The Witch's Curse

Chapter Three

James got a comb and started to work on the tangles in Penny's mane when we heard a scream coming from the village! James and I looked at each other. Immediately, I jumped up on Penny without a saddle (there wasn't time) and James got on Oliver, our gray horse. We galloped on the dirt road, but before we even got to the village, we saw what they were screaming at. Some of the houses in the village were completely up in flames. We rode further until we were right in front of the scene. Four houses all in a row, and a workshop were engulfed in fire. Moms comforted their kids not far off, and a few men were filling up buckets of water and dumping them on. James and I stayed, looking on in shock until we realized that we could be helping. We jumped off our horses and went for buckets.

"This isn't a job for a princess, Rosie!" He yelled over the roaring of the madness.

"I can do it! I'm not as delicate as you think I am!" He knew I could do just as much as he could do, he just liked to tease. I threw water buckets on the furthest cottage, and recognized it as our friend Hanna's. She had six kids. She ran up to me crying.

"Aurora, I can't find Katy!" She said in between sobs. "I got everyone out I thought, but I can't find her anywhere!" Katy was her baby. She was only a few months old. I looked from her to the house. "No Aurora. She couldn't be in there!" I knew I had to do it. There was no other choice.

The door to the cottage had fallen off, so I crawled in on all fours. Thick black smoke filled the room. I heard people screaming behind me to get out, but I kept going. The smoke clouded my thoughts. The cottage was so small, anyone left in here was surely dead. Wood and ashes were falling everywhere, and it looked like a nightmare. I heard a tiny baby whimper. She couldn't have much time left. I went toward the sound. She kept whimpering, and then I found her, wrapped in an ash-covered cloth. I grabbed her from where I was and wrapped her in my arms. My vision started to blur (and not because of the smoke), and I layed on the ground, wrapped around her. I was running out of air, and my heart pounded. She cried, and I didn't even have power in my brain to think that I was about to die. I just layed there, and a wooden beam fell right next to me. I felt a scorching heat on the side of my face and right arm. A shock traveled all through me from the burns, and I almost started convulsing. I thought I was going to throw up. All I was thinking was to save the baby. I pulled part of my cloak over her mouth and nose while I coughed. I could smell singed hair and the terrible odor of burnt flesh. Someone screamed with a raspy voice that seemed so close, I panicked until I realized it was me. The last thing I felt were two strong arms wrapping around me and pulling me up. I blacked out right there.

"She'll be okay, but it will take a really long time to recover."

"And the baby?"

"It'll be a miracle if she lives. She's alive now, if the princess hadn't gone in there she would've died in the house." I heard a silence and then footsteps. Someone opened the door with a loud creak and left. My eyes were still closed, and I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't tell what I was laying on, or who those voices were. I hardly even remembered my own name. My thoughts were broken by footsteps walking over to me. I layed still, and couldn't move. I tried to open my eyes, but it was like my brain couldn't send the message to the muscles to move. The person walked away again and I heard the door open.

"Is she awake yet?" I heard a masculine voice ask. I recognized it as James.

"No." He walked over to me and stood there.

"Aurora, are you awake?" He whispered by my ear. I wished I could say something. I just wanted to let him know I was alive. His voice sounded so desperate. I felt him kiss my forehead. It was electric. It sent shivers down through my neck and back. My eyes fluttered open. He looked at me with the familiar concerned look, except it was even more worried than usual. I started to be able to feel aware of myself. The side of my face felt weird, like it was rough and distorted. My arm felt the same way, except worse. It throbbed harder and harder, and the pain suddenly overwhelmed me. I screamed out and squirmed. James put his hand on my unscarred cheek, and the person I had heard earlier came up with a bowl of cold water. She put a cold, soaked towel under my arm and I winced. She poured the water over it, and it felt so good. It was instant relief until it wore off. It was like when you pour cold water onto a heated pot; it just sizzles away. It felt like heat was radiating from my arm.