Revised 5/9/11

...

The throne room stunk like fish today. Zachary shifted uncomfortably, wondering where his attendants were. The seagulls, all here to be heard by the king, squawked incessantly, hopping around on the stone floor. "I'm sorry," he said to them. "We can't begin until everyone is here."

They continued to fly in through the great doors at the other end of the hall. "Please," he called to the guards. "We're full in here. Tell the rest to come back tomorrow."

The guards ignored him, ushering more and more birds into the room. Zachary looked around in agitation. Where was the Captain? Where were his Weapons?"

"Excellency."

Zachary turned to see Fastion standing at the base of the dais. "Oh good, you've arrived. We can start now," the king said. Fastion climbed up the steps.

"I'm afraid not."

The seagulls all took to the air, screaming. Zachary covered his ears. "Can't you tell them to be quiet?" he shouted. "Can't they see I don't know how to help them?"

Fastion raised his sword. "Your reign is at an end, Excellency. Step down." The seagulls rose in pitch. Zachary squirmed on his throne. Fastion smiled. "Praise be to Mornhavon." He stabbed.

His back throbbed in two different places. How odd. Hadn't Fastion been in front of him?

After a moment, he realized that he lay in a bed, his face buried in pillows. He couldn't feel his left arm, but did feel the warmth of someone's body curled up beside him and the hot touch of their skin against his. Karigan? No, Karigan had snuck into his room through the secret passage.

She leaned over him, a sword pressed to her lips and her hand over his mouth. "Shhh…" she whispered, then climbed beneath the blankets, pressing herself eagerly against him. He took her face and kissed her, long and deep, but when he pulled away he was looking into eyes of pale blue and his hands were buried in golden hair. Estora? They weren't married yet. At least, he didn't remember the wedding.

She was sobbing. He tried to move, to comfort her, but his body refused to respond. I'm sorry, he wanted to say. I'm sorry that you're sad.

She was sad. He climbed up the rickety ladder and found her curled in a haystack. Grief shook her entire being and he wrapped his arms around her. He would never let her go. He would protect her.

But he couldn't. Alton D'Yer pulled her away and held her against his chest. His eyes were patronizing. "You can't have her," the lord said. "She doesn't belong to you." Great granite blocks tumbled from the ceiling. They surrounded the king as they piled higher and higher.

"No!" Zachary cried, pounding against the wall. He would not be trapped.

"I think he's waking up," Karigan murmured against Alton's neck as Zachary disappeared behind the wall. Alton raised her face to his and kissed her mouth, passionately, revoltingly.

The granite reached up into the sky, higher than Zachary could see. He was trapped. Alone.

With a great crack, the wall split and pulled apart. Mornhavon stood in the breach. He smiled. "Hail Firebrand."

Zachary's back blazed. He jerked and cried out. Cool hands pressed him down into the bed. "Calm yourself, sir, please. We don't want you to tear apart the stitching."

He shuddered as he opened his eyes. Bloodied knives glared at him and he rolled away from them, writhing as pain speared through his spine. "Please sir, don't! Don't move!"

"Where am I?" he groaned, peering blearily around the room. Everything was foggy and reeked and his head just ached. A dark face leaned over him and he shrunk into the pillows "Who are you?"

"You're in my home - please roll back over."

Zachary cringed away from his hands. "How did I get here? Wha-what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to help you, if you would just – "

The pain was almost unbearable and his head – so fuzzy, so hard to think. He pushed himself onto his elbows, feeling his skin pull and tear. His back arched and the pain intensified. What had they done to him?

"Someone, come help!"

Running footsteps, then another pair of hands gripped his shoulders. "Lay back down," a voice whispered. He knew that voice. It pierced the fog in his mind. "Calm down, you're safe."

Soft hands caressed his face and he allowed himself to be rolled onto his stomach. "Relax," the voice murmured, stroking his heated face. He rested his head in the pillows, breathing steadily as his racing heart calmed. "You're safe."

"He pulled all the stitching." The brass tones of the voice made him cringe, but his mind was beginning to clear.

"It can be redone. Go fetch some food."

The fog clouding his vision burned slowly away. The bloodied knives rested on a small table, dry and abandoned. The smell: fish and ocean. Seagulls cried outside. The coast? His gaze shifted. The room was small and wooden, with barely any furnishings. A hand still held his face and he raised his own to cover it, turning his head. Karigan.

