Chapter 13
As Tearlach fell, he took Norah with him, and for a few seconds the world around her was a confused jumble as the earthen floor came up to meet her and she fell onto it with a jarring thump that vibrated through her whole body.
Nevertheless, she scrambled to her feet at once, and squealed in fright as she found two daggers pointed at her, wielded by a couple of extremely fierce-looking men with long dark hair and full shaggy beards. They resembled each other so closely that they were obviously brothers, but as Norah shrank back from them they lowered their weapons, seeing that she was an unarmed woman who could do them no harm.
Moreover, they recognised Tearlach straight away, and seemed greatly concerned for him. As they bent down to see him better Norah noticed the concerned expressions on their faces, and realized that these men were true comrades.
Norah counted four men. The other two grimaced as they saw the bloody bullet hole in Tearlach’s shoulder.
“How did ye dae this, Tearlach?” one of them asked, as he squatted down by his friend’s side. He was a tall fair man, with a scar along one of his cheekbones who looked every inch a warrior, but his touch was gentle as he probed the wound.
“He caught a bullet an’ shoved it into the back of his shoulder!” The other man was obviously worried too, but his way of dealing with pain was with grim humor, something that Norah noticed seemed to be common among men of this kind.
Norah watched as the first man tenderly examined Tearlach’s wound, but the sight of the injury made her screw her eyes shut and his moaning made her feel like weeping too. She was desperately worried.
“How did he get this, hen?” one of the men asked. “It is quite a deep wound.”
“The redcoats found him,” Norah replied, her voice throbbing with rage. Her face was a mask of anger, but she was trembling with fear inside. She was no longer worried about the men who had fired the shots. All she wanted was to see Tearlach sitting up and smiling at her, teasing her, perhaps even kissing her. She could hardly bear to look at him the way he was now, so unlike the strong and upright man she had always known.
Presently, one of the men who was tending him stood up and approached her.
“We must get the ball out, hen.” His voice was firm, but his look was sympathetic. “An’ it must be done right away.”
“I know.” Norah nodded, her face grim. “What can I do to help?”
Her question was not answered straight away, however. “My name is Tommy McAllister, hen,” he told her. “What is yours?”
“Norah Brown.” Her reply was firm, and she frowned as she met the man’s deep blue eyes with her own. “Tell me. I will do anything you ask me to.”
As Norah introduced herself, she thought she saw a flicker of surprise cross McAllister’s face, but it was quickly gone.
“The best thing ye can do is get yourself somethin’ to eat, hen,” McAllister said. He knew that the procedure he was about to carry out would be a painful and bloody one, and that a woman who looked as well-brought-up as Norah Brown might not be able to stand the screaming and the blood. “We were just goin’ to start cookin’ our breakfast. Alec there,” he nodded to one of the brothers. “Can show ye the burn where ye can wash first.”
Norah looked down at herself. She was indeed filthy, but she had no intention of going anywhere, since she could tell that she was being shoved out of the way so that the men could get busy with the surgery. No doubt they thought that she, as a woman, was too feeble not to faint or be sick when she heard Tearlach’s screams.
Her glance swept around all the men as she said in withering tones, “I am going nowhere. I am staying here with Tearlach. If you do not manage to save his life then I want to be here to witness his last moments. If you all think I am a feeble woman then think again. I managed to get him here by myself without any help at all!”
“I am not goin’ to die, Norah,” Tearlach’s voice was weak, but he was smiling at her. “Ye cannae get rid o’ me so easily.”
“I know you’re not,” she replied, stroking his hair. She smiled at him and tried to distract him. “Such beautiful hair you have. Do you remember the time when your father shooed us both outside for making too much noise in your house? You had just bought Rory then and we went and sat in his stable because it was pouring with rain outside? I remember you fell over that day and your hair was full of mud.”
“I remember,” he answered weakly. “Ye were really annoyed.” He tried to laugh, but broke down into a fit of coughing. “Ye made me laugh.” Then he grimaced in pain. Clearly her attempt at distraction had not worked.
Norah stood by helplessly, wishing there was something she could do. When the spasm was over, she went on.
“You told me you were going to be a hero. You said your Da would make you a set of armor and you would ride away like one of the Knights of the Round Table. I was never afraid of anyone killing you, because I knew that you could take care of yourself, but I was very scared that you would forget me.”
Tearlach was shocked. In spite of the pain of his wound, he rushed to reassure her. How could Norah possibly think such a thing? He shook his head vehemently. “Norah - I could never forget you! Never! I -” Whatever he had been about to say was cut off as his eyes closed and his face screwed up in pain.
Norah was stunned. “Tearlach -” she began. She had been about to tell him that she cared about him too, but at that moment all four of the men knelt down by Tearlach’s prone figure and heaved him upwards before laying him face down on a table. Afterwards, they stood recovering their breath for a moment. Tearlach was certainly no lightweight!
