Runaway Princess

CHAPTER 17

I HID behind the a tree to get a view on the cougar from its back. It was cornering Isla who was backing off into another tree.

I got my spear ready and slowly approached the cougar from behind. Isla saw me and I gestured at her to stay quiet. She looked back down on the wild animal and backed away again.

I raised my spear once I was a few feet away from it. I aimed for its stomach and threw the spear forward in the air. It flew up and landed on the cougar's stomach, digging in deep inside its flesh.

The cougar howled in pain and turned into my direction. It was about to run to me but Isla moved from her spot to run away, making the cougar go after her again. It jumped in the air after her and scratched her leg, leaving a huge bleeding wound on it.

"Shit!" I cursed and went near the cougar. It was about to pounce on Isla again but I gathered up all the courage to pull the spear back from its stomach to distract it. I stabbed it with in the eye with the spear and withdrew the weapon again, this time aiming for its chest.

I made sure that the spear would go through its body. The cougar fell sidewards and started breathing heavily. A moment after again and it closed its eyes and stopped breathing.

I heard a whimper behind me. I turned around and rushed to Isla's aid and looked at her left leg. There was a long, thick wound from the side of her knee down to her ankle, it was bleeding really bad and all I could see was blood and her flesh that was poking out from the wound.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I chanted profanities out from my mouth as I panicked. I lifted her up in my arms and ran as fast as I could back into the village. She kept crying in pain against my chest, her hot tears falling on my T-shirt. I tightened my grip on her and lifted her up a bit.

It was hard but I have too run as fast as my legs would allow me or else Isla might lose too much blood. I've come far from the entrance to the village and I can't run that fast or else I might trip and fall down. My lungs were running out of air and my arms were getting weary I almost dropped Isla on the ground. I pushed my stamina to make it just in time.

Relief washed over me when I saw the entrance back into the village. I went inside it and sprinted to the clinic, shouting at people to make way for me as I pass through them.

I used my right foot to kick the door open. I placed Isla down on one of the beds and Ms. Charry ran to us, looking horrified as she stared at Isla's leg.

"Go get a pail of water and cloth and clean her wound," she told me while rolling up Isla's pants on her left leg. I nodded and went to the back of the clinic where a deep well is and collected some water on it. I brought the pail back inside and grabbed another empty pail and a piece of cloth from the cabinet.

I kneeled in front of Isla and placed her left foot on my knee. I placed the empty pail under her leg and the pail of water beside it. I filled the dipper with water, pouring it over the wound. She screamed in agony and tried to pull back her leg but I held it in place.

The water turned red as it washed off the blood from her wound. The dirty water fell back into the empty pail and I patted the area around her wound carefully to dry it up a bit. I hissed at the sight of the wound. It was deep and continued bleeding again.

I added some pressure onto it. Isla got quiet and she was already laying down on the bed. I could still hear her silent sobs.

Ms. Charry came back with some leaves and a first aid kit. I stood up and went beside Isla, placing her head on my lap. I held her hand as Ms. Charry started treating her wound. More tears ran down on her face and she started whimpering. Her grip on my hand was so tight she almost crushed my bones.

"Shh," I shushed her and tucked the strands of her hair behind her ear. I wiped her tears and made her look away from what Ms. Charry was doing. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were half closed.

"Shh, close your eyes," I said and covered her eyes with my hand and ran it down her face. Her eyes were already closed but she was still whimpering and sobbing in pain. I feel so bad for her, she must've been in so much pain right now. My heart ached seeing her hurt like this, she was so different from the Isla I knew. She's really suffering right now.

By the time Ms. Charry was done stitching up her wound and wrapping her leg with bandage Isla was already quiet. I looked at her and noticed that she was asleep, she must've lost her consciousness from so much pain.

"Take her back here after the wound heals so we can remove the stitches," Ms. Charry said and stood back up. "Don't make her walk too much or else the stitch will open. I'll teach you how to prepare the medicine so you could replace it every time she takes a bath or before she sleeps," she said and gestured me to follow her. I arranged Isla's position on the bed and caressed her hair before following Ms. Charry.

She taught me how to prepare the herbal medicine. It was an intricate process and Ms. Charry even had to write it down for me so I could remember. She also told me to apply some kind of honey to the wound after the stitches are removed so that it would heal faster.

I thanked her and went back to Isla. I decided to carry her home since its just nearby. I left her there and went to the slaughterhouse to help butcher some the cows me and Isla saw there when when I was showing her around.

When I got there I saw Garrett bringing in one cow inside. I put on the gear and washed my hands before steeping inside with him.

The cow started mooing when Garrett held it in place. I looked at it, feeling pitiful. I suddenly remembered when Isla went here and they started looking at her like they were asking for help.

"Poor cow," I said through the mask. Garrett pushed his mask down and stood in front of the cow. It looked at the both of us and mooed again.

Garrett laughed and looked the other way. "My knees are feeling weak just thinking about doing this," he said and bit his lower lip. I chuckled and crossed my arms over my chest.

"The more you look at the cow the more you'll feel bad," I said. He turned to me.

"By the way, have you found Isla?" He asked.

I nodded. "I found her in the forest, she was being attacked by a cougar. I managed to kill it but it scratched her leg and left a deep wound," I said and and Garrett's body twitched and his face contorted into disgust.

"Eeesh, that must've looked bad," he said and started taking out the tools. We started doing the butchering process and we both tried our best to ignore the cow's mooing that looked like it was pleading. Garrett kept complaining at how his knees were trembling throughout the whole process.

When we were done we cleaned the pieces of beef and hanged it in the hooks that were attached to the ceiling. We both cleaned up after that and put the gears in the hamper and the tools back to where we got them.

We went outside the slaughterhouse. Garrett leaned on my shoulder and breathed heavily.

"What are you doing?" I asked and tried to push him away.

"My legs are feeling weak," he whispered and I laughed at him. I moved away and he leaned on his knees, wiping sweat from his forehead. Oh boy.

I walked near him. "What? Are you gonna collapse?" I asked him and slapped his shoulder.

He waved me off and stood back up. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes.

"I need some water," he said and walked forward. I watched him as he swerved sideways while walking, obviously dizzy. I caught up with him and assisted him back to his house before he falls in the ground and hits his head on the concrete or something. He's always been soft when it comes to blood. Sometimes I think he's actually afraid of it, he just doesn't want me to know because he thinks I'll tease him.