Scatterlings by Isobelle Carmody

Author:Isobelle Carmody
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780590559058
Publisher: Scholastic Point
Published: 1995-03-17T05:00:00+00:00

10

They all stared down at the man lying on the pallet bed. Bramble had taken them through the back of the tent to the tiny alcove where he slept. Merlin thought she had never seen anyone so ancient. His cheeks were sunken and thick blue veins wound like cords beneath papery skin. His arms and legs were little more than frail bone and the scant flesh that covered them was mottled with scabs weeping a yellowish ichor. The heat radiating from his wasted body was intense. That and his shallow breathing were all that told he lived. The stench in the room was foul.

‘The truly amazing thing is that he is this way by choice,’ Bramble whispered, her eyes shining with pity.

‘Who is he?’ Ford asked softly.

‘Don’t you recognise him, Ford? He is the Lord warden who condemned you to exile.’

‘Ranulf!’ Ford guessed faintly.

Bramble nodded, the orange light from the torch she held glinting on her dark curls and smooth cheeks. She reached out and gently shook the old man’s arm.

With an agonised moan, his eyelids slid open to reveal the faded sallow glint of his eyes. For a moment he seemed not to know who Bramble was, and where he was. His eyes flickered fearfully from her face to the billowing darkness of the tent walls and Merlin held her breath, certain he would cry out. But then he smiled, a macabre twist of wasted lips.

‘Bramble . . .’ he whispered, seeming to see no one but her. ‘Sweet Bramble . . .’

Bramble stroked that hideous face as tenderly as if it were the face of a lover. ‘Ranulf, how goes it?’

The old man swallowed, his lips folding over pink gums innocent of teeth. ‘It is well with me. And you?’

‘I, too, Ranulf,’ Bramble said softly, dropping to her knees at his bedside. Merlin wondered how she could bear to be so close to that living corpse.

Then the old man’s eyes slid shut slowly and Merlin wondered if he had died. But Bramble rose and pulled the blanket up over his emaciated form to his neck and kissed his withered cheek. Then she gestured for them all to go back to the other section of the tent. They did so without speaking, but it was some minutes before Bramble joined them. Merlin was astounded to see the rebel leader’s eyes bright with unshed tears.

‘What is wrong with him? He looks so old,’ Ford said, as Bramble joined them around the pit fire. Merlin felt icy cold and stretched her hands out to the flames. She noticed Bramble did the same.

She filled a mug with beer and drained it in one long drink before answering. ‘I stumbled on him one night when I was returning from a hunt,’ she said. ‘You remember how he was? Tall and strong. Arrogant mouth and sneering eyes. He rode like a god and that was his only redeeming feature. I had hated him for as long as I could remember, since he killed my sisterblood for loving someone else.

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