Chapter 10
There was an unexpected addition to their party as they walked towards the village.
Rua shuffled alongside them, shoving his nose into everything.
Betsy watched him warily, jumping a time or two when the dog got too close to her, but Lilliana was glad of his presence.
There was something very comforting about the massive hound.
The road was muddy, and she was glad of her sturdy shoes. Thankfully, the village was not far. It was not long before cottages appeared through the morning mist, and soon the spire in the middle of the village square came into view.
“Did Moira tell ye where to deliver these too?” Lilliana asked the groom as they drew closer to the market.
“Aye, I ken just the stall. The lassies use it to sell vegetables from the castle, but I think it is empty today,” he said, pointing out a wooden stall to the side of the road.
Lilliana went to it, excitement building at the chance to do some real work. Even as they walked past some villagers, most did not even look at her, although some of the children began to follow them, pointing at Rua in awe.
The dog settled down by the stall, and Lilliana smiled down at him. She set about arranging the supplies that Moira gave her. Betsy helped where she could, while the groom walked a short distance away before settling down on a small bench near the main path.
Lilliana turned to Betsy. “What should we do now? Call out that we are here? Did Moira wish to sell these or just give them away?”
Betsy shrugged. “I don’t know, My Lady. Let us just wait for a while and see what happens.”
The groom cleared his throat. “We should just hand them out to anyone who comes up to the stall. We shouldnae accept coin for necessities provided by the castle. It wouldnae set a good tone.”
Lilliana nodded, though she was on pins and needles, waiting for someone to come to them. She knew that they had been spotted, but no one came closer than the next stall for half the day.
She called the groom over. “Would you kindly walk amongst the villagers and tell them that we are here with supplies? That we know what we are about? Tell them I might be English, but I am also Lady McGill, so I have a duty of care towards them.”
“Yes, Me Lady,” he said with a small bow before taking off.
Lilliana could see him talking to some people and pointing at her, and she did her best to look friendly and approachable. Still, people walked past with looks that spanned from suspicious to downright hostile.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a woman with a child in her arms hovering uncertainly a few feet away. She bent down over the table, pointlessly rearranging the bags and bottles, willing the woman to come closer.
Eventually, she took a deep breath and looked up, meeting the woman’s wary gaze. She looked even younger than Lilliana, but she was half bent over with exhaustion.
Lilliana smiled encouragingly and nodded to her. The woman took a step closer, her eyes narrowed. The child in her arms was crying.
“Pardon me, Me Lady.”
Lilliana stepped forward eagerly. “Yes, can I help you?”
The woman blinked at her, seemingly surprised. “Erm, it’s me boy. He is sick.”
The boy in her arms gave an obliging hiccough as tears continued to stream down his face.
Lilliana examined him closely. “Can you tell me what is wrong with him?”
She moved aside the boy’s tunic to reveal a large weeping wound on his leg. The boy whimpered as his mother gently turned his leg, and Lilliana’s heart squeezed with sympathy.
“Oh dear, that must hurt quite a bit.” She picked up some willow bark from her medicine bag. “Once you’re home, steep this in hot water and give him some to drink all day. It will help with the pain.”
The woman nodded gratefully, coming closer to take the herb.
“Now, I need to clean his wound and dress it. It will hurt,” Lilliana warned.
The mother seemed unsurprised.
Lilliana pointed to the bench they’d been sitting on. “Have a seat and let me begin.”
The boy sat, and Lilliana mixed some water and salt, regretting the sting she would inflict on the poor child, but there was no way around it. His mother held out his leg, and Lilliana poured the lukewarm water over it, letting the liquid clear the pus.
The boy screamed and then began to cry. Lilliana was gratified at how steadfastly the mother held the boy’s leg, no matter how much he struggled. She exchanged a commiserating look with her before letting up on the salted water.
“This will soothe the wound a bit,” she said softly, taking up a jar of honey and spreading it evenly over the wound.
She thanked the heavens that it was too cold for flies before spreading more honey on a cotton cloth and covering the wound with it.
“Make sure to wash his wound and dress it daily. I will give you some honey and salt to put in the warm water. Do you understand?”
The mother nodded tearfully. “Thank ye, Me Lady,” she said.
“My pleasure.”
Betsy packed the simples for the woman in a small cotton bag and handed them over.
Suddenly, what little sunlight had managed to penetrate the cloud cover was blocked. Lilliana looked up to see who was obscuring the warmth of the sun and stiffened when she saw Kayden glaring at her.
