Page 43 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

It was a little embarrassing to be called the title I hadn't earned officially through the college—and never would.

Women weren't allowed to study doctoring.

Midwifery and how to make medicines, yes, but not surgery or other medical disciplines.

The college system was archaic; not only for entry into the college of surgery, but into all the colleges.

The rules ought to be changed, but I couldn't foresee women being allowed in any time soon.

None of that was a secret. It was common knowledge. Why did these men not know it?

I finished stitching and tied the end of the thread. I asked Quentin to cut off the excess and he looked more than pleased to contribute. After removing the shirt from around Max’s arm, I told the sergeant he could sit up.

He answered me with a soft snore.

"How will we get him back to the palace?" Quentin asked.

Captain Hammer tapped Max's cheek. "Wake up."

Max cracked open an eye. "The doctor's not finished." He closed his eye again.

"She is." The captain pulled Max into a sitting position. "Come on. We must go." He scanned the forest again. Did he think the archer was still there, watching?

I handed the doublet to Max. He slung it around his injured side but needed help with the other. The captain and I managed to arrange it equally on both shoulders before assisting him to stand.

Max groaned but slumped against Hammer. The captain looped his arm around Max and guided him to the horse.

Quentin gathered the horse's reins. "You can do it, Max. Upsy daisy."

The sergeant pushed off from Hammer. "I'm not a child," he growled.

He tried to mount alone but couldn't. The captain wordlessly stepped in and helped. He managed to get Max on the horse easily, even though the broad-set man must be heavy. From what I'd witnessed, Max was a barrel of solid muscle.

"Where's your horse?" Quentin asked me as he mounted.

"I don't have a horse," I said. "I walked."

"It's a long way back to Mull," the captain said. He remained standing, his hand resting lightly on his horse's neck. "What were you doing up here?"

"Passing through."

"It's a hill. No one climbs a hill if they're just passing through."

"She was looking at the view," Quentin said. "There's a nice one of the palace from over there." He pointed to the edge of the clearing where the hill dropped away too steeply for trees to grow.

The captain walked to the edge and studied the palace in the distance. He stayed there for some time, his back to us. Only the ends of his hair fluttered in the light breeze, but otherwise he didn't move. The silence stretched.

Quentin cleared his throat. "Captain? Max is falling asleep again."

The captain turned away from the view and my breath caught in my throat. He had the same haunted look in his eyes as the mad maidservant and the guards who'd collected her that day.

"Are you all right?" I asked in a rush of breath.

He halted and blinked rapidly at me. "We'll take you back to the village."

"It's all right," I said. "I can walk. I had a patient to visit at the base of the hill and decided to come up and have a look at the palace.

It's such a pleasant day and the sun is shining.

The palace is so pretty in the sunshine with all those glass windows sparkling like gems. Is it made of gold?

It looks like gold from up here, but perhaps its something else.

I imagine gold is too expensive to use as a building material. " I bit my tongue to stop my rambling.

"We'll take you home," the captain said again. "You can't stay here alone."

"Why not?"

He hesitated before saying, "You saw the man we were chasing?"

"Only a little. Just his beard really."

"He might think you saw more. That's why he doubled back."

My heart skipped a beat. "You think he was shooting at me ?"

"It's possible."

"Then why not try again after missing?"

"Perhaps he couldn't get a clear second shot before I returned."

"She hid in the bushes," Quentin told his captain.

I swallowed hard. Someone had tried to…to kill me ?

The captain touched my elbow. "Doctor? Are you all right?"

"I… Yes. I'm fine."

"It's doubtful he'll come back for you. If you didn't recognize him then he doesn't know you either, or where to find you. If he's clever, he'll be far away by now. Even so, I'd prefer it if you allowed us to escort you home."

Quentin shifted back on the saddle and patted the front. "Climb on."

"She'll ride with me," Hammer said.

Quentin sighed. "Don't you have enough?"

"You're a terrible rider. If Doctor Cully wants to get home safely, she rides with me."

"I fell off once ."

"Once today ," Max piped up from where he sat slumped in his saddle.

"A ride back to the village is the least we can do," the captain said to me. "I'll send payment for your service. I have no coin on me. We left in a hurry."

I gathered up both my packs and helped myself onto the saddle, sitting aside rather than astride as I'd seen Lady Deerhorn do.

The captain mounted behind me in one fluid movement.

I felt small and delicate next to him. He smelled of horse and leather, and his hard thigh bumped against mine.

Like Max, I suspected he was all muscle too.

We headed slowly through the forest, back down the hill.

Little light reached through the canopy, making it feel like twilight, despite being just after noon.

The air felt damper too, denser, as if rain wasn't far away.

If I hadn't been out in the bright sunshine moments before, I would have thought the weather entirely different.

The captain remained alert and silent as we rode.

His reassurance that the hooded archer wasn't a local and would be far away by now offered little comfort.

I held my packs close to my chest and watched the forest too.

I'd wager the archer was a burglar or poacher who thought to try his luck on palace grounds.

Or perhaps he was an escaped servant who needed to be retrieved.