A Tale of Flynnigan Rider

Chapter 4

Kay looked up, thinking for a moment that she'd heard her name called, but all of the girls were busy. Hearing things. Ah well. She shrugged And leaned into her work once more.

"Psst! Kay!" It said again, but this time louder, and she could tell that it had come from the window. One of the older boys. But where was the master? What if he barged in? She didn't care anymore. Kay strode to the window and peeped out to see Darren huddled close to the cell.

"Darren, you'll get caught. What is it? What's the word?"

"Royal visitor. Royal, Kay, as in the actual King or Queen, coming tomorrow."

"But how-"

"Shh!" They both stood silent for a moment, looking all about them and in the master's favorite haunts. When it was clear that there was nothing they turned to each other again.

"Anything slip about Eugene?"

"Nothing. No one seems to know anything about him."

"Not like last time when Josh found him tied down in the wood shed."

"No. No one has seen anything of him since you saw him last night, Kay. I'm worried. I'm worried what Antoine has come to."

"Don't say that!"

"What else could it be, Kay? You're the one who said that he'd been beaten within an inch of his life."

"I know! I know."

"And your sure that you weren't exaggerating?"

"Really, Darren?"

"Well,I was afraid not. I just wanted to be sure." Kay nodded and they both stood silent for a moment.

"When do they arrive tomorrow?"

"No way of telling. Why?"

"Because there's blood on the floor and on the empty bed.

"But Antoine-"

"Won't see it if I'm lucky."

"He'll twist the truth."

"Of course he will. But I still know that we can find a way. Somehow we've just got to."

"I've already asked everyone to stay awake as long as they can tonight."

"Why?"

"So we all look more tired than normal. It can't hurt."

"No, you're right."

"I need to get back to work before-"

"Shhh! I think he's at the door!" Kay hissed and turned, dropping to her knees and trusting Darren to make himself scarce. She was already back to her cleaning and Antoine was still having trouble getting the door unlocked. He had never had trouble unlocking the doors with swift silence in all of his years there. The key finally turned in the lock and he burst through the door trying to make himself seem as calm and evil as he always was.

"Kay," he said, trying to sound as foreboding and demanding as ever. She detected fear and a tremor in his voice. "I need you to come with me at once." The other girls all gasped and looked at her with wide, fearful eyes. He had told Eugene that he 'needed him at once' on more than one occasion, and he always came back either bruised or bleeding if he came back soon at all. Kay just nodded, fighting to keep her worst fears from rising, and followed him, telling the girls,

"Just take up where I left off, alright?" There was a profusion of assenting nods as the door closed and the key turned firmly in the lock. Before Kay could ask any questions he had grabbed her by the wrist and was stalking down the hall in steps almost too large for her to keep up with.

"Sir-"

"Quiet!"

"But, sir."

"You tell no one of what you see here, do you understand?" He demanded of her. Kay blinked and held her hands defensively in front of herself when he turned on her like that. She swallowed hard. She couldn't agree to it, there was no way. If she did then she couldn't tell Darren - she was a woman of her word! But this was wrong. All of this was wrong.

"I understand." She said at last. The master sighed in disgruntled relief and let her in, pushing in close behind her to immediately lock the door. If it hadn't been for what she saw lying before the fire she would have been very afraid. She rushed forward to get a look at him. Eugene was just so pale. She felt his forehead.

"He's barely warm." She gasped, frantically touching his cheeks, searching his face for a sign of consciousness.

"Eugene." She called to him, hoping for a reply but not actually expecting one. "Eugene, come on. Let me know you're still alive." She leaned down onto his face, finally detecting his breath.

"What's wrong with him?" She questioned as if she didn't know.

"Look at his back." He muttered, almost sounding ashamed of what he had done though Kay knew that he wasn't. She shook her head and turned back to Eugene. Kay took in a deep breath, afraid of what she was going to see when she removed the blanket. The boy had been badly beaten before, even to the point once that Kay was sure he had a broken rib, because he was in awful pain for more than a week, but she had never seen the master this worked up. Then again there had never been a real inspection of their home such as it was. She moved the blanket quickly or she knew that she couldn't do it. He flinched ever so slightly, whether from the chill or the pain she couldn't tell, but her flinch was as drastic as it had been the night before. She had certainly never seen so much flesh of a living thing before and it absolutely turned her stomach to the point that she was forced to look away.

