RHIDAUNA, The Shadow of the Revenaunt, Book 1

CHAPTER 4 - HASPEN (Part One)

The rising sun peeked through the window of the infirmary and her rays played over Damion's bed. The boy lay flat on his back, swaddled in bandages like a newborn. His ribs itched, but they had made scratching them impossible. He could move his hands and forearms, nothing else; even his upper arms the infirmary nurse had tied to his body. "You mustn't move," the man had told him. "Not for several weeks at least."

A fly buzzed around his head, a metallic bluebottle. Damion didn't notice the creature; he was too sunk in his troubled thoughts to let its presence bother him. Bitterly he stared at the ceiling, wondering what was the meaning of his life. It was a hopeless exercise, because every path he took, every thread he followed, ended at the contemptuous eyes of Guard Sergeant Luyon. His father's sneering remarks milled through his head: You're nothing, boy. You will never be a man. You're not a soldier; you are a weakling. You're not my son; your mother must have done it with someone else. Every word was a hatchet blow to the roots of his self-confidence. However hard he'd tried; his father had ridiculed everything he did. Damion fought against his tears, his fingers clutching the rough blanket. A sound at the door made him start. Ghyll and Olle entered and involuntarily he caught his breath. They're going away! he thought, but Ghyll smiled at him and he relaxed. He lifted his hand. 'They taped me in again this morning. I'm tied up from here to there.' He gestured to his shoulders and somewhere near his feet. 'Everything itches like there's a hill of ants in the dressing.' Damion lowered his eyes. 'I have to thank you. You saved my life.' His fingers plucked at the blankets. 'I saw you jump on that monster. Tilia! I thought it was all over!' He swallowed. 'My father was right, I'm no use.'

'Nonsense.' Ghyll plumped down on the edge of the bed. 'If your father wanted you to become a soldier and nothing else, he did you an injustice. Go your own road and prove him wrong, man.' There was a pause.

'I've heard about Tinnurad,' Damion said, and he felt so unhappy he could barely speak. 'I'm that sorry for you. The baron was a fine man. He... he took me away from my father. What will you do now?'

'Wait until you're back on your feet,' Ghyll said. 'And then we'll go on a journey.'

'You mean it?' Damion caught his breath. 'You'll wait for me? I was afraid I'd have to go back to my father.'

'Of course not,' Ghyll said. 'We're companions, mate. Companions of Tinnurad, we stay together. Just bounce back fast; we've a lot of miles ahead of us.'

'Companions of Tinnurad,' Damion whispered. He could hardly believe that they wanted him along. 'Where are we going?'

'To begin with, Theridaun.' Ghyll began to tell of their ride back to Tinnurad and the documents he had found. When he had finished, a silence fell, while Damion tried to place all he had heard.

'Your own manor,' he said, giving Olle an awed look. 'And it's a beautiful place, too. I visited there once when I was little. You can fish, hunt... Rabbit,' he added. 'No boar.' His face as he said that, betrayed his thoughts and the other two burst out laughing.

'What's that book you've got there?' Ghyll asked.

'It's about nature magic. I can't hold it myself, so the nurse reads it aloud to me. Lieutenant Davall got it from the castle library. He came by for a chat, yesterday and once we talked about that pig... You know...' The young man looked at Ghyll and Olle. 'Don't laugh, but just before the animal knocked me out, I could hear his thoughts. They weren't nice thoughts; I think that old temple had driven him crazy. Yes, I know those ruins were supposedly purged of evil spirits. Only they weren't. There was something black and...' Damion shuddered. 'From the moment I touched that picture of the boar, I sensed a darkness hiding somewhere near. I don't understand why I touched the pillar.' He fell silent and his thoughts turned back to what was uppermost in his mind. 'Did I ever tell you my mother was a priestess of Iodraune Beastgoddess? Perhaps that was why, but I really could almost understand that swine.' Breathlessly he added, 'you'll think that a dumb idea, of course.'