When Erskine's knees buckled Corrival automatically moved to step forward and catch him, but then Erskine stumbled, caught himself, and eased into the chair. Corrival watched him, that furrow a frown now. A frown that turned into a blink at the unexpected cutting tone.

Insides turned to mush ... didn't want to see any of them again ... well then. "He told you about Skulduggery," Corrival said with tired resignation, and wished there was another chair. He rather thought he should be included in the walking wounded here. "Wondered how long it'd take him."

Of course, even if he was fine, the fact he was hurt was a bad thing. Corrival gave Erskine another once-over. "What happened?" he asked. "You can't have gotten into a fight. You'd look like mush yourself, instead of like a puppet with your strings pulled."