Out of the Rubble (for apassingafternoon)
Feb. 19th, 2015 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
askthelookoutCuthbert hadn't been present for the battle in the courtyard, a fact that would make his stomach roil when he thought about it for a long time to come. He and Thomas, along with several of the apprentice gunslingers, had been inside the castle complex, trying to help people to safety as the walls fell in around them. Rebecca's eldest daughter had joined him, despite his protestations, and he hadn't had time to fight her on it; when the roof had come in, he had done the only thing he could think of, and dragged them both under a table, shielding her as best he could.
When he opened his eyes, he thought for a moment that he might have died in the process. What little light there was came through in a dim, grey haze, and for a fraction of a second, everything was so quiet and so still that he couldn't believe it was real. Then he breathed, and pain came flooding into his world. He was alive, all right. Dead men didn't feel broken ribs.
Lisbeth hadn't been so lucky. The young girl was lying under him, still warm, but the side of her skull was stoved in, and when he felt for a pulse - his bruised and battered arm screaming out at the movement - there was nothing there. He might have cried then, but it felt as if the dust all around them was clogging his tear ducts; nothing came. Pushing himself off her, he started to dig himself out of the ruin that had been his home.
He hadn't been unconscious for long. Although he didn't know it, when he came to Roland was still in the courtyard, weeping over Nariko's body. It took him several minutes to drag himself out and down the stairs, one injured leg dragging behind him, and by the time he managed to get out to the courtyard, it was all over. Alain still stood there, still as a stock, staring at the space where Roland had been; Jamie, too, looked in shock. But most of the other gunslingers had started to go about their business, silent and long-faced as they knelt to help the wounded and close the eyes of the dead. Into this, Cuthbert came; a slight figure grey with dust and streaked with blood, all trace of humour gone from his face.
"What happened?" He looked around at the courtyard, his voice rasping from the dust he'd inhaled. "Where's Roland?"
When he opened his eyes, he thought for a moment that he might have died in the process. What little light there was came through in a dim, grey haze, and for a fraction of a second, everything was so quiet and so still that he couldn't believe it was real. Then he breathed, and pain came flooding into his world. He was alive, all right. Dead men didn't feel broken ribs.
Lisbeth hadn't been so lucky. The young girl was lying under him, still warm, but the side of her skull was stoved in, and when he felt for a pulse - his bruised and battered arm screaming out at the movement - there was nothing there. He might have cried then, but it felt as if the dust all around them was clogging his tear ducts; nothing came. Pushing himself off her, he started to dig himself out of the ruin that had been his home.
He hadn't been unconscious for long. Although he didn't know it, when he came to Roland was still in the courtyard, weeping over Nariko's body. It took him several minutes to drag himself out and down the stairs, one injured leg dragging behind him, and by the time he managed to get out to the courtyard, it was all over. Alain still stood there, still as a stock, staring at the space where Roland had been; Jamie, too, looked in shock. But most of the other gunslingers had started to go about their business, silent and long-faced as they knelt to help the wounded and close the eyes of the dead. Into this, Cuthbert came; a slight figure grey with dust and streaked with blood, all trace of humour gone from his face.
"What happened?" He looked around at the courtyard, his voice rasping from the dust he'd inhaled. "Where's Roland?"
