Halt lay awake for the rest of that night, unwilling to sleep, in case he had another nightmare and woke his friend once more. But Crowley too only dozed, not wanting Halt's nightmares to pass unnoticed.
When the sun rose, Healer Adriel made it a point to make the inn his first stop.
"You're getting sicker." Adriel declared after examining Halt. Crowley was seated on his bed, watching worriedly, leafing through some paperwork that he'd somehow brought with him, but his full attention was on Adriel. "Did you sleep? Either of you?" Both reluctantly shook their heads, feeling like little children but both were too tired to care or resist.
"Why not?" Halt muttered his answer inaudibly to himself, and Adriel frowned. "Sorry?"
"Halt gets nightmares." Crowley sighed, knowing Halt wouldn't be happy to hear him saying that, and true enough, Halt turned his frightening glare on him.
"You need to sleep, Halt, or you won't get better, and if you don't sleep, Crowley, you'll get ill too. I'd order you off to a different room, Crowley, but I need you to keep an eye on Halt." Adriel turned to Crowley sternly, and Crowley just nodded. "If his fever gets worse or he starts thrashing around or if you can't wake him, come and find me. Seeing any of those signs shows that he's close to dying, he's taken a sudden turn for the worst. Seeing all of those signs means that he doesn't have long at all left." Halt rolled his eyes behind Adriel's back, but Crowley barely managed a smile at that, filled with fear at Adriel's words.
Halt could die.
"Now, both of you, sleep." Adriel ordered, turning on his heel and abruptly leaving the room.
Crowley yawned, rubbing his eyes. "At least you didn't have a nightmare this time." Crowley half-smiled.
Halt muttered something to himself. "What?" Crowley frowned.
"I didn't sleep. That's why I didn't have nightmares." Halt lay back down, mumbling his words so Crowley would find it hard to hear him. He didn't want to have to explain why, but thankfully, Crowley wasn't stupid.
"Because you're afraid of the nightmares or because you didn't want to wake me?"
"Both."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Yes."
Crowley stood up, stretching slowly as Halt yawned. "Where are you going?"
"Breakfast isn't going to find itself." Crowley remarked, striding out of the room and into the cooler corridor air, as Halt turned over and tried to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Halt's Test (Gone Wrong)
ActionWhen Halt is captured one night and taken from Castle Araluen, he has no idea that it's a test. But things go badly wrong, very badly wrong, and neither can do anything to prevent anything getting worse. But it still gets worse.
