Save Me from the Big Bad Wolf

After that man had thrown her in the river she floundered, pain ripping through her leg where his teeth had cut through muscle to bone with the force of all of her weight being lifted by one point, and she struggled to keep herself above the surface as she struggled to make it back to shore. She had barely heard his voice over the water rushing past her ears, but one thing had reached her loud and clear and continued to reverberate through her mind as she was swept up in the current that started to carry her down stream. When you least expect it, I'll be there. The taste of bile was still harsh and acidic on her tongue, gasping for air whenever she was able to keep her head above water, paddling desperately toward the river's edge. The water wasn't even moving that quickly and the river wasn't incredibly wide, but her blind panic and terror disoriented her and it was difficult to get her bearings in any capacity.

Her shoulder slammed into a rock and made her grimace, but it at least gave her a place to stop long enough to actually force her way back to the shore, pulling her soaked body back onto dry land only to collapse with her hind legs still dangling in the water. Gwynevere choked on a sob that shook her whole body and she drew into herself, covering her face with her forelegs as she curled into a ball, gasping and trembling. Her one injured hind leg remained stretched out, the cool water of the river continued to run over it and a thin trail of blood snaked through the water away from her, but it was all she could do to just continue breathing. She couldn't think about treating her wounds, all she could think about was the horrible image of his grinning face with her mother's head perched on top of his own that was now burned into the back of her eye lids.

She knew she should call for someone, anyone, but even when she tried to draw air into her lungs she couldn't force herself to breathe deeply enough howl. Silently she prayed that Eilwen would come looking for her or perhaps that someone might notice she was gone and come searching, but how long would that take? What if that man came looking for her again before someone found her? She was constantly hidden away in her room or the infirmary when she was in the castle so how long would it take before someone realized she was missing? Even with all these unknowns running through her head faster than she could process them she still couldn't make herself move. She remained curled up on the shore of the falls, wanting desperately to just sink into the earth and disappear completely.

Gwynevere | Eilwen