Chapter 13: Just Jump In

"No no no, god damnit!" Tiran bellowed as the sergeant fell against the lip of the door and slumped to the ground.
Tiran whipped around to see where the shot had come from and was unpleasantly surprised to see Lieutenant Collins standing there with pistol in hand.

"I said we need to go now!" The Lieutenant screamed in a panicked voice.

Tiran lost it.

"Are you fucking crazy!?" He yelled as he stomped towards Collins.

Collins raised the gun to Tiran's chest, "Get back in the cockpit and fly us out, now!"

Tiran looked down at the gun. Then back at the Lieutenant's face, distorted as it was in panic and fear. The man had just shot and killed one of Tiran's closest friends in the service, besides Ian. He wasn't going to let that go.

Mind clouded with rage, Tiran grabbed the gun and forced it up towards the ceiling. Collins yelled and pulled the trigger, the gun's moving parts shredding through Tiran's glove and into his flesh. While the pistol mangled Tiran's hand, it sent round after round up through the overhead and into the engines.

Warnings and flashing lights began blaring from the cockpit as the aft compartment began to fill with acrid smoke. They struggled back and forth, stumbling over bodies as the gunship rose and pitched while Ian tried to keep the bird airborne. Tiran shoved Collins up against the bulkhead by the damaged door, bringing them face to face. Tiran began to bang the panicked Lieutenant's gun against it in an attempt to get him to release it.

Collins began screaming in Tiran's face, "I'm gonna have you fucking shot for this!"

"Fuck you!" Tiran spat, shoving Collins away, towards the door.

The Lieutenant stumbled back, his heel caught on an arm of one of his former comrades, and he fell. Tiran leaned out of the doorway and watched as Collins fell through the air, finally crumpling into a heap on the earth several meters below, landing beside the Gunny.
Something began to dawn on Tiran as he pulled himself away. He had just killed a fellow officer. He brought up his bloody, mangled hand, wondering how he had done that.

"Tiran, get up here, now!" Ian shouted from the cockpit, pulling Tiran from evil thoughts.

Tiran pushed the darkening cloud from his mind and fought across the bucking and sliding deck to the cockpit. It was starting to fill with smoke from the aft compartment, clawing at their throats and choking their lungs. Tiran sat down and began to assess the situation.
Multiple systems were out, their displays dead. The engines were rapidly failing and the control surfaces were responding sluggishly,the gunship began to dip towards the ground.

Another warning tone began to blare, "Tiran, hostiles to the front!" Li explained as they started taking fire to the windshield.
"Ian—!

"Shit!"

Tiran sat up with a start, eyes wide. His heart was hammering in his chest so fast, he was afraid it might burst out or quit on him. Tiran leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands, recoiling a little at the freezing cold touch of his artificial hand.

Once he composed himself a little, Tiran sat straight again and took a look around.

It was still dark, but Tiran guessed it might be close to dawn, one side of the sky was quickly growing pink-ish and bright. The fire had gone out hours ago, letting only small wisps of ash escape from its dying embers occasionally. Ruwa was still sleeping soundly, her chest rising and falling with a peaceful cadence.

Tiran last remembered talking to Ruwa about something, but he must have dozed off at some point. He hoped she didn't mind.

Images of his dream suddenly returned, unbidden. They appeared to him to be happening more frequently. For the third time since they'd left town the day before, Tiran wished he had thought to pack some alcohol for the trip. At least then, he could get buzzed enough that the dreams would stop bothering him.

As it was, he had none. The best he could do would be to find some water and wash off the cold sweat the terrifying movie theater that was his mind had left on his face. Tiran didn't want to use the water they had, but he thought he remembered Ruwa telling him that there was a stream or river nearby.

Picking himself up, Tiran pulled his gloves on and went in search of this fabled body of water, hoping it wasn't too far. After all, he didn't want Ruwa to wake up thinking he had left without her. just a little jaunt to the stream and back would be fine.

Tiran picked his way through the underbrush as best he could in the steady maturation of dawn, sometimes stumbling over hidden roots among the tall grass, but otherwise doing ok. At times, he thought he could hear the intermittent slap and rush of water moving among the verdant growth of the forest. He angled towards it whenever he could.

As the slow progress of Tiran's trek through the tangling branches and snaring vines began to wear on him, the sound of moving water grew. He even thought he could smell it. The air just seemed fresher.

Finally, he burst from the foliage and tripped on a rock stuck out of the ground, dropping to one knee at the gently lapping edge of a wide, slow moving river.

"Finally!" Tiran said to no one in particular as he moved closer to the water's edge.