"What did you do to him?" Kay cried indignantly, steeling herself and wiping tears off of her face before turning back to her orphan brother. She wrapped her arms carefully about him and turned him on his belly. He groaned. Antoine just stood still as stone, unable to say a thing. Kay shook her head. She had certainly patched many of the children up before, and Eugene in particular, but she was no physician! She forced herself to look closely at his back, wondering why he would be so cold instead of being feverish.

"Get me some water and clean cloth." She ordered the master. Kay had not looked back at him. She didn't see or care how he would react to an order from a nobody, so she was not quite sure whether to be surprised or just happy when he returned with the things. She saw by Eugene's dry mouth that he likely had nothing to drink since early the night before, possibly the afternoon. She dipped one of the rags in water and brought it too his mouth, hoping that she could get a reaction from him at least. She was not keen on the idea of rolling him onto his back again, but if she could rouse him enough to drink then she would be somewhat satisfied. At fist he did nothing. She dipped the rag again and touched his lips. This time they moved slightly and his eyes peeked open. He must have seen her or known that it was she who was there, because his lips curved in a slight smile.

"Help me get him up." She told Antoine simply as she once again took him by the shoulders and the master grudgingly obeyed her, avoiding the boy's back at all costs. Kay snagged the cup from the master's night stand without saying a word and filled it from the bucket.

"Eugene, you need to drink." She said quietly and forcefully while touching his lips with the cup. "Come on, drink." She coaxed him. She supported his head at an angle and tilted the cup slowly. At first a bit of water poured from the corners of his mouth and Antoine whispered several curse words that Kay studiously ignored. She felt his throat, which she was certain was very dry, constrict a bit and she was afraid for a moment that he would choke and cough, eliciting more curses and possibly blows from Antoine. But suddenly Eugene - who had gotten rather rigid in this attempt - relaxed almost completely and swallowed like he was being told.

"Good!" Kay's voice sobbed in momentary relief, "Good. Keep going, Eugene."

"No." Antoine grumbled.

"What?"

"He's had enough."

"He almost couldn't drink, Antoine, though it smells on his breath that something disagreed with staying in his stomach. What did you give him?"

"Bread."

"Bread? How did he eat it?" Antoine shrugged. He didn't care. Perhaps the boy had just been that hungry and his body had momentarily compensated for lack of water. He really couldn't care less.

"Now stop making him drink."

"No." Kay answered. She had an idea of why His Pettiness, the master would not want Eugene hydrated.

"What did you say?"

"If you don't want to explain to the magistrate the sudden mysterious death of a previously very healthy young lad, Antoine, then I am giving him as much water as he will take.

"Not too much, Eugene." She chided him at the end of the second glass. "I don't need that thrown up all over the floor." Eugene smiled again, just a little bit.

"Get on with it!" Antoine groaned. Kay shook her head and sighed. They laid Eugene face down again and Kay took the bucket of water to pour some into the tea kettle over the fire. The master started raising his voice in protest and then shortly closed his mouth. Kay ignored the reaction, pouring some water over a clean rag and holding it close to the fire to warm it.

"I need to wash his wounds." She told the master. "Do you have any sort of salve?"

"No."

"I at least need bandages." She sighed. Antoine rolled his eyes, muttered a few more curses and then stalked out of the room, again locking the door behind him. The minute that she heard his footsteps going down the hall, Kay leaped up and rushed to the window, opening it slightly in hopes of catching sight of Darren. He saw her alright, and his eyes got bigger than the Royal lantern when he realized where she was. She beckoned him forward with haste.

"Kay?"

"No time. The Master will come back." She said breathlessly. "Eugene is here and he's very bad. Your father was a physician, wasn't he?"

"Well yes, but-"

"What would he put on a large skinless wound?"

"Kay, what did he do?"

"Whip, I think. Flayed a lot of skin from his back."

