Chapter 8
“Violet! Violet!” Cahl shouted as he got closer and closer to the house.
He needn’t have shouted for her, she’d been waiting in the back yard, having wandered further than she should have, and stood clasping Ozie by the hand while they waited for him.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, seeing that he held a woman in his arms.
“It’s yer witchy aunt!” Cahl called to her.
“Is she alright?” Violet asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered as he drove right by her and Ozie.
Violet, still holding Ozie’s hand, started for the front of the house.
“Who’s that lady, Ma?” Ozie asked.
“She’s Aunt Nora,” Violet answered as she did her best to get to Nora’s side.
“Da said she’s witchy. That means she’s nice, right?” Ozie asked.
“It does, Ozie. But she’s sick. I need you to be a good boy and stay in the kitchen while Da and I take care of her, alright? I’ll get you a snack and you stay there for a while.”
“Okay. Can I bring my lizard inside?” he asked.
“You can,” she said as they rounded the house and found Cahl going back into the house with a huge, green male hanging over his shoulder.
“Who is that?” Violet demanded.
“I’m not sure, but I think he’s the Chieftain of Ozaq’s tribe. He’s been shot, Violet. If we don’t do something fast, we won’t save either one.”
“What do I do?” Violet asked worriedly.
“Do whatever Othana taught ye. Whatever ye’ve been practicing over the years. Ye’ve gotten stronger, Violet. Ye can do this.” He turned and ran to the bedroom, putting the Orc down beside Aunt Nora.
Cahl hurried back into the living room to find Violet looking terrified and completely overwhelmed.
“The only thing worse than losing them is not trying at all,” Cahl said.
“You’re right. Can you see to Ozie? He needs a snack in the kitchen to keep him busy.”
“Peanut butter!” Ozie began chanting.
“Alright, come along,” Cahl said, sweeping the boy off his feet and rushing into the kitchen. He worked quickly and within less than two minutes had Ozie sitting at the table with a peanut butter sandwich in front of him, potato chips piled high beside it, and a large glass of lemonade. “Here’s yer snack. Do not come intah the bedroom. If ye need something, call for us.”
“Yes, sir,” Ozie said, rocking happily side to side in his chair as he munched on chips and offered one of them to the lizard.
Cahl paused beside the front door to slide the deadbolt into place so he wouldn’t have to worry about Ozie slipping out when he finished eating, then went to see what he could do to help Violet. He stood in the doorway of one of their bedrooms watching as Violet knelt beside her Aunt Nora, her hands pressed to the woman’s throat where it had been sliced open, her eyes closed, her hands glowing as her lips moved in silent whispers. The words she repeated over and over again called on the powers of the Tuatha De Danaan and their magics. Healing properties they’d passed on to their descendents along with all the hidden healing secrets that had been lost over the years, now practiced by only a few.
Cahl smiled with pride as he watched Violet. “That’s it, Violet. Ye’re doing it.”
Violet continued to recite the ancient rites of healing as slowly but surely, the flesh of Nora’s neck began to knit together. Eventually Violet opened her eyes and looked down at the wound. “This one seems better.”
“I don’t think it’s the only one,” Cahl said. “Her back…”
“Can you turn her for me?” Violet asked.
Cahl moved quickly to do as she asked.
Violet grabbed hold of the blood soaked blouse and tried to tear it away, but Cahl was there before she made any real effort, pulling his knife out of its sheath to cut away the garment. “Oh, Violet. This is even worse.”
“I see it,” she said. “What about her Orc? What are his injuries?”
“I think he’s been shot.”
“With what?” Violet asked, shocked.
“It’s a big wound covering his back. Looks like when we practice with the shotgun.”
“I need you to see if there’s buckshot in it. If there is, start picking it out. It’s one less thing I’ll have to do when I get to him.”
“I can do that,” Cahl said confidently, glad of something he could do that would help his Violet do her best to save these two.
Violet got up and went to the guest bathroom in the hallway, soaked some towels in the sink and brought them along with a bottle of alcohol back to the bedroom. She used one of them to clean Nora’s back so she could see the wounds better. “She made someone very angry. They tried to cut her throat, then stabbed her four times,” Violet said as she picked up the open bottle of alcohol beside her and poured it over Nora’s wounds. She pressed her hands to two of the wounds and began to recite the old healing spells of the Fae once more.
