Page 45 of Desire of a Highlander

Chapter 10

Elodie tried to stifle a yawn and failed.

Faye, walking beside her as they made their way through the Steading, flashed her an amused glance. “Are we keeping ye up?”

“Sorry,” Elodie replied. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

She didn’t bother to explain the reason why she didn’t sleep very well: that Faye snored like a bull elephant. She didn’t think that particular observation would go down very well. Maybe she’d try stuffing her ears with rags and see if that helped.

“Me neither,” a voice said from behind them.

Elodie glanced over her shoulder at the red-haired young woman who was walking with them, lugging Faye’s basket of herbs and remedies. She was one of the refugees from Kilbrannan that Elodie had brought to the Steading and in the last few days had taken to helping Elodie and Faye with tending the sick and injured. Right now the red-head, Sarah, was wearing a fierce scowl. “I swear I’m aching in places I never knew existed.”

Elodie grinned. “Are you regretting signing up for Ronan’s training sessions?”

Sarah, along with many of the women who’d recently come to the Steading, had fallen over themselves to sign up when Ronan had offered to teach them to fight. After losing their homes to feuding lords and opportunistic raiders, Elodie could hardly blame them.

Defiance flashed in Sarah’s eyes. “What? Never!”

Elodie laughed. She liked Sarah. She was sharp and had a dry wit that she wasn’t afraid to use. They were, Elodie realized, becoming friends. Just like Faye was becoming a friend. Just like Ronan was becoming...

She stopped that thought before it could go any further.

It was early and the sun had only just risen but the three of them had been out on their rounds since before first light. Elodie was beginning to understand the rhythm of the Steading. There were no schedules pinned to walls, no rota sheets, no shared calendars. And yet everything somehow still got done.

“So,” Sarah said, lugging the basket. “What delights do ye have in store for us today, O wise one? Bad teeth? Lancing a boil? In growing toe nails?”

Faye shot her a look. “Better than that. A treat I’ve saved just for the two of ye. Ye are going to help me treat an ulcerated leg.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. Elodie groaned.

They reached the newly repaired barn. It had taken over a week to get it habitable but now it housed three families. Elodie felt a flush of pride as she looked at it. Faye knocked on the door but didn’t wait for a reply before pushing it open and stepping through. Inside, the room was warmer than Elodie expected, the smell of fresh thatch mixing with smoke from a small central brazier.

An elderly woman was sitting upright on a pallet against the far wall, her leg stretched out in front of her, whilst a younger woman ground something in a pestle. Even from a distance Elodie could see the inflammation that stained the old woman’s leg. The skin around the bandaged ulcer was angry and red.

“Ah! Thank goodness!” the younger woman, who Elodie assumed was the daughter, said on seeing Faye. “Perhaps ye can talk some sense into her. She willnae listen to me.”

Faye approached the old woman. “Have ye been fussing with it again, Elspeth?”

Elspeth huffed. “Dinna fash! I’m not a child.”

“No,” Faye agreed calmly. “Children are better behaved.”

Sarah choked on a laugh and Elspeth crossed her arms with an offended ‘harrumph’. Elodie knelt by the bed and watched as Faye carefully unwrapped the bandage from around the older woman’s leg. As the material came away, a sharp, unpleasant smell hit Elodie in the face.

Back home in the twenty-first century, this problem would have been minor. A course of antibiotics, dressing changes, a few follow-up appointments with a nurse. But here? Here it was anything but minor.

Faye indicated for Sarah to put down the basket then began laying out bundles of dried herbs with practiced hands.

“This will sting.”

“I’ll live,” Elspeth snapped.

Elodie watched as Faye worked with practiced efficiency, cleaning the wound first with boiled water cooled just enough not to burn. Then she applied a mixture that smelled strongly of garlic. Elspeth hissed through her teeth and then let forth a string of inventive curses.

“I did warn ye,” Faye said.

The woman shifted irritably as Faye wrapped the leg. “I dinna need fussing over,” she said sharply, swatting Sarah’s hand away when she tried to steady her.