Relentless

Chapter 29

"We'll arrive on Narcizza's Northern shore by tomorrow morning." Peter explained.

I nodded.

"Come on, let's get going." Katrina said when I hadn't moved. She walked right past me but when I tried to follow my feet remained planted in place.

Still noticing that I hadn't moved, Katrina stops to face me. "You okay, Celeste?"

Should I tell her? I know I can trust Katrina but should she know?

"Yeah, I'm fine just a little tired, is all." I said with a smile. Best not to get her involved until I know for sure what is going on.

As we walked, the path began to have more protruding rocks. We may have left the mountains but it is known that a natural wall of stone protects us. There are a few places where the boulders lighten up but they are small passages that protect us from sieges.

We are leaving our supplies hidden just inside the line of trees because they will only slow us down as we travel over the boulders. We won't need them once we get to shore anyway.

The ground beneath us changes from moss and tree roots to sand and rock. We climbed up two large boulders. On our way down, my foot slipped and I tumbles to the ground. I cried out in pain. Katrina jumped down and is the first to my side.

"Celeste! Are you alright?" She asked.

"No, it's my leg." I'm in such intense pain that I hardly get the words out.

I'm afraid to look so I take a second to prepare myself. I can already feel the warm flow of blood trickling down my leg. I take a deep breath and manage a glance. My stomach suddenly feels queasy as I peer down at bloody shredded muscle. My skin has been peeled away and the rough rock that caught my fall smashed into my leg. I'm just lucky that I didn't break the bone.

I'm surprised to find Peter staring at me from afar. Katrina follows my eyes and scolds him for me. "Well, don't just stand there! Heal her!"

Heal me? I didn't know he could do that, but it makes sense because he can manipulate time.

"I-I can't..." Peter stammered.

I froze. Kane. He really screwed up this time.

"You can't?"

"No-I... it takes a lot of concentration to use my powers on a localized area and I've exerted myself too much over the past few months so I'm afraid I haven't been as powerful as I was."

"Well, then go get a bandage from our supplies!"

"But we don't have-"

"Then just find something!"

He agrees and scampers back over the boulders. I have never seen Katrina blow up at someone like that before. I knew that she had another side besides her nice one, but I could never picture her warrior side until now.

She took off her cloak and wrapped it around my lower leg. I clenched my teeth as she applied pressure to lesson the bleeding, even so within seconds the cloak was soaked through with blood.

This isn't the first time I have lost a significant amount of blood from a wound. My fingers travel to the scar on my stomach.

I might die here. When the thought crosses my mind, fear overtakes me. Not fear for my life because I have little respect for my own safety nowadays, but I am afraid because that means that I have failed my family. I may never know what happened to them.