Aurelie kept her pace since she saw the ghostly head. Well, as much as she could, without losing all the flesh on her heels. Her swollen feet barely fit into her shoes and ached at the ankles.
The Northern Falls came up in the distance, and she had no other choice but to stop. The water raced down, overpowering any other sound. If someone or thing was behind her now, she'd never heard them approach.
The grass just beyond the rocky ground surrounding the waterfall held a healthy, dark green color, gaining a constant spray of water from the waterfall's side. It was soft and fluffy below her feet, soothing them somewhat with its dampness.
A rickety bridge crossed the falls at what looked like a crack in a sharp rocky hill. Aurelie wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going. Even the soft grass began to feel like shards of broken glass. She held her shoes in her hand because her swollen feet barely fit them now.
Beyond the bridge, the Dead Wood awaited her, but she refused to think about that now. The constant tug of fear that raced from her fingers to her toes was close to making her plop down right where she stood and cried for a couple of hours.
She wanted to sleep. She wanted to eat. She wanted to not be chased by the King, his army, or a damn ghost, for that matter. But none of those things were going to happen, so she had to keep moving.
Aurelie placed her right foot on the first plank of the bridge and grabbed onto the rope. It was slimy with filth. She rubbed her hands against her dress, but layers of dirty still clad her fingers.
The planks looked secure enough for her, but even the extra weight of a feather could make the damp wood give in, and Aurelie would never survive being dragged down the waterfall. If she did not drownâand she was not a very strong swimmerâthe rocks at the bottom would kill her. If she were to guess by a number of missing planksâfive at the leastâthe bridge already had more than a couple of victims.
Aurelie stood still for a moment, twitching as she prepared to step forward and then back again. She was scared to turn around in case the ghostly man had been following her, and too scared of the creatures hiding behind the eerie snags of the Dead Wood to move forward. The line between seemed to be this God-forsaken bridge, which on its own scared the fire right out of her.
Once more she balanced her weight on the first step. She pushed her weight against the step, testing it. It held. Her knuckles whitened from the firm grip she had on the rope. She stepped forward, her toes curling from fear. The planks were stronger than they appeared. Aurelie's ears began to drum, muffling out the sounds of the water.
She quickened her pace, trying to get the bridge over and down as fast as she could. Her legs barely touched the planks before she carefully stepped onto the next. She held tightly to the rope, sliding her palms along it. Her skin grew hot from the motion, but she did not weaken her grip. Water gently sprayed her as it poured to the left of her. The steps in the center of the bridge were damper than the ones at the start. Aurelie had to take extra care not to slip, spending extra time on each one.
Crack! The step below her left leg snapped in half. She did not hear the sound because of the whooshing of the waterfall but felt the crisp crack in her bones. Her leg dropped down. The broken planks gripped it mid-fall. Splinters sliced through her skin. Specks of light blinked around her.
"Ahh!" she cried out as blood warmed her leg. The pain was sharp at first, but then it almost faded entirely as her heart began to race at the thought of death.
She gripped the rope harder, trying not to place too much pressure on the step below her right leg. She slid itâbit by bitâto the side of the step, where the rope held it secure. She did not want to pressure the plank with her weight for too long, not in the center at least. She slowly pulled her trapped leg upward. The planks tightened around her calf, sticking more splinters into her open wound. It was caught right in the middle, extra tight and working to secure the two halves of the plank to the rope.
"Why?" she growled.
Her right leg seemed secure for the moment, the step below it stable enough under her weight. There was only one way out of this. A cold wave ran through her.
Aurelie took three quick breaths, in and out through her mouth, and gritted her teeth. Like ripping off a bandage, she thought and nodded to herself, then squatted down really fast. She felt every sharp slab of wood slice through her. Blood raced down, warming her leg. She gritted her teeth through the pain and forced herself forward.
She counted the steps ahead of her, ignoring the hot pain. Only ten. Aurelie was more careful this time, testing every step like she did the first. When she finally reached the last, she released the breath she had been holding and fell onto the solid earth ahead of her.
Hot tears welled in her eyes and she no longer had the strength to stop them. She cried for her aunt, for her uncle, for the Holvers, and when she began feeling sorry for herself, she stopped. Not because she was not in pain, or lonely, or hungry, or tired. She was all of these things, but she was also alive and potentially the last member of their little alliance still able to seek revenge.
