Medieval Highlands 01 - Highland Vengeance (34 page)

“
Sshhh!”
Alleck cautioned softly. Then, with more strength, he said, “Nay, ‘twas only our loud voices that made’em flee.” Disengaging from his comrade in adventure, he threw his arm wide. “See? No one else is about. ‘Sides, the sun is peeking o’er the hills now—and I brought a horseshoe, just in case.”

Niall’s sigh was filled with relief. “Aye, they like not the sun—or cold iron.”

The lads continued walking toward the boulder. When they’d at last arrived at their destination, Alleck stretched up on tiptoe to place the bag of vegetables on the top. As he’d also brought the gigantic boot they’d found a few days before, he took it from the pouch strapped across his shoulder and put it next to the food.

Afterward, he stood quietly for several long seconds, looking around and hoping to see the giant, but found no sign of him. “We must get home before our mamas notice we’re not abed,” Alleck said at last, tugging Niall’s hand to get his feet moving. “Hurry.”

Neither lad saw the massive, dark-haired warrior come from the cover of trees and take the offering.

Daniel was in the great hall presiding over a dispute between two cottars when he heard a thud followed by a series of full-mouthed, feminine groans. The stool crashed to the floor behind him as he leapt to his feet and bolted toward the entry.

“Grandmother!” he exclaimed. In the next instant, he was on his knees beside her prone form. “Are you hurt badly? Can you stand?” he asked, frantic to get her off the hard, cold tiles.

She gave him a pained nod. “I’ve turned my ankle and my hip and thigh ache—but I should be able to stand, with some assistance.”

“Alright.” Daniel put his arms around her and brought her to her feet with care. “How did this happen?”

“‘Twas my own fault. I stumbled over the accursed threshold as I was coming in from the courtyard.” She winced then, trying with little success to put a bit of weight on the injured leg. “I will not be able to walk up those stairs on this ankle, I fear.”

Daniel lifted his grandmother in his arms and started toward the stairs leading to the upper chambers. As he passed the entrance to the great hall, he called out to one of the servants, “Inform my wife of the accident. She will find us in Lady Maclean’s bedchamber.”

A few moments later, he placed his grandmother on top of the blanket that covered her bed and said, “Think you you’ve broken bones?” Panicked at the thought, he did not wait for her reply, instead beginning his exam of the ankle to determine the answer.

His grandmother hissed in a breath but thankfully allowed him to continue his gentle probing. “Nay, lad, worry not. For I’ve only the turned ankle and, tho’ I’m sure to be black and blue where I hit the ground, surely naught has been brok—.”

“A maid just told me that you’ve taken a fall!” his wife cried, throwing the door so wide in her haste to enter that it slammed into the wall. “Are you hurt badly?” she asked, unknowingly echoing his own words as she rushed to the opposite side of the bed from where he stood. Turning to him then, she asked, “Is she hurt badly?”

“Be at ease, wife. For I’ve found no grave injuries, thus far. Only a sprain to her ankle and a badly bruised side from the fall she took. I will need to bind her ankle, however, and examine her side as well.”

He turned back to his grandmother. “I think I’ve some herbs that, when mulled in wine, will ease your pain.” As he walked toward the door, he told them, “I go now to retrieve my healer’s box. I shall return shortly.”

*

Healer’s box?
Maryn watched wide-eyed as Daniel left the chamber, stunned that she’d been wed to him so many sennights and had had no idea he was trained in the healing arts. It seemed there were many layers to her handsome husband, and she’d just discovered another one.

Turning back to Lady Maclean, she asked, “Did you know of Daniel’s healing abilities? Then, seeing the white line around the older woman’s lips as she pressed them together, Maryn immediately felt ashamed of her negligence. “Is there naught I can do to make you more easy? Your gown must be constraining you now, let me take it from you.”

“I’m too sore to move, lass,” Lady Maclean said in a strangled voice. “I believe the thing must be cut from me. Have you a dirk?”

