Scruffy’s Adventure

Written by Scruffy–hime

Edited by Luciferia

Chapter 6: One Disaster After Another

Scruffy ran over to where Airi had landed and crouched down, speaking in a panicked tone, “We need to go!”

“I can’t move, I think it broke something” Airi cried.

“Here grab onto me, I'll carry you.” he leaned down further and lifted the small woman into his arms.

“Don’t drop me!” Airi teased as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You're too small to drop.” Scruffy teased back.

“Oh, so I have to be injured to not make you feel embarrassed?” Airi laughed.

Scruffy chuckled at her and said, “Maybe. Quiet now, we don’t want to attract anything else to us.”

Airi nodded against his chest as she cuddled closer to him. After tightening his grip on her, he began running at a careful pace so that he wouldn’t cause further harm to her. However, when he heard what sounded like several things running up behind him he shifted his pace to full–on sprint.

The chase continued for several minutes. Scruffy had to slow down every once in awhile to duck under a tree or climb over a large root. His pursuers closed the gap every time he slowed his pace. After ducking under yet another tree branch, the creatures behind him were close enough to start nipping at his heels. He fliched as a razor sharp claw sliced from his right shoulder and halfway down his back, startling him. Groaning, he tried to pick up his pace but it was growing slower by the second.

Airi clawed at one that got within reach of her, causing the creature to yelp and slow down.

Finally, they could see the end of the forest just a short distance ahead of them, and the small glow from what must have been the tribe they were told about. Airi began calling for help, hoping that someone would hear her plea.

One of the closer beasts leapt up to bite into Scruffy’s already wounded shoulder, jagged teeth sinking into his skin. An arrow pierced the beast’s skull in nearly the same instant, causing the beast to release Scruffy’s shoulder and fall to the ground.

Scruffy burst out of the forest and almost ran straight into a group of women who were standing outside the village with weapons drawn.

As soon as Scruffy got out of their way, the women greeted some of the remaining beasts with their spears, while others were stuck down by arrows. After the women checked to make sure the beasts were dead, they turned to the strangers that had brought the beasts.

Most of the women were clad in little more than hide bras and panties that looked to have been taken from the creatures of the forest. It left little to Scruffy’s already wild imagination.

One of the women was dressed in fur like that of the large beast that had attacked Scruffy and Airi by the creek. The woman’s clothing style was similar to the other villagers’, but her demeanor said that she must be their leader.

She said something to them in a language that neither understood, and after pausing for a moment she began shouting at them and pointed her spear at Scruffy’s throat.

“I–I don’t understand what you’re saying!” Scruffy exclaimed.

The tribal woman yelled something else at them and motioned for one of her companions to hand her something. The second woman drew a small knife and handed it to the leader. The leader planted the butt of her spear in the ground and then quickly sank the knife to its hilt in Scruffy’s thigh, grinding the tip of it into his femur. He yelped in pain, sank to the ground, and placed Airi down as gently as possible.

“Why did you do that?” Airi yelled at the women as she attempted to raise to her feet, “He’s already losing a lot of blood!”

Airi’s leg was severely bruised and looked to be causing an excruciating amount of pain as she moved in front of Scruffy. She took a defensive stance but the leader paid her no heed. The tribal woman motioned toward her allies and they grabbed Airi and threw her to the ground face down. Straddling her, they began tying her hands together behind her back.

“What are you doing? Get off me!” Airi yelled, her tail twitched violently, but the woman showed no signs of letting up.

After Airi’s arms were fastened tight enough that she couldn’t move them, the woman remained sitting on Airi’s back to keep her pinned.

The leader began talking in the unfamiliar language again. One of the women came over to Scruffy, who had not been able to move from where he was kneeling on the ground. After tying his wrists together as well, she tugged the knot into place causing Scruffy to yelp in pain once. He shot a glare at the woman behind him.

Snorting with disdain, the woman hefted him to his feet and barked an order at him that he couldn’t understand, and then proceeded to pull him by the arm into the small village. The village was surrounded by a wall made of branches that had been whittled into spears. The houses looked as though they were made from sticks and grass.

The tribal women lead the pair deep into the village and to the only house made of stone. Scruffy let out a small groan as they threw him down on his butt, slamming his back into the stone wall. One woman grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to lean forward to she could untie him. She then grabbed his left hand and lifted it out to the side, spreading his hand open and then poising a long nail over his palm. This time he screeched in torment as she dug the nail into his hand, and then struck the nail hard with a loose stone she had picked up from the floor. Scruffy wailed in agony as the nail pierced fully through his hand, glancing off bones and cracking through several tendons. She repeated the strikes until the entire length of the nail was buried into the wall. The pain caused Scruffy to fall unconscious in a puddle of his own blood.