The Cracked Twilight

Cordel coulod not stop pacing with each step he grew more angry , why he didn't know but he did he turned to Robert and looked at him in the eye "make sure ya do , coz if ya don't i'll do it by puttin her over ma knee " he stopped his hand reatching for his head as a sudden burst of pain his from where he'd been cut even with it being healed some how he still felt as if it was there under the healed skin. Heknew it ws connected to his anger as his anger grew so did the pain he felt but how could he cal dow his freaind lay unconsioue in bed from an attack he should hve been to defend her against.

Robert walked over to him calmly, laid his hand on the stop and commanded "Stop," forcing the pain to yield to him. "Getting angry won't help you, Cordell. At some point in this you had a signficant head injury. Getting that angry will only cause that headpain to recurr. Very common with these sorts. Can happen for up to a year after the original injury. You've got to let me handle this. She's going to be fine. She's just sleeping. I just want her to rest. Believe me, I'm not going to leave her. She'll be alright. I'm glad you care about her, but try to trust me a little. Khaat's been through worse scrapes than this. She'll be just fine."

he paused as Robert laid his hand on him the pain subsiding and he sighed "yeah was caught by one of those buggers, guess it brought back the dragon injury " once more he took a deep breath using his medition to bring his anger under control "ya right , with you she's safe but still i'd feel better if ya could strengthen those defences a bit more " he placed his hdn on Roberst arm and smiled slightly "thank you" he said glancing at Khaat on the bed before looking back at Robert "guess im just tired , all this activity and all"

"I know," Robert said. He had felt it. "You go rest. I'll take care of things here. Katherine can sit with Khaat for a few minutes while I go back outside. If I need you, you'll know it, I"m quite sure. You do realize that my sleep spell is just a precaution to get her to slow down so Abbey can catch up a bit, right? That was my doing to try to insulate Khaat and Abbey both from damage. She did wake for a moment, and I put her right to sleep with one of my stronger sleep spells. She won't wake for awhile. It really is okay for you to go rest and take care of yourself. "

Cordell nodded "yeah, i know " he said looking across at where she lay again "her husband needs to make her slow down and take care of her self or she'll loose that kid, not fare on the child " he said he took a deep breath s he felt himself sway slightly "ok time i lay down before ya careing for me to" he took one last look before he headed to his room.

Lyng on top of his bed he slipped off his shirt only leaving his boots and trousers on just incase he was needed , his head resting on the pillow as he felt sleep slowly take over him as he lay. Cordell could not help but go over in his mind as he drifted off.

Robert did understand how he felt. It made sense to him. He knew Cordel had come to truly value Khaat. But Khaat had made an extremely poor choice in not taking somone with her if she were going to offer herself as bait for these creeps. She had done it to herself. And Robert needed somehow to impress upon her that she was risking far more than she knew by continuing this foolish behavior.

He had Katherine stay with her and he went outside and wrapped the farm in layers and layers of spells. Now they were almost impregnible. He knew it was impossible to make it completely impregnible, but this was good. This was close.

He returned to see Khaat just starting to move and wake. Again, much too soon. He sat next to her and her mother sat on the other side of the bed. "Welcome back," he said to her quietly. "You're very fortunate. You and Abbey both survived--again."

Khaat's mind was blank for a moment, Then she remembered. That damned cruciatus. "Oh, yeah. Right, I remember now," she said. She felt achy and exhausted.

"That will pass," he said. "Your energy signature and Abbey's are both all scrambled. You must have been hit full force."

"I was," she confessed. "I did use a Finite on it."

"And clearly it saved your life and Abbey's. But it just wasn't enough to remove that poweful of a cruciatus completely. It's gone now, but you need rest for awhile until your signature gets unscrambled. Khaat, I"m not going to lecture you now, but when you feel better, we do need to talk. Seriously. For now, I want you to rest awhile before you get up. If you go back right now, and Rob sees you looking this rough, he''ll have you at St. Mungos so fast your head will swim, and it won't be to your office, either."

"That bad, huh?" Khaat signed.

"Yes. Rest. Sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

"I am tired, " she admitted. She gave in and slept much easier than she expected.

Cordell slept soundly but his dream turned black black figure entered his dream cercling around him as he stood holding his wife and son then in a flash they were gone and a cloaked black figure stood in the place he pushed it away only to feel a sharp pain in his back. With a cry he sat up breathing ahrd he wiped the sweat from his brow and slipped his legs over the side of the bed .

Walking to the bathroom he ran the water filling the sink as he did nthen washed letting the wayter run down his back before heading tothe kitchen to see if any one was still up .

Robert was still up checking the security of the house. Everything seemed to be in order. Everything outside felt secure to him. HE'd been back to the barn and things had seemed normal to him there. "I didn't think you'd be up anymore tonight," Robert said, feeling Cordel behind him, as Robert checked the locks on the doors. "More bad dreams?" Robert turned to look at him. "You want to talk about it?"

"Khaat is still here. She's asleep for the night," Robert said. "She is feeling better She's just resting now. You can relax about that. Now, how can we relax you a bit?"

Cordell chuckled as he spoke to him as he walked into the kitchen "yea strange one too" he said taking a glass of orange juice he never took coffee at night "Glad to hear she'll be ok " he sat at the table and drank his juice in silance , once finished he looked up at robert "ya can help by finding out whos behind this with Khaat and ma family" he said finsheing he placed the cup into the sink turning he lent on it as he spoke again "I saw those things in ma dream Janet and John was there , they changed in to them , then i had pain in my back, it felt so real, guess i must have woke up " he didn't know why he felt the need to tell him but he had , with his arms folded across his chest he waited.

'Well," Robert said, "Perhaps your attachment to Khaat and your fear that someone you care about might be hurt. I think it brought forward your feeling of helplessness. Maybe some memories. I"m not sure. But, yes, you can count on the fact that I am still on your matter, and I will also be working on Khaat's. They will be the foremost on my mind. In the meantime, I expect you to keep up with your rehab. I expect you to go into the gym like you intended to, and not miss anything you would have done ordinarily. That's the quickest way you'll be in fighting form. And we''re not releasing you until you are in fighting form again. But then, you knew that already."