"Oh my gosh. He's still so young." Darren muttered. "Kay, I - I don't really know, it was a long time ago. Maybe some herbs will help if I can think of them-"

"Shh! No time! Go!" She gasped. She was not completely certain that she had heard Antoine returning, but she did not want to risk him walking in on their secret network. Darren ducked away quickly, rejoining his group before he was missed and Kay rushed back to Eugene. Her head swam from the sudden movement and her chest hurt for a moment, but she made sure that she was down on the floor beside him before she stopped to catch her breath and calm down. It had to be the added worry for Eugene, because she'd had yet to feel this ill before.

The kettle was hot to the touch so she soaked a fresh rag in it and started gently on Eugene's back. She was no doctor and she couldn't tell if she would be helping by doing this or not. Antoine could not risk involving a third party. She knew at least that she must clean the dirt out and away, but what after that? Kay was not certain why, but she hoped that Eugene would bleed some. Perhaps that would just give her the hope that it could heal, hope that this raw, dry, pussy flesh was still alive and part of her friend. Eugene caught his breath when the cloth touched his back.

"I'm sorry. I know that it hurts, Eugene. Just bear with me, okay?" Eugene vaguely nodded in reply. Kay held the cloth near the fire and poured more water over it. She started at his neck, where the gouges were jagged and irregular. Thankfully it was not deep so near his backbone, but none the less it would leave a terrible scar. She tried to close the skin over the wounds where she could, but in the course of the night it had gone dry and dead. Still, she did her best. Going by his steady breathing she thought that he was sleeping again. Now where was Antoine?

"He's a criminal." Eugene whispered - to her great surprise. She had thought him at least sleeping if not in a heavy faint from his mistreatment when she first saw him.

"I know. Especially now, after what he's done to you-" But Eugene was stubborn, and if he needed to say something it would be said, his whisper was very weak, though, and quite hoarse.

"No, Kay. Literally. He - unngh - was made a deal, because his brother is in the Royal guard." Kay was...not entirely surprised on the one hand, but to hear that it was so put her in complete shock. She wasn't even seeing Eugene's back for the next few seconds as her hands kept absently obeying her while her thoughts were racing on to something else until he almost cried out in pain.

"Oh! Oh, Eugene, I'm sorry!" She gasped. Her hand had gone to scrubbing his raw back, and in that spot she started to see fresh blood.

"T's okay." He gasped. She could see that of course it really wasn't, and he was doing everything in his power to hold it in.

"Who told you that?" She inquired. While she had no hard time believing that the master would be of that low a grade, she still wanted to establish any fact or lack there of behind such rumors. She really shouldn't be making him talk, though.

"He did." Came the answer, still husky but this time a bit more faint. "In between the lashes he cursed and said how he hates this place, hates this life, hates us. He even cursed his brother, but he said that without his help that he would be rotting in a cell."

"But-"

"His brother keeps visits to a minimum. He's kept the king from coming here since Antoine first came."

"But how?"

"Don't know." Came the reply. Kay gasped suddenly, falling back on her heels for a moment.

"What is it?"

"Nothing! I - You're back, Eugene. I... I just can't-"

"Take a minute." He whispered back. This time she almost couldn't hear him.

"You're worn out and you're sick. Don't do anything, Eugene." She ordered him. "Don't try to move, talk, anything. Alright?"

"Is he awake?" A voice suddenly sounded behind them. Kay was glad that she was looking down at the floor away from him, because her eyes grew wide with fear and she had a difficult time keeping her breathing under control. What if he had heard them talking?

"Vaguely, sir." She said in answer before looking in his direction. He had what looked like some old food sacks in tow. "I still need something for bandages."

"You will make due with this." He sneered at her, tossing them to the floor in front of her. Kay looked at them, gingerly touching them. Old was fine, and the sacking was close woven for flour, but they were a far cry indeed from being clean. Even as she looked them over her fingers curled away with disgust. Dust was caked in the seams and the sacks were grimy from old grease.

"I can't use these." She gasped, horrified at the suggestion.

"Those are all that I can get you."

"Even the kitchen rags are better than these!" She shouted back. He replied by striking her. Her head turned from the force of the blow, but she did not back down.

"Kay!" Eugene's whisper-moan sounded and they both saw his feeble attempt to push himself up. He quickly dropped the half of an inch that he had gained.

