A Story of Blood and Thorns

Chapter 17

We stumble through the woods, leaving a trail of broken sticks and water behind us. Animals scurry out of the way as we crash through trees and branches. Isadora stops every now and then to check our direction. When I ask where we're going, she merely shrugs and we continue.

By midday, my feet are dragging on the mossy ground. I lean against a tree, catching my breath, while Isadora stabs a stick into the ground for the tenth time. We wait for a bit until a shadow forms, then she leads us ahead. But I plant my feet, determined to eat before we go on.

"Isadora," I say, fatigue coating my words. "I need to rest." The near drowning earlier took most of my energy. Somehow, Isadora seems more energized.

She tosses a piece of food at me. It lands in my hands. I stare at the piece of bread, my stomach demanding more. She meets my glare head on.

"It's all we have." I drop to the ground, resting my head against a tree trunk. The moss muffles her footsteps as she comes to sit next to me. "I'm sorry, Evangeline. I would've gotten more, but we left so abruptly."

I nod, exhaustion causing my head to fuzz. My back gives out and I tip forward, Isadora stopping me from face planting on the ground. She scans me, worrying at her lip.

"We'll rest," she decides. She tilts her head, listening for something. A smile lights up her face. "There's a pond nearby. We can bathe there." I nod again, eager to get rid of the dirt covering me.

She leaves me beside the tree while she gets to work gathering sticks and leaves. I watch in fascination as she makes a small hut, blending into the scenery. When she's done, I can't tell where it is. Until she opens the door and shoves me in.

"Wait here," she says. Exiting, she tosses the packs in and tell me to find something to do. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone or anything.

I take her knife out of her bag, touching the tip. Nearby, I hear the soft splash of water. The blade slips on my finger, drawing a thin line on my skin. Blood oozes from the cut.

It stings and I hiss. A few drops of blood fall onto the moss, staining it red. I turn the moss over, hiding any sign of a wound. The blood still falls, though. And there's no clean cloth that I can see to bind it. Isadora will know.

I crawl out of the hut, my bones aching. The sun is too bright and I shield my eyes, focusing on the ground beneath me. It ripples, causing me to fall to my knees. I shuffle the rest of the way, following the sound of water.

Not too far from the river is the pond, as Isadora said. Her clothes have been discarded on the moss. Beside them is her sword. I steer clear of it. The sun ducks behind a cloud, and I can raise my eyes to see Isadora in the pond.

She faces away from me and I gasp at the sight of her bare skin. Scars crisscross her shoulders, her neck, her back. A thick one on her right side snakes around her mid back to her stomach. Another on her shoulder looks like a bite mark.

Isadora turns to me, and she narrows her eyes. "What, are you spying on me now?" I try to refocus my attention from her scars to her face. But my eyes follow a raised white one on her throat to her chest, to the necklace dangling against her skin, to the gentle slope of her-

She clears her throat. "If you want to know about my scars, ask. Don't stare."

"I'm sorry." I hold out my finger, not knowing what to do. A blush rises to my cheeks. "I cut my finger on your knife and didn't have anything to bandage it. Do you?"

Water slides off her skin as she approaches me. I struggle to breath as she examines my finger, twisting it back and forth. "We'll have to amputate. Disease has already set in. If you leave it like this, it will spread and stop your heart. We have to cut it off."