Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 20

     Branch's breath was slow but heavy, the raspy sound actually able to be heard from a few blocks away...

     It wasn't long however, before his breath began to get softer and less constant, sounding as if the survivalist didn't have much left in him...

     The wolf groaned, struggling to move to a more comfortable position... but he couldn't... he still couldn't move... he couldn't breath... he couldn't stay awake...

     This was it... the end of the line... he couldn't fight much longer, feeling himself slowly slipping away into the darkness gripping at his soul...

     Suddenly... just as Branch was about to lose complete consciousness... a familiar smell wafted over to his nose, followed by the light touch on one of his many wounds...

     His eyes popped open at the sudden feeling, the wolf slowly managing to turn his head to see the pink troll standing just on the other side of the bars holding him prisoner...

     Poppy froze at the wolf's movement, staring at him in fear as she tried not to make any sudden movements, worried he might attack if he felt threatened...

     "It's ok..." she assured in a soft whisper, her voice trembling a bit at the wolf's icy gaze. "I'm just trying to help..."

     Branch groaned yet again, laying his head back down as he allowed his eyes to fall shut once more...

     The princess took this as an approval, gently continuing her work to clean the wolf's wounds...

     Once the wound on his side was well taken care of, Poppy moved up to the front of the cage, looking in through the bars at the still dangerously injured wolf...

     "Hey there, bud..." she said softly. "Can you hear me?"

     At the sound of Poppy's saddened voice, Branch forced his eyes open, looking weakly up at the young princess, the light in his eyes seeming to be slowly fading away...

     "You're gonna be ok..." Poppy assured when seeing his dimmed irises, her heart saddened by the condition the other trolls had left this poor creature in... "But I'm gonna need a little help getting the cut on your chest..."

     He was so weak, and was only getting weaker, but Branch somehow managed to look down at his bleeding chest, seeing that the wound was hidden under his laying body. He would have to get up for her to reach it... would he be able to do that?

     With a long groan of pure pain and exhaustion, the village grump forced himself up to his trembling feet, stumbling slowly towards Poppy...

     "Good..." the young princess praised as the wolf finally reached her, leaning roughly up against the bars separating the two of them to avoid falling right back down to the hard cage floor. "You're a good boy. Now don't bite my hand off, ok?"

     She reached through the cage bars, gently cleaning the wound on the wolf's fur covered chest until the massive gash finally stopped bleeding completely...

     "There," Poppy said with a smile, removing her hand from inside the cage. "All do..."
"Hey!" a voice suddenly shouted, interrupting the young princess' statement. "What are you doing over there!?"

     Poppy flinched at the sudden voice, looking over at an officer who was now running towards her.

     He pushed the young girl away from the bars, glaring at the wolf inside the locked up cage...

     Branch grunted, spinning around in a tight circle before laying back down with a loud sigh, ignoring the death glare he was now receiving from this random troll...

     The survivalist was still exhausted, but with his wounds all cleaned up... Branch was actually feeling much better, now believing he would thankfully make it through the night... all thanks to Poppy...

     "You can't go near a dangerous beast like that, Princess Poppy," the officer informed, gently pushing her away from the cage so that she was now at a safe distance from the monster. "You could have gotten hurt."
"I... I'm sorry," Poppy apologized. "I was just..."
"Run along home now," the officer interrupted, not caring about her reasoning. "Your father is probably worried sick..."

     As the red glitter troll led her away, the young princess stole a quick glance back at the wolf, both of them gazing into each other's eyes...

     With what looked to be a small smile, the wolf nodded it's head slightly, almost as if saying 'thank you'...

     Poppy smiled back, mouthing the words 'You're welcome', and then turned, finally heading home...