"I'm alright, Eugene." She reassured him quickly with a hand reaching out to touch his shoulders. She turned angrily back to the master.

"Fine then." She resumed, not backing down and yet not appearing perturbed in the least. "I'll use the sheet from my bed."

"It's not yours to use."

"Really? Then whose is it?"

"It belongs to the kingdom."

"And the kingdom belongs to its people."

"No, to its King."

"Who is to serve his people. Do you really think that the king of Corona would begrudge the use of a single rough, threadbare sheet for bandages to help mend a boy's back?" Kay cried passionately at him. "Do you, master Antoine?

Especially when it is the director of the institution who stripped the skin from the back of a boy not yet fifteen years of age?"

Antoine raised his hand against her again, but this time he stayed it. He could not take the risk that beating a girl might entail. He saw that Eugene was at least conscious again. Perhaps he could be up and around the following day and just passed off as a weakling. Slowly he lowered his hand and turned again toward the door the he'd just come through.

"You will get no bed linens for yourself until tomorrow morning, Kay." He said as he turned his face back slightly. Eugene whined as he rapidly tried to lurch up and only fell again.

"If that's what it takes, then I don't care." She answered firmly. "Just get me something clean this time." Antoine herumphed and slammed the door behind him, locking it as usual and stalked away, grumbling and cursing. Kay had been paying so much attention to Antoine and keeping up her sudden brazen voice that she did not notice until he was quite out of hearing that Eugene was crying and shaking.

"Why, Kay?" He sobbed. "Why did you do it?" His voice was breaking and he sounded silly in that mix of a man and a boy. Kay leaned over and pressed his shoulders, still trying to get him warmer, to stop the shaking. She was only afraid that he would get too warm soon enough. It was easy to see that he would not be up for several days, and if the king did not see him, if the goings on here were still somehow covered over, she knew that he would be dropped right back into the cellar. He would not survive it again. She moved his arm slightly as she bent her head down, crying herself, but Eugene yelped again.

"You're shoulder! Oh no, I'm sorry, Eugene!"

"It's okay." He whimpered back, sniffling. "But why did you?"

"It's what a big sister would do. I wasn't about to use that greasy rags on your back. Besides, if I did, you would get sicker than you're already going to."

"You mean it's going to get worse?" Eugene moaned, more to make conversation than to complain. He knew well enough how these things ran.

"Oh, Eugene." She sighed with a little bit of a smile. She rubbed his thin, bare shoulder, hoping that it would help ease the joint. "Eugene, did Antoine put your shoulder back?"

"Uhhh...yes." He moaned evasively.

"Hmm. I'm sure that he was all gentleness and kind words." She replied bitterly.

"Well, he didn't say anything." Eugene said in a slightly comical voice but he suddenly sounded more sick again.

"You need to rest." She told him. "No more talking." He nodded slightly, but obediently did not reply. "I'm sorry, Eugene." Kay sighed. "I have to start cleaning your back again." She almost heard him wince and she could tell that his teeth were grit together when he replied,

"Alright."

Kay took the kettle of now very hot water and poured it over her rag again, wringing it out with her fingers shying away from the heat. Good thing she wanted it pretty wet. She bit her lips together and started on the boy's back once again.

"Kay," Eugene gasped very softly. He was slipping away again. "You won't have a blanket tonight. You'll catch your death-"

"I'll be alright, Eugene. Don't worry about me." Eugene nodded slightly, very slightly. He shuddered and then sighed a sigh that turned into a weary moan. Kay breathed a sigh of relief when he passed out again. It was none of it good, but at least he was unaware of the pain when he was not awake for it. Something scratched her hand and drew blood. Something in his back. Kay came close to swearing as she got in really close and pried the long metal shard out of the swollen skin that remained on his back. Kay vaguely wondered what Antoine had beat him with, but decided that really she would rather not know. She placed the shard in her pocket, hoping that it would stay there and not get lost, and started to work again.

The master came back briefly and practical threw the sheet at her without a word before slamming and locking the door. Kay wondered what had brought that on, but was somewhat glad that this time he wasn't able to take it out on Eugene.