New Vellarton #1- Cross the Kingdom

Chapter 4- People Like You

 It took Crispin a moment to figure out his surroundings. He was lying on his back staring up at a plain white ceiling. The walls were white as well, but the dark grey curtains let very little light in, which made impossible for him to tell the time of day. He was lying in a bed, but couldn't quite figure out for the life of him how he had gotten into one. Crispin tried to remember what had happened while he had been guarding the ship, but most of it was a blur. He remembered his father had found out about his powers, but he couldn't remember much after that. His entire body ached, which told him that things must have escalated to violence. He clearly wasn't on the ship anymore, and he'd been left to assume that he'd used his powers to escape. It seemed the most plausible, since his father now knew about his powers there was no reason to keep them hidden from him.

"Oh, are you awake?"

It was a man who spoke, but Crispin hadn't recognized his voice. He turned towards the source of the voice and saw a man dressed in white healer's robes with red trimming along the sleeves. Healers rarely wore their robes outside of their work which meant that he was in a Healer's ward. Probably a good thing considering how much pain he was in. His shoulder hurt the most, though the throbbing pain in his head was also a strong contender.

"Crispin," The healer said, "That's your name isn't it? Can you hear me?"

"How do you know my name," He croaked. His throat felt dry, as though it had been coated with a layer of the powdery sand that Coral Bay's coasts.

"You're Captain Hadley's boy," The healer said, "I'd reckon that most people around here would know who you are. Although, people like your father tend to keep me in business. So yes, I know who you are. He came in here looking for you yesterday."

The healer's statements raised so many questions that he didn't even know where to begin. Yesterday? How long had he been out? Crispin's brow furrowed. Surely it couldn't have been that long...

"You've been out for a day and a half," The healer told him, "Your father came in around noon and I--" The healer stopped himself. "Sorry, I should backtrack. Do you... do you remember what happened at all?"

"Vaguely, yeah," Crispin told him.

"Do you know where you are?"

"Not exactly."

"My name is Ambrose Vargold. I'm a healer, and I brought you to my ward after I found you in the streets," The healer told him. Crispin had been able to figure out as much, though it was good to have a name.

"Your father came in around noon yesterday asking if I had seen you at all," Ambrose explained, "He seemed to be, ah... angry, I suppose. I told him no, but that I would keep an eye out and he left after that."

"And I'm assuming that you actually had seen me at that point," Crispin guessed.

"Yes," Ambrose said, "You were still in recovery at that point. His boat left the harbour early this morning. I'd been keeping an eye on him. I kept worrying that he might come back, but he's gone now."

"You seem very confident in assuming that I don't want to see him," Crispin pointed out. He didn't want to see his father, though he wondered how Ambrose had came to that conclusion.

"Sorry," Ambrose said, "Did you want to see him? I just assumed-- Crispin, could you tell me what you remember?"

"I remember that we had an argument," Crispin said, "I'd rather not say what it was about."

"That's fine," Ambrose said, "I don't need to know that anyways. Do you remember anything else?"

"Not exactly," Crispin said. All he had left were assumptions that may not have even been entirely accurate.