“What are ye doing?” he asked.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Is it not obvious?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Daenae play games with me. I told ye, ye couldnae treat the villagers.”
“You said I could come!”
“Come hand out the supplies, nae treat the villagers.”
“It was just one. The only one who has come up to the stall. We have not even been able to give these away so far. No one has come up except that woman and her boy, and I was able to heal him, so I did.” She stared at him, surprised by his reaction.
“I daenae appreciate being undermined at every turn. Give ye the slightest bit of rope, and ye just take off and run with it.”
She shrugged. “Well, it is done now. Shall I call them back and remove the bandage from the boy’s leg and take back the salt and honey I gave them?”
“It is nae yer place to—” A loud scream cut his words short, and they turned to see a young lassie had collapsed in the middle of the square.
Kayden watched incredulously as Lilliana rushed towards the child. He had followed her as soon as she left the castle and had been watching, feeling a little sorry for her as most of the villagers ignored her.
What does she think she can do? They willnae even let her near the girl.
Lilliana was on her knees in the mud, back bent forward as she hovered over the child, seemingly grappling with her.
“Hold her still, please. I need to get this between her teeth,” she told the child’s companion, who was in hysterics.
The woman did not seem to hear her, so Betsy knelt and held the child while Lilliana got whatever it was inside the child’s mouth.
Kayden moved closer, his curiosity piqued. He peered over Lilliana’s shoulder to find that she had placed a stick in the child’s mouth and was now cradling her head.
He quirked an eyebrow, wondering what good any of this would do. Finally, the child stopped shaking and collapsed.
Lilliana reached over and pulled the stick from the child’s mouth before rubbing her chest soothingly, urging her to take deep breaths. The woman, whom Kayden assumed was her mother, had calmed down as well.
“Do ye have anything that will help with her condition?” she asked Lilliana.
Lilliana looked up at her. “Does she often suffer from the falling sickness?”
“Nae often. But they come on suddenly, and afterwards she is weak and doesnae ken where she is or who we are for a moment,” the woman sniffed, her voice trembling.
“Unfortunately, there is no treatment for it. When it comes on, make sure to hold the tongue with a wooden stick so that she does not bite down on it. I shall give you some lavender seeds, with which you can make her tea. It will soothe her mind somewhat.”
The woman nodded. “I am much obliged to ye, Me Lady.”
“Not at all. Not at all,” Lilliana said absently as she got to her feet and went back to retrieve the lavender seeds.
Kayden followed her, struck by her kindness. To kneel in the mud and help a child she did not know was not something he had expected from the Englishwoman.
Perhaps I was hasty in my judgment of her.
Once the woman had left, he commanded the groom to pack up Lilliana’s wares. “We are returning to the castle.”
“Aye, Me Laird,” the groom said.
Kayden frowned. The roads were not completely safe. He did not like the idea of Lilliana traipsing along with no one but a young boy to protect her.
He spotted Rua as the dog got up and shook itself. “There ye are, ye traitor,” he murmured.
Rua just barked, walking over to Lilliana and smelling her basket curiously. The dog sneezed, and then Lilliana sneezed as well. Kayden had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.
“We are not done for the day,” she protested.
“Aye, ye are,” Kayden said implacably and plucked the basket from her arms. “Time to head back home. If the villagers need ye, they ken where to find ye.”
She huffed and then sneezed again before sticking her nose in the air and walking off in a huff, Betsy hurrying after her. Kayden let them walk ahead of him so he could keep an eye on them both, even though Rua had not left her side since they started walking.
He shook his head at the dog, still bemused at how fast Rua had taken to Lilliana.
They spent the walk to the castle in relative silence, waves of annoyance radiating off Lilliana like noxious fumes from a burning bog. Kayden chose to ignore it.
As soon as they arrived at the castle, she made her way down the corridor to the healer’s quarters without a word to him, and so he took off in search of the housekeeper. Finding her in the laundry directing the maids as they starched the linen, he gestured for her to join him outside.
“Daenae ye think that asking Lady McGill to go down to the village to hand out supplies was a dangerous task?”
Moira gave him a stern look. “Ye said it was fine.”
“Aye, but I didnae want her to do it alone.”
“That lass is wasting away afore yer eyes, and ye refuse to see it. If ye daenae give her purpose, she willnae last very long here. Aside from that, the village needs to ken that she is their Lady.”
Kayden glared at her, but could not argue against her reasoning.
Moira cocked her head. “And how did our Lady do, eh?”
Kayden looked away, unwilling to concede that Lilliana had done very well. He did not have to say anything. He could see from her smug face that Moira knew she was right.