Chapter 11
The further Amanda moved into the centre of the village, the more it became apparent how desperately bad things were.
She felt rage building up inside her as she moved among the pathetic, malnourished people and saw how badly Struan McNeill treated his tenants and villagers.
She can’t believe she would have gone to the Castle to look after the terrible man who had caused this desperation.
Hamish stood beside her, looking down at Amanda’s face as she took in all the misery in front of her.
“What are you thinking?” he asked. He expected her to be dispirited and sad, but Amanda was beyond sad.
However, she was definitely not dispirited.
She had been in a similar situation to this one when she had to tend to a dozen men who had been brought to her to be treated after a bad accident between two carriages.
There had been many people but few resources, yet somehow she had still been able to heal their wounds and ease their pain.
Now, Amanda knew she would have to draw on not only her store of medicines, but all her knowledge, all her experience, and the best weapon in her arsenal—anger.
Circumstances like this filled her with bitter rage and fierce determination.
It did not matter what she was faced with—she would find a way to overcome it for the sake of these poor people, who deserved to be treated so much better than this.
Hamish saw her face changing as her eyes darkened, she drew down her brows in a deep frown and her full lips pursed into a thin line.
“I am thinking,” she replied at last, her voice almost a growl, “that I would like to find whoever did this to these people and throw him in a dark cell for the rest of his life.”
Hamish was amazed. He had not seen this side of Amanda before, but then he had not been acquainted with her long enough to see her practising her skills.
Abruptly, she became brisk. “I need somewhere to work,” she said, looking around. “Somewhere with a table big enough for a person to lie on and somewhere to put my medicines.”
“The village hall,” Gregor suggested. “It used tae be for ceilidhs and meetin’s, but it has been a long time since any o’ that took place here.”
“Show me,” Amanda instructed.
They went into the hall, which was the biggest building in the whole village, and Amanda looked around to see if it would be suitable for her purpose. It had all the tables she needed, as well as chairs where people could wait their turn for attention.
“This is fine,” she said firmly, then she began to delegate duties to each member of Hamish’s men. “Jimmy,” she said, crooking her finger to beckon him, “go and bring as much water as you can from the well and boil it over the fire.”
He scurried away to do as she had ordered, then she summoned another two men to prepare the deer for cooking and another to clean the tables and chairs in the hall.
So it went on, and after a while all those she had brought with her were occupied with a task, even Hamish, whom she had ordered to fetch wood for the fire.
Hamish was surprised by Amanda’s competence and air of authority.
It was clear who was in charge now, and it certainly was not him.
However, he was impressed by this new side of her; she was in her element, and rising to the occasion with all the resources at her command.
He followed her orders and soon the hall was ready to her satisfaction.
Amanda went outside to see dozens of people crowding around the door, then began to usher them in so that they could wait in comfort. It was just starting to rain, and she was glad that no one had to sit outside. That would not have helped at all.
The first case, and the one that moved Amanda the most, was that of an old couple who stumbled over to her, coughing.
They were both almost skeletally thin and could hardly speak to her, but she noticed that they had their arms around each other.
This, and the way they looked at each other, told her that their embrace was not just for physical support, but that they shared a deep love that strengthened both of them.
However strong their love was, though, they were both very frail in the bodily sense and needed her help urgently.
“We need something to help your cough,” Amanda told them, “or it could turