A Lion’s Tail and a Bear’s Hug: Chapter 4
#4 of A Lion's Tail and a Bear's Hug
Wow, sorry to any of you who were waiting to read this. I've been so busy at school lately that I've not really had any free time. Add to that my slow typing skill and it makes it difficult to get chapter out on a regular basis (even though they are quite short) But oh well. I had a day off because of snow so I managed to fit in some writing between the work they sent home for us to do.
Anyway comments and criticisms welcome. Sorry for the long delay and hope y'all enjoy the story :)
A lion's tail and a bear's hug: Chapter 4
A tail of sorrow
Lejon looked down to see that half a foot of his golden tail had been severed and a pool of blood was quickly forming where his tail had been cut. Lejon quickly felt himself becoming lightheaded from the sudden blood loss and tried to focus on the fur who had had the audacity to attack his boyfriend and who had chopped off part of the lion's tail. Lejon's eyes went blurry briefly but he managed to steady himself and get a good, if not brief, look at his adversary.
To his surprise the fur was a young brown Labrador, probably only just turned 13 years of age. The pup was staring at the knife in shock. The blood dripped slowly off the knife and left crimson spots on the Labradors fur and clothes.
Bjorn turned to the young Labrador and swung a fist towards his face. The Labrador, still in a mild state of shock, took the blow to the face and crumpled unconscious to the floor.
"Bjorn..." Bjorn heard a voice behind him and saw Lejon struggling to steady himself on his metal staff. "Bjorn I'm so sorry for all of this" Lejon almost lost his balance and a few of the hooded furs made a move towards him.
Time seemed to slow down for Bjorn and everything became crystal clear, almost like fate was giving him one chance to make things right. Everything stood out to him, the shadows of the furs cast by a streetlamp just outside the alley, the moans of pain of the furs in the ground, the paling colour of Lejon's face. Bjorn knew that there was only one thing to do.
The bear sprinted toward Lejon, simultaneously ripping off a long strip from his t-shirt. He reached Lejon quickly and despite the oncoming crowd of furs, quickly wrapped it round his boyfriend's tail, tightened it enough to stop the flow of bleeding and knotted it. The bear then grabbed Lejon, took the staff from his hand, swung it at the gang of hooded furs and ran through them.
To his surprise he managed to break through the crowd of hooded furs without taking a knife to the gut. He rushed to the end of the alley and came out onto the high street. The light of the street lamps temporarily blinded him after being stuck in the dark alley but his eyesight quickly adjusted and he saw a group of worried onlookers crowding around him gasping at his bloody companion.
"Somebody please call 999. NOW!" A few of the shocked bystanders fished mobile phones out of their pockets and handbags and dialled the number. Lejon whispered to Bjorn in a hoarse voice.
"Bjorn, I-I'm sorry, I can't... I...I" The golden lion fell to the floor and there were one or two screams from the crowd as the hooded furs came out of the alleyway brandishing their knives. The crowd rapidly dispersed leaving Bjorn and Lejon face to face with the hooded furs once again. Bjorn hoisted Lejon up onto his shoulder and ran. Bjorn ran and ran he didn't know how long he ran but eventually collapsed. He looked behind him expecting to see a knife descending into his heart. To his relief no one was there. They must have been too lazy to follow me. Funny, assholes like them would happily kill me for being gay if the chance arose but if it requires effort then they skedaddle. They're all cowards anyway; they wouldn't have tried it if they didn't have knives on them. Oh, Lejon... I'm sorry it came to this...
Bjorn heard the siren of an ambulance coming up the road behind him. He quickly stood in the middle of the road waving his hands profusely and signalling to the curb where his injured lion lay unconscious, bloody and slightly bruised from being bumped on Bjorns shoulder.
Bjorn thought he was going to be run over and the headlights of the ambulance nearly blinded him again but at the last moment the ambulance changed its course to the curb and a group of paramedics got out. The paramedic in charge, a black husky, was barking out commands to the other paramedics as they swarmed around Lejon. Bjorn suddenly let the gravity of the situation hit him. He had been running on adrenaline for the past 15 minutes and only now did he get a chance to properly process what was happening.
