Cursed

Chapter 15: Unusual Savior

After finally eating something - an activity that seemed most important at the time - and gaining a bit of strength back, I focused my attention on taking care of my wounds. The four puncture wounds in my stomach had mostly dried, which surprised me tremendously. It had been flowing before, like a cascade of sticky red liquid. Now there was already a protective crust forming on the wounds that colored red and a translucent yellow on the sides. The wounds still strained when I moved, making me hiss, but at least it was healing quickly. Some might say unnaturally so, but I was not complaining right about now. My shirt was still wet from all the blood, and the fabric had turned a darker green. Yet another part of my clothes that was soaked.

Once the adrenaline wore off, the shivering started. If I wasn't careful, hypothermia would get me sooner than any human bounty hunter or wild animal.

Staying still to not break the scabs, I focused my attention on my worst injury - the one that was still seeping blood like a broken pipe. The warm line of liquid trailed from my bicep down to my fingers. I had already given up on cleaning the blood from my fingers. The arrow had cut through the muscle's belly, scratched my humerus at worst. The pain made it almost impossible to move my right arm. With difficulty, I tried to cut the underside of my shirt, leaving the lower part of my stomach bare. With the piece of fabric and the awkward fumbling of both my teeth and left hand, I tried to constrict the blood flow to my right upper arm.

With cold sweat forming on my palms, I took hold of my dagger - which had been dangling above the flames. The previously iron blade glowed a faint red and black. The heat was palpable. With a wooden stick between my teeth, which wasn't at all clean, I let the red-hot blade burn its way through my flesh. Tears streamed down my face, my teeth bit through the half rotten piece of wood and black spots covered my sight. With trembling breaths, I dropped the knife next to me. The broken splinters fell from my mouth. Pearls of sweat ran down along my pressed together face. I was in pain.

An hour passed, with me just slightly dying a bit more each minute. First it was the fiery pain that was very slightly dimmed over time. The sharp pain strikes turned to a constant dull ache - I hadn't really decided yet which I preferred. Neither was pleasant though. After a while, it was the cold which started biting my toes and fingers. In the end, it was everything, and nothing. The constant state of unease became too tiring, and sleep caught up with me. Or unconsciousness.

Another hour had passed, possibly even more. My eyes opened lazily. The first thing I noticed was my dry clothes. My teeth were still a pair of castagnettes, but at least the heat from the campfire was licking one side of my skin. My eyes remained on the darkening red sky, while my attention scanned the surroundings - analyzing every sound and smell. The forest was too quiet for my liking.

Eventually, I pushed myself up to stand. Slowly and carefully I collected my few items - my knives went back into their holsters, my bow and arrow got stripped on my back and my shoes returned to their rightful place. With a sigh, I wiggled my toes into the preheated leather. I couldn't stay here during the night, more bounty hunters could be on their way. And traveling during the night was even more dangerous in these woods. The darkness was too engulfing, and the night animals had too much advantage, even for a skilled Vampire Hunter. So, with difficulty, lots of grunts and hateful remarks directed at everything that had caused this situation, I pushed myself to another two hours of traveling in the reddening twilight. The blood red sky felt very symbolic for my current state. I didn't like it.

Within the hour, I had managed to cover my tracks and move further east, to the spring of the small river. With warm comfy boots, I made my way through the woods. My clothes weren't so lucky, they had dried into a rigid and cold harness.

With heavy steps, I made my way through the forest, where I found more and more places of dying trees. The needles of the pine trees had turned yellow and the leaves of the deciduous trees were rotting on the branches itself. My whole life I had lived in these woods and never had I seen trees looking so unhealthy. It was as if they had caught an illness. One that was seamingly spreading across the Green Lands, perhaps even beyond that.