Halt had lost his balance when retrieving his line and fallen into the river, after which the currents slammed him into a rather large rock. Ferris, unable to locate his brother, had nobly returned to Dun Kilty for help, in which time Halt had climbed ashore and made his way back to the castle.

At least, this was the story that they told the infirmary when Halt staggered through the gates soaking wet, blood running down his cheek, with a right clavicle that was broken cleanly in two.

Many hours and questions later, Halt lay on his bed in his dimly lit room. The healers had left him, though they said they would come by every so often to make sure he was doing well. They'd left him plenty of water and extra pain medicine tablets, should he need them. His shoulder had been set and wrapped with resin-soaked cloth that formed a semi-solid cast to keep the broken bone in place. His face remained in a contortion of pain even after they'd given him strong pain medication, and the pain only deepened when his sister came to see him.

When she'd walked into the room, Halt found he couldn't look her in the eye. Now that he'd made his choice, he just couldn't bear to see her face.

"I don't believe a word of it, Halt," Caitlyn's voice was shaky, "Not for a moment. You never loose your balance, and Ferris has never been 'noble'. What really happened?" She set down the candle she'd been carrying on his bedside table, and sat down on his bed, her eyes boring into him.

"He hit me," Halt said quietly, still not looking at her. "he pushed me overboard and when I came up for air, he broke my shoulder with an oar."

A shocked silence followed, and after a moment, Halt added, "I thought he was actually trying to help me, at first. I guess I shouldn't have been fooled."

Caitlyn gulped. "He tried to kill you. Again." She paused, blinking rapidly, "Did you... Speak with him?"

"If that's what you call it. We argued." Halt shook his head. "I don't think I've ever yelled at him like that before."

"Well if you haven't, he deserved it. What did you say?"

"I told him I'd abdicate - I told him that so long as he didn't hurt me or anyone else, he could have the crown with my blessing."

"And?"

It took several moments for him to answer. "He thinks I'm trying to trick him." Halt looked sadly up at his sister. "He won't stop, Caitlyn."

She looked frantic. "No. no, he has to - you could talk to him again, he could-"

"Caitlyn, I tried. I've been trying. I said every word I could possibly say to make him change his mind, and it hasn't worked in the slightest. Our brother is mad, Caitlyn. He honestly thinks he's doing the country - and you, for that matter - a favor by murdering me. He thinks I'm no more than an inconvenience." Halt shook his head. "Anyone who thinks like that is beyond the point of reason. There's nothing I can do to dissuade him."

At this point, Caitlyn had a vague inkling of what Halt was getting at. But she hated the mere notion so much, she didn't even consider it, much less speak it. A long silence ensued, before she finally asked, with a tightened throat,

"So what do you do, Halt?"

"I have two choices. Either I kill my own brother, or I run."

Caitlyn remained silent, trying to pretend that her lips weren't quivering.

"Caitlyn," Halt told her quietly, "I am not killing my own brother."

She hadn't expected him to. She closed her eyes and suddenly there were tears and fiercely quivering chin that she had to work around.

"Where will you go?" She asked thickly.

Halt shook his head. "I'm not sure. I'll have to plan it out. At most, we have a week - that's how long the healers expect father to live," he said with difficulty, "after that, Ferris will be at my throat with a dagger. I'll have to plan my escape before that happens."

Caitlyn was nodding through tears, her mind unable to accept the inevitability that Halt would have to leave Clonmel in fear for his life. She rubbed at her nose and tried desperately to control herself, but she couldn't speak. If she had looked, she might have seen that her brother, her taciturn, composed, serious brother was fighting off tears of his own. Careful of his broken shoulder, Halt leaned forward and wrapped his arm around Caitlyn, drawing her into his good shoulder. After that, she lost it. She sobbed into his shoulder for what could have been minutes or hours, wishing that things weren't the way they were, but knowing she couldn't do anything to change them. When she drew back, she could see the tear tracks on his own face.

"I don't have a choice, Cait."