"Good afternoon," she said.

"Afternoon?" he echoed.

"We were afraid you would never wake up." She pulled on the blanket, tucking it around his arms.

"We?"

Karigan stood. "How much do you remember?"

"There was a wall," he mumbled. "A wall and seagulls."

She bit her lower lip. "Right."

A ruddy young man entered the room, a tray clutched in his hands. "Mama will be up in a little bit." He passed the tray to Karigan. "I've gotta get back to work." He glanced at Zachary warily before exiting.

"Feel up to eating?" She held out a bread slice enticingly before him. He watched it vacantly. The bread dropped and Karigan abandoned the tray on the table, sitting unceremoniously onto the edge of the bed. "When I said we were afraid you would never wake up," she said softly, "it wasn't…" She raised her eyes to meet his. He held her gaze until she looked away. "It was close. The knives were deep. You were – are very weak."

His eyelids drifted shut. After a moment, he felt Karigan stand and her heard footsteps creep across the floor. "What happened?" he asked into the pillows. At first he didn't think she had heard him, but then the footsteps returned and she perched next to him once more.

"I wish I knew," she answered. "I wish I had answers for you, but I don't."

"Do you know where we are?"

To this, she heaved a great sigh. "Black Island."

He blinked in surprise. "So far from the castle? How long was I unconscious?"

She laughed and scratched absently at her head. "Not as long as you would think."

A sudden wave of pain pushed bile up into his throat and he struggled to hide his squirming. Karigan leaned over him, resting one cool hand on his forehead and the other on his back. "You should be resting," she said. "I'll go."

"No – please. Don't." He grasped for her arm. "Please stay."

A pucker appeared between her eyebrows. "No. I really should go." He watched in consternation as she pulled his trembling hand away. "Sleep, Excellency. You must rest."

"You are awake," a powerful voice suddenly told them. Karigan immediately straightened. Zachary craned his neck to peer over his shoulder at the formidable woman that strode into the room. She peered back at him with eyes darker than his own.

"Yes, he awakened just a little while ago," Karigan responded, taking up the bloody knives and tucking them into her belt. "Your maj – " She stopped herself, her eyes locking with the king's. A warning passed between them. She cleared her throat. "Zachary – " the name sounded awkward on her tongue " – this is Rena. She and her husband have graciously lent their home to us."

"My thanks, lady," he said as she approached.

"I no lady. You not eat yet?" She scrutinized the contents of the tray. "I help you eat." She knelt at his bedside. His eyes darted to Karigan, but she was already stepping out of the room, leaving his questions unanswered. "Open mouth," Rena commanded. He obeyed, watching Karigan until she disappeared entirely. As Rena shoveled food into his mouth, he struggled to remember the journey here. He could easily recall the ride through Sacor City, then the knives in his back…. Something strange had happened then. Something to do with their horses.

"Why you get knives in your back?" Rena asked, holding a cup to his lips. He swallowed the unchewed food painfully and took what could only be described as a swig of warm milk.

Why, indeed? "I seem to have made some new enemies," he answered.

She peered at him. "Are you a bad man?" She took up a bowl of soup and stuck the spoon between his teeth. He coughed, jarring his injuries, which were jarred even further when she pounded heartily on his back. White lights flashed in his vision and his body spasmed.

"No," he wheezed. White lights.

"You feel better?"

"Much." Whiteness. The horses had jumped into whiteness. Everything had been white. There were bridges as well.

"Enough food for you. You rest now." She took the tray and departed, leaving a dazed king staring after her. The meal was settling into his stomach and his eyes drooped wearily, but he could hear Karigan speaking with Rena in the hallway.

"…realize this is all very strange," Karigan was saying. "I'm sorry that I can't tell you more…"

Zachary jerked, forcing himself awake.

"…must be hiding. I do not want trouble."

"I understand completely, but I assure you, no one will find us here. They can have no way…"

"We are a small, happy village…my family is happy. If something happens, you will…."

"…promise you. We'll do our best…"

He couldn't open his eyes, but he knew when someone settled onto the bed beside him. A familiar, cool hand touched his cheek and he reached out feebly. Karigan's fingers closed around his. As he gave in to his exhaustion and his pain, he thought he heard her murmur, "I'll be here when you wake up." His grip tightened. It was all he wanted. But then her fingers slipped away even as sleep overcame him.