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I peeked inside.
A young man lay in the center of the room on a padded table. His pallor was a stark contrast to the rich crimson of the blood-soaked bandages that were strewn around him.
Merlin stood by the head of the table, dipping a cloth into a silver bowl of water and wiping it gently over the young man's forehead.
Across the room at a table along the wall, a young healer's face was a mask of concentration as she cradled a bundle of herbs in her hands, then dropped them into a marble bowl and began crushing them with mortar and pestle. The fragrant scent of rose and hemlock began to fill the room.
I had just stepped inside and pushed the door closed carefully when a choking sound made me wheel around.
Galahad sat in a wooden chair against the wall. His hands were cradled in his head. It took me a moment to register the fact that he was sobbing quietly.
“Galahad!” I stepped over to him, crouched down in front of him, and touched his face. “What’s happening here?”
He raised his head, and I felt my heart plummet. Tear tracks traced a glistening path down his smooth, mahogany cheeks. His deep brown eyes held a profound despair.
I turned around. “Merlin, who is that man?”
“I thought we’d told Brooks to close the door,” she muttered, wiping the back of her hand wearily across her forehead.
“It’s closed now, Merlin. No one else heard but me,” I reassured her, my heart filling with sympathy as I looked back and forth between the man on the bed, Merlin, and Galahad.
Merlin raised her eyes to mine. “His name is Christen. He’s one of our spies.”
“A spy?” Of course, I should have known she and Sir Ector would have already had something in place. There must have been a network of spies. Lancelet had mentioned something of the sort long ago. But just how far did it extend? The castle? The frontlines? And did they do more than simply observe?
“Tonight, Christen returned to us from the castle,” she continued.
“Fenyx got to him on his way out.” It was Galahad speaking from behind me. He had risen from his chair. “Christen told me he was to serve at a meeting tonight for the king’s closest counsel.”
“Christen worked in the castle kitchens,” Merlin murmured.
I nodded.
Galahad went on. “He was excited about it. Thought he might hear news of the prince.”
The prince. He meant Kaye. My heart sped up.
“I told him to be careful, that if this meeting seemed too good to be true, it probably was. He was bragging. Said he’d steal an updated map of the new frontlines for us if he saw it. I told him not to be an idiot. I thought he was half-joking. Offered to come along and stay in the background. To wait outside in case he needed help getting away quickly.” He brushed a hand over his face. “He just laughed.”
“Christen would do that,” Merlin murmured. “He is very daring.”
The young man on the table gave a gasping cough. Merlin leaned forward to wipe the blood trickling from his mouth.
The healer at the table was turning around. She held an earthenware tumbler in her hand. “I’ve prepared another tincture for the pain, Merlin. But I don’t know if we’ll be able to get him to keep it down...”
“Thank you, Kasie,” Merlin said softly, looking down at the young man. “I don’t think it will be necessary. He’s slipping away from us. He’s settled down. I don’t think there will be too much pain now.”
Still, I noticed she did not remove her hand from the young man’s brow but, rather, smoothed Christen’s hair back like a mother might.
I had an impulse.
Once, quite by accident, I had healed someone.
Slowly, I came over to the table.
Kasie, the young healer, was weeping. “The wounds were too deep for my skill, Merlin. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve done your best,” Merlin murmured. “That’s all we can do. That’s all Christen would expect. He knew the risks. He has been very brave.”
