Authors note; thank you to everyone for reading and following and favouring. Not many replies though. It's so sad. I don't know if you guys like the story or not. Obviously if you follow it there is a reason and if you favourite then you do like it, but it's frustrating you know? Anyways, here's chapter seven. I realize that chapter three has the title 'attack' but that was a mistake so please, bare with me. Please review. Enjoy! Lots of love.
I don't own Hansel and Gretel.
Chapter seven
Attacked
I shot up with a gasp.
"It was just a dream. It was just a dream." I told myself in a frightened whisper. It was hard to lie to yourself when you actually knew the truth and knew what you were feeling. It was a dream, that much was true, but it wasn't just a dream. It was a memory. A painful, nagging, frustrating memory that kept me haunted. With a large sigh, I closed my eyes. I took a large, deep breath to calm myself down and opened my eyes. The sun was rising. I could imagine all the colours would reflect off of my grey and blue eyes. I looked around to see if I had woken anyone up. It seemed like I hadn't. Hansel slept close to his sister and the kid slept on the other side of the flameless fire. I didn't know where Edward had gone though. He was no where in sight.
The kid snored away and it actually helped. It made me feel safe; it made me feel like I wasn't alone. 'Well kid,' I thought 'you helped me after all'. It was strange to use my words like that. 'You helped my after all', that was not something I said. 'You hurt me after all', that is what I said. Not wanting to think of it any further, I got up and started walking. We weren't in a desert, but where we camped didn't have much around. The dark, hard soil beneath our feet turned out to be relatively fertile, growing a few plants and trees here and there. There were a few clouds in the sky and a chilly breeze blowing by. The sun rise rose above the ground and lit the sky with a light blue. With one last sigh, I was out of sight of the camp.
I got back and everyone was still sleeping. This wasn't very usual. Normally, I would come back and everyone would be awake. I started to get worried and started thinking of the worst that might have happened, but another part of me told me that they just over slept and I should give it some time. I didn't actually want to wake them and so I went with the other solution. Sitting down, I was prepared to wait. As I waited, I saw movement of the trees and then I knew.
I got up and quietly went over to Gretel. She was a light sleeper and I could wake her up easily. I got down on my knees next to her and closed her mouth with my hand. She jolted awake and look up at me in surprise. I placed my finger on my lips to tell her to keep quiet. She nodded and I let go. Gretel went over to the kid and woke him up. As soon as the snoring stopped Hansel awoke. We packed everything as fast and as quietly as could manage and started travelling away. Once we were a safe distance away everyone stopped and turned to me.
"What happened?" The kid asked. I looked at him and saw the kid that's nose I broke.
"I saw signs of witches and I woke Gretel up." I answered plainly. Everyone seemed to accept that and we continued moving. They had been with me long enough to know that I wouldn't speak more than was needed. I could feel the grumpiness of the kid and the uneasiness of Gretel. Hansel, I had no idea. I just didn't get him. The disappearance of the troll was odd but I wasn't going to ask about it. After awhile we stopped again and ate breakfast. It was strange to join in the occasion but there was nothing to hunt out here, not even birds. It was a good thing we brought supplies from the town.
I didn't participate in their conversations though, not even when we continued. I wondered if there was any place in particular they were headed, as well as why they would take me with. Later during the day, the scene started to change. More trees were appearing, and soon we were in a forest. It seemed as though it went for miles and if we had to get to the other side, this was the only way we were going to get there. I couldn't help but feel fear and anxiousness as we entered.
We settled down and made a camp like we usually do and we ate our dinner. I had a bad feeling about this forest but I was convinced it was paranoia. I had been having nightmares about forests and it was reasonable to assume that I was being paranoid because of that dream. However, it was also reasonable to be afraid considering the experiences I have had in between the many trees. The camp was even more uncomfortable for me because of the scenery, but I just had to cope. Everyone looked calm and completely undisturbed by our new environment.
The forest was strange though; it was a mix between an oak forest and a tropical forest. Something I had never come across. I wondered how a tropical forest of sorts could grow in a desert environment. There was definitely something wrong here. As they spoke freely to each other – Hansel not to talkative, as usual – I kept watch for anything that could happen. This was the usual routine. I wouldn't let their laughter distract me from my task. I was concentrating more because of where we were. I didn't want anything to happen. I hated to admit that I was scared but, I wouldn't lie, it was useless. I was scared, but I wouldn't say it out loud.
A sudden, soft crunch of branches breaking under pressure came from my right. I shot a glance at the noise and stared at that spot. None of them had noticed and it frustrated me. How could they still be so unobservant? After I saved that kid's life in the desert, I would have expected them to have themselves at a heightened concentration. I glared closely at that spot and waited for anything else that might trigger the presence of a witch. The particular, unusual movement in the trees triggered the presence. I shot up from my log and turned to the camp who stared, bewildered, at me.
