Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 30

"Ow..." Branch groaned softly, his eyes shut gently as he lay in the hospital bed, the little troll hurt and all alone...

     He was trying so hard to stay awake... a task that was proving to be nearly impossible... he was just so tired...

     Branch was about to lose consciousness once more, when a sudden sound quickly caught his attention...

Squeeeak...

The slight squeak of the door opening made the survivalist's uninjured ear twitch slightly, turning towards the sound to listen...

"I told you to go away, Poppy..." he grumbled, keeping his eyes shut, the young troll just too weak to force them open...

"It's not Poppy..."

The voice certainly didn't belong to the young princess... but it was still rather familiar...

Forcing his eyes open, Branch looked over to see who was entering his room, relaxing slightly when he saw the old king standing before him...

"King Peppy..." he started, trying to sit up to respectfully greet the old troll.

Unfortunately... that action only caused so much more pain to shoot through the young troll's body, forcing him to lay right back down with a long groan, his eyes falling back shut once more...

"How are you feeling, my boy?" Peppy asked as if he didn't already know the answer...

"I... I'm... f... fi... ne..." Branch groaned, his eyes still shut tight as he winced sharply in pain...

"Don't lie to me, Branch..." Peppy stated firmly, walking over to sit next to the troll he considered a son. "I know you better than you know yourself..."
"I highly doubt that..." Branch muttered under his breath so the old king wouldn't hear, thinking about his newest secret...

Finally, the survivalist sighed, opening up his eyes to look over at the old orange troll once more, his gaze seeming weak and slightly unfocused...

"It hurts..." he finally admitted with a soft groan. "So bad..."

     Peppy sighed, placing a gentle hand on the gray troll's shoulder, Branch looking up at him with sad eyes...

     "It'll be ok..." the old king assured in a soft comforting tone. "I'll catch that wolf..."

     Branch's eyes widened in horror at that statement, looking to the orange troll in pure shock...

     "The... the wolf?" he questioned in slight fear.
"Poppy told me what happened," Peppy explained. "That the wolf attacked you..."

     She thought the wolf attacked him? But... but he was the wolf...

     "Um... there... there's no need to do anything rash, sir..." Branch tried to say, but his voice was so low and raspy... his words just couldn't be understood...

     "Don't worry, my boy," Peppy assured, rising slowly up to his feet. "I will find that wolf... and I'll make sure that it's never able to harm you or anyone else ever again..."

     Branch felt his stomach flip as he allowed his eyes to fall shut once more with a groan of despair... he was so dead...

     "You rest up, my boy..." Peppy started, beginning to walk away. "I'll take care of that wolf..."