Benedict stood resolute in his new rooms. He was never going to let something like that happen again, if he could help it. He sat down heavily in an overstuffed chair and sighed bitterly. All my fault! he kept on telling himself, trying to get over what he had witnessed bare minutes ago, and what he was told moments ago. He sat there for a long while, trying to calm himself enough to use a Trump; he still had more family to contact.
He pulled out Random's Trump and focused on the cheery face there. His foot and arm both ached, throwing his concentration off. It took a lot longer to establish a connection...and he couldn't tell if it was his own mental state that was causing it, or if Random purposefully let it 'ring'. Finally, Random's image coalesced before him.
"Yes?"
"Random..." he began and felt his voice on the verge of breaking. Control...control... he thought to himself. He cleared his throat and started anew, "How have you been?"
Random's eyes widened in shock as he realized what condition his brother was in, "What the hell happened to you?"
Benedict hesistated, not knowing what to say, or how much. Tenatively, he said, "Ran into a shadow of myself while tracking down Gerard." At least I think it was a Shadow... "You're alright, aren't you? No otherworldly beast hunting you down?" He tried to pass it off for a joke, albeit a poor one. The joke seemed to have bypassed Random.
"Not that I've seen so far, no."
"Hmm. That's a good thing, at least," Benedict said while raking a hand through his hair. "What are you doing out in Shadow anyway?" He tried not to pry too much, but he was concerned for the rest of his family, and he wanted to know what in the hell they thought they were doing out there alone. If he could get the hell beat out of him, who knew what could happen to the rest of his family who tended to be less prepared than he himself?
"Oh, just taking care of a little business, I hope."
With that reply, he knew he wasn't going to get anything out of Random, nor bring him back to Amber. So, instead, he tried to encourage him to hurry his 'business' and get back here...trying to make it a request and concern, not the demand he wanted to give. "Business?" Idly, he wondered again how Random was taking Dad's disappearance...and if he was sinking into the bottle. He'd heard rumors from the guards... "Reason why I called is that it's dangerous for any of us to be aloen right now...if you can't tell." He flicked his eyes down to his arm for a moment, then focused on his younger brother again, "I'd appreciate it if you came home, or at least had more people with you."
"I'll have more people around me shortly, and I'll keep a certain card at the top of my deck, but I really need to look into this. I won't take any longer than I have to." Random paused, giving Benedict a shrewd look for one so young, "What were you doing that you got attacked?"
"Fetching Gerard from Shadow. Unfortunately...he's quite unstable, Random. And very dangerous." He paused again, feeling his guilt rise again, "If you see him, stay out of his path." I never thought the day would come when I'd have to warn people to stay out of one of my sibling's way...much less two.
Ben gave a tight smile, trying to lighten his mood somewhat, "I appreciate your honesty, at least. Try to make it quick."
Random nodded, evidentally taking the request somewhat seriously. "Tell me about Gerard when I get back, okay?"
"I will." Benedict sighed again, "'Luck, Random." He passed his hand over the card then, breaking the contact.
The warrior then closed his eyes and just sat there for a long while thinking, before other duties and responsibilities reared their ugly heads. Feeling positively ancient, Benedict got himself moving again, and headed down to his new office, to start going over paperwork.
Get your own Free Home Page