away from the beach and deeper into the sea. He clung to the mane, tangling his fingers into the long hair and praying he didn’t lose consciousness and his grip. The ocean water flowed over him, stinging his wounds and sapping the last of his strength.
He had no idea how long they swam. He was fading in and out but he managed to stir when the body he clung to trembled again, and then they were walking out of the water, onto another beach. This one with a beautiful cabin built next to the rocks and trees just off shore. He shuddered as the wind hit him and chilled his dripping wet skin. The horse picked its way carefully over the stones, climbing up to the small yard in front of the cabin. Then he knelt again and Sawyer managed to slide off his back. He hit the ground with a thump, his legs not willing to hold him up any more. He slid to the side, staring up at the huge creature above him.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
The creature shimmered and then a man stood where the horse was only moments before, tall and broad with the barrel chest of the horse he’d been moments before. His dark hair was short and he had a short beard as well, short enough that Sawyer wondered if he’d just stopped shaving for a while. Didn’t they have something like that in November? His thought blurred again, a gray haze washing over him.
“What’s your name?” His voice was deep and melodic. His eyes shimmered with the same silvery blue as his mane had.
“Sawyer.”
“Sawyer,” he repeated. He bent down and scooped Sawyer up in his arms. “Sawyer, I am Saeward. You’re safe now.”
Saeward
“What has happened to you?” Saeward murmured.
He carried the unconscious man to his cabin and laid him gently on the couch. Sawyer’s body was bruised all over and he had one particularly deep claw mark going down his side. His skin was damp and chilled, yet he burned with an inner fire. Fever. After starting a fire, he wrapped Sawyer in a blanket and gathered some herbs. He didn’t have much in the way of human medicine at his cabin, but he knew of a few ancient remedies he could use to assist Sawyer until they were able to find him human help.
Someone would surely be looking for him. He was so beautiful that he had to have people, connections, a mate. Even as abused as he’d been, there had to be someone out there who cherished him. Saeward couldn’t be so lucky. He longed for someone to call his own, someone whose heart called to him. Instead, he swam, forever alone. He was running out of hope, but then… No, he couldn’t hope for this. It was foolish. Sawyer was injured and alone. He would care for him and then return him to his loved ones. It was the way it had to be.
He started a pot of water and began mixing herbs into a small mortar. Once the water began to steam, he used his pestle to crush the herbs, releasing their oils. Gathering them into a small cloth, he tied them up and dipped the entire packet into the water.
Sawyer began moving behind him, groaning in pain. Saeward quickly poured the mixture into a mug and carried it into the living room. Sawyer had worsened in the few minutes since he’d left him. His face was flushed and he was panting. There was an overly sweet scent to the room now as well, one that tickled Saeward’s memory.
“Drink, Sawyer.”
Saeward held the cup to Sawyer’s lips and supported his head. He managed to get a few sips down before Sawyer began to pant and cry out.
“What did they do to me?” Sawyer cried.
