Page 50 of Bride Takes a Laird
“I know not when he shall return. He’s recovering from an injury at the healer’s cottage. It could be some time before he comes home. If the bird is ready to be released, I’m sure Jake would want ye to handle it.”
“Och, I’ll see to it then. Are ye needing your horse, Laird?”
Magnus nodded and wondered where Winston was. “If ye are busy, I can get him. Where’s Winston?”
Vincent grumbled. “Your attendant has been shirking his duties of late. Either marriage is keeping him from the stables or he is up to no good.”
“I’m sure whatever keeps Winston away is important. It is not like him to shirk his duty. I shall ask him when next I see him.” Magnus strode away from the stable master and reached his steed’s stall. It took little time to saddle him and get him ready for the trek.
Outside, he mounted his horse and rode to the gate. The watch hastily strode toward to open it and as he rode through, he said, “I will return on the morrow.”
Craig, the leader of the gate watchmen, shouted their clan’s mottoand nodded to him.
Magnus didn’t bother to take anyone with him for his trek to Lillith’s cottage. The location of the healer’s domain was close to the border of his lands and a great distance, at least a few leagues away. As he rode along, he thought about his brother and hoped Jake recovered. Likewise, he suspected Oswald’s injury had to be good and healed by now.
From the distance, he noticed the smoke from Lillith’s chimney. Blackish-gray smoke wafted into the afternoon’s sky. Outside Lillith’s cottage, he tethered his horse and ambled up the walkway to the door. He rapped on the wooden edifice and waited. The door was opened a moment later by Hayden.
“Laird, ’tis good to see ye. I’m gladdened ye came.” Hayden opened the door wider to allow his entrance.
Magnus stepped inside and clapped Hayden on the shoulder. “’Tis good to see ye too. How are our men?” He saw Lillith tending to the MacKendrick soldier. Jake lay upon a cot next to him. Oswald sat in a chair by a low table and stirred something in a pot.
“Oswald is well enough to return, Laird,” Lillith said.
He approached his soldier and nodded. “That is welcome news, Oswald. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Och, aye, my leg is just a wee bit tender. I can walk on it now for a short trek.”
“Good. And Jake?” he asked Hayden.
“Your brother still has not regained his senses.” Hayden’s face shifted forward as if he hid his eyes from him.
Lillith continued with her task of tending to the other soldier and said over her shoulder, “Jake lost a lot of blood and I suspect that is what keeps him from waking…that, and fever.”
Magnus was disheartened by that news. He stepped toward the cot where his brother lay and studied his face. His brother’s eyes remained closed and it only looked as though he was sleeping. He waited forLillith to finish tending to the MacKendrick soldier and when she stood, he bowed to her. “Mistress.”
“Laird Cameron, I’m afraid your brother has developed an infection and I have had a difficult time keeping him cool. I continue to observe him but he is not out of danger. He shall need to remain here. Oswald is free to go.”
“Will Jake survive?” Magnus’s body tensed as he waited for the answer. Often infection lingered and took the life when a wound was too severe to mend.
“I cannot say, Laird, but I will do my best to help him.”
Magnus nodded, his heart heavy. “My thanks, Mistress, for your care of my men. Is there anything ye need? I can have my clansmen bring whatever ye need… Or should I leave Hayden here to assist ye?”
Lillith wiped her hands with a cloth she picked up from a nearby table. “Your men may leave. I no longer require them. Now that Jake is settled on a cot and the MacKendrick soldier is healing, there’s naught much to do. I will take ye up on your offer though, for I need some herbs and such, and have no time to collect them. If ye can have someone fetch them from the woods… I shall need mint, licorice root, willow-tree bark, and honey.”
“Of course, Mistress. Hayden will set men to tend to it when we reach home and return within a day or two with the items.” Magnus pressed a gentle hand on his brother’s head but Jake didn’t respond. He hoped he would recover soon. With that, he left the cottage and awaited his men outside.
Hayden ambled from the cottage and rounded the building, then returned a moment later with his and Oswald’s horses. “Laird, how goes the keep? Have ye made progress in finding out what happened to Ned?”
“Aye, a wee bit of progress. I’ll tell ye later what I have learned.” Magnus trusted Hayden as much as he put his faith in Wyren. Although he hadn’t wanted anyone within the clan to know about thetwo traitors, Hayden might have information that could shed light on the situation.
Osward retreated from the cottage and there was no limp in his gait. He mounted his horse and they rode toward the woods that led to their fortification. All were quiet during the ride.
Magnus had hoped to return home by nightfall, and since it was now dark out, they might have to make camp and settle for the night. The trek to his home was more than a few leagues and would take time to reach. After riding for a good stretch, he called a halt.
“Let us make camp and we’ll continue onward when there’s enough light to see by.”
His men dismounted. Hayden set off to find wood for a fire while Oswald retrieved his saddle bag. From it, he removed a bit of foodstuff he’d been given by Lillith.