"Get up. Get weapons. Get ready." My voice was ordering and urgent. However it didn't seem to stick with them. "Now!" I growled. They got up and got their weapons. This wasn't going to be a normal one-witch attack. No. There were many. They didn't travel in packs. This was weird. Just as weird as a witch that didn't fight for survival. They new what was going on. Not exactly, but they knew an attack was about to happen. Gretel stood on my left with the kid next to her and Hansel on my right. The whole camp went quiet as we all listened. I waited. I knew what was coming better than any of them. I looked to my right, passed Hansel and frowned.
"Now!" I yelled a second before a witch appeared. Hansel turned and with one shot, the witch was gone. At that, the rest came out. There were more than I originally thought and they just kept coming. Hansel and the kid used guns, Gretel used her bow and sometimes a gun and I used my knife. The sounds of gun shots, tearing skin, pain filled cries, angry screams and disgusted snarls surrounded the cold night air. Multi-coloured blood stained my blade and the soil beneath our feet.
There were countless headless, limbless, bloody, ugly bodies lying on the ground as we slaughtered each one we had a chance too, but they just kept coming. I twisted and turned, my blade moving with me, one with my body as I cut down witch upon witch. Fear and disgust tainted the kid's eyes and I started to question his capability of killing witches. He hadn't killed many and he already looked sick and scared. The other two were just fine though, not taking any affect to the bloodshed.
I growled at another witch that tried to attack me. I forced my leg into her wrinkly face and it flew onto the ground. I ran to it and pressed my blade into its neck. I swung my knife around at another witch that came behind me. I got up and ran to the kid. He was fighting off a witch in the front and failed to notice a witch that made its way to him from the back. As he killed the witch in front, he turned just in time to see the other's head being ripped off its neck. I could see his face colour change and tried not to laugh when he almost lost his dinner.
"Watch your back." I warned. He nodded and almost seemed grateful. I had no time for a thank you though and I made my way to another witch. After another few witches I turned around to see Hansel and an unexplained panic rushed over me as I saw him being surrounded by the ugly creatures. I ran over to him and – just like I had done with the kid – tackled him out of the way just before a witch could strike at him with her weapon. Little did I know that he and I were rolling down a hill away from the camp sight.
We rolled and flipped on down the endless hill further from the fight. I slammed into a tree and held back a painful cry as I felt and heard the crack of a bone. We raced off a cliff and landed hard on uneven ground. My body ached and blood flowed from several limbs. My onyx black hair was knotted and parts of my leather clothes were torn. I coughed and stiffly sat up. Hansel lay on the ground a few feet away and his eyes were clothes. Panicked energy controlled my aching figure and I rushed over to him. I checked his breathing and his heart. His heart was beating but he was not breathing.
Despite the sting of my muscles and my skin, I pressed hard against his chest with both my hands and felt and felt a crack under my palms. Despite the bone that had snapped under pressure, I did this continuously before lifting my lips to his and blew air into his breathless mouth in hopes it would fill his lungs. After a few breaths I returned forcing pressure into his chest. I repeated this cycle a few more times before he shot up with a deep breath. I sat back and felt an unexplained sense of relief and joy fall over me. I kept the smile that threatened to show from surfacing to my full lips. He looked around and jumped to his feet. He paced up and down as if looking for something.
"Where are we? What about the other two? We have to help them! I have to get back to Gretel." He said quickly.
"There is nothing we can do. We are far from them now." I said tonelessly. Everything I said was true. We were far. We couldn't help them. For all I knew, we might not even be able to get back to them in time to save them or … ever.
"What do you mean? We have to help them. We-" He stopped suddenly and looked to me. With long strides, he was in front of me. I continued to sit, unfazed by his angry glare.
"You! This is all your fault!" He yelled. I had never seen him like this, let alone speak this much. I got to my feet and glared up at him.
"Excuse me, I saved your life!" I yelled back. He seemed surprised at this and took a step back without saying anything. He sat down on the floor and let out a sigh.
"You're right. I'm sorry." He said softly, almost … defeated. I lost my glared and actually felt sorry for him. I took a breath of courage and went to him.
"Look, we'll find them." He looked up at me and I could see he was in pain … emotionally. "I promise." With a sigh, he nodded. The moon was still high and the breeze was still cold but the sky had begun to lighten as a sign of a soon sunrise. I looked around. I gazed toward the cliff and the hill we came from. For some reason, I began to hope that the other two were safe and were managing those witches by themselves. I knew that Gretel didn't have a problem and was well capable, but the kid … could she protect herself and the kid, kill all the witches and manage to escape before more came? I truly hoped so. For Hansel's sake, I hoped that we found them again.