"I know," She said miserably, taking a handkerchief from a pocket, "But I wish you did."

Halt nodded sadly. "So do I."

They delved into quiet companionship after that. It was dark out, and after checking on him one last time, the healers left Halt to his rest. Her eyes still red and puffy, Caitlyn climbed over to lay on the bed next to her brother. In a sort of mechanical reaction to what was happening, Halt and Caitlyn reverted back to behavior that might have defined them years ago, when Caitlyn was much younger, more frightened, and much more used to open affection. She was curled up against him, he was stroking her hair. It reminded the young princess of times when they were younger, times that now seemed ages away, when Halt had been the rock-solid center of Caitlyn's existence.

Their father had never been the interactive type, and Ferris didn't spend much time with his siblings, so Halt had become both older brother and father to Caitlyn as she grew up. In recent years she'd grown stronger and more independent, but now that life threatened to rip them apart, Caitlyn found that she wanted it all back. She longed for those lost nights when she would wake in the night to a great crash of thunder, those days when the roar of the seas seemed to consume the air, those times when their parents' yelling was too much to handle. Because in those times, she could tiptoe her way across the hall and run to her brother, and no matter how tired he was, no matter how grumpy he acted, no matter how mean or uncaring or rash he could have been to her, (and sometimes was) he would always clear a place for her under the covers and let her stay with him through the storm. He might gripe about being woken up, he might scowl at her when she shook his shoulder to wake him, but he'd always hold her tight and assure her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that everything would be alright. The thunder would stop, the waves would calm, and even the furious king would eventually fall asleep.

Now, Caitlyn was facing the biggest, most terrifying storm of her young life and her brother wasn't there to comfort her, because the storm had swept him away. He was in the heart of the tumult, and she was left standing in the rain with nothing but a few handfuls of angry water. And she hadn't the slightest idea of what she would do. Silently, she let more tears fall down her cheeks and nuzzled herself deeper into her brother's tunic, as if proximity would brand his memory further into her mind.

Halt could guess the direction of her thoughts, and instinctively tightened his arm around her. He didn't say anything, because he felt that there was nothing to say. After a very long while, when both their eyelids finally began to droop, Halt told her gently,

"It'll be alright, Cait, I promise." He'd told her that countless times when they were younger. Back then, she'd hug him close and believe every word that came out of his mouth, but now, she wept freely, because she knew that they weren't true.

The first thing he heard was the ringing. Then, Caitlyn.

"Wake up, Halt," She was shaking him, "Céilí mór sé, wake up!"

Halt opened his eyes wide and sat up. He only had time to register the fact that it was the middle of the night before his sister shoved a glass of water and a medicine tablet into his hand. "Eat this. God knows you'll need it." She rose quickly from the bed and darted across the room. He could hear her throwing his wardrobe open, though why she would do such a thing was beyond him.

"Caitlyn, why are you-"

He was interrupted by a deafening bell, a long, deep toll that Halt hadn't heard since a night, now eight years ago, when his uncle had passed away. It could only mean one thing.

"Father," He breathed, his eyes drawn towards where he knew his father would be.

"Dead," Caitlyn told him as she shoved clothes into a leather bag, "They started ringing the knell a few minutes ago. All of Clonmel will know before the morn. Middle of the night or not, Halt, they'll come to you with your father's crown, and Ferris will be racing to get here first. You have to leave tonight."

Halt was dumbstruck. He had never been close to his father, but it was strange to think of him as truly gone - the figure who had guarded Halt from the crown he dreaded all his life had suddenly disappeared, leaving only-

"Ferris will be here any moment, Halt, come on!" Caitlyn shoved travel clothes in his face and tossed the bag at his feet. Not bothering with privacy, she helped him dress around his injured shoulder and put a cloak on him. She then grabbed his left hand and dragged him out of the room, grabbing the small bottle of pain medication as she left. They hurried down a back stairway and into the armory. Quietly, Caitlyn began to cross the floor, to check that no one was there. She signaled Halt to follow. They were almost to the castle's stock of longswords, when:

"Halt! What goes?" A voice called out.

