Rudimentum: Oracle

Chapter 15

"He will be all right, you will see," he said.

They continued and opened the unlocked door. The front room was lit by a large chandelier which painted shadows on the dark-white marbled floor. A staircase led into darkness and to the left of the stairs ahead of them was a long hallway dotted with doors. To their left and right arched doorways led to other rooms.

As if on cue, an older woman wearing a red dress and white apron entered the room. She said, "Elysia and Swift?"

"Yes," said Elysia, fear tearing like talons across her chest.

"Your friend is still with Master Nathanael," she said. "He will join us when he is finished. Please sit down."

She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in. There was still no answer. His life still balanced on a rope, and she feared the more time that passed the more frayed it would become. She swallowed the quivering in her throat.

They followed the woman into the next room where a few women and men sat at the table with a pot of tea. A fireplace crackled at the far end with two living chairs in front.

"Please sit," she said, offering them a gentle smile.

Elysia sat, rubbing her hands together as if cleaning them, and staring at the flames.

Swift sighed as he sat, happy to get his weight off his leg. He leaned over and took her hands. "Let us talk, take your mind off it. Ask me something. Anything."

She looked down at his rough hands once again in hers. After a moment, she said, "You are not the same person I first met. Why did you become a pirate?"

"It seemed like a good way to get back at the world who had cheated and wronged me," he said.

"What changed?"

"You might already guess their names," he said with a smile. "I know it sounds crazy, but Anne taught me love and gentleness. Ed taught me that I did not have to hate everyone. That I could be kind if I so desired it, and that there is kindness in the world, even if there is not enough of it. After they died, I looked for a ticket out, but I could not leave empty handed, otherwise I would be back where I started. Alone, poor, and hurting." He turned and stared into the flames. "I needed money. Then I saw you... and him. You two were my prize, my way out. I guess it didn't turn out how I expected it to."

Elysia watched him staring into the fireplace. She should've hated him; anger should have filled her veins like blood, but she found she could muster none of it. She saw a man shaped by the hammer of the world realising he could take that tool and maybe finally shape himself.

"It is amazing how much a person can change you," she said quietly. "William taught me courage and strength."

Swift looked her in the eyes. "You two were made for each other." Her eyes widened.

"Elysia," came Nathanael's voice behind him. Swift's words disappeared and Elysia leapt to her feet, her hands once again wringing themselves. Her heart pounded. Her knees buckled. A million thoughts rushed through her mind like a stampede of horses down a narrow street. She stared at him in the archway, his apron spattered with blood. He wiped his stained hands on a cloth now dyed red. His stoic face was unreadable.

"How is he?" she asked, surprised her voice even worked.

"He is stable, for now," he said.

Elysia's entire body melted with relief. She gripped the chair to keep herself from falling. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep. "Can I see him?"

Nathanael nodded and gestured for them to follow. He turned and led them down the hall beside the staircase. Elysia could not stop herself from trembling like a puddle in an earthquake. She stepped into the room and let out a gasp as she saw him lying there, the rising and falling of his chest the only movement. He laid in the bed, blankets covering him, his eye and head bandaged.