Chapter 6:

"Rushton!" I called as I slid into the healer hall, grabbing onto the door for support as I stumbled through awkwardly. Once again I ran straight into Kella. She screamed out in fright but quickly composed herself when she saw it was me who had rudely ran into her. She shook her head at my unexpected behaviour.

"Shh, Elspeth! This is the healer hall!" she said under her breath, clicking her tongue at me.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, catching my breath. I had been apologizing a lot lately.

She shook her head again dismissively and forced herself to smile. She looked wearier than usual, her hair dishevelled and her clothes crinkled as if she had slept in them. I raised an eyebrow at her and seeing my expression she said, "It's been hectic here. What with Brydda's men injured and all."

"What?" I spluttered.

Kella looked as if she couldn't deal with me at the moment.

"Brydda's men, Elspeth." She sighed impatiently. For a moment I could see pain in her eyes but her anger quickly overshadowed any sadness she might of felt in that brief moment.

"That evil bastard Malik will never stop until we are all dead. Brydda's men included."

I stared at her, again bewildered and confused at what she was saying. It seemed everywhere I went, disaster and bad news followed.

I shook my head, not wanting to press her with questions. I was here to see Rushton.

"Is he awake?" I asked quickly.

"He's through there." Kella sighed, waving her hand haphazardly towards the door at the back. Before leaving I made a mental note to talk to Kella later. I had no doubt it was really the matter of Domick that was troubling her but I had no time to consol her at that moment.

With slight trepidation I opened the back door and breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Rushton awake, sitting with his back to the door, still silently stroking Rosalind's hand.

Not wanting to startle him I softly knocked on the door. It felt strangely impersonal but I didn't want to make the situation worse by storming in there, yelling at him.

Rushton swung around in his chair when he heard my knocking, his face expectant. When he saw me, however, his face changed from hopeful to disappointed.

"Elspeth, what are you doing here?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

I bit my tongue, fighting the urge to scream and yell at him, not letting my frustration get the better of me.

"You don't look so happy to see me."

"Oh, no I… I was expecting someone. Come… Come sit down." He said, tentatively pulling up a chair.

Reluctantly I sat beside him, stewing over his impersonal tone. How did it become like this? How did we become like this?

"I need to talk to you…" I began but Rushton cut me off.

"Look, Elspeth something's happened. I… I can't explain it myself, but Lud I…" he trailed off, mulling over how he was going to say what he meant. His eyes darted around the room and his hands shook slightly.

"If it's about Brydda, I already know. Kella told me." I said dismissively.

I didn't mean to sound so cold but the way Rushton was acting was starting to scare me.

"No, it's not Brydda. Well… oh Lud Elspeth, Brydda found something."

"Rushton, I don't have time for this."

"Elspeth, please forget your anger towards me for one moment. This is important. There's something you must see."

At that moment, I heard the door creak open behind me. Swinging around, I caught a glimpse of someone standing outside the room. Bathed in shadow from the healer hall, I couldn't make out who they were. When they slowly stepped into the room the sunshine streaming through the window lighted the gentle features of Brydda Llewyyn. My heart skipped a beat as seeing him standing there overwhelmed me with happiness.

"Brydda…" I whispered, smiling for the first time in days.

He didn't return the smile however, but stepped aside to make room for someone else. As they stepped through shadow and into light I could just make the features of someone incredibly familiar.

Then, as they came inside I almost yelled out in shock.

I felt my jaw drop and my heart stopped beating.

The room went deadly silent and I could hear nothing as I had stopped breathing for that split second.

All I could remember was the last unbelieving word that escaped my mouth before I lost consciousness.

Standing beside Brydda was the boy I believed to be dead.

"Jik."