PurpleHazeDecumaAndVisitorsHe drifted in a comfortable sense of peace, unfamiliar as of late, yet a welcome reminder of happier times. There weren't all that many of those to draw upon, but the few in his life stood out like beacons in a dark and fearsome storm. This place he knew. This was one of those safe havens he had been allowed in his life; this room, this family and the love he'd shared with his cousin. It surrounded him in a pillowy half-dream as he floated above the pain. He knew that there was pain, but it was a distant sensation. Somehow he knew that his sense of wellbeing originated from medication he'd been given. It was due to Doctor Gomast's having to stitch up the gash in his side, but it didn't matter now. How he'd gotten the gash was now hazy, as well. Yet he knew that it was important. He had to remember. A face drifted before his eyes. Sad, frightened, and then hopeful. He needed to protect her. She was so beautiful... "Renata?" He whispered the name softly, not knowing he had spoken aloud. Giulian eased open the door just in time to hear Decuma's whisper in the otherwise quiet room. He darted a surprised glance at the young woman beside him. Renata managed a bright smile. "It's a good thing I came with you. We can reassure him that I'm fine. Everyone's kind to be worried about me, but really, I'm fine. You came in the nick of time..." The image in his mind wavered and broke as the voice drifted into his consciousness, disembodied as it were. He turned his pale face toward the direction and Decuma pried open his dark eyes, made darker by the medication-induced enlarged pupils. Everything was too bright and out of focus for him to make sense of what he was seeing. The sense of anxiety began to return, and he murmured, "Angel... watch over... watch... over... No more pain... no more... fear." What he meant by that odd prayer, for that is what it sounded like, was up to interpretation. Giulian moved closer to the bed. "No, no more pain," he assured his cousin softly. "And someone will watch over you till you're better." "Il mio amore," Decuma murmured and sighed, "Thank you." Then, as his mind drifted he suddenly gasped, "Sanford! Jules, No! Not Sanford. He has her! Don't let him, Jules... You know what he is.... Not Renata. He can't have her. He... can't." Decuma almost sobbed, reaching for Giulian. His eyes wild for a moment as he looked around him, not seeing the room he lay in, nor his cousin, nor the young woman who engendered his passionate outburst. His sudden movement tore at the stitching, causing blood to seep through the bandages wrapped around his chest. His hand searched for a weapon, clutching at the sheets. Renata gasped. What had they done to him? What had he suffered in order to help rescue her, someone he didn't even know? And who was he addressing as his 'love'? His words seemed confusing -- and confused. One thing was certain, he knew something about Sanford, the leader of the men who had taken her. Something that upset him... something Giulian knew, too. Giulian caught at Decuma's hands, gripping strongly as much to retain his own balance as to restrain his cousin. "Decuma, no, he won't touch her, she's safe. You saved her, it's all right, lie still." Decuma's eyes sought Giulian's, and nodded as his words penetrated. "Safe." He caught the motion coming toward them and flinched. Renata went to Giulian's side, determined to help. Leaning against him slightly, to provide extra balance, she bent down towards the tormented figure on the bed. "Shhh," she said gently. "I'm fine, Decuma, truly I am... I'm right here and they'll think twice before interfering with me again, knowing what a fine crew of saviours I command!" She brushed her hand softly against his cheek. "Yes. Your wish is my command..." He relaxed at her soft voice, and the gentle touch. He took a deep, sighing breath and winced at the pulling of the stitches in his side. His gallant jest earned him a soft laugh. "You're bleeding again," Giulian told him with a tone of mild reproof. "You've probably pulled your stitches loose. I'd better get the doctor in here." Righting himself, he moved toward the bell-pull to summon a servant. Decuma stiffened and a flash of concern crossed his face as Giulian left his side. "I'll stay with you while we wait for the doctor," Renata assured him. She had a lot of questions forming, but they would wait... He murmured, "My damsel-in-distress becomes my fortress in a tempest." He looked to her in gratitude and leaned back into the pillows; thoughts of Sanford, for the moment, banished. Giulian pulled the bell; then, after a glance over his shoulder told him Decuma was reasonably calm for the moment, he stepped out into the hall to send for the doctor. Renata blushed slightly, glad that Giulian wasn't in the room for the moment, and assuring herself that Decuma was delirious -- which set her again to worrying about just how badly those awful men had hurt him. He seemed strong to her, not the sort who would be laid low by a simple scratch... He was thankful she didn't seem to have been harmed by the kidnappers. He hadn't been surprised that someone would have used Renata in such a manner, being she was Harry's sister, and as his mind drifted again, he recalled finding Harry at the clinic...and finding out about Lady Tremontaine, Harry's mother... Renata's mother. His heart went out to Renata and his dark eyes filled with tears as he looked at her. "I regret the events of this evening. I want you to know that I am deeply sorry about your loss...." A spark of anger ignited within him, "Whoever began this will be very sorry, mark my words. They will be found and they will be ... punished." Punished... punished... He swallowed and looked around him again, pale, yet, slightly feverish. That word, coldly spoken. Decuma tried to focus, but he could hear the word "Punished," reverberating like the closing of a door. But as he caught sight of familiar objects a sense of security again returned, he knew this room. Then he frowned as he looked back at Renata. She didn't belong here in this room. This was his and Giulian's place... "Where is Jules?" Renata could