The Eighth Court (The Courts of the Feyr - By Mike Shevdon Page 0,65
will not receive the protection of the court without swearing allegiance.”
“Don’t need protection, do I? I can look after myself.”
“That’s easy to say from a room at the centre of the courts, protected by Warders, surrounded by people you trust. But you’ve been outside, Alex, and I don’t think your memory is so poor that you’ve forgotten what it means to be alone.”
“Yeah, well. I survived.”
“That’s one of the choices,” said Blackbird. “Most of us can survive. We find a way because we have to, but if you want more than mere survival then you need help. That’s what we’re doing, Alex, we’re helping each other to build something better. Think about it.”
Blackbird went to the door and then hesitated. “If I were you,” she said, “I would get myself cleaned up, in bed and at least pretend to be asleep before your father comes back and starts asking the sorts of questions you don’t want to answer.”
“You’re going to tell him?” Alex didn’t want to ask, but she had to know.
“That we talked? No, I don’t think your father needs to be aware of every conversation we have.”
“I meant about coming back late, about not looking after the baby.”
“I won’t mention it, Alex, but that doesn’t mean he won’t find out. Sleep well.”
The door closed behind Blackbird and Alex was left alone, but even so she counted to a hundred before she finally let the glamour go. She was going to have to find somewhere to stash her ruined clothes until she could get them washed. She stripped and dropped all of them behind the chest of drawers, pushing the soiled trainers under the chest with the edge of her foot so they’d be out of sight. The shower she took was hot and long, and after it she felt as if her limbs had turned to jelly. She turned off the light, cracked the door open so that light from the hallway striped up across the carpet and up the wall and slid into bed.
She was exhausted but somehow too gunned to sleep. She felt wired, as if she’d drunk one of Sparky’s boosters and was now so full of caffeine and stimulants that sleep was impossible. Her mind kept turning to the wild ride through the forest, the brutally violent encounter they’d observed, and the promises she’d made to Tate.
But when she slept, her dreams were full of trees flashing past in the dark.
Amber near enough dragged me through the Ways without pause for thought. I was already dreadfully tired and instead of the usual elation, I felt drained and slightly sick. I wondered what happened if you threw up on the Ways. Did it spew vomit out over you when you were finally ejected? That thought held my stomach together until we were back at the courts.
She supported me as far as the door to the rooms that Blackbird and I shared. I leaned against the wall, hatching an ambitious plan to sneak in, grab a shower and change out of my blood-soaked clothes before Blackbird discovered I’d been shot. That plan was rather undermined when I discovered Blackbird and the baby with Angela and Lesley in our rooms.
“You can do the explaining,” said Amber, as she helped me inside.
Blackbird almost did a double take. “What on earth happened?” she asked, passing the baby to Lesley and taking in the dark stains spread into my shirt and trousers, almost black against the Warder grey.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said, the words tripped on my tongue as I tried to play down the situation.
Blackbird pulled open my jacket for a better look. “This is blood! For goodness sakes, Niall, you’re covered in it. What happened?”
Now that I was safe, my reserves were suddenly spent. I put an arm out to the door to steady myself and missed my handhold, dropping my sword and stumbling so that Amber half caught me. Instead I slid slowly to the floor, half supported by her. My eyes felt suddenly heavy. “It’s OK,” I said. “Amber was there.”
“You’re wounded,” said Blackbird. “Angela, get me a towel soaked in cold water. Amber, help me get him out of this jacket.” Between them they eased me out of the jacket, and Blackbird inspected the holes where the bullets had entered.
“Amber helped me…” I mumbled.
Blackbird collected some scissors from the desk, addressing Amber. “I suppose you have some explanation for this?” she asked her.