For a moment, Halt thought that the guard had recognized him, but then realized that 'Halt' must've meant an order to stop. Only, he recognized the guard's voice.

"Quinn?" Halt ventured. Caitlyn tried to shush him, but then a young man stepped into the moonlight.

"Halt? Caitlyn? What are you doing here?" Quinn was a young man, not yet twenty, but was already keen with a longblade and, as the son of Dun Kilty's head battle warden, trained to guard his post well. But he had grown up with the prince and princess, and now he dropped his offensive stance. "You should be with-" the man paused, wondering if he was about to cross a personal boundary with the royal family members, "with your father."

Caitlyn rushed forward and grabbed the young guard by his collar. "Quinn, you have to listen to me carefully, and you have to promise not to talk about this to anyone, understand?" He nodded demurely, and she continued. "Right now my mother and all the royal advisers will be looking for Halt, to crown him, but they're not the only ones. Ferris has gotten it into his head that he should have Halt's crown. He means to murder Halt, and he's coming for him now." Quinn threw a shocked look at Halt, and the prince nodded. "Halt is leaving Clonmel. I'm asking you to help him." Quinn just looked at her, trying to catch up with what he was being told.

"You're abdicating?" He turned to Halt.

"One way or other, Ferris will be king," Halt said. "I didn't want it to begin with, and I'd rather not die for something I don't want. I have to run."

Quinn squared his shoulders. "Then let's get you going. There's no time to lose."

"You realize, Quinn, that by helping me, you are defying the man who is now your king?" Halt asked, looking the other boy in the eye.

The tall guard shrugged. "Well, he hasn't a crown on his head just yet, so as of now, you've as fair a claim to my loyalty as he has. Though, between you and I, I'd have stuck out with you regardless." He turned to Caitlyn. "Get your brother armed. I'll make sure no one finds you here." He rounded the corner and returned to his post.

"He's a good man," Halt said quietly.

"Aye, and a smart one," Caitlyn said as she picked out a shortsword and belt. She knew Halt didn't have the strength to wield a longsword with his shoulder, so she chose a lightweight weapon instead. "He knows a real leader when he sees one. Pity there won't be one on the throne, now." As she came near to him to buckle the belt around his waist, he realized that she was crying. "I hope you won't need this," she said. "Here," she handed him his small bag of belongings. Halt slung it over his good shoulder, and shuffled his bad arm where it rested in its sling.

"Caitlyn," he began, unsure of what he could possibly say in this situation.

She shook her head. "So much for a week of planning." she sniffed. "Do you have any idea where you'll go?"

"No. Wherever the ships are going these days, I suppose. I'm sorry, Caitlyn."

Now she was weeping in earnest. "I'll miss you," she whimpered.

Halt's eyes were watering. "You too, Cait." They hugged then, more fiercely than they ever had. As Caitllyn clung to him as though he was her only hold on life, the full ramifications of this moment slammed into Halt like a ton of bricks. He knew he had to say something.

"Caitlyn, listen to me," he pulled away, "I don't know where I'm going or how long I'll be there, and I know you feel like you're going to be all alone when I leave, but I want you to know that I'll be back. I'll find you, and I'll come back for you." He put his hand to her cheek. "Do you remember when we were little, Cait? And you'd come hide in my room every time there was a storm?"

She closed her eyes against a sob. "I remember."

"It's just like that," Halt told her softly, "It's scary out there, and noisy, and it feels like the world is about to end, but I promise you this, it will be okay."

"But you're not going to be here," Caitlyn moaned, "You've always been here, and now you're not. Everything turned out alright when you were here with me, but now you're leaving, and what will happen to me now?