Cahl watched as Violet pressed her hands to Nora’s back, pressing right on two of the wounds as from her lips, ancient Gaelic words quickly fell. Her hands began to glow again, and still Violet whispered the spells. When the wounds beneath her hands seemed to be somewhat sealed, she moved on to the other two, pausing before starting her healing spell to look over at Cahl.
“I’m still removing it. There’s a lot, but it’s spread out rather than all in one place.
“That’s good. It means whoever shot him was not right up on him. If they had been, they might have killed him. It would be a more concentrated wound.”
“Still, though, I don’t know how they’re alive. They shouldn’t be alive,” Cahl said.
“Othana came to me. She knew. Maybe she’s done something to keep them alive until they could get here.”
“If not Othana, then someone. Maybe yer aunt did some of her own spells.”
“Maybe, if she had time.” Violet closed her eyes and began the healing spells once more for the last two wounds on Nora’s back. When they were sealed like the others, she placed her hands open palmed on Nora”s body and started a new set of spells.
“That’s enough, Violet. Ye’re pregnant. Ye can’t give too much of your strength tah her.”
“I can’t not offer any,” Violet said, finishing her spell and sitting back. “Can you take one of the clean towels and clean some of the blood from her skin while I see to… her Orc?”
“I can.”
“I wish I knew his name,” she said. “It helps when I can call them by name.”
“I don’t know. Even if he’s who I think he is, I don’t remember his name,” Cahl said. “Maybe just call him Nora’s Orc.”
Violet nodded as she examined the wound and picked out a few more pieces of the buckshot that had been embedded in his flesh. She leaned over him to reach for the alcohol, and realized Ozie was standing in the doorway watching.
“You need to go back into the kitchen, Ozie,” Violet said.
“What happened to them?” he asked.
“I don’t know. They’re not awake to tell us. But we’re trying to help them.”
“He’s really afraid that the lady is going to leave him,” Ozie said.
“How do ye know that?” Cahl asked.
“I can hear him. He keeps saying, please save her, please save her.”
“We’re going to save them both,” Violet said. “You need to go back to the kitchen now, though.”
“Okay,” Ozie said. He stood there looking down at the injured Orc.
“Ozie?” Violet asked.
“Can I help?”
“Not this time. You’re too little. Go back to the table,” she said as she poured alcohol over the Orc’s back.
Violet took her time making sure the wound was free of any debris from the shotgun shells, then she placed her hands on his waist and his shoulder and began the healing spells. Her hands began to glow, his wound began to glow, and eventually Violet sat back, letting her hands fall to her lap. “I don’t know if I can do this. It’s not sealing.”
“It’s just raw flesh,” Cahl said. “But it’s not as bloody as before.”
Violet sat there, looking at the Orc before she started trying to get up.
“What do ye need?” Cahl asked.
“I need some of the herbs. The ones from my medicine garden, not from the food garden.”
“Which ones?” he asked.
“The Yarrow plant. Bring me some of the Yarrow.”
Minutes later Cahl was back with handfuls of it.
“Thank you. Can you cut up one of the sheets in the closet into strips wide enough to wrap around him from his under arms to his waist?”
“I can,” he said, opening the closet in the bedroom they were in and grabbing the first sheet he saw. He began to cut it into wide swaths of cloth.
Violet in the meantime went into the kitchen and coarsely chopped the Yarrow leaves, then mixed them with honey to make a thick poultice to apply to the Orc’s wound. Taking the bowl in hand she hurried back to his side. Violet placed her hands directly above his wounds this time and spoke the healing spells. When she was finished she took the poultice she’d made and began to apply it to his wound.
“It’s not as raw as before. It looks to have healed somewhat,” Cahl said.
“I hope so. This will help keep it from getting infected,” Violet said as she very carefully applied the herb and honey to his back.
Once she had the entire area covered in the sticky green medicine she’d made, Cahl helped her wrap the Orc in the strips of sheets he’d made for her, then used the last strip to wrap around Nora after Violet applied some of the poultice to her wounds as well.
Violet took the time once more to speak the healing spells over both Nora and her Orc before Cahl helped her clean the blood from the both of them a little better. Violet went to their bedroom and came back with a loose night gown for Nora. “I can’t put them in the bed with these blood soaked clothes on”.
“I’ll help you. Ye’ve done too much,” Cahl said.
“I’m okay.”
He helped her anyway, and once Nora was dressed in Violet’s nightgown, and the bloody clothes removed from both of them, Cahl placed Nora and her Orc both in the bed.
