章節 42: One rotten apple
[Some unknown time later]
The crackling sound of burning wood came to Narcissa's ears. She opened her eyes slowly as the last shreds of unconsciousness lifted and was relieved to discover that she was lying next to a campfire with several dry logs and twigs burning. The cave, from what she could see, was only lit by the meager fire, but it was big and spacious enough.
'Did someone find me?' She wondered, unsure as she did not sense anyone else. She tried to get up, but, 'Right,' A dull pain in her head and the slow pulsing ache of her wounds brought her memories flooding back.
"You shouldn't move too much. You were struck by a poison curse of an undead. It would take some time to heal," A man's voice came from the cave's entrance. He came inside with more wood and tossed a couple more into the fire.
Narcissa looked at her ribcage and noticed she was all patched up in bandages and the smell of potion and herbs came to her nose. Her clothes were lying near the campfire. Soon, she realized that this man before her eyes had taken off her clothes, applied healing salves to her wounds, and even patched her up. She closed her arms around her chest and sat up on the ground with a loud groan.
Her eyes fell on her legs. Her right leg has darkened. 'Probably got hit by a curse while running. Tsk.' But her eyes widened when she noticed that she was in her bra and panty, well, with added bandages.
"You bastard!" Narcissa looked around for her wand, but it was missing. "How dare you take advantage of me?!" She quickly tried to close her legs together, but the intense pain shot through her right leg and ribcages. "Gaaahh!" She grabbed her sides and winced, falling backward and slamming her head against the floor. "Ugh, the heck! My wand, you bastard, give it!" She stared at the person before her.
"If I wanted to take advantage of you, why would I tend you up? I have been waiting for hours until you woke up. And this is how you thank your savior? Is me seeing you naked such a grave crime?" A handsome man spoke up as he walked to the campfire, kneeling down to warm himself, ignoring the glares she was giving.
'As far as the looks go, this man is... What?! No! What the hell am I thinking about?' Narcissa's ears tinted in embarrassment.
"I tried the best healing spell available to me, but it was useless against such deadly poison. So, it was either I leave you to your fate to die or take off your clothes to apply salves and potions to save your life. I chose the latter," The stranger said with a sigh as he took out an apple from his bag. He walked over to Narcissa and placed it on the ground before her, "Eat. It's not like the 5-star treatment, but still better than starving," and went back to sit around the campfire, "As for your clothes, they were all in shreds... So, yup! You were already half-ass naked when I found you."
He took out his wand and pointed at Narcissa's torn clothes, levitating them up in the air, before moving them toward her.
"And it's not like I'm carrying around female clothes..."
Narcissa took her clothes and examined them. It's just as this man said, her clothes were all torn apart. It must have happened when she fell down from the slope into the woods. They were beyond repair.
"Who are you?" She finally calmed down and asked. Her eyes were filled with cautiousness and doubt.
The stranger barely looked 20 years of age, and his clothes looked normal. His wand was a weird one. She could see a faint black energy swirling around it and that ornated silver on the grip's edges was giving a faint silvery glow.
"You don't remember, do you?" The stranger said with a smile, "Well, can't blame you. We only met twice after all. Ryan Lance."
Hearing his name, all color drained off Narcissa's face, and a faint shock flashed across her face before she regained her calm again. As far as she knows, when Lucius murdered his father, he used Ryan Lance as a scapegoat and made him take the fall for his crimes. Ryan was soon sent to Azkaban where he was tortured for years before Lucius sent his men to kill him. The guards and Ryan's remaining family members were also killed for covering it up and the details regarding it were all covered up, sealed, and thrown away.
'How is a supposedly long-dead wizard before my very eyes? Maybe it's just a different man?' Narcissa tried to think, but couldn't remember the real face of Ryan Lance. "It's impossible. He is dead."
"That he is." Ryan smiled as he poked the burning wood with a twig.
A long silence took place until Ryan spoke up again, breaking the silence. "What? Afraid, I might kill you? Or, are you perhaps regretting asking that question? Well, if I wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation." He threw another dry twig. "Eat. Then we will talk more. It's too early to be surprised. Because there's more to come..."
Narcissa wasn't sure what the man's motives were for saving her and bringing her here, but the last bit he mentioned startled her a little. 'What does he mean by that?' She doesn't have a choice here. In her condition, she knew that she'd die alone out here. But then she was sure that her family guards must be looking for her since it was too late and she was missing from the mansion. Right now, she decided not to anger this stranger claiming to be Ryan Lance.
She took the apple and ate it in silence.
"Those skeletons, your doing?" Narcissa suddenly asked when her curiosity got the better of her. "You spread the rumors and then bait me out, then used those skeletons to attack me, nearly killing me. Then, here you are saving me like a hero in shining armor..."
"Humm..." Ryan touched his chin and thought for a moment, "So, they looked like undead skeletons to you, huh?! Interesting." He pointed his wand toward the right dark corner of the cave and threw a ball of light in that direction. There was a heap of seven dead Inferius.
"Are those..." She stuttered.
"Inferius. Undead without a brain or will. They just follow their master's command to act on orders. There's no thinking involved. And you were under an illusion charm that made you think you were being chased by skeletons instead of Inferius. Now, who in this freaking world can pull off such a vile magic? And why? You are clever, so, take a breather and think," Ryan said with a smirk on his face.
Narcissa took a quick look at the dead Inferius again.
"Only the Dark Lord can create such things. But why attack me? Malfoy family is his ally," She mumbled to herself. 'Is it related to Voldemort being angry with Lucius? Did he want to kill me to punish him? Or...' She glanced toward Ryan. 'Even we failed to create undead, so, there isn't any way this guy knows how to do that.'
"I see. Illusion spells to hide the Inferius so that if I somehow survive, my testimony would be that I got attacked by a group of skeletons. That way, no one will ever know that they were Inferius, not skeletons. So, Voldemort would retain his secrecy even after attempting to kill me. And he could just shift the blame to the Order or muggles to fuel this pure blood supremacy madness," Her mind churned and calculated, and her heart beat a little faster.
"Well, at least someone in the family got a brain." He took out a bottle of water from his bag and used his wand to send it toward Narcissa's hand, "Oh, if you are wondering about your family guards coming to rescue you, forget it because right now, they are having the best time of their life with your sister. They should be dead by morning and not to worry, their screams won't reach this far."
"WHAT?! BELLATRIX IS WITH YOU?!" Narcissa suddenly panicked as she tried to stand up.
"Woo, easy, there. If you move that much, the poison will spread. As for your query, yes, she is. I opened her eyes and saved her from Voldemort's grasp. Even cut off the link. So, don't worry. She's safe with me, but sorry... Everyone in the mansion isn't so safe with her. For my revenge, I'll kill every single member that bears the name of Malfoy. But I made a promise to Bellatrix to let you live and I'm gonna keep that..." Ryan said in a firm tone and even Bellatrix is fine with that.
"You can't kill them all! There are workers and maids who have nothing to do with the Malfoy's past actions! They are innocents," Narcissa pleaded as she shook her head.
"So was I..." Ryan said with a cold expression.
"YOU... I RATHER DIED THAN WATCH THIS HAPPEN!!!" Narcissa ignored all her pains and stood up, but she felt her injured leg giving out.
"So were you and Bellatrix until they poisoned your minds with pure blood supremacy and caused you to commit many despicable deeds and crimes. I hope you see the correlation there. It's like the old saying goes 'one rotten apple spoils the whole bunch'... or, well, you have been spoiled rotten. Let's just leave it at that."
Narcissa stumbled as her vision blurred. She felt someone catching her before she fell.
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