Dullahan

9 - Other - 4

He walked between the hedgerows and flower beds, the orchard and herb garden, alone with his thoughts. The few gardeners- mostly dryads, Eldred noticed- paid him little heed, too busy with their own tasks to spare much thought for the boy walking through alone. A few did double takes as they saw him, edging away before returning to their work.

Overall, he decided that he was glad he had left the room. The few hours he had spent in the company of the other children had been pleasant, for the most part. He hadn't participated greatly in many of the games, but that was to be expected, being the newcomer.

He spent much of his afternoon exploring the castle, deciding that he might as well make the most of his time outside. He scoured much of the castle's gardens, scouting out new potential hiding spots and figuring out how exactly some of the other children had hidden, before he moved on to wandering the castle grounds themselves. He kept to himself, darting into cubby holes and corridors whenever he heard people coming, or keeping his head down and watching the floor if he was forced to pass someone. When there was no one in sight, he skipped and ran, careful not to venture into rooms not shown to him by Ness, but being more bold in his exploration of outside areas. He spent some time in the training yard, watching guards fight with fascination. A few times, he was certain he had seen magic at work- a sword thrust that felt too fast to come solely from its wielder's power, or a spark of orange that was a little more than clashing metal. When the sun started to get low in the sky he started to make his return to the room, picking his way back through the castle, landmarks from his adventures and the tour Ness had given him guiding him toward the familiar halls before the courtyard.

He bounced down the steps, the door swinging open to the empty corridor, and made his way back down the hall. He found it a little strange that he'd only seen one other dullahan while he had been there- the corridor was filled with at least fifteen doors, and he had heard very little foot traffic in the days and nights that he had spent within the room.

He opened the door into Ness's room, standing in the doorway and breathing in the slightly stale air, now familiar to him, and stepped inside. He felt himself relax as he walked through the door, no longer needing to remain vigilant and watchful of the people around him, safe in the security of the room. The door scraped along the floor as he shut it, the latch rattling as it shut. Quiet surrounded him, and dust hung in the air, illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the window. It was cold in here, heat sapped throughout the day, so he sat on the bed and bundled himself in blankets.

Just as he settled himself, there was a knock at the door- one that had started to become familiar. He unwrapped himself, stepping down onto the cold floor, padding towards the door to find Wyn standing there once more with a tray in hand. Steaming soup took centre stage on the tray, rough wooden spoon and another piece of bread on the side, as well as the usual cup of water, although this time a pitcher stood on the opposite side as well.

Wyn took a moment to realise the door was open, his attention occupied with something further down the hall. His smile was distracted when he saw Eldred, offering the tray. "Here's dinner!" he announced, quick to let the tray drop into Eldred's hands.

The boy struggled to regain his balance for a moment, the jug threatening to topple over.

"You can just leave the tray outside your room when you're done," Wyn said quickly, already starting to walk back out of the corridor, "Someone'll be back after dinner to pick it up!" This second part was half shouted as he picked up speed, disappearing back out of the door, leaving Eldred standing alone.

It was strange to wake in the room alone. He had doubled up the blanket as best he could to fight off the chill of the room, and it had worked as he had been falling asleep. He awoke shivering, the sky outside the window just starting to take on the lighter colours of dawn. His immediate attempts to try to fall back asleep were foiled by the cold that seemed to seep into his bones, so he sat up and huddled into the corner of the bed.