The monsters, created shadows of the snags, had no effect on her. This was the least frightening thing she had seen in the last day. Her leg, however, stung, bled, and ached. In fact, there was no part of her, from the waist down, which did not hurt. She came to sit near a tree and rubbed the hem of her dress against the rough bark until the fabric tore, and she could tear the rest herself to get a piece big enough for a bandage.
Blood seeped through the cloth as she wrapped it around her calf, but it was the best that she could do for the moment. "Ow, ow. Ow!" she moaned while she tied the knot.
Aurelie climbed back onto her feet, sending a sharp pain up her leg as the bandage shifted slightly. "Stop!" her scream echoed through the forest. "Just bloody stop!"
Her vision of the woods slowly filled with an orange glow as her eyes once more ignited. Anger churned within, as if a creature lived in her chest, and attempted to scratch his way to the surface. She sighed. The last thing she needed was to worry about her power manipulating her into another fit of rage.
Tree branches rustled. She glared around for moving shadows, all was still. She moved past the snags, her eyes swollen and hot. The rocky ground was devoid of any grass, with pebbles scattered all over, prodding her feet.
Tree branches rustled from behind her, closer this time. Aurelie whirled around. A tree stood directly behind her, but she had not swayed right or left to have passed it before. She was sure that she walked in a straight line. The snags should have only been to her side. Yet, this tree was blocking her vision of the bridge.
A gap under the tree's eyes opened, and a loud grunting voice came out, "Boo." Two gaping holes appeared a foot above its mouth and appeared to gape at her through vacant eyeballs.
She gasped, unable to make a sound, and froze in place. Her breath quickened. She stared at the beast, unsure of whether to scream, run or just fall at his feet and accept defeat.
Green leaves spiraled up its head, and thick trunks held him upright. Roots hung freely from them, and some dove in and out of the ground, seeking a soft patch of earth to crawl into.
The tree lifted his arm right above her head. Aurelie ducked, attempting to dodge a blow that never came.
"P...Please, Iâ" she managed to gather her voice. Her body flashed hot and cold and her ears buzzed.
"Shh." The tree rubbed his fingers together above her head, specks of glowing wood fell out of them and onto her face.
She moved away, but not before accidentally taking a breath. Her vision blurred, and her feet grew spongy.
"Stay back! I'm a... dragon," she said, her words sounding distant. The tree's shape wobbled in her vision until everything went dark. "I'm Aurelie Dra . . ."
The pain in her legs disappeared. Her limbs were light as a feather, and her mind filled with a thick fog. Never in her life had her body been so limp. She lost all balance and fell backward.
***
Aurelie flew through the Dead Woods like a witch, but unlike them, she didn't need a broomstick. She bumped into one of the snags, and laughed, steering herself right. Only her neck moved. She frowned and tried again.
Branches approached her with great speed, she moved her face, but her body still refused to obey. The snags left gashes on her side. There was no pain, but she could feel the heat of her blood dripping down the side of her stomach.
She did not like this dream, and it must have been one because, despite being called a dragon, she was certain that she could not fly. Her and arms still worked, she had wiggled her toes to test them, but other than that, nothing else could move.
She knew what happened. At least, at some point, she did. Now, however, there was a great big hole in her memory. Bridge, steps, branches. Something about the branches, she thought.
An old man with a long white beard manifested at her side. The face in the smoke! His beard was long and his head bare. With his body attached, he seemed like less of a threat. She laughed and winked at him, that being the only thing short of wiggling her fingers at him that she could do.
She came to her senses then. This behavior wasn't like her at all. The man did not seem frightening, but she was taught to be careful of absolutely everyone. Why would she ever smile and wink at a ghost? Most importantly, why was she not afraid anymore?
He flew just above her and waved his hands above his head as if trying to get her attention. He had her attention though, so she wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish by waving. Is he mocking me? She wondered whether he was involved in her paralysis. She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips.
"Who . . ." she mouth, trying to ask him who he was, but no words came out of her mouth. Her mouth felt like cotton candy, soft, and puffy.
Aurelie's stomach suddenly dropped. Her chest felt weightless. She was falling. She tried to push her body upwards. The old man stayed behind and watched as she fell, he grew more and more distant, until he faded out of her sight.
Aurelie's eyes shot open as her body thumped against the ground, knocking out the air in her lungs. Bridge, steps, branches, she thought again, trying to make sense of the words.
She gasped as something stirred behind her, remembering exactly what had happened.