We weren't in the forest anymore. We were situated on a field of dark green grass and heavy grey rocks. There weren't any trees around but the soil in the grass and under the rocks was fertile, easily broken and soft. This was a good sign, there was water near by. Hansel had gotten off the ground and made his way to where I stood. He stopped behind me and reached out his hand. I caught his wrist with my left hand and turned to face the tall man.
"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded.
"You're hurt." He stated.
"I know that."
"What happened?" Did he not know we just came out of a witch attack?
"When I took you down I received the blow that the witch was supposed to give to you."
"You shouldn't have done that." He said. He looked down at me with pity and I hated it. I shoved his wrist out of my hand and walked away.
"It's bad."
"I know. You didn't need to tell me that. I knew it would be before I saved your life." I didn't stop walking.
"Why did you do it? Why did you save me?" I stopped at the question. Why did I save him?
"My dept is paid." I stated. You could not repay that kind of dept by considering something. A life for a life. Not a life for a thought. And now, my dept was paid.
"So now what? Are you going to leave me? Leave them?" I didn't turn.
"No. I made a promise. I'm going to keep it." There was a pause before he came up to me. I started walking again.
"They're the other way." he stated. I resisted the urge to roll my blue and grey eyes.
"I know."
"Why are we going this way?"
"There is a river somewhere close and we need to clean our wounds. Unless you want to die of infection before we get to your sister and the kid."
"No no. I just wanted to know." He stayed quiet after that. It was strange to see him speak so much after the brief few weeks I'd spent with him and the other three. I wondered if this was caused by the fact that we had been separated from the other two in the middle of an attack, the fact that we were alone in a field after rolling down a hill and falling off a cliff or if this was who he really was. I still minded my own business though. As predicted, the body of water wasn't far; however with our bodies in much pain, it felt like forever before we got there.
It was a large pond. The sun had begun to make its way over the horizon and the air was still cold. After inspecting the surroundings of the water and deciding that it was fine, we sat down on separate rocks. Hansel removed his shirt and held it in the water. Dried blood made its way off the shirt and into the water. After all the blood was removed from his shirt, he took it out and used it as a cloth. I couldn't help but stare. His bare chest was muscular and his muscles rippled every time he lifted the wet, heavy leather of his jacket from the water. I forced myself to look away and glanced down at the water. The colour was caused by the different shades, tints and types of blood.
I looked over at Hansel again and saw a large, deep cut on his back. He wouldn't be able to reach that unless he climbed into the water. That wound would cause a tremendous amount of trouble. I looked around for some herb or plant that might help and was relieved to find one that I recognised as a healing herb. I got up and went to it. While picking the herb, I felt the sting of my own wounds. I walked over to Hansel and felt chills as I looked at the cut from a whole scale. The skin was raw, the cut was wide and thick, and the wet and dry blood around it made it look bigger, but the green and blue liquid spreading across his back into his muscles is what made my spine shiver.
"Give me your shirt." I said. He looked up at me in confusion and I saw that he wanted to protest.
"Just do it." He sighed and handed the wet material to me.
"Sit on the ground." He wanted to protest again.
"Now." I ordered. As he did so, I kneeled behind him and dipped the shirt into the water on my left. I placed the herbs on the rock and held the shirt in the water with both hands. Taking it out of the water and draining most of the water from the material, I place my left hand above the cut in the middle of his back. He jolted away from my cold hand but moved back. His skin was hot, the poison was spreading fast and it caused him a fever. I brought the shirt up and gently dabbed the wound. He stiffened and I knew that it was painful.
"Hansel, I need you to relax. It will be easier and quicker that way." He nodded and tried to relax. After a few more jabs, I rinsed the shirt and repeated the cycle. Without the blood, the wound looked worse and I tried not to look at it for long. I took the herbs and crush it in my hands.
"This will hurt." I warned. He nodded but chose to say nothing. I took pinches of herbs from my hand and spread it evenly in the cut. I could see that he was in pain by the way he squeezed his eyes shut. I took water in my hands and poured it over the herbs and the cut. I saw the blue and green liquid run down his back, but to add to it, pus made its way out of the cut too. I left the herbs there until it had absorbed the poison and the pus as much as it could. I took the herbs out and place it on the rock. I went over to a similar bush and picked out leaves. I was lucky to find the two bushes because they worked hand in hand. The herb absorbed the poison and the leaf's juice forced the poison out. After picking the leaves and more of the herbs I went over to him again.
