The Rogue Lady

Chapter Forty Eight

Okay so the revised draft of this chapter is about a thousand words longer but who cares!! =D Other news, exam season has begun. Three down, too many to go. But so far so good, I have never loved the Matrix more than I did during the exam yesterday. But whatever, get on with the reading!!

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In the end, I grabbed one of my own shirts, which had been Rowan's to begin with. Harper provided a pair of pants for him as well and we even got him a pair of boots. I could tell my archers were curious to the young man we had gotten out of the dungeons, whereas the King's men were just worried about him. I could feel the moment of truth coming closer.

When we made it back to the tent, Darrick went straight in with the clothes, however I preferred to wait outside with my archers. I paced in front of the tent waiting for someone to come out. It took a couple of minutes but eventually Eric stepped out of the tent. His face was completely blank and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

Before I could get a sound passed my lips he said, "Darrick is taking him to the river to wash the blood and the dirt off him." Again I tried to speak but he cut me off once more. "I think you should let Darrick do this. Besides, William wants to talk to you. And so do I."

I nodded and this time managed to speak before he could stop me again. "What's wrong with him? What did she do to him?"

"Well, he is literally covered in cuts and bruises, but you don't need to worry about those. Four out of five fingers on his left hand are broken and I'm fairly sure his arm was broken not too long ago either but that's already healing, somehow. He has a cracked rib and a few bruised ones as well." He paused, I could tell that there was more but he wasn't sure if he should tell me.

"Go one. I can take it. I probably felt every single thing they did to him."

Surprise crossed his face but he nodded without asking. "His kneecap is damaged as well, which is probably what hurts him the most right now. There was a stab wound on his thigh, but I already healed that." He paused briefly, looking down at my legs, and I knew that he was slowly putting the pieces together. Or at least to some point he would; I would probably have to fill in the blanks later. "And he's even got bumps on his head which I'm worried about as well," he finished, not asking about my own thigh.

"What about the illusions? He thought I was an illusion; do you have any idea why he might have thought that?"

"I have several ideas but I can't be sure. Though I think he knows exactly what is wrong with his head; the trick is to get him to tell us what it is."

I frowned, "Did you asked him?"

"Not that question precisely but other things; what hurt him the most, what he remembered before we got him out of there. William and I kept talking to him the entire time and tried to put him at ease a little, however he kept quiet the entire time. Like he doesn't trust us. Not that I can blame him for that."

"Still, I told him I trusted you, and that is usually enough." He raised his eyebrows, then he frowned and I saw him thinking hard. Many questions were probably running through his head but I couldn't blame him. Hundreds of questions ran through my own head and anger was burning in my veins. Rowan had gotten hurt because of me; he had gotten hurt because the Queen couldn't get her hands on me. "Can you heal him?" I whispered, afraid of the answer; I hadn't forgotten the conversation we had had at the Bandits' camp during our first night there.

"I healed the cuts and took care of the bruises, and even the bumps on his head. Though he was about as reluctant as you normally are." The ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, and I smiled too at the thought of Rowan trying to fight the magic as much as me. "But I can't mend his bones; I never learned how to do it. I put a spell on him so that he doesn't feel the pain as much, but we will have to wait for Jarrick to make an appearance so that he can heal him."