sense the shifts in his tone, without entirely understanding them all. There was something there, a complexity... or more. Something about Decuma that she couldn't quite grasp, and wondered if he showed it to anyone at all. His mother, the elegant and beautiful 'Good Duchess'? His stepfather, about whom her father spoke oh-so privately as if he were right hand to the Devil himself? Or perhaps Jules, clearly a close friend as well as a cousin... "He went to get the doctor. You tore your stitches out..." She touched his shoulder gently. "And you have me for company till then," she said with a gentle brightness. "Yes, of course... went for the doctor," Decuma shook his head, trying to clear it. "What did that man give me? Something for the pain, he said... something.... I'm sorry Renata. I'm not very good company for you, and after all you've been through tonight." His eyes slid toward closing as he murmured, "You are an angel. A beautiful angel." The door opened again and Giulian slipped through. "I sent for the doctor. He or his aide should be here in a few minutes," he said quietly. Decuma's eyes opened, lazily. The pupils were much too large, even for the dim lighting of the room. He smiled at Giulian, and told him: "He gave me something, Jules... The doctor.... Said I lost a lot of blood... That I should have bandaged it. How? I can't remember... can't...." He shook his head again, as he felt himself begin to slide into the fog of confusion. "Sanford! It was Sanford; that bastard! I should have run him through!" Then his mind registered Renata standing beside him and Decuma gasped out an apology, "Pardon my language... I am not myself." Giulian frowned slightly as he made his way back to Decuma's bedside and looked down at his cousin. "Dr. Gomast has always been a little too fond of the bottle, to my mind," he commented, more to Renata than Decuma. "Medication, that is." To Decuma he said reassuringly, "Renata's not going to hold against you anything you say under the influence, coz." "Far from it," she assured them both. "And I cannot truly disagree with your sentiments about that man... Sanford? As for your medication, whatever Dr. Gomast can give you that will reduce your pain and help you heal, you have certainly earned that much, at least." Yes, she told herself. When he was 'himself' again he would not see her as an angel or a beautiful damsel or a fortress of virtue. But she could not help but think it was a lovely way to be seen for the moment. She would not hold any of his sentiments against him, nor hold him to them in any way afterwards... Decuma found comfort in their reassurances, though what it was they were reassuring him about had already merged into the fog. As he sank back into the comfortable haze, Dr. Gomast and his assistant came bustling in. Seeing the blood soaking through the bandages, the good doctor gave Giulian and Renata a look, as if to say, 'What did you do to my patient?' before he set about pulling sutures and a needle out of his little black bag. Renata, taking in his glare, felt suddenly awkward and out of place. But then she reminded herself that not only was she a daughter of Tremontaine, but she had every reason to be in this room, to give Decuma whatever comfort or assurance she could. Giulian did not seem at all intimidated by Gomast, returning the doctor's glare with a hard look of his own. As far as he was concerned, Decuma's confused state of mind was a result of the drug he'd been given, and not the fault of his visitors. The assistant also looked at Giulian and Renata and stated, "You may wish to step out during this." Decuma's eyes shot open again at the new voice, but his eyes found Renata's face, and he sighed again, and murmured with a sleepy smile, "She walks in beauty, like the night, Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright, Meet in her aspect and her eyes." "Oh!" she said softly, almost a whisper, and she could feel that slight warmth rise into her face again. But she managed to smile at Decuma, no matter how untoward her mother or father might have thought it. "We won't go far," she said to him. "Relax and let Dr. Gomast make things better..." "Yes, we'll get out of the doctors' way for now," Giulian agreed, "but we'll be within call." He wasn't particularly squeamish himself, but there was no reason to subject Renata to any more unpleasantness. He moved toward the door. As they emerged into the hall, Giulian murmured, "If he's quoting Byron, he's far gone." There was a thread of amusement in his voice. "What's wrong with Byron?" she asked with a trace of spirit. "He's one of my favorite old world poets..." Then, gathering herself, she asked, "Do you think Harry is still doing letters? I should join him. And Jules... thank you. For everything..." "Times like this show us how much we need to stand together," Giulian answered softly. Then he said, "Yes, I expect Harry's in the morning room. He may want your help in deciding how to tell your father ... what you have to tell him." Back in the breakfast room, a servant informed them that Lord Harold and Madam Gallfrey had repaired to the morning room to write letters. Giulian nodded and said, "I have a few to write myself, but I can't possibly be coherent without at least a little sleep. You'll be all right?" he asked Renata. "I'll be in my own wing if you need me." It was something of a walk from the main section of Anderon House, where the family had their rooms and entertained guests, to Giulian's own quarters in the south wing, but there was more than one reason for him to make the trek rather than finding a bed in one of the guest rooms. He wanted a bit of privacy, and his own bed, and Peterson to help him into it... but most of all, Giulian wanted Elissa to be able to find him. That she hadn't yet turned up was beginning to worry him. That it would take her longer to arrive than their headlong cavalcade didn't surprise him, and she might have to go far out of her way to dodge Carlysle patrols or other marauders, but she'd promised... You, me, empty room, all day and night. Maybe Elissa would be beside him when he woke, Giulian mused as he drifted off. |