Nora lay face up, with her Orc beside her, face down. Cahl gently turned the Orc’s head so that he’d be facing Nora if he woke, then lifted one of Nora’s hands and rested it on the back of the Orc’s arm. He covered them both with a clean sheet and a light blanket.
“You’re very thoughtful, my husband.”
Cahl smiled at her, loving when she called him that. “If it were me, the only thing that would calm me is yer touch, or the sight of ye. So…” He stood back and looked at the two of them lying beside each other, barely alive, but still breathing. “What do we do now?” he asked.
“Now we pray. To anything and anyone you think might help. And I’ve got to call Sophie and Eileen. They need to know.”
“They’ll be rushing out, I’m sure,” Cahl said.
“Yes. They’ll probably want to stay until we know they’re not in danger anymore. Where will we put everyone?”
“Ozie can sleep with us. They can have his room,” Cahl said.
“His bed is a trundle, so they could both be comfortable there.”
“It’s a good thing we expanded the house. We’ll have room for everyone,” Cahl said as he started to pick up the mess they’d made in the guest room while trying to save the two injured people now lying in the bed.
“I’ll help you get that,” Violet said tiredly, making her way over to pick up some of the soiled towels while he picked up the bloodied clothes they’d taken off the two.
“No, I’ve got this. Ye go rest. Call yer people, tell them tah bring anything ye think we might need, but don’t ye do anything else physical today. I’m worried about ye and the baby.”
“We’re fine, Cahl.”
“And I want tah keep ye that way.”
She smiled and caressed his jaw before kissing his lips quickly. “Thank you for everything. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for accepting all this so easily.”
“I love ye, which means I love yer people, too. And this Orc, is likely connected to me somewhere back in time as well, whether he be blood or tribe only. Doesn’t matter, though. If ye do the best ye can always, and the fates see it and help ye with yer own. That’s how it works.”
“Karma,” Violet said.
He smiled, having had karma explained to him shortly after he and Violet started their lives together. “Karma,” he agreed. “But it’s simpler than that for me. It’s a matter of honor in all ye do.”
“I’m glad it’s you that loves me,” Violet said.
“Me, too,” he said, kissing her quickly. “Now, go rest.”
~~~
After all the activity was finished and Violet was resting in the recliner in the living room while Cahl and Ozie finished her work in the garden, Othana stood silently in the spare bedroom of Violet and Cahl’s home. She looked down on Nora and Gorta from the foot of the bed where they lay sleeping, as her hands nervously fidgeted, picking at her nails unconsciously as she tried to make up her mind.
“Violet did a good job,” Gavin said, having suddenly appeared beside her.
Othana startled just enough for him to notice. “What are you doing here?”
“I came tah see if ye’re alright.”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t ye think she did a good job?” he said.
“I do. But I’m not surprised, I taught her.”
“Ye did. And ye warned her that there was someone in the circle needing her help,” Gavin said.
“There’s no harm in giving people a nudge here and there,” Othana said defensively.
“Agreed,” he said.
“Don’t think I don’t know that you and Angus helped them get to the circle to come back to this time,” Othana said, looking smugly at Gavin.
“It kept them alive tah get here, so whatever punishment ye think is appropriate is well worth the chance we took.”
“It helped, but it didn’t keep them alive.”
“It didn’t?” Gavin asked, surprised.
“No. Which is why I added my own magics to their preservation while they traveled the portal in the circle,” she admitted.
Gavin smiled. “Then maybe we should all be punished for meddling in their affairs.”
“Maybe, but I more think it would be for letting it go on for so long before we stepped in to help her save him. I just couldn’t watch her chasing after a broken dream anymore. It hurt my heart.”
“It’s the same reason Angus and I stepped in.”
“She was long overdue for happiness.”
“Will they be alright?” Gavin asked.
Othana nodded, decision made. “They will.” She took a step forward and touched the bed, closed her eyes and ran through a few seconds of a very special prayer. She moved back to her place beside Gavin and looped her hands around his offered arm. “Shall we be on our way, then?”
“We could. But what will we be doing? Is there another that needs our help?”
“There’s always another, my dear, Gavin. But for now, I think we’ll just spend time enjoying the company of friends, yes?”
“It sounds like a good plan to me.”
Gavin and Othana started walking toward the far wall, becoming more and more transparent with every step. By the time they reached it, they’d completely disappeared from view.
Lying in the bed Othana had just touched, Nora’s fingers twitched where they lay on Gorta’s arm before they curled around it.
Gorta’s eyes fluttered open briefly before falling shut again. He’d seen all he needed to. His Nora was beside him. All would be well.