My Princess

Chapter 9

~ Gore Warning ~

I started in the direction Narcissa had ran in when I told her to go, following the path of snapped twigs and small footprints in the soil between the leaves. She had certainly made her track obvious in her panic.

However, once she had stopped running she became more difficult to track, the lack of disturbance in the underbrush slowing my pace as I searched for each small indication that the other girl had been there.

The pulsating pain in my lower leg certainly wasn't helping either, the venom of the vile creature that had attacked me slowly turning my blood to sludge in my veins. I could feel exactly where the putrid liquid sat in my body, just below my knee, and with every step my leg contained the same feeling as when a person begins the agonizing process of suffocation. That intense pressure reverberating throughout my calf and into my purpling toes, feeling as if my swelling skin would burst open to milk the lethal liquid from my veins with every step I took.

Night soon began to fall and in some ways I was grateful, finally having the chance to rest my aching body. Nonetheless that also meant Narcissa was alone with both known and unknown terrors and I truly hoped the girl would be smart enough to seek shelter for the evening.

I found a small bank leading up a hill that I could nestle myself under, dirt and leaves raining down my back as I scooted myself as far into a small crevice as possible. Even taking my weight off of my wounded leg did nothing for the dull pulsation underneath the skin, my heartbeat ever so slightly visible with each throb.

I shivered in the cold night breeze, Fall now just barely upon us, and pulled out the wolf skin blanket my mother had given me before she passed. She had never gotten around to telling me how exactly such an item had come into her possession but had always made sure I cherished the warm, exquisite pelt of white, grey, and black fur.

Wolves were highly protected creatures and it was considered horrible luck to kill one, not that I could ever imagine my mother having the heart to end the life of a living thing anyhow. I had always wondered where she had obtained the pelt but father never knew either, having only been told that it was her most prized and priceless possession and should be handed down to me should her own life end unexpectedly.

The blanket kept me warm and camouflaged me from anything that may be lurking nearby, the neutral colors helping me blend into my background and hiding my scent.

As I settled in for the night my wind whirled with every horrible possibility that Narcissa could be enduring right about now.

Was she even still alive? Had she been disemboweled by another of those monsters before I could get to her? Or perhaps something else had tried to take her life and failed, leaving the young girl with muddy tears running down her pretty face as she pulled herself through the leaves on the ground, leaving a bloody trail from a lethal wound that would cause her to bleed out painfully slow.

My breath hitched in my throat as it began to constrict, tears threatening to spill from my eyes as the image of a gaggle of carnivorous animals devouring the flesh of the girl's cooling corpse filled my mind. Narcissa's once loving brown eyes glassy and staring into nothingness as her jaw hung limp the last thing I saw before the tears began to hit the soft pelt covering my body.

I did eventually manage of doze off somehow, my last memory being of the darkened forest, hazy from unshed tears before I drifted off into a dreamless, restless sleep. The next moment I was waking up to sunlight in my eyes and scratchy irritation from crying.

I threw off the fur blanket and tried to stretch my aching back, muscles sore from the awkward position I had been in for hours on end. Joints cracked I didn't even know I had as I repacked my basket with what little items I possessed these days.

Finally I stood on shaky legs, testing out my bad leg and finding it no worse than the night before. That at least gave me some sort of hope. It meant that the poison was moving slower than I had initially expected, now residing just above my knee at nearly 13 hours since the incident.

I had to find Narcissa today but had absolutely no idea how or what exactly I would find.

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Narcissa POV:

I never wanted to leave her there. My mind was screaming at me to deny her demand for me to leave, yet my legs still carried me farther and farther away from the scrambling and growling sounds by the water.

I crashed through the foliage unaware of where I was going and just hoping I didn't stumble off a cliff, tree branches snagging in my hair and scratching my face as I continued to barge through with great speed.

I had no idea how long I ran but I kept running until I couldn't run anymore, lungs on fire and begging me to give them a break, a stitch in my side nagging at me for the past half mile. Finally I slowed but didn't stop, listening and trying to determine whether or not anything had followed me, friend or foe.

The silence surrounding me was both a great comfort and a great discomfort and I couldn't help but wonder which of the opponents was searching for me. Would I hear the labored breathing and usual snarky tone of the girl I had come to call a friend? Or would I hear four large paws pounding towards me at great speed, the blood of the other girl still coating its lips as it preyed on its second victim, me?

My feet carried me farther into the forest until I had somehow managed to circle around back to the river, no sign of y/n or that beast anywhere. I decided, against my better judgement, to follow the river back to that spot and see if I could determine what had happened and see just how much danger I was in.

The first thing that hit my senses was the stench of death, drying blood and rot surrounding the area I was willingly walking into. I covered my nose and mouth as I stepped closer, now seeing the puddle of what I assumed to be y/n's blood and the beast's lifeless body pouring its own life sustaining liquid onto the dying grass below.

But, no sign of y/n, dead or alive. That had to of meant she survived didn't it? She may be injured but she had walked away else her body would be where that creature's lay. I had to believe it was so. It was the only thing keeping me sane right now.

It was getting late, the sun beginning to drop below the tree line, and I decided to stay there for the night and retrace my steps in the morning light, hopefully running into y/n following my previous trail. If she was hurt she wasn't moving fast and I could easily catch up to her so long as she wasn't fatally injured and already lying in her grave somewhere.

I stayed far enough away from the monster that I couldn't smell it, but close enough that no other predators would bother me for fear something was protecting a fresh kill.

I was absolutely exhausted and sleep came surprisingly easily that night, the cold chill of the air soothing me in a strange way. My dreams consisted of y/n fatally injured, struggling in the darkness needing my help but I was never able to get there in time. She always begged me to help her right before blood began to pour from her mouth, ragged coughs wracking her body as her lungs filled with fluid and she took two staggering steps towards me before collapsing in death.

I woke more than once during the night gasping for air, body shaking with more than just a chill. It was a long, lonely night and I would have given anything to have the comfort of the other girl's warm body pressed against my own as we battled this together.

I really didn't like not knowing how this would end.