The river was clear and deep, almost nothing like the stagnant bodies of water he was accustomed to back home. The ocean was great to swim around in and have some fun, but it was nothing compared to finding naturally clean, fresh water. It was so clear, Tiran thought it might even be safe to drink as-is, but he knew better than to test fate and take a sip, no matter how tempting it was.

So Tiran settled with taking off his gloves and cupping the pure liquid crystal in his palms and splashing it on his face. The water was cold, cold enough to give him a shock, but not unpleasant. It was refreshing, he rubbed his face clean with it and even ran some through his tangle of hair, eventually going for broke and submerging his entire head.

Tiran came up with a gasp, enjoying this new clean feeling in the brisk morning air. Then he heard something carried along the breeze. He couldn't be sure, but it sounded like a shout. Tiran crouched, slowed his breath and listened.

He heard it again, but more clearly. It definitely sounded like a shout.

"Li, do you know what that is?"

'Please specify.'

"Listen, it sounds like a shout."

Tiran went quiet again and waited. Seconds ticked by and nothing happened. Then, when Tiran was just about to give up and leave, it happened again. Clearer, more defined, somebody was definitely calling out.

Li confirmed it, 'Aural sensors have picked it up. Tone and intensity indicates a male. Inflection indicates a call for help.'

Tiran tensed, "Direction?"

'East, downstream.'

Tiran grabbed his gloves, turned and began to run, legs pumping hard. The mud along the river's edge clung to his boots and threatened to drag him down, but he shook it off and pushed for more speed. Soon he was at a dead run, feet pounding into the soft earth as the cries for help grew louder.

Along with the shouting, the rushing of the river grew as well. White caps and turbulence appeared on the water's surface, building and increasing to a steady roar. Rocks began to just from the water, pushing the now swift current into ever more violent swirls and splashes.

Then Tiran stopped, coming to an abrupt halt. He could go no further. He desperately wanted to continue to the owner of the shouts, but it was hard to with thirty foot drop in his way.

Tiran was now standing at the edge of a vertical cliff. To his left, the water flung itself over the edge in a suicidal urge to conform with gravity, plummeting into a deep and wide pool of white thrashing froth so far below. Tiran looked around frantically for a way down, but saw none.

Below him, at the edge of the pool stood a manic stallion, galloping back and forth along its boundaries, eyes staring wide with unbridled fear at the swirling consortium of violent liquid.

"Hey! HEY! Up here!" Tiran bellowed over the roar of the water, waving his arms wildly about in an attempt to get the stallion's attention.

Below, the stallion stopped and glanced frighteningly around. Finally, he looked up, eyes growing even wider at the sight of Tiran.

"Hey, what's wrong!?" Tiran shouted down to him.

"Who- wha- what are you!?" the stallion cried in panic. "Don't- you're not a monster, right?"

"What? No, what the fuck? I'm here to help, what's going on?" Tiran shouted back with disbelief. What kind of answer was that to some one coming to help?

"Huh?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Tiran cupped his hands around his mouth, Do you need help!?"

"Help? Help! Yes help! My friend's hat flew off into the water, he went to go get it and got sucked under!"

"Sucked under?"

Tiran looked down at the frothing pool where the waterfall met its surface. He'd heard about this in training. Stay down stream at the bottom of a waterfall and you were fine, enter from the sides or rear of the falls and you could be dragged under by the relentless force of the falls, holding you against the bottom and eventually drowning you.

Tiran had to think fast. There was no telling how long the victim had been under, but they wouldn't be able to survive long. He looked around again for a quick way down, speed was key.

Sadly, there was none. Except for one.

Tiran had been a very strong swimmer when he was younger, but that was long ago and back when he still had both arms. Now, he wasn't sure he still had the skill, let alone wether or not he could even swim well enough with his artificial limb. He'd never tried.

Li guessed at what Tiran was about to do as he stepped up to the edge, 'Tiran, I do not suggest this course of action. It is unknown how strong the current is or how deep the water is underneath the waterfall. We may not survive.'

Tiran began to hyperventilate, sucking in deep breaths for his coming task, oxygenating his blood, "I know, Li, but I don't see any other options. Besides, you'll be fine, you don't need to breath."

'If you follow through, there may be two bodies at the bottom of the pool instead of just one,' she warned. 'Please consider your own life.'

Tiran exhaled sharply, "I have, Li. It's been a pretty shit one so far," he bit back.

'Tiran—'

Before Li could further voice her protest, Tiran took one last deep breath and jumped.

