Chapter 4 #2
She rested her eyes for a few minutes, using her good hand to rub the sides of her head where the tension hurt the most. Her throat was sandpaper.
She suspected she needed water, and that was probably part of the reason her head hurt so much.
She moved her hands down to her jaw and winced as the pressure from her hand caused a jolt of pain.
Then she remembered the blow she received from Hume just before Baile showed up to help her.
She must look a right mess with her arm swollen and probably half of her face purple and puffy.
It bothered her Baile saw her in such a state. Not that she cared what he thought about her looks, but to know he saw her looking hideous was an uncomfortable thought.
She attempted to get up, but as soon as she moved the pain in her arm intensified to a level that made her vision cloud over. No, she wouldn’t be moving. She would just have to sit in bed and hope someone came to help her.
She waited. Someone would have to come in and check on her soon. Closing her eyes, she played a game she came up with when things turned bad during her marriage to Hume. She pictured her ideal life and what it would look like today.
A sweet little girl with curly brown hair played on the floor with a doll Mazey made for her.
Mazey watched her with delight. Hume left and hadn’t shown up since before her daughter was born.
She lived in a room in the keep with a new husband.
Even in her fantasies, Mazey couldn’t imagine a man that would want her after all the hardships she went through.
She couldn’t even picture what that looked like.
Who in all of Scotland, would want to wed an old, used up woman?
So in her dreams, his face blurred, and seemed the most unreal part of the illusion.
Her new husband came up behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her waist, pulling her in against his body and resting his chin on the top of her head. She sighed contentedly and watched her child play quietly toys.
The door opened and snatched Mazey out of her dream. “Ye’re awake,” Cohlm said as he entered the room.
Mazey nodded and grimaced. A sharp pain shot through her head and back.
“In a wee bit of pain, ah assume?” A gentle look in his eyes helped her feel safe.
“Ye have a knack for stating the obvious,” she retorted. She immediately regretted what she said. It was unkind.
Cohlm laughed out loud at her sharp remark, startling Mazey. “Ah do lass, that ah do.”
He pulled out some fabric, a piece of wood and a few other potions and herbs she couldn’t name.
“Ah will need ye to bite down on this.” He handed her a smaller piece of wood.
Her feet grew cold as she realized she was in for a lot of pain if he wanted her to bite down on something.
She took the wood from him and stuck it in her mouth.
“This’ll hurt, lass. Though probably not as bad as that hit ye took to yer jaw.” She saw sympathy in the curve of his mouth.
He took her arm tenderly in his hand and used his fingers to probe the bone. She cried out and sobbed. The pain just from touching it was intense. “Ah know dear, it’s tender. Ye best lay back and close yer eyes. Ye’ll probably pass out from the pain.”
She closed her eyes and bit down harder on the stick in her mouth.
She could feel Cohlm’s warm hands on her arm.
Suddenly he pulled, and she heard a snap.
Pain shot through her like fire. Unconsciousness eluded her however, and soon the pain subsided to a dull throb.
“Ah’ll done lass. Ye’re brave ye know. Baile told me what happened to ye.
Ah’m so sorry ye went through that. I set the bone, all ah have to do is wrap it up and give ye some tonic for the pain.
Don’t worry none. It won’t hurt yer bairn. ”
He mixed up a few herbs in a stone bowl with a pestle and then poured them into a glass with some potion he brought with him.
The dark green liquid swirled around in the cup's bottom. It smelled like dirt and rotten things. With how nauseated she was, she was unsure if she could keep this disgusting tonic down. Regardless, she didn’t want to upset Cohlm, so she plugged her nose and downed it all in one gulp.
The taste was awful and made her gag a few times.
Cohlm chuckled at her discomfort and she glared.
He put his hands up in surrender, still laughing. “Ah can’t make that one taste good. It just won’t taste any better. Ah’ve taken it twice myself, so ah know what it’s like.”
Imagining him suffering through the terrible gunk made her feel a little better.
“Don’t look too pleased about that, girl.”
She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her mouth, but the movement caused pain in her jaw again. Her hand flew up to her face and tenderly pressed against the skin.
