This story's about when Halt was a child, him and Ferris are thirteen and Caitlyn is ten. THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR BOOK EIGHT! Enjoy
Halt sat there thinking as the loud angry voices found there way into his room. He tossed and turned in his bed trying to sleep, but was no doubt failing to do so. He couldn't sleep; he just couldn't, not because he could hear his parents arguing. No he couldn't sleep because he kept wondering about the sickness he had just gotten out of. It was all caused by a plate of shrimp, which was odd because they were in season. This had been no mild case of food poisoning. This had been the worse illness Halt had ever had and the worse that the castles healer had ever seen.
That day was so normal, well as normal as his life could get. He and his brother Ferris had fought again that day, this had been becoming a weekly occurrence too. Lately Halt noticed that Ferris fought more aggressively, and there was an evil glint in his eyes. The arguments were the same though, Ferris would shout about being cheated by those seven minutes that separated him and Halts birth, then Halt would shout about how he didn't even want to be the oldest, how he didn't want to be the crowned prince and soon to be King of Clonmel. Then Ferris would shout about how Halt was being a prat.
Eventually Halt would get the last word then tell their younger sister Caitlyn about their argument. After an hour or so Halt, Caitlyn, and Ferris went to have dinner with their parents the queen and king of Clonmel. They had shrimp that night. Halt didn't particularly like the shellfish, but he didn't hate it ether. Ferris, the mirror image of Halt, did like shrimp so they had it at least once each week. Ferris watched as Halt ate, he knew of what was to come. Ferris hated Halt for being born first, he felt as if he was cheated by those seven minutes. So Ferris did what he felt was right for the kingdom, he poisoned Halts food that night. He hoped he got the doses right though. If he put anything less than a lethal dose then Halt would live, and all of Ferris's hard work would be for nothing.
About half way through the meal Halt began to feel nauseous, he ignored the feeling but it soon became overwhelming. Soon his parents noticed something was wrong. "Halt, dear are you feeling alright?" his mother had asked. Halts vision blurred as he pushed back his chair and ran out of the dining hall and into the nearest corridor. Moments later a maid came into the dining hall saying
"Prince Halt has fallen ill and is now being taken to the infirmary." Ferris grinned evilly at the news then pretended to act concerned. Caitlyn saw the look on her older brother's face at the news and she knew he had done something to Halt. She would have to keep this information to herself, who knows what Ferris would do if he found out.
The next three days consisted of Halt getting worse in his condition. He was violently sick and he couldn't keep anything down not even the herbs the healer gave him. He didn't ever sleep and Caitlyn knew it would take a miracle for Halt to survive. She often visited Halt and she told him of her suspicions of Ferris but with the fever he had Caitlyn doubted he had any idea of what was going on. Knowing this she decided not to bother him with it again maybe the evil grin was her imagination.
With each day of Halt being sick Ferris seemed to get more and more carefree. Of course her parents didn't notice they were too worried about Halt and when they weren't they were arguing. On third day exhaustion finally got the better of his stomach and he fell into a deep sleep or so it would seem.
Halt had slipped into a slight coma and didn't even stir in his sleep for five days. On the fifth day Halt awoken and was able to keep medicine down, he was soon slowly recovering. After two weeks in the infirmary he was released.
And now here he was tossing and turning in his bed wondering how a simple plate of bad shrimp could make him so ill. His parents were still arguing even though it was late into the night, most likely about him since he had heard his name a couple of times.
They were probably saying that Halt was so closed in, how he wasn't friendly, how he was grim and that Ferris was everything Halt wasn't. Nice sweet charming or at least that's the side Ferris showed to their parents. His mom would be backing up Halt saying she doesn't pick favorites, but Halt knew she was worried. His mother was worried about how the kingdom could ever function with such a grim and gloomy king.
His father wouldn't lie; he would voice his hate and concern's. The king would point out all the faults in Halt and all the positives in Ferris. Halt didn't even want to be king. He knew he wasn't meant to be king. Halt was small and skinny for his age. While Ferris was almost more than average height. Halt's choice of weapon was a bow not a sword. While Ferris had some relative skill with a sword.
Halt went unnoticed and had close to none friends. While Ferris was always the center of attention and made friends with all of those butt kissing nobles. Halt avoided any relationships with the noble's daughters. While Ferris was always being caught snogging a different girl in the darkest parts of the castle by Halt or Caitlyn.
Of course Halt and Caitlyn would love to tell their parents about what Ferris was doing but Ferris was their sunshine and Halt couldn't take that away from their parents. Even though Ferris more than deserved it.
So Halt laid there thinking about the time he was sick. He could only remember running out of dining hall and puking up his dinner then Halt remember he had felt dizzy and his vision had blurred as the ground had come up to meet him. He remembered someone had screamed then a face of a maid appeared in his line of vision. She had said something but Halt didn't understand it, then three sets of hands had picked him up and carried him away, after that he had spent three days sitting in a bed puking into a bucket besides him, riddled with fever.
He remembered the faces of the healers and their soothing tones, though he had no idea of what was being said. Then he remembered his sister being their talking to him and crying. His mother and father had visited too but never Ferris, not that Halt had wanted him to.
After that Halt remembered falling asleep and for longest time it was just black. Then he woke up to see his sister crying silently. By the way she looked it was as if he was already dead. Halt knew Caitlyn would be the one to mourn the most if he died. He and his sister were very close, Halt was always able to talk to Caitlyn and he was the only person he showed the showed emotion to. Sure he showed anger to Ferris but other than that Halt was close up hiding under a veil of sarcastic and witty comments.
Halt was still trying to sleep when he heard a knock at his door. Only one person would knock on his door this late at night. Halt walked over and opened the door to reveal Caitlyn his 10 year old sister dressed in only her night gown standing in the door way. Halt let her pass, then closed the door behind her.
"You should be in bed Caitlyn."
"So should you."
Halt sighed. He knew why Caitlyn was here. They often had midnight talks or sat in silence when neither of them could sleep. Sometimes when Caitlyn was little and still scared of storms she would come in here and Halt would calm her down.
Halt turned to face her then quickly laid down on his bed after motioning for her to do the same. They sat there in silence, sometimes they didn't talk they just wanted some bonding time between brother and sister, which they rarely got these days. Halt being thirteen years old was always being whisked away to lessons, he always cherished the few minutes when he and Caitlyn could talk to each other reveling their fears and worry's. After a few minutes Halt broke the silence.
"Anything on your mind?"
"No, not really just couldn't sleep because of their racket." Caitlyn motioned to the wall that separated their parents and Halts room. He and Caitlyn sat there and soon the angry voices of their parents stopped and the two siblings fell asleep.
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