“Aye.” Maryn pulled the blade from the sheath attached to her girdle and gingerly split the front of the gown. Then she helped Lady Maclean roll to her uninjured side so she could pull the garment from under her. Concerned that they’d not be able to get her back into another, she left the chemise intact. It was flimsy enough to push up on one side so that Daniel might examine the bruises. She brought out another blanket from the chest at the end of the bed and covered the older woman with it. It calmed Maryn to see the relaxed, much less pained expression o’ertake the older woman’s countenance now that she was no longer encumbered by the tight, heavy clothing.

“I’ve known of my grandson’s skills for many years,” Lady Maclean said, at last responding to Maryn’s query. “His mother sent us tidings of him as he grew and she told us of his training in the healing arts. The lady was a healer as well and she passed the knowledge down to her son. I believe his grandfather, Laird MacLaurin, was insistent that his warriors learn the rudiments of wound dressing.”

*

Once Daniel returned with his healing supplies, he made quick work of wrapping the ankle in tight, long strips of linen before resting it on two pillows. Afterward, and as a precaution, he probed the bones along his grandmother’s injured side, thankfully finding no breaks. The bruising was bad, but manageable.

“I’ll make a sleeping draught for you to help you rest. You’ll need to stay abed for at least a sennight.”

“Daniel, my dear!” his grandmother exclaimed. “Have you forgotten so quickly? My daughter is to wed in only two days’ time and we were to begin our journey on the morrow.” She tried to lift herself up then but, unable to hold her weight, fell back against the pillows.

The exercise only convinced Daniel further that his aged relative was in no condition to travel. “You cannot attend, Grandmother. You must rest and heal. But worry not, for I shall make the journey and represent you.”

Turning to his wife, he said, “I need you to remain here to take care of her.”

She nodded her agreement. Turning back to her injured charge, she said, “Aye, Grandmother Maclean, Daniel is right. The journey was going to be hard for you anyway. Now, with these injuries, you must see that ‘tis impossible for you to travel.”

Daniel placed his hand on his grandmother’s shoulder. “I’ll explain what happened—I’m sure your daughter will understand.”

Evidently realizing the truth of their words, his grandmother finally relented with a doleful nod.

“If you have any gifts or messages to send, I shall be pleased to take them,” Daniel told her.

His grandmother pointed dejectedly toward a wooden chest in the corner of the chamber. “Aye, I’ve a coffer full of gifts for her.”

Daniel departed the following morn, with his much-too-affable cousin at his side, and their grandmother’s gifts and missives in tow.

*

“I do so regret not being able to make the journey to see my dear daughter wed,” Lady Maclean said the day of the union as she lay supine in her bed.

“Aye, but once you are healed, you may have a long visit; fret not, I pray you,” Maryn replied, holding her charge’s fragile hand in her own as she sat at the side of her bed.

She could not seem to curb her worry over the lady’s health. The poor woman was bruised from thigh to shoulder. “Are you in pain, Grandmother Maclean? Mayhap you’d like a sip of wine?” She tried to pull away to pour some out, but was not released.

“Nay, lass. The pain is bearable and I want a clear head.”

The door swung open just then, hitting the wall with a loud bang and startling the life out of Maryn. “Blood of Christ,” she mumbled under her breath, swinging her head in the direction of the noise.

The lad, Alleck, rushed in, tugging his mother behind him. “Gran’ma Maclean! Gran’ma Maclean! The magic giant gave me another coin. See?” He barreled into Maryn in his attempt to get to the older woman’s side, holding out his grubby, open-palmed hand with the coin in it.

Maryn teetered on her stool, but quickly righted herself.

Jesslyn pulled on the lad’s tiny hand and admonished, “Alleck! You are not to shove past people, ‘tis rude. Now give your regrets to Maryn for oversetting her.”

“Sorry, Lady Maryn,” the lad said, his eyes fixed upon Lady McLean’s countenance, eagerly awaiting her reaction.

Jesslyn gave Maryn an apologetic look.

Maryn giggled, shaking her head in good-humored understanding.

“Help me sit up, lass,” Lady Maclean said to Maryn, “so that I may get a better look at this new treasure of Alleck’s.” She studied it closely for a moment. “It looks to be of the same minting as the other.” There was worry in her gaze when she lifted it to the lad. “How did the ‘magic giant’ get this to you, Alleck?”