“Oh yes, ah checked the bone when ye were asleep earlier. It doesn’t seem damaged, but there is a mite bit of bruising there on the jawline.
And ah suspect ’twill be sore for a while longer.
There’s not much ah can do about it to help.
Ah can make a poultice for the swelling, but it will smell worse than that tonic. ”
Mazey wrinkled her nose at the thought of something that smelled worse than the medicine she took and nodded in appreciation. “Ah think ah’ll pass.”
Cohlm gathered his things and left the room, leaving Mazey to her thoughts. The tonic worked its magic and soon the pain lessened. She felt herself doze.
The door creaked open and Mazey jumped. Her eyes flashed over to the door, expecting to see Hume.
A kind pair of deep blue eyes and hesitant smile greeted her instead.
Baile walked across the room in a couple strides before sitting near her bed.
The light poured into the room, amber and heavy.
Her belly gurgled with hunger. It was near supper time, although she didn’t even know what day it was.
Baile leaned in. The furrow in his brow made him look concerned or upset. She couldn’t tell which.
Apprehension built up in her until she couldn’t stand it any longer. “Is it Hume?” She blurted out. “Has he come to take me away again?” Her voice broke in fear.
Baile looked startled then exhaled. “Nay, lass. He’ll not be bothering ye again.”
His lips pursed together in a solemn expression that left a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She pulled the blankets up higher to her chin and waited for what he said. Surely there was something he needed to tell her.
“Ye need to know what happened after Hume attacked ye. My son and ah thought we’d walk to the village, ye know, to check on the state of things.
Ah also wanted to make sure ye were doing all right.
One guard told me ye headed to the village.
” He paused and twiddled his thumbs together, then cleared his throat.
“Actually a guard watched for ye leaving and to keep Hume from the keep. Ah want to be honest with ye, it was for yer safety. Because of yer bairn.”
Mazey nodded. It was just because of her bairn. There wasn’t a person around the keep that cared much what happened to Mazey, but it made sense to her Baile would not want to cause a stir in the keep by a pregnant woman hurt while under his care.
“Ah heard ye scream out when he… when he…” Baile’s voice cracked and he pressed his lips into a thin hard line.
“When we heard ye scream Balloch and ah raced down to ye. And it seemed just in time. That ravine he was taking ye towards, it was the ravine where we found the young lass a couple months back. And a year or two before that. We think perhaps Hume was the one hurting those women. We think he would do that to ye.”
Mazey gulped and all the blood rushed out of her hands and feet, leaving them numb and cold. Everything made sense now. Everything. How could she have missed it? Tears poured out of her eyes. Her chest felt heavy. Why couldn’t she catch a breath? What was happening?
“Are ye all right, lass? Are ye in pain?” Baile stood and took her hand in his, a gentle gesture that brought the tears Mazey held back to the surface and gushing out of her eyes in a wave. “Yer hands are ice cold.”
Mazey couldn’t think. She could hear her heart beating in her ears and it felt as though it were skipping beats.
Each skipped beat created an odd flipping sensation in her throat.
It threw her into a memory with such force that the room faded away into nothing.
Inside the memory she thought she was physically present and reliving every fear and emotion.
Hume threw the door open with such force, that the hinges creaked and Mazey thought the door would fly off the frame.
He shut it just as quickly. A prickling sensation in her hands made her aware of the sweat that formed on her palms and on the upper part of her lip, just under her nose.
His face contorted and twisted in a rage.
This could be terrible for her. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what she did to upset him so much, but she couldn’t think of anything at all.
Supper ready and the house picked up. She was wearing the dress he liked her to wear and pulled her hair up the way he wanted her to.
He ran over to the basin for washing and it was then she spotted something odd.
Something covered his hands in blood. Had he been hunting today and not told her?
She thought he went out for ale, but perhaps she remembered wrong.
If he hunted and got something, he would not be in a bad mood. Perhaps she misread him.
She talked to him. “Did ye catch something out hunting today?”
He looked up at her with his eyebrows knitted together. “What are ye talking about?”
“Yer hands, ah just figured ye were hunting today. Did ye catch anything good?”