The bear suddenly went pale and slumped to the floor. Bjorn had to fight the urge to vomit as he took a proper look at his boyfriend. His golden legs were stained with patches of red and the fur was matted. The point on his tail where he had been cut looked like it might already be infected and the lion had gone deathly pale which was visible even under his golden fur. Tears streamed down Bjorn's face as he sat there watching the paramedics perform first aid on his boyfriend. The only saving grace was that Bjorn had had the sense to tie the knot around Lejon's tail. If he hadn't the lion would already be on his way to the next world.
The paramedics loaded Lejon onto a stretcher and moved him into the ambulance. Bjorn moved to get in beside him. But a paramedic blocked his path.
"Sorry sir" A young dingo said politely to Bjorn, "Unless you are of some relation to this lion we can't let you ride with us"
"He's my boyfriend" growled Bjorn as he pushed the dingo out of his way and sat down on the bench next to Lejon's head.
The dingo came in after Bjorn blushing with embarrassment
"I-I'm so sorry sir I never even considered the possibility that you two might be romantically attached. I'm very sorry. Please make yourself comfortable" Bjorn sat and stroked Lejon's face and then noticed he was still carrying the staff. The rest of the journey to the hospital comprised of Bjorn stroking Lejon's face and trying to work out how to get the staff back down to its original pocket size. Eventually Bjorn found the switch and focused all his attention on the lion. A little colour had returned to the lion's face and Bjorn allowed a small smile to make its way onto his muzzle.
6 hours later Lejon awoke in a hospital gown and looked left to see Bjorn asleep in a chair next to him. A tear crept into the corner of the lions eye as he realised the bear had tried to stay near him so he could make sure he was ok. Wait a minute. Where are my clothes? WHO UNDRESSED ME?! Lejon suddenly felt slightly violated and blushed to himself. He realised it must have been past midnight as the room was dark and he could barely make out Bjorn's features. He tried move his paws but realised just how heavy his limbs felt. He looked to the other side of his bed and saw an empty blood transfusion bag and an IV drip. Wow. I must've lost a lot of blood. Urgh I feel so weak. Meh.
Lejon lifted a paw and tried to reach for Bjorn's face but his energy left him as his paw was an inch from Bjorn's cheek. His paw fell to the side of his bed, his upper arm banging painfully against the metal bed posts and his paw brushing past Bjorn's leg on the way down. The noise of his arm hitting the metal bedposts and the sensation of his paw against Bjorn's knee was enough to wake the bear up.
Bjorn's eyes shot open and he looked madly around the room almost like he was expecting someone to jump out of the shadows and attack his lion.
"Oh, I'm sorry Bjorn. I didn't mean to wake you" Lejon said apologetically with a frown on his muzzle.
Bjorn got out of his seat and hugged the lion.
"Shush" the bear whispered softly into Lejon's ear "I don't care if you woke me or not. I'm actually happy you did cos that means you're ok". Bjorn pulled back and saw the bear's eyes were starting to tear up "Lejon, I'm sorry I won't ever let anyone hurt you again. I swear I'll protect you. Please, please just don't hurt yourself like that for me again. I'm not worth it."
"Bjorn I- "
"No Lejon, I...I was so afraid I would lose you. I don't ever want to lose you Lejon, I'm so sorry." Bjorn burst into sobs as Lejon looked on awestruck. I did this. I put Bjorn through this. God I'm such an asshole... no there aren't enough words in the English language to describe how much of a fuck up I am. Lejon thought to himself with a mixture of both sadness and anger.
"Bjorn, please stop crying..." the Lion said quietly. "Please. I don't want to see you cry. This was my fault and I'd gladly put myself in harm's way if it means you could live for even a split second longer. Bjorn I took you down that alley. I took you down there against your wishes and you could have died. The only person to blame here is me. If I hadn't decided to take you to my home none of this would have happened. God if only I'd kept my mouth shut at dinner or at dance class none of this would have happened."
A scowl crossed Bjorn's face.
"There's one other person who's to blame here. I think it's time I gave them a call."
Bjorn sat back in his chair and fished his phone out his jacket pocket. Lejon stared at his bear with a look of confusion as he dialled a memorised number with his ursine fingers. Lejon could hear the phone ringing from his bed and heard an answer. Bjorn quickly interrupted what the speaker was saying.
"Dad, I need to tell you something..."