Cursed by Malignant Magic (Once Upon A Curse)

Chapter 17

Chapter

Seventeen

I f Legacy had just let me go over the wall in the first place, we might have been okay.

Instead, I got shot.

I shouted in pain as the bolt caught my leg, and I nearly fell off the top of the wall. The rope around my wrists yanked tight as Legacy jumped down, and I wobbled, trying to breathe through the pain and get down as quickly as I could before I got shot again.

"Come on," Legacy snarled.

I hissed back at her, fumbling my bound hands with the top of the wall as I guided myself down. The bolt still jutting from my leg scraped the stone, and my vision whitened, another burst of agony nearly driving me to unconsciousness.

"How did you…get into our fortress?" I asked.

My breaths came too quickly as she yanked me toward a horse in a nearby copse of trees. I limped badly, jags of pain driving up my leg as we walked. Every beat of my heart sent a pulse of pain through me, but I focused on Legacy.

"The Montroses built secret tunnels into most Caputo fortresses years ago," she said.

“What?” I hissed. “Secret tunnels?”

Shouts sounded from over the wall. I jerked my gaze over my shoulder, using my magic to stretch out and feel for those who had shot at us. Soldiers from my side, lots of them, and more were coming. The alarm of my escape had been raised.

The horse stomped as we approached, ears pinned back, and I wrinkled my nose. Horses were fine, but this one had an attitude before we'd even climbed onto its back.

Legacy rolled her eyes and looped her arm around my waist, hauling me roughly toward the horse. "Yes, secret tunnels, the kind you Caputos don’t know anything about. Now we’re being chased. Let’s just worry about getting away."

She let go of me long enough to free the horse's reins, and I gulped down a howl of pain as somehow her sleeve caught on the crossbow bolt jutting out of my thigh, ripping it free. Once again, my vision whitened, nausea rolling in my gut, but I swallowed hard a few times to help keep myself together.

Not the time, not the place, and I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing she’d hurt me.

With a grunt, Legacy shoved me into the saddle so I faced the horse’s rump, her hands clamped around my injured leg to hoist me up, and I hissed in pain. Blood stained her hands from touching the wound, and I smiled grimly. Ironic, to be certain, but the fact that my blood was literally on her hands did say something about the situation we were in and how we had been treating each other since we’d met.

Legacy wiped her hands off on her pants before she climbed into the saddle, as if my blood didn't matter to her at all.

Already, blood soaked my pants leg, and my head spun as I stared down at the growing pool. My only balance with my hands still bound was to lean against Legacy’s back for support, but that got harder and harder the faster the horse moved. Finally, I had to say something, although my tongue felt thick, my entire body shivering from the loss of blood.

"I need—" I began weakly.

"Not now. Your people are still chasing us, and it's best to move as quietly as we can," Legacy said.

The horse was hardly quiet, and I would have pointed that out if I'd had the energy, but speaking was an effort. I needed her to understand that something was very wrong here. The blood wouldn't stop, and I was no longer capable of any kind of pressure to stop the flow. I could hardly feel my bound hands any longer, nor any part of my body, really.

I shivered as if my bones themselves had frozen, and I swayed more than I should have with the motion of the horse's easy trot.

Finally my body gave up entirely, despite my protests, although I at least managed to hold out until the horse had slowed to a walk.

Legacy muttered something I didn't hear as I toppled from the horse. I barely had the presence of mind to curl into myself as I landed to prevent an injury. Every inch of my skin felt like ice crystals, chilled even more with the cool breeze.

This time Legacy swore, and the horse's hooves vibrated the ground next to me as they stopped.

With my eyes closed for some relief from the spearing blindness of the light, I flinched as Legacy knelt next to me, her hands warm on my skin.

"Why didn't you say something?" she hissed.

She sounded nearly frantic but frustrated enough for my attitude to gather up some energy for a retort.

"I did," I muttered. "Tried. And you had my blood on your hands. Not my fault you didn't notice."

I cracked my eyes open to look at her as her hands pulled away. In my agonized state, I wanted her to touch me, wanted her hands on me, and not just because I craved her warmth. My mind felt too hazy to try to decipher why that was.

She stared at the dried blood on her hands and on her pants with a look I might have called horror. If I didn't know better.

I closed my eyes again, my breath rattling as I managed a snort. She hadn't cared that I was bleeding out until it proved a danger to my life. Of course she couldn't allow her prize to die, not when it would contradict her orders to bring me back alive so I could be studied and used.

Perhaps it would be better if I died here.

A stinging slap to my cheek jerked my eyes open. Legacy, now that she had slapped me back to semi-consciousness, tore a strip from the bottom of her tunic to bind my wound. The muscles in her stomach were on full display as she lifted the hem to her mouth to tear it with her teeth, and I nearly swallowed my thick tongue.

Nice to know that even in the midst of nearly passing out, my mind still made note of the important things.

“Why did you hit me?” I mumbled.

I shifted restlessly, or at least tried to. My body did not seem to want to obey my commands. I lay completely still, my body tense with anticipation and pain.

She delicately wrapped the torn remnants of her tunic around my leg. A searing, white-hot sensation shot through me with every tug, causing me to grit my teeth in agony. The fabric pressed against my skin, a sharp contrast to the dull ache that throbbed beneath it.

As she finished tying the makeshift bandage, sweat glistened on her brow, and her breath came in short gasps. If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought the expression on her face looked sympathetic, but between one blink and the next, she’d replaced it with her usual flat expression.

“Because if you sleep now, you won’t wake up. You have to stay with me.” Her voice gave away no more than her face, and her shoulders hunched forward, closing herself off from me.

“As if I’ve had a choice thus far,” I muttered.

Despite what she’d said, I struggled to stay conscious. I faded in and out, and it wasn’t long before I succumbed completely. The last thing I heard was Legacy’s voice, but I couldn’t make out what she said.

It didn’t matter. It was too late to make a difference.

The pain had faded because I was already gone.