Cassandra

IV. A Daugter Of Whitestone

    "Here's a sight that warms my heart..." Sygn said wearily, as I hurried forward, and she leaned heavily on my arm. "I don't think I've ever been so happy to see another person's face..."
    I helped her over to the stone dais in the middle of the temple, and gently lowered her onto the stone steps, looking her over attentively. It was easy to see that she had been through a lot, for her breathing was labored, blood stained her teeth, and she had one gloved hand over her side, where blood was slowly seeping through her fingers
    "You got trapped didn't you?" I asked, as I tried to get Yennin's attention in the distance.
    "In the house, aye..." Sygn assented wearily. "It was a piece of cake until then. We could hear fighting in other parts of the city, but we met virtually no resistance, and we easily overcame anything that stood in our way. It didn't feel right to me, but it wasn't like we could turn back..."
    Yennin had crossed the temple by this time, and he muttered a short incantation under his breath, placing his hands against her head. For a moment his hands seemed to glow, then the divine light seeped into Sygn's skin and the wound in her side stopped bleeding.
"Thank you my friend." Sygn said with a sigh of relief, clapping him on the shoulder.
      "Did you find Ripley?" I asked.
      "No." She answered, shaking her head, and wincing as I began to help her remove her armor. "When we broke into the house there was a whole host of men, just waiting to trap us in, and we barely made it out. Most of them didn't make it, and the few of us left didn't have time to look for her. We barely managed to escape as it was...I'm sorry...We would have killed her if we could."
    "I know." I said, patting her shoulder. For a moment Sygn's dark eyes searched my face, then she nodded and leaned back against the stone steps of the dais. I went back to undoing her armor, and at last managed to pull off the leather breast plate, revealing her shirt underneath, soaked with blood.
    "What kind of weapon?"
    "Spear. How bad is it?" She asked as I examined the wound, and she drew in a sharp breath as I began to gently pull the skin back so that I could see the wound better.
    "Not that serious actually, it looks worse than it is." I said finally, pulling away, and she let out a sigh of relief. "It only grazed you, you should be fine after I bind it, although it'll leave a nasty scar..." 
      "Good!" Sygn said laughing. "Mattias thinks scars are sexy."
I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a sob than a laugh. "He'd be glad you're ok..."
"I know!" Sygn said, seeming for a moment not to notice the catch in my voice, then her eyes met mine and her face went pale "How is that man of mine anyway?"
"I don't know." I said, wishing that anyone else had been burdened with this task, and starting to bind her side, trying to hide my face.
"Bullshit!" Sygn said with frightening force, seizing my chin, her fingers sinking painfully into my skin, and forcing me to look up into her face. "How. Is. He."
"He's--" The heartbreaking mixture of anger and fear on her face overpowered me and I broke off, unable to get any farther. Sygn let out a gasp of pain, as if she had been stabbed, and sank back against the stone steps of the dais, her hand limply releasing me. Her grief wasn't like mine. Mine was wild and emotional, hers was cold and still, like a frozen wasteland. I searched her face for signs of emotion as I continued to bind her side, but her face was as still as a stone, and I found reading it quite beyond my power. But looking at her eyes I could see them slowly hardening, turning from grief into anger.
"Hey! And just where do you think you're going?" A strange voice called out over the low murmur of conversation that filled the temple, and I turned to look. One of the men had risen, and was standing at the edge of the temple, holding the point of his sword to the neck of a small boy who had appeared out of the darkness and stood trembling at the edge of the temple.
    "Please sir." The boy stammered, obviously frightened out of his wits, holding out a sealed letter. "They told me to give you this..."
    "Who told you?"
    "Please sir." Was all the boy said in reply, eyes wide with fear, holding out the letter pleadingly. Slowly the man  lowered his sword, and reached out to take the letter out of they boy's grasp. The moment he had done so, the boy turned and fled into the darkness, his pattering footsteps fading into silence. The man stared down at the letter, every eye fixed on him. Tense expectant silence filled the temple, as he turned over the letter, broke the seal, and began to read the letter aloud, his voice the only sound in the stillness.