2LO Ch2
Will quickly tied Kicker to Tug and Abelard and flipped over the figure in the leaking rowboat. He gasped at the familiar face, and noticed various cuts and bruises on his person.
After treating his, er, friend, (Sean was friendly, at least) Will set up camp in the nearby forest. He let Sean rest in one of the tents (he had the luxury of multiple resting areas now) as he sat by the fire with his head in his hands, while his coffee pot steamed in front of him.
Sean woke up in a comfortable position, lethargic and (oddly enough) without the annoying pricks of pain from his collection of open wounds from tree branches, pointy rocks, and some lucky scrapes from a pitchfork. Then his eyes widened as he realized that he had no idea where he was.
He ripped himself out of bed and tripped through the tent flap, still drowsy. Sean hadn't slept that well in three days. "Who-?" he began, but choked when he recognized the mop of brown hair; "Ranger Will?"
The Ranger turned around to face the Hibernian. "King Sean," he said quietly, dipping his head, "You should be in bed." His eyes were red-rimmed from endless crying, and his hands, holding tight to his mug of hot coffee, were shaking.
"No," declared his mentor's nephew, "You should be. You look like you're going to drop dead any second now. I've rested enough."
"Just worn out from crying," protested Will, "You were passed out in a sinking log of wood when I found you." Then he frowned and took a sip from his coffee mug. "What were you doing there, anyway?"
Sean shook his head sadly. "It turns out that the only people who actually believed I wasn't Ferris in a different form were the rest of the royal guard. The villagers tried to assassinate me in the streets. " His eyes dropped to the blazing fire, "And it also turns out that I was the only person who wasn't assassinated." He let out a shaky breath, then looked at Will, "What about you? Where's my uncle? And Horace?"
The young Ranger stared at him for a few seconds, his face blank. But then his features contorted as he bowed his head and said in a watery voice, "Dead. Dead in the rockfall. Dead. And I left them!"
"What?" Sean asked, completely shocked. Will continued in the same vein for a while, however, lost in his own grief.
"Tennyson was preaching in a cave," whispered Will, his eyes shut tight as salty drops leaked out. "We went in to stop him. Halt had gotten poisoned earlier and needed a healer-" Sean's head fell into his hands at this, "-and so the healer, he had these smoke balls. He would throw them, see, and yellow smoke would explode out. It was so loud, it-it shook the cave, and-"
Will stopped. Sean understood, and he mourned now. Will wiped away his last tears. It was time to stop being selfish, he decided. Sean had just met his uncle and had him torn away in a flash. He needed comfort more than him. He rubbed his companion's back and poured him some coffee.
It's going to be a long night, he thought.