"This will also hurt." I took the leaves and crushed it in my hand, just like the herb. As the liquid from the leaves started to come out, I held my hand above the cut and let it drip onto the cut. His whole body stiffened and he bit down on his lip while keeping his eyes shut. Once the leaves were dry I got up and went to the herbs. After I crushed the plants in my hand, I place it on the rock and waited. A while passed before the poison, the pus and the leaves liquid came out of the cut. I took water in my hands and poured it over the cut and his back. After washing the liquids away, I placed the herbs into his cut again. Hansel was more relaxed now. Most of the poison was out and the cut already looked much better. The plant took the rest of the poison out and his fever faded. After cleaning the cut again, I got up and gave him his shirt back.
The throbs and the aches of my body were getting worse. My head began to pain and I felt like throwing up as well as falling over. I needed to clean my wounds. I stiffly got down by the water. I took my jacket off and placed it on the rock beside me. I already felt lighter. My black shirt was drenched in my own blood. I took my boots off and put it next to my jacket. The colours in the water faded along with the mixes of blood. The sun had risen and it was getting warm. Climbing into the water, the coldness stung my hot skin and blood started to spread again. I knew that a lot of it was my own but it wasn't visible in all the other colours of impure blood. The water stung my open and raw skin. Lifting my shirt slightly, I washed off all the blood from my cuts. It took awhile for my wounds to clean and when it was done I had to do to myself what I had done to Hansel. There wasn't poison in my body, but the herb would clean out infection.
After picking and crushing the plant, I sat down and leaned back onto a rock. I folded my shirt off of my stomach to reveal five deep holes in my skin.
"What happened there?" Hansel inquired. I hadn't realized that he had been watching me. Without looking up, I began to explain.
"While I fought one witch, another came behind me and dug its talons into my skin." As I placed the herb onto each hole, I rested my head against the rock and tried not to concentrate on the pain.
"How did you know about the herb?" He asked. I was actually grateful to him for distracting me from the sting that the plant provided.
"A few years back, I got attacked but a vine witch. I was fortunate enough to come across some of her books and I learned a lot about poisons, ointments, plants and that. This particular herb and plant helped me especially that day when the witch poisoned me. I still remember a lot of things I had learnt that day." It was strange to talk this much because I usually didn't, but it proved the help I needed when it came to the pain. At the thought it started stinging again.
"How long have you been hunting witches?" He asked. I opened my eyes to find Hansel sitting next to me on my right. He was still shirtless. I tried not to stare at his muscular torso.
"For as long as I can remember." It was true, just not completely. I could remember my life before I became a hunter, but I had been doing it for that long.
"What about you?" The first personal question I had ever asked him.
"Haven't you heard the story?" He asked. I frowned.
"I take that as a 'no'." He took a deep breath and looked ahead. "When my sister and I were younger, our father took us into a forest and left us there. We were scared and started to wonder. We came across a house made out of candy and started eating it before we were 'invited' inside. A witch made me eat plenty of candy while she made my sister work. The witch planned to eat us but we killed her first. Ever since then … we've been known almost everywhere for our witch hunting skills. We're … famous."
I listened closely as he explained and couldn't help but imagine what he told me. I tried to remember if I had heard about them before, but nothing came to mind. We remained silent after that. After I had cleaned all my wounds I got up and prepared to get moving.
"Wait." Hansel called from behind me. I turned to look at him.
"You missed a spot." He stated. It took me awhile to realize what he was talking about. He was right though. However, I couldn't reach the cut on my back. As if he had heard my thoughts, he sat down on a rock and pointed to the floor in front of him. I knew what he meant, but I was confused. He rolled his eyes.
"Don't just stand there. Come sit down and let me help you." He said. I was very hesitant, but a part of me told me that he could be trusted. Slowly, I made my way to him. He got up so I could sit on the rock. As I sat down he looked down at me.
"Now, tell me what to do." He said. As I directed him, he did exactly as I told him. When he came to kneel behind me, I moved my hair, lifted my shirt and held it there. His hands were cold against my skin, but it was nice. As he did as I said, I felt relaxed as his soft hands held my back. It was strange to feel that comfortable, but I couldn't help it. The sting of the herb was lessened by the comfort of his skin touching mine. I closed my eyes and soaked in the relaxation I felt.
"If I may," He began. I opened my eyes at his voice and waited for him to continue. "What is you name?"
I knew he would ask that eventually. I took a deep breath, followed by a sigh. There was a long pause as I considered whether to tell him or not. At my decision, I answered.
"Elizabeth Rose." I hadn't spoken, thought or heard my name in such a long time that I almost forgot it.
"That's a beautiful name." He said.
Authors note; Yeah man! You finally know her name! Now you have a name to go with the person. Anyways, thanks to everyone for reading! Please review. Enjoy!
