"Are you all right Rosie?" Ma asked, glancing over her, she had aged well, as every beauty did. But the last few days she looked tired, and Ma had caught her sitting and panting more than she usually did. "You look a little tired"
"Oh I'm fine, just tired like you say"
"Go back and have a rest, go on now. Me and Tina are fine here"
Rosie smiled, and plodded out of the kitchen, walking toward her room she glanced down at the courtyard, and felt bile rise in her throat. "Creedy" she screamed.

Creedy ran as fast as he could, pulling on his top, he found Rosie on the balcony, "What, why are you screaming Rosie?" he followed her eyes to the courtyard and saw Quinn and Van Zan kicking each other all around the yard. Jumping to attention, he tore down the stairs and flew at Van Zan himself. Rosie watched from above, feeling sick.
Throwing Van Zan to the floor, Creedy put himself between them.
"What's going on?" he shouted, stopping Quinn from getting past him.
"I told you no one is going" Quinn yelled.

Turns out, earlier that day Van Zan had devised a plan to take as many men from here as he could, and go out to launch a surprise attack on a dragon that lived nearby. Quinn had been dead against the idea and told him and his people to leave the castle. Van Zan however, had taken it upon him self to do a speech, asking the men to come forward which had infuriated Quinn.

"Look calm down" Creedy shouted, "This isn't how you should work this out. Quinn if men want to go to their deaths let them, the sooner these guys leave life can return to normal again" Creedy shot an angry look at Van Zan and turned to the small crowd. "If any of you feel like a suicide bid, go for it. It was nice knowing you." Lifting Quinn up, he walked back with him to the castle. "They can do what they like, I'm done looking out for them"
'that's not why we are here Creedy' Quinn gasped, trying to stand on his own two feet.
'No one asked us to look after them Quinn, if they are big enough to have an opinion, they can bloody well go to war, to death. I am going nowhere neither is my family'
'Creedy, Tom is down there' Quinn waved at Ma, who came running over to them.
'To hell he is' Creedy roared, dropping Quinn, 'Sorry mate' he laughed over his shoulder, dropping his smile he ran toward the gathering crowd. 'Tom' he called.
Tom walked from the crown to face the man who had brought him up, 'Yes Creedy?'
'Come on inside there's nothing more to see here' Creedy smiled, extending his hand to the 13 year old. 'Tom come on'
tom stared at Van Zan, 'what is he does kill the dragon Creedy, wouldn't it be worth it?'
'Worth losing you? No'
'Who said I would die' tom asked.
'Tom you're a child, come here to me'
'What happened to their choice' Van Zan sneered. Creedy turned to stare at him. Fury crossed his face as he glared at the American.
'Men have choices Van Zan, this is a child'
'He can come if he likes'
Creedy walked over, his temples throbbing, before he knew what he was doing Van Zan was on the floor. Tom yelled in horror as Creedy lifted the American up and threw him. 'You aren't taking my son' Creedy shouted. Van Zan jumped to his feet, spitting in his hands he rubbed them together, 'I see you have a bit more about you that your friend, lets dance' he roared. Lunging a punch at Creedy, which was easily dodged, Creedy stuck out his leg and tripped Van Zan over. Twisting round he prepared himself and blocked another punch, he wasn't so lucky the next time and felt blood trickle down his head. Lifting himself from the floor he looked up, Van was about to smash his foot in his feet.
'No' a voice screamed. Rosie was there suddenly from no where, running at Van she had thrown her small body at him and shoved him out of the way. 'Leave him alone' Van Zan stared at the fiery young woman in front of him.
'Ah yes, the missus. Should have known he had ties.' Van grunted hurling himself up. Creedy lifted himself and stood in front of Rosie protectively.
'Not all of us have the privilege of having somebody to live for Creedy' He sighed, turning his back on the crowd and walking off.
Tom stood staring at Creedy, tears formed in his eyes, 'I'm sorry' he whispered, running back to find Lucy, stunned by Creedy's outburst and touched by him claiming Tom as his own son. Rosie stared hard and Creedy and walked off toward the castle.
'What?' he cried, wiping bloody from his face, 'I didn't start it'
'Yes you bloody did, I saw you. You cant help yourself can you?'
'Oh come on, I had to hit him, look at what he did to Quinn for a start; he isn't taking Tom on a death trip. It's not happening'
'Creedy I cant…I don't' Rosie stopped; clenching her stomach she cried out and fell to her knees. Creedy cried out in shock and pulled her to her feet, lifting her in his arms, 'Rosie, look at me where does it hurt, what's going on?'
'Creedy help me please' Rosie whispered, wasting no time, Creedy held her close and ran to ma.

Ma jumped as Creedy kicked her door open, Quinn cried out in pain as she pressed harder on the wound she was cleaning.
'Ma, sod him' Creedy cried, 'please help her'
'Oi, I could be dying here' Quinn began to joke, but he saw Creedy's face, diving to his feet he threw everything off the table and beckoned for Creedy to lay Rosie there. Creedy lifted her to the table, lifting his hand from under her he noticed it was covered in blood, as was the back of her dress.
'Ma' he stuttered, staring at his hand, shocked he fell backwards; Quinn caught him and held him upright. Ma threw her hand to her mouth, 'Lord save us' she whispered, 'Quinn get him out of here, get Tina quickly'
'I'm going no where' Creedy growled, reaching over for Rosie's hand.
'This isn't a mans business' Ma cried, 'Leave this room at once' Ma cried, feeling tears cover he eyes, she knew exactly what was happening.
'I'll be outside' he soothed Rosie, before being dragged away by Quinn and sent to find Tina.

'How long was I pregnant?' Rosie asked, lying silently as Ma cleaned her up after removing the rest of the birth. Ma let more tear fall from her.
'I would guess about 10 weeks love'
'How did I kill my baby?'
'Hush child, you mustn't blame yourself, never. You cant'
Rosie felt tears dripping down her cheeks; Tina was pressing a damp cloth to her head. Tina didn't like the way her friend was staring at the ceiling; she wasn't focusing on anything in particular. 'There can be many reasons' Tina interrupted, 'Perhaps it was ill, or a sudden shock can cause a miscarriage, perhaps it just wasn't meant to be darling. Look at me please, don't give up hope'
'Creedy doesn't know does he?' Ma asked, fetching another robe for Rosie to change into.
'No' Rosie whispered.
'I'll tell him' Tina said, rising from her seat, 'Don't you dare tell me not to Rosie, he has a right to know, its his loss as well'
'I don't want him to be upset' Rosie spoke softly, sitting up, her eyes filled with tears.
Tina hugged her tightly, 'He will want to know why you are darling'
'My baby' Rosie sobbed, clinging to her friend, 'My poor baby'. Ma walked over and handed Rosie a cup of hot water, resting a blanket on her shoulder Tina prised herself away and walked out into the hallway. Night had fallen quickly, how long had they been in there? It had been awful, Ma was cleaning while Rosie just wept and wept. Tina couldn't imagine the pain of losing a child, but she knew Creedy had the right to know. Turning from the starry sky, she walked further down the corridor and found him, sitting on the floor watching the door. Spotting her he jumped to his feet. 'How is she? What happened? She was fine this morning'
Tina stared at him and sighed, 'Sit back down Dave, I have something to tell you.'

Creedy stared at her and knew something serious had happened, 'Tina, is she ok?' he saw a tear drip down her face and grabbed her, shaking her roughly, 'Dammit Tina, what happened, she isn't..'
'No, god no. It was a baby.' She wept.
Creedy's breath caught in his throat.