The fall was dizzying, disorienting, terrifying. Tiran entered the water by the fall's impact point feet first. Suddenly, he was completely surrounded by one of the most deafening roars he'd ever heard in his life. The waterfall pounded and abused him and then, sucked him under. A chilled, icy sensation poured into his suit at the neck as his suit started to take on water.

Combining with the weight of Tiran's armored suit, the current of the waterfall pushed him further and further into the depths of the pool. The light from above began to fade, giving way to a melancholic ink. Then Tiran slammed into the bottom.

The force of the impact nearly drove Tiran to expel the air from his lungs. Painfully, he willed it to stay in even though he felt as if his lungs were about to pop like over inflated balloons. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear and Tiran was quickly deciding that this was a terrible mistake.

Still, he was there, so he began to feel around in the icy darkness. Crawling along the bottom where the force of the falls kept him, Tiran felt around with his hands and feet, probing and prodding for the soft feel of flesh.

Tiran's lungs began to scream. He felt the panic of suffocation try to take over. He beat it back, driving it to the rear of his mind. His lungs tried to betray him as well, twice he had to stop himself from opening his mouth and trying to breathe.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Tiran felt his left hand brush up against something soft and thick. He grabbed at it desperately, fingers scrambling to get a hold. His hand then clamped down on what felt like an oddly jointed leg.

Tiran pulled himself over, feeling up the leg until he found the rest of the body. It didn't move and as he felt his way up the neck, he couldn't feel a pulse. Tiran felt dismayed, thinking he was too late. But if the pony had gone under recently enough, there might still be a chance.

With great effort, Tiran got his arms under the body as his own screamed at him to stop and go for the surface. He judged where the current was flowing out strongly, using the pull of the current on his hair as an indicator. Tiran aimed for what felt like the strongest vector, engaged the servos in his suit, lifted and pushed as hard as he could.

Almost instantly, the body flew away, heading for places unknown. Now all Tiran had to do was get himself out. If he even could.

Kicking, clawing, silently cursing himself for his poor moment of judgment, Tiran sought to extricate himself from the swirling drowning machine that fought just as fiercely to keep him under. Tiran especially chastised himself for not bringing his helmet. With it, he would have had a fifteen minute reserve of air.

Then finally, the pounding on Tiran's back lessened. light began to stream through the water once more. The currents subsided, turning from raging torrent to a languid pull.

Tiran was finally out from underneath the falls. But he was still on the bottom.

Up above, he could see the light of the new day, finally matured, dancing down through the wakes and ripples on the surface above. Tiran pushed off the bottom, struggling and straining to reach the ceiling of air that would save him. His lungs felt like fire had been poured into them. His chest regularly hitched and heaved as his body willed him to breath.

But for every stroke that brought him one foot closer to the surface, the weight of his now waterlogged suit countered, continuing to drag him down. Tiran's mind raced in a hypoxic delirium. He had to escape, had to reach the world above.

But he just couldn't.

At last, the pain in his lungs overwhelmed Tiran and he accidentally swallowed a mouthful of cold, crisp water. The water dropped to his lungs as he involuntarily tried to breath. Tiran was suddenly wracked by a fit of coughing, which did nothing but exacerbate his problem, drawing more water into his lungs.

Tiran's vision began to fade and flicker. His strokes became more feeble and pathetic. His feet grazed the bottom, settling upon the silky silt. He continued to fall back, the light from above tormenting and teasing him. He was so close, yet there was nothing he could do.

The light started to fade from Tiran's world, fleeing for places higher, escaping the suffocation that Tiran could not. He lay back, arms still stretched towards the surface, settling on the sand. Looking up, Tiran watched as the light began to fade from his life. His heart rate slowed. His vision failed. his extremities went numb as his body drew all the blood to his head and torso as a last ditch effort to save him.

A splash. The surface breached. A dark shape descended. Powerful legs kicked, great sweeps of feathered wings propelled it through the water. Tiran felt a sharp tug just as he let go.

The first sensation that came to Tiran was pain. Sharp, pressing pain in his lungs. He tried to breathe again, only to find there was something soft and warm locked onto his mouth. He suddenly felt a great rush of air force its way down his throat.

Tiran sputtered and coughed and the sensation around his mouth vanished with a heave, water rushed up his throat and out of his mouth, gurgling to the wet ground around him. He opened his eyes, blinked, tried to see clearly around him.

The first thing he saw as his chest and stomach continued to propel water from his mouth and lungs was a blurry face looking down at him. Tiran sat up, pushing the face away and doubled over, retching on the ground next to him. He hacked and coughed, willing himself to come to. The next feeling he felt was one of cold and a searing pain in his ribs as he tried to breathe.