One of the men brought Norah a cup of ale, which she drank in one draught as the men stripped Tearlach down to his breeches. A blazing fire had been lit in the grate, and she saw McAllister sink a pointed instrument of some kind into the flames. After that, he offered Tearlach some whisky from a half-full bottle, and he drank so much that Norah thought he might finish it. Now she had lost the moment to tell Tearlach how she felt, and she only hoped he woke up.
McAllister looked up at the two brothers and signaled them with a meaningful widening of his eyes, and each of them took one of Norah’s arms to try to lead her outside. She had been ready for something like this, however, and fought them off by stamping on one of their toes with the heel of her shoes. She dealt with the other by punching him in his groin, as she had seen many of the boys who played with her doing to each other. It was a tactic she had seen often and it always worked, as it did now.
McAllister looked up from what he was doing and shook his head as he saw the two brothers staggering about. He looked at Norah with frank admiration as she came to stand on Tearlach’s opposite side.
“I am staying here,” she informed him firmly. Tearlach was looking up at her, and there were tears in his eyes. He knew what was coming.
“Hold my hand, Norah,” he begged. Norah stroked his hair again and took his big right hand in both of her own hands. “It will soon be over,” she whispered.
The two brothers, Murdo and Alec, came to lean on Tearlach’s shoulders, each pinning him down so that he could not move. What happened next was the most horrific thing Norah had ever experienced.
Tommy McAllister removed the musket ball quite easily with a long pair of tweezers, and Tearlach gave a long drawn-out moan. However, it was not the shriek that Norah had expected, and she sighed with relief. However, a moment later, McAllister took the red-hot pointed instrument out of the flames and thrust it into the bloody hole that the bullet had left.
Tearlach screamed, a terrifying, drawn-out, bloodcurdling wail, and his whole body shuddered and arched off the table. Norah screwed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, unable to look at the anguish on his face. The nightmarish sound went on and on until tears were rolling down her face. As well as that, Tearlach was clutching Norah’s hand so tightly that she could not move her fingers, and the pain was excruciating. Yet she did not pull away, knowing that her agony was much less than his, and that she was giving him some comfort.
“Shh, Tearlach,” she said, passing a hand over his forehead, which was drenched in sweat. “It will be done soon.”
Tearlach’s eyes looked into hers desperately for a few seconds. “Norah…” he whispered, before they gradually closed. His body went limp all of a sudden and his hand released hers and fell onto the table.
Norah’s heart skipped a beat as she gazed down at his still face, then up at Tommy. “Is he dead?” she asked, her voice trembling.
Tommy put his fingertips to the pulse on Tearlach’s neck and shook his head. “No, hen, but he has likely fainted wi’ shock. He will not be feelin’ any pain now.”
Norah sighed with relief. For a tiny moment she had been terrified that the man she had been dreaming of all these years had perished before she had a chance to tell him how she felt about him.
Tommy applied some honey to the wound and bound it up with some clean strips of linen. “There is nothin’ more I can dae for him now, hen.” He washed his hands and patted Norah on the shoulder.
“How are ye? Ye look tired. Draggin’ a man as big as Tearlach McLachlan a’ that way would be hard for anybody, never mind a wee lassie your size. Ye must be as strong as an ox!” he asked in a concerned voice.
“I am not, I assure you,” Norah replied, passing a hand in front of her eyes. “Do you think he will live?”
“He has lost a lot of blood,” McAllister said quietly. “But I have done my best, lass. A’ we can dae now is hope an’ pray, an’ let him rest. I have always found that rest is the body’s best medicine.” He looked at her anxiously. “An’ you need to rest as well as eat. I will wager that nothing has passed your lips since midday yesterday.”
Norah laughed softly. “How did you guess?”
Tommy smiled. He had a pleasant smile, even though there was a gap where two of his upper teeth should have been. “When ye have been a soldier ye have been trained to spot an enemy’s weaknesses,” he answered. “I can tell these things. Anyway, your stomach is rumblin’ like thunder!”
Norah laughed, then her face grew grave again as she watched the men move Tearlach onto a pallet. He was face down, since the wound was in his back, and he looked deeply uncomfortable, but they maneuvered him onto his side and forced a pillow behind him to stop him rolling back again.
Norah accepted a plate of porridge and a glass of warm ale. She had to force it down, for although her body was hungry, she had no real desire to eat. The last few hours had been amongst the worst of her entire life and although she knew she had to rest, she was unsure if she would be able to sleep at all.
She slipped outside to wash herself in the burn, then came in and lay down on a mattress next to Tearlach, looking into his face. His arms were sprawled out in front of him, and she reached across and put her hand over his. She closed her eyes and sighed. She had thought she would be too wakeful to sleep, but somehow his touch soothed her, and soon she was slumbering deeply.