The Winter

Chapter 21

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer

Chapter 21

“I thought you were going to see the healer?”

“I was, but if Hati can be stubborn then so can I.”

Vali looked unimpressed. “You look like someone tried to cook your hand. I would get that checked. Or at least seasoned.” He grinned wide.

I rolled my eyes. “My youngest sibling might have found that chilling, Lokison.”

But when I dared look down at my hand, my stomach heaved. It looked better than the pain told; though one spot in the centre of my palm showed a spiderweb of cracked skin. A few small blisters dotted my lower arm too. And all the skin below my elbow that wasn’t cracked, bleeding or blistering, was red raw. It reminded me of when Mànas had spent too long lying in the sun one summer. His skin had peeled for days.

And so I found myself heading to Eirny’s quarters anyway, one hand keeping the torn seam of my dress together while I attempted to hide the other from view. Thankfully, the Northern quarter of the castle where Hati’s quarters and the Healer’s Wing resided were often quiet.
A male about Fionnlagh’s age swaggered past with a bandage over his chest and smile that told me he’d gotten in a challenge amongst his peers that he’d won. He struck me as familiar in some way but I couldn’t place how.

We found Eirny tossing a bloody bowl of water out the window in her small room where she kept her books and herbs. Her hair was tied back and covered by cloth as usual, stray wisps of gold and grey flying out. She wiped a hand across her forehead as she turned, violet eyes becoming alert when she realised she wasn’t alone.

“I not long finished sewing your cousin up and now you’re here too?” she huffed a breath. “Your family alone keep me running about.”

I grimaced, glancing back down the hall after the young male who’d passed us. I that who’d he fought? “Is Fionnlagh alright?”

“Grinning bigger than Ull is. Fionnlagh may have lost the fight but he won what he was after.”

“Ull?” I wondered out loud, my suspicions confirmed when Eirny gave me a sly smile.

“Ull’s sister is currently at Fionnlagh’s bedside. . .”

“Their fight was over Ulli.” I shook my head in amusement. “Sin mar a tha e. I suppose she must have been somewhat impressed.”

Eirny chuckled. “Oh no, she was furious her brother and the male she has interest in crossed claws over her honour as if they had the right. Most of their wounds came from her putting a stop to it before Fionnlagh made a fool of himself. Ull is three years older and a warrior. Your cousin is lucky he was only bruised and winded, and suffered no broken bones or severed limbs.”

Pride welled when it shouldn’t have. Fionnlagh could have gotten seriously hurt. How much of a lesson I would teach him later would depend on whether he was the one to challenge first, or Ulli’s brother.

“Thank you for taking care of him. I know you must be awfully busy but I am afraid I too am in need of your skills.” I bit my lip and stepped closer before adding more quietly. “I have news to share as well, and need of your wisdom. Hati. . .he is going to need you, I think, though he will put up a front.”

Violet eyes searched my face for a moment, and her hand reached out to grip my arm, her lip trembling. “I doubt you are talking about Gerlac’s arrest which can only mean. . .” She swallowed hard. “It was not an imagining was it? I heard the call of Fenrir on the wind.”
A shiver went up my spine. “Yes. How did you hear?”