“When I brung his food to the boulder this morn!” the lad dropped his mother’s hand and rested his elbows on the bed next to Lady Maclean. “It was layin’ next to it when we got there!” One foot bounced on the floor in his excitement, causing the bed to jiggle.

Lady Maclean winced and Jesslyn pushed her hand down on the lad’s leg to stop its fidgeting. “Be still, my son, you hurt Lady Maclean,” she instructed.

The older woman stroked the lad’s cheek. “You are quite pleased, are you not, laddie? It seems you’ve found a friend in a wood faery.”

He giggled with glee. “Aye!”

“What does this giant look like—have you seen him?” she asked then.

He nodded. “He’s really, really big,” he said, standing on the tip of his toes and stretching his arms first above his head and then out at his sides, “and he has long, straight hair—as black as a raven’s feathers. He’s got a hairy chin and slant-y brown eyes, like this.” He pressed his forefingers to the outer corners of his eyes and lifted up a bit.

Lady Maclean squinted, her brow raised in speculation as the lad described the giant.

“His thighs are as big around as tree trunks, and his arms have giant humps on them. He’s got big feet, too, ‘cuz I found one of his boots—but I gave it back. I did not want him to stump his toes in the forest.”

The lad happily settled back on the edge of the bed then, picking up the coin he’d placed on top of the blanket.

Maryn looked first at Jesslyn and then they both turned their gazes on Lady Maclean. Maryn wondered now if there really was someone living in the forest. And it was clear by Jesslyn’s and Lady Maclean’s alarmed expressions that they wondered the same.

“I’m feeling a bit empty, will you go down to the kitchens and see if Cook has a few cakes left from the morning meal?” Lady Maclean asked the energetic lad.

“Aye.” He scooted away from the bed and ran out the door.

She turned to Jesslyn then and said, “Have you been to the boulder to see if there are any signs of this man? Mayhap we should send a few soldiers to investigate. Thus far, it seems he’s not a danger to the lad, so I’d want him brought to us unharmed.”

Jesslyn walked over to the wash basin and rinsed off the soil that her son had left on her hand. “Nay, I’d only just learned of this newest coin prior to his dragging me here.” She turned and faced the older woman. “Alleck has grown so fond of you, Lady Maclean,” she said. “He was anxious to share the glad tidings of his treasure with you.”

“Is it really possible that someone could be hiding in the forest without our knowledge?” Maryn asked. “After all, we’ve hunters going in there for game each sennight—and I’ve been there myself in the past moon. I saw no sign of human habitance.”

Jesslyn crossed her arms and rubbed her hands over them, as if chilled. “When will Daniel get back from the MacGregor holding? Mayhap we should wait and tell him before we send a search party out.”

“He’s due back four days hence.” Turning to Lady Maclean, Maryn asked, “Do you think it wise to wait that long?”

“I admit, my curiosity is piqued, but Jesslyn makes a valid point. The man seems to have no violent purpose in mind for this holding, and Daniel
will
want to conduct the search himself. However, I do think it best that Alleck stay clear of the forest for the present.”

“Aye,” Maryn and Jesslyn agreed in unison.

*

For the next four days, Jesslyn kept her son close to her side. Tho’ Alleck was restless and fretful, she remained vigilant in her purpose, making sure her son had no opportunity to visit the forest again.

*

Daniel reclined on the bed four nights later with his arm resting on his knee. He’d doffed his clothing long ago and now he watched his wife attending her long, glorious hair. “You’ve been brushing that mane for a quarter-hour, are your tangles not out yet? I’ve been gone for six days, my love, and ‘tis sad to say, but you sorely neglect your primary duty.”

He grinned when she huffed and narrowed her eyes at him. He patted the empty space beside him. “Crave you more lessons in anatomy? For, as I recall, I’ve still to train you in the art of balance.”

*

Maryn decided she’d tempted him long enough. Besides, he’d just reminded her of their conversation that day in the bailey and now she was eager to learn what he would teach her. She placed her brush on the washstand and turned back to face her amorous husband. She boldly locked gazes with him. Grasping the edge of her chemise, she inched it up over her hips.