Soon the other defenders had appeared from the search and were standing above Gildar. Ballista kneeled down beside him.
"He's freezing." Ballista said touching his cheek.
"I'm not surprised; it was below zero last night." Shaiden said.
"Skabb carry him back please." Kook asked.
"Are you sure he is not faking it?" Thorne asked.
This got a glare from all of the defenders. Skabb picked him up and carried him back to the castle.
"Careful, he might have broken something." Crocness said.
"Thorne, check." Ballista ordered.
The alchemist looked over at Gildar to see if he had broken anything.
"Looks like he has done something to his wrist." Thorne said.
When the defenders got back to the castle, they laid Gildar on his bed. Skabb noticed some red liquid on his hands. Shaiden was first to notice this.
"Skabb, please tell me that's food die or ketchup." She said making the entire bunch of defenders look around. Skabb shock his head.
"So he's bleeding." Tinkor said.
Ballista went over to Gildar. She pressed down on his outfit to see if any blood appeared. She checked right to his stomach and when she lifted her hand up, there was blood. She shut her eyes and winced. Kook noticed this.
"I think he was stabbed or something." Kook said.
Thorne came over to see what had happened.
"He hasn't be stabbed, well it looks like he was meant to be but it was a failed attempt so there's no harm done but someone did this to him last night. I'll just get the first aid kit." Thorne said leaving.
"Well, it could have been anyone one of you." Ballista said.
"Excuse me?" Knightriss butted in.
"Well as I recall yesterday, you 5 weren't exactly nice to him were you." Ballista shouted.
"How do we know you didn't do it?" Skabb shouted.
"Well, Kook and I were making him feel better and Tinkor was down in the inventing room so he didn't hate Gildar that day." Ballista shouted back.
"Defenders, let's just focus on getting Gildar better." Tinkor said.
The defenders stopped shouting at one another and were quiet. Ballista noticed Gildar's mirror sitting on the side table untouched since yesterday.
"Come on Defenders, let's leave and let Gildar get some rest." Knightriss said quietly.
The defenders left except Ballista who didn't realise how cold she was so crept over to Gildar's wardrobe and picked out one of his hoodies, she put it over her head. She was still quite cold but she just ignored it and took this opportunity to take a proper look round Gildar's room properly. She noticed that had pictures of his family on his side table. She carefully picked one up. They looked like his parents. Gildar looked more like mum than his dad. Then she picked up another photo. In the photo Gildar was in the middle of what Ballista believed were his 5 brothers and 1 sister. She was still snooping round the room when she heard a cough. She looked up and saw Thorne standing there.
"Sorry, didn't see you there." She said.
"Being nosy are we?" He asked.
"No, I was just looking." Ballista stated, "Is he still bleeding?"
"Yes but only a bit." Thorne replied.
Ballista saw Thorne but some sort of sanitizer on a bandage then put it on Gildar's failed stab wound. Then he left, eventually she left and decided to check her messages as she hadn't checked them since yesterday. 2 unread messages:
Thanks for making me feel better. Gildar
I'm fine just walking around the castle. No need to worry. Gildar
She shut her eyes. If she just checked her messages or had her phone on normal volume then she would have heard the messages and gone after him. She lay on her bed for a while then realised something. Where was Gildar's phone? She quickly ran into his bedroom and rung his number on her phone. The room remained silent. She quickly jumped down the stairs and passed Kook.
"Where are you going?" Kook asked.
"Have you seen Gildar's phone"? She asked.
"No, why" He replied.
"He sent me some messages and I was just wandering where it was." She explained.
"Kook, Ballista lunchtime." Knightriss shouted.
"Have you tried the forest?" Kook asked.
"I was going to." She said.
"Quick let's go now." Kook said.
"Why?" Ballista asked.
"Have you seen what's for lunch" He replied.
"Umm no." She said.
"Doesn't matter let's go." Kook said pushing her out of the door.
The two defenders very quickly left the castle and headed into the forest, they took it in turns to ring Gildar's number. They still heard nothing.
"Are you sure Gildar's phone is on loud?" Kook asked.
"Ummm I'm sure it is." She said.
Kook rolled his eyes and carried on walking, they stood near where they found Gildar. Ballista rung his number again, this time they heard a vibrate noise. Kook kicked some leaves, Ballista did the same. Kook was the one to find Gildar's phone.
"Looks like he was going to send you a message." Kook said handing Ballista the phone.
Ballista read the message:
Something came up, now in forest, coming back now.
The two defenders returned back to the castle. Unfortunately, they were greeted by a very cross Knightriss.
"Where have you two been?" She asked.
Alwin was watching in the background. He was cleaning the living room.
"Out in the forest, I needed some air." She said.
"Fine, have some lunch." Knightriss said.
"Brilliant, what's left?" He asked.
"A bit of everything." She said, "Ballista, what about you?"
"I'm not hungry." Ballista said.
She went upstairs and put Gildar's phone back in his room and sat on the side of his bed. Gildar looked like he was sleeping. She checked his bandage; it wound was still bleeding a bit but not as much as it was earlier. She didn't notice Kook had come in.
"We need to do an investigation, to find out who did this." Kook told her.
She nodded in agreement; she also noticed Kook had a tray with a sandwich and a drink of water on it. When she saw the food, she didn't realise how hungry she actually was so took the tray off Kook and started eating the sandwich.
"So, who are we putting as our main suspect?" Ballista asked.
"I not sure Skabb or Thorne, I mean what I gathered from yesterday is that they were the maddest at him." Kook told her.
"Okay." She replied.
The two defenders were discussing what sort of questions they should ask, none of them realised Gildar's phone vibrated with a text from his brother.
What was wrong last night? That text you sent me made no sense. Thinking of visiting soon. Ur fav Bro.
