Caspian Quillsnake

Chapter 2: Eetu

Coraene leads Rella away, leaving me gently cupping my wound, breathing heavily. I stand there for a minute or two before turning to get my uncle to redress my bandages.

"Davy, hey," I ask Davy, who's sitting outside the physician's quarters, picking at the dust on the ground, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I thought you were inside." He chuckles. He seems absolutely terrified.

"Are- are you okay? Where's Cas?" I kneel, despite my wound screaming in protest.

"I'm fine. But can I talk to you? Inside?" He doesn't look me in the eye.

"Yeah..." I let him enter the room first, then follow in after him. "What's up?"

"I don't know, to be honest. I- I don't know." Davy makes a point of shutting the door behind us.

"What do you mean?" I go to sit down at my uncle's table, but Davy shakes his head and continues walking to the broom closet in the corner. I barely get my mouth open to protest before Davy cuts in.

"It's not safe there." He doesn't even look back at me.

I ignore the pain spreading through my chest and let Davy direct where we're going. He shuts the door and locks it, double and triple checking that there's no way it could be opened. I groan and lean against the wall for support. I've already begun to bleed through my bandages, that much I can feel.

"Davy, what is this about? And why are we in a broom closet?" I close my eyes and try to apply as much pressure to my wound as possible.

"Because I need to talk to you. It's... it's about Cora."

At the mention of Coraene, my eyes fly back open. "What about her? Is she okay?"

Davy thinks for a second. "More or less..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Davy avoids my gaze, choosing instead to focus on his boots. "Where do I begin?" He takes a deep breath and starts with how he found Coraene in the alleyway and her unexpected hostility toward him, apparently even threatening Caspian's life if Davy went to anybody about this. I stop him there.

"Cora would never threaten Cas. She loves him. You must have heard her wrong." I try to stand but my body stays glued to the wall. "You had to have heard her wrong."

"Eetu, I know what she said." Davy doesn't blink as he slowly looks back up into my eyes. "I had to let you know that you, your family, you're not safe here. And I'll bet you anything that girl she brought with her is in on it, too."

"Cora is my wife, Davy. I will not tolerate you speaking about her like this."

"I'm trying to warn you! I know what she said, I know how she acted. Like it or not, there's something... different about her."

"Eetu?" Coraene's voice carries from the front door. Davy pales. "Eetu, are you here?"

Before I can call out to her, Davy puts his hand over my mouth and silences me. I'm too dazed and weak to fight him off. The sound of footsteps follow soon after, but it's more than one set. Curiosity gets the better of me and Davy, so we carefully open the door a crack, just enough to see out of. I find the strength to lean on Davy so we can both watch whatever is going on.

Coraene is standing impatiently by my uncle's table, arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face. "Well, I don't suppose you have any bright ideas, do you, Rella?"