The Witch Within Read Online Free

in fact he looks quite alarmed. He is clearly warning me about something.
    I hear steps behind me and freeze. Before I manage to turn, I discover that the deer has set off and someone’s fist strikes the back of my head.
     
     

 
    Chapter 3 – Captive
     
     
    I stumble, fall and receive another kick to the stomach. It has been quite a while, simply walking in the dark. After the fist struck me, I recovered on the ground, cold and weak, my whole body in pain, mainly my head and my neck. I have never felt such a creepily dull ache in my life; I can’t seem to focus on anything else.
    My eyes have been tied with a piece of smelly cloth and so has my mouth. I have no idea who the two men are or why they did it. I can’t recognise their voices or see a thing through the cloth. I was hoping to find a place where the fabric was loose, but no luck. Each pull of the rope that cuts into my wrists sends a sharp pain through my body.
    I have an inkling that they are taking me back home to face not only my beloved, but most probably, the so-called justice. What else would this be about? My captors are unmerciful, cruel, and each time I fall, they make me stand up by causing me even more pain. I can’t remember how many times they have slapped or kicked me. Actually, only one of them, the other one seems to keep to himself, striding slightly ahead of us.
    They have exchanged only a few words since I recovered, making it even harder for me to know what they are after, or if they were sent to hunt me down or perhaps have different intentions with me.
    The one leading me is rough, has a raucous deep voice, his grasp is harsh and hands ice cold, the other one has only touched me once, when helping me up, his hands warm and gentle. However, I'm not entirely sure he empathises with me.
    The coarse man hurries me by pulling on the rope and says the one thing he has been saying since we started this cruel march:
    “Get up, you stinky witch!”
    My feet can hardly keep up with him, clumsy because of the rocks and roots of trees that get in my way with each step I take. I have no choice but to obey that bastard who causes me even more suffering. Suddenly, the quiet one has stopped. For a while there is the same old silence between them, it seems as though the two are contemplating something, but then he speaks:
    “What do you think, Daniel, which way should we go now?”
    “How should I know? You’re the expert!”
    “I never said that.”
    “You said you used to come here.”
    “But that was years back and this forest is like a labyrinth, I told you I am not entirely sure where we are.”
    Daniel sets off to face an unknown direction.
    “That’s what one gets when he decides to rely on a beginner...”
    “Wait. That way is far too difficult for us, what about her?”
    “What about her?! Don’t tell me you sympathise with this witch!”
    Does he? My heart starts beating faster. He does not answer and that elevates my hope. Daniel’s pace gets faster and the path he has decided on is full of thorny bushes. My dress occasionally rips, ostensibly making Daniel amused, as he lets out a few derisive laughs. Once we have finally passed the worst part, Daniel stops abruptly and I accidentally crash into his back. He pushes me away and I fall again, this time on something sharp. A stinging pain runs through my arm. A deep cut. Never mind, still better than the headache that certainly surpasses everything, even the desperate need to urinate, that I have been experiencing for some time now.
    I can feel the warm hand of the less harsh man on my wrist. He rips my dress in the place of the injury and most probably examines the wound, because Daniel snarls at him:
    “Leave it! She deserves it!”
    He does not listen to him and rips off the rest of my sleeve and wraps the wound. My heart starts beating again as a flood of warmth spreads over my chest. Any form of kindness makes me elated now. Could it be that this man has a good heart? Will