Tiran rubbed his eyes, glanced around. He was on land once again. The sun was shining brightly. He could hear birds chirping nearby. It was one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard. Behind him, the waterfall continued to crash and roar, unconcerned with predicament Tiran had just escaped.

"What the hay did you think you were doing!?" An angry voice next to Tiran bellowed.

Tiran looked at the source, still in a fog. After a moment, he realized it was Ruwa.

"Oh, hey," he managed to croak. "How you doin'?"

Ruwa was dumbfounded at his response, "How am I...? How am I doing!? What about you, you stupid prick!?"

Tiran coughed violently again, getting the last dregs of water out of his system, "Was that you back there?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was me!" Ruwa replied angrily. "I had to jump in there and pull your sorry flank out of there! What were you thinking, doing something like that?"

Tiran shook his head clear, now woefully aware of a strong headache forming, "Some one needed help. I helped," he offered. Tiran looked around, trying to see if the reason he had jumped into the pool had survived.

Not fifteen feet away, the stallion from the edge of the pool from before was standing over a similar looking one that was up and recuperating his breath. Tiran let out a hoarse sigh of relief at seeing that he had been revived much the same as himself. It was almost some kind of miracle that either of them had recovered at all.

Tiran laid back, for the first time realizing that he was bare from the waist up. Ruwa had removed the top part of his suit and under garments, probably to resuscitate him. That was probably what the searing pains in his ribs were. She had probably done CPR on him, cracking some of his ribs in the process. Tiran never thought he'd be grateful for broken ribs.

"Well, good on you there," Ruwa said in a huff. "Did it ever occur to you to just climb down and swim in from the front?"

"Not enough time," Tiran defended. "Any longer and that other guy might not be sitting over there."

"Yeah, well, neither would you!"

"It still worked. We both got out."

"But, If I hadn't gone looking for you and dragged you out, you'd still be dead!" Ruwa shot back.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way," Tiran said sheepishly.

Ruwa rolled her eyes contemptuously, "Whatever."

From further down the shore, the first stallion trotted over, "Hey, thanks for pulling my friend out of there. I don't know what I was going to do if he died," he smiled gratefully.

"What are you guys doing out here, any way?" Tiran asked.

"We're traveling from town to town. We do sales." The stallion smiled. "Oh, here, lemme get you something for your trouble." The stallion walked over to a group of packs that were strewn along the grass by the trees and rummaged around. When he returned, he pushed a bottle into Tiran's hand. "We're trying to get the bars around here to stock our client's drink. Take it," the stallion urged happily.

Tiran accepted the bottle and looked at it. He was surprised to see a brownish liquid inside. Tiran twisted the cap off and took a whiff, "Whiskey!"

"Yup!" The stallion responded. "The best around these parts," the stallion beamed. "My brother distilled it himself!"

Tiran gazed at the bottle for a long moment. He hadn't had a drink in so long. Finally, it was at hand. His hand.

"Tiran, don't drink that." Ruwa warned. "You just almost died."

"More a reason to drink." Tiran upended the bottle and took a few long pulls, enjoying the warmth that it was returning to his body. "But just a few sips," he put the cap back on and placed it on the ground. Then he looked up at the stallion, "Thanks. It really is good stuff."

"Told ya!"

"Is your friend gonna be ok?"

The stallion looked back towards his buddy, "Him? Yeah, he'll be fine. A little more careful now, but ok. Still can't thank you enough, but we sould get going. We're late for our next stop."

Once the other stallion recovered enough, the two of them gathered packs and made to leave. With a final wave back to Tiran and Ruwa, they departed back down the river. Feeling better, Tiran moved himself to a nearby rock, setting the bottle of whiskey beside him and his armor out to dry.

Tiran wondered at their rushed departure. He would have expected some one going through the trauma of almost drowning to be a little less eager to move so quickly. He looked at the bottle of hooch they had given him and wondered if it wasn't some kind of illegal brew.

Ruwa was still mad at him. He could tell because she wouldn't say anything more to him, taking off to go get their packs and a towel instead. Tiran couldn't blame her. What he had done, while it saved a life, had been incredibly stupid and it had caused her to risk her life as well.

Still he wondered at that. Why had she cared so much? Enough to risk her own life like that by coming and getting him. After all, they were just traveling together. Barely past acquaintances as far as friendship went.

Li offered no insight. Mostly, she just agreed with Ruwa at how stupid he had been, risking both their continued existences like that.

Tiran sighed, at least he got a bottle of whiskey out of it. He took another pull from the bottle, relishing in the liquid's lent warmth. Sleeping wouldn't be so bad any more. Maybe the dreams would stop now, too. Hopefully.