Wychling

Chapter 24

Corby was in a bad place. He felt something fall on his face as he rolled over onto his back, every muscle screaming. The sun had just set, and he was struggling to see anything. His awareness reduced to the six inches in front of his face by his tortured, broken body.

He had never in all his life broken a bone. He had seen other kids in his town fall from heights, get thrown in play fights, and in one case get kicked by a horse. He had known it was possible to break his bones, but feeling it happen was very, very different.

He now knew in intimate, horrible detail just how fragile this sack of meat and bones he inhabited, was. It was difficult to breathe from the pain in his ribs. He had forced himself to stop panicking as his heavy breathing hurt, and rolled over, hoping that the pressure would be relieved on his back. That's when he had discovered the state of his legs. His left leg, his strong leading leg in a fight, was definitely broken above the knee. He tried not to remember the beating from the two Acolytes as the big man had crushed him in a bear hug. He had found their mystery grizzly bear.

-Yay for me!-

He calmed as he felt the same light touch on his face. He reached up to check the damage, wincing at the sting from his lip, and brought his hand limply to his eyes to see it. Pink water? It wavered in and out of focus, then it started raining properly and it all made sense. It was rain...and blood, a lot of blood.

-Oh great. Now I get to be cold and wet too. What else could go wrong?-

Usually a bad question to ask. The world had a sick sense of humour.
Where was everyone? The Watchmen would never leave one of their own behind...how long had he been here? Someone would find him soon. There had to have been someone who heard the fight. They would report it soon enough. Help was coming. It had to be.

He sensed movement in the direction of the buildings further up the street, just vague shapes in the distance, but at this point he would take anyone. He heaved his head up, catching a glimpse of the alleyway across the street from him, and the doorways further down the street to his left, but he couldn't see anything clearly with his vision swimming like this.

Suddenly he couldn't hold his head up anymore and it dropped heavily onto the hard-packed earth. Dizziness came for him, hard. He could hear shouting, but his ears were still ringing from whatever had knocked him out, so it was indistinct. He couldn't move enough to make a difference if he wanted to, and he couldn't tell what direction they were coming from besides.

-Gods I hope that's help coming-

He heard footsteps approaching from his left, slowly.

-It's ok...no need to hurry here...I'm just bleeding out-

His eyelids were so heavy. He strained and fought, embracing the pain he felt, trying to use it to keep himself awake. He cracked one eye open, the simple act seemed to take as much will power as lifting a horse. He saw a figure in a brown robe standing above him and looking around, hissing at someone nearby as he drew a curved knife from his belt. Corby lost his grip on consciousness.