Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 38i

Dak was not by Maddock's bed when he woke up, because she had gone to the tall doors at the end of the ward to open them and let in some air. She stretched and yawned as she walked down the room, and when she pushed the doors open she realised that the sky was turning light with the early dawn. The fresh morning air was a soothing relief after the heavy clean smell of the Infirmary, which had been pressing down on her and increasing her many anxieties. As she stood in the open doorway, she realised that the outside was not the normal still quiet of early morning. There was a strange clamour stirring the air, and she looked up at the fortress to see that its windows, even those at the distant height of the keep, were brilliant with light.

She stepped out onto the cloister surrounding the gardens, and as she listened she decided that what she could hear was more of a blurring of many different noises. There were voices, the pounding of madriel paws on grass, and the occasional clank of metal on metal. Was the fortress under attack? The thought struck a sudden panic into her.

"What's happening?" said a voice behind her.

"Maddock!" she gasped, stepping back into the ward, almost tripping over the doorframe as she did so.

Maddock's eyes were half open and sleep filled. He was still tucked into the white sheeted bed, thick bandages wrapped around his head.

She hurried to the bed and leant over to look inquisitively into each of his eyes.

"What have you been doing with yourself?" Maddock tried to sit up, but fell back with a wince of pain, his hand going to the heavy bandages. "Oh, yes, the doctor said that you must drink this when you were waking up."

Dak turned and looked around for the cup of strangebrown liquid the doctor had left on the table beside his bed. She picked it up, lifted it to Maddock's mouth, and he drank, though some of it was spilt down his chin because of her shaking hand.

"Sorry!" she said, as she grabbed a cloth and tried to dab at his mouth, catching his nose instead. "Sorry!"

"Dak, calm down will you!" said Maddock, pulling the cloth from her shaking fingers and wiping his chin.

"Sorry, it is just that you look so bad, and the doctor said I was to look after you. Oh, what has happened to you, Maddock?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that. How did I get here?"

"Master Sprak, I think, from what I have been hearing. It is said that he pulled you out from Hakansa's pen and brought you in here."

Maddock lay back into his pillow and rubbed his eyes.

"Was it poisoned?"

"What?"

"The meat that was in Hakansa's pen. Was it poisoned or not?"

"So rumour is saying."

"And Hakansa is alive?"

"He is fine, but Maddock, why were you even in his pen in the first place?"

"Because I'm an idiot," said Maddock.

"An idiot? Why do you believe yourself to be an idiot?"

"Because I was doing something for that shitting Order brat friend of yours."

"Tahlia? That is not a nice thing to be calling her."

"No it is not!" said an indignant voice at the far end of the room.

Dak looked quickly up to see Tahlia stropping down the room, her dress filthy and ripped, more so than even Dak had ever seen it, and her hair was beyond dishevelled. Her feet were black with dirt.