Page 33 of A Fire in Their Hearts

M Y BODY IS SQUEEZED INTO such a small space I can barely move and certainly can’t stretch out.

I open my eyes. It’s daylight and I’m in a box-bed.

Slowly, I turn my head to see more of my surroundings.

The effort is unbelievable. A curtain is across much of the opening.

Without warning, the face of the black beast is once again close to mine, but before I can even draw breath to scream, it starts licking my cheek with a warm, rough tongue.

‘Move out of the way, Gunnar.’ The curtain is pulled back and the beast pushed away as a man gets down on one knee so that his head is nearer to mine.

‘Well, lad, we’ve never known someone so near to death yet so determined to live.

Many times we thought you were lost. We’ve prayed for hours by your side and the good Lord has answered. ’

‘Where .?.?.?’

‘Don’t try to talk. The important thing to understand is that you’re safe. Mary and I believe in the Covenanters’ cause and we’ll take care of you as long as it’s needed.’

‘How .?.?.’

‘How did we know you’re a Covenanter? You’ve been ranting and raving almost non-stop for days.

It seems you’ve been harshly treated, lad, harshly treated indeed.

There’s no news about your dear Violet, no news at all about a woman being on board the ship.

The morning after we found you, I took my axe to the beach where you washed up.

If anyone comes searching this far, they’ll find no sign of wreckage to indicate that someone might have landed nearby. ’

‘Must search .?.?.’ I try to lift myself up but my body feels as broken as the ship.

‘You’re not going anywhere. Now, my Mary might be a peedie woman but she’ll give me some grief if I keep you awake. Sleep, lad. And don’t be frightened of Gunnar. He’s an ugly brute but I promise you, he’s not the Devil.’

*?*?*

It’s daylight when I wake again, although I sense it’s not the same day.

When I try to shift my position, the pain in my leg is so fierce that I cry out and moments later the curtain is pulled back.

I guess the woman might be around forty-five.

She sits on the edge of the bed and lays her hand on my brow.

I’ve felt this hand before, though not known its owner.

‘Well, your fever has broken but your leg is a long way from being mended. We need to get food into you. Can you manage some broth if I help?’

I nod and she reaches forward, sliding her hands under my back. ‘We need to sit you up a bit. Bliss me! You’re so skinny.’

Her arms are surprisingly strong and she clutches me tightly to her as she manoeuvres me in the bed.

Without warning, I’m crying so hard it doesn’t seem possible that my tears will ever stop.

Everyone I love or have loved is dead or lost. I’ve seen friends tortured and killed before my eyes and I, in turn, have killed.

The worst feeling is that I simply don’t know where Violet is, and the thought of living without her is unbearable.

‘It’s all right,’ she says. ‘I won’t let you go. I won’t let you go.’

This tiny woman who has helped save my life rocks me back and forth as though I’m a child. I’m utterly helpless in her arms. I cry as I’ve never done before. My leg might mend but my heart never will.

Finally, I’m so exhausted that blessed sleep releases me from my anguish.

*?*?*

Days and nights pass in a vague haze, like a delicate morning mist that could easily go unnoticed.

I recall eating and drinking, the pain of the dressing on my leg being replaced, being cleaned .

.?. being held and soothed. When I wake again, properly this time, I feel different.

The curtain is open and for a while I watch Mary skilfully gutting fish, which I guess is a common food on an island.

She looks up from the table and smiles, which transforms her face in a way I almost can’t believe.

‘You’re back with us and this time I think it’s for good.’ She pours water into a cup and brings it over. Having helped me to sit, she holds the cup to my lips, preventing me from gulping too quickly.

‘Wait a moment and I’ll call Hugh.’

While I’m alone the dog comes over, sits by my feet and places his head on my thigh, fortunately the thigh of my uninjured leg. ‘Devil,’ I say, stroking him behind an ear. When the couple return, they pull up stools and sit.

‘You’ll be full of questions, but save your strength and I’ll tell you what we know,’ says Hugh. ‘You’ve been here over a week and in that time more than forty Covenanters have been captured. They’re being held in Stromness, no doubt until there’s a ship that can take them to their destination.

‘Bodies have been washing up along the shore but no one is searching for survivors any more and the sailors and captain from the Crown of London have left Orkney. But even here you’re not out of danger. Only those we trust can know who you are.’

‘Violet?’

He shakes his head sadly. ‘Nothing about a woman being amongst the men and if she’s in disguise .?.?. well, I don’t know how we could find out.’

‘There’s been no news of a woman’s body being found,’ says Mary. ‘That has to be good.’

‘I’ll go to Stromness.’

‘No you won’t,’ she says sternly. ‘I think your fever has gone for good, but Stromness is the other side of the island and I doubt you could get yourself outside without help.’

If Violet lives, she may well be amongst the captives. I can’t let her be taken from me again. Despite the protests of Hugh and Mary, I move my legs around and place my feet on the floor.

‘Don’t try it, son!’ he cries.

But I stand, harshly pushing away their restraining hands and take a step. It’s all I manage, one bloody step, before the cold, hard slabs are rushing up to hit me as if they can’t wait another second to bash some sense into my stupid, stubborn head.