A girl cursed by an evil witch to relive the lives of different princesses when she falls asleep. One constant remains the same in all her dreams, one day her prince will come. The only question is will he save her in time?
Follow the story of Jana...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter 23- March to Death
I woke up a few hours later from an uneasy sleep, the rising sun filtering through the branches I was exhausted and drained both mentally and physically, yet sleep did not come easily. I woke frequently from the slightest sound fearing someone had found me.
No one had but I was still on edge.
My night consisted more of a prolonged nap than substantial sleep. Resting did little to soothe the pain. The lump on the back of my head was the size of an egg and just as sensitive as last night, the slightest pressure and I would wince.
I lifted my trousers slightly to get a better look at my most notable injury, my knee. I was still unsure how my knee became that injured from hitting a tree. Regardless, directly underneath my left knee was a bruise the size of my fist that was already a deep purple color and would continue to become worse.
The knee itself was swollen and nearly twice its normal size with a sickly deep red hue to it. Just looking at it made me sick. I lowered my pant leg trying to convince myself it probably looked worse than it actually was.
I picked up my small bag of belongings and used the bark of the tree to steady myself and come to a standing position. I ignored the protest in my legs, feeling accomplished by merely standing.
I swung the satchel over my shoulder ready to start walking, only I overestimated my abilities and nearly fell to the ground from the extra weight. The sudden movement caused my swollen knee to jerk sending a sharp pain running through my leg.
I leaned against the tree trunk trying to be as still as possible to not aggravate it more, inhaling loudly to breathe through the pain. I stood there for a few minutes until I could breathe without a sharp intake of breath.
There was no way I would have been able to walk on my own. I wouldn't last two seconds before my knee collapsed again. I needed to devise a way to keep the wound in place until I got closer to the city. With any luck I could sell some of the items in the satchel to pay for a healer.
I ripped off a piece of my cloak and tied the fabric around the injury. This would act as a makeshift splint and prevent it from moving as I walked. Next, I scoured the ground for a long branch to use as a walking stick to help my left leg from bending.
I prayed there were no more mountains to climb.
With my makeshift gear, I began walking for the day. I had no food and learned from one of my dreams I would not do well foraging and decided I would find something to eat around noon when I've made more distance between myself and the old campsite.
I found North with relative ease, navigating was much easier with daylight. I sighed noticing I spent my time last night going the opposite direction I intended, giving myself more work to do.
Oh joy.
I was much slower than I desired which was expected given my handy contusion to the knee. I tried to stay positive and remind myself to make do with what I had, even if it wasn't much.