"No," Halt shook his head and brought her close to kiss her brow. "No, that's not the point. The storm didn't turn out alright because I was here, I was here to tell you that the storm would turn out alright." He raised both hands, however painfully, to grasp her face close to his. "And now that I'm leaving, that doesn't mean that you won't be okay, it just means that I won't be here to tell you so on every stormy night." Halt looked her in the eye, and his tone was authoritative when he spoke. "Caitlyn Annora O'Carrick, you listen to me and you listen carefully: You will be okay, this storm will end, and I will come back for you, even if I'm not here to say it. You are my sister and I love you, Caitlyn. I want you to remember that for as long as we're apart, understand?"

She sobbed, but nodded her head in his hands. "I understand." She hugged him again, sniffing back her tears. "I love you too, Halt."

"Ferris is coming this way, Halt, if you're going to go, now's the time." Quinn's voice said from the doorway. Halt nodded and gave Caitlyn's face a pat.

"I'll see you again. I promise."

She nodded, and went to stand by Quinn as Halt walked out of the armory, under the cover of the shadows. After a few steps, he stopped and turned around.

"Quinn?" He called,

"Yes?" The young guard stepped foward.

Halt looked into Quinn's honest green eyes, then to Caitlyn. "Look after her for me. And Caitlyn," He paused and looked at her meaningfully, his eyes saying what his voice could not. He didn't speak, but nodded once at her, then turned and walked away.

Caitlyn put a hand to her mouth to keep herself from crying more. Quinn would have tried to comfort her, but at that moment, a voice rang out across the yard.

"Guards!" It sounded like Halt, but Quinn knew it wasn't.

"We have to get out of here," Caitlyn said.

"No time - I'll take care of this, you hide." When the princess hesitated, he urged her back into the dark corners of the armory. "Go!"

She concealed herself just in time. Ferris came into view with two footmen in tow. Quinn dutifully came to attention. "Your Highness," he saluted.

"That's 'your Majesty', now." Ferris said haughtily.

"Sir?" Quinn looked genuinely baffled, even though he understood the situation perfectly.

"My brother has forfeited his right to the throne. He's run away. You're going to help me find him." Ferris looked Quinn up and down. "You're O'Shannon's boy, aren't you? A good tracker?"

"My father trained me, your... Majesty."

Ferris nodded in approval. "Good. Come with me. You'll help me track him down. He can't have gone very far - the southern woods are the only place he could be hiding. Now," Ferris turned and called at one of the footmen. "Bryan! My horse!"

As Ferris left to the stables, Caitlyn rushed out of the shadows and grabbed Quinn's arm before he could leave.

"You can't, Quinn!"

"And I won't," he assured her, "Halt headed southeast along the coast - I'll lead Ferris straight through the forest."

"If Ferris learns you lied to him, he'll kill you, or have you banished."

"If I don't lie to him, your brother's flight will be in vain, and I'll have broken my word. I don't like breaking my word, Caitlyn."

She regarded him for a moment, wishing she could be of some help in their situation. Eventually, she nodded. "You're a brave man, Quinn O'Shannon. Thank you." On an impulse, she stood on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "But for God's sake, don't let Ferris find out. A man who dies a hero is still dead."

He smiled sheepishly at her, his cheeks scarlet. "I'll try, princess. Now go, before Ferris comes back."

Caitlyn fled up the stairs and back to her room. She flung open the shutters to her window and looked out over the expansive blackness of the forest. Halt was in there. Somewhere out there, her brother was running for his life, and she couldn't do anything to help him.

Everything will be alright, he'd told her.

Caitlyn sat down on the windowsil, her eyes never leaving the forest. "Please be right, Halt, please be right."

A/N: GAH! He's STILL not out yet! Well, he's out, but not really gone. This is taking much longer than I'd originally planned. Let's see if I can't speed things up.

I suppose that I should have introducted Quinn way earlier than this to give him more character development - he will be popping up in this story frequently as the plot progresses.

Also, due to computer problems related with a rather annoying lightning storm, I have been deprived of Microsoft Word and thus spellcheck. I like to think myself a decent speller, but if you pick up any mistakes or typos while readint this, PLEASE let me know, so I can fix them. Thanks!

PLEASE read and review! Reviews are love. I love reviews as much as Tug loves apples.