Draft: Chapter Two

"I'm here to help" he extended his hands upwards to reassure her. But he was confident it was in vain, as she seemed to not register anything that was happening around her. He slowly reached for her, and her eyes were following him. "Can you stand?" it was a silly question. She was practically covered in blood from head to toe. His hand squeezed hers, and it was so bony and small. As he was checking to see where her wounds were he noticed how fragile she was. It was like she has been starving for days. On first glance he couldn't see the blood source. "Do you mind moving, so I can see your wounds?"

At first she didn't understand him, but then ever so slightly she rolled on her back and pointed at her stomach. 

"I'm going to have to lift your dress, is that ok?" she nodded. Although the term dress was an overestimation. It looked like her nightgown and on top of that most of it was ripped.

With trembling fingers he lifted it to her breasts focusing his eyes only on her stomach, as she was wearing nothing underneath. She squeezed her eyes shut, and started humming lightly to herself. There was blood, but there was no major wound, just couple of scratches, but nothing too serious, or threatening to leave a scar. He promptly put her dress back in order, not wasting a second more than the necessary. 

"That's strange" he murmured to himself. She stopped humming, opened her eyes and looked at him inquisitively. "You don't have any serious wounds. Just scratches." Her eyes got bigger in surprise. "I'm going to check if you have any broken bones, is that all right?" Again, she only nodded and started her melody. It was obvious she had been through hell and back, and his heart was breaking for her as every time he moved his hand to check she was tensing up. He didn't waste any more time that was necessary. "No broken bones" he said in disbelief. What he didn't dare utter was the question that hung between them. She whimpered as he helped her to sit up. For a moment he wondered why, surely she wasn't injured so bad, but the terror that wasn't leaving her eyes urged him to shut up. Besides she looked so innocent and even though she didn't have any broken bones or open wounds, she did in fact have some quite nasty bruises. And on top of that with all the blood that was covering her, she must have fought her way out and judging by the looks of it she must have killed at least two people to escape whatever horrors she had to face. 

No, he had no right to wonder why she moaned and cried with pain with every movement.

"Do you think you'll be able to walk?" her lower lip quivered as if the thought of walking was too much for her. "Never mind" he quickly brushed off his own question, never wanting to cause her any distress. But his, no, their options were limited. On the one hand he had to carry her, but it was so damned dark that even alone he was bound to fell at least a few times, and with her in his arms he wouldn't risk anything to happen to her. On the other they could wait until sunup. But this wasn't exactly the better option since it was chilly and she was practically naked, not to mention that it was a miracle that her blood hadn't driven out wolfs already. Thankfully the moon was bright enough in this open space so they could be ready if someone attacked them, however they had no weapon.

She can walk if she wanted to.

The thought was too quiet and passed too quickly for him to even register it. 

"We'll have to wait for the morning to come." She nodded. 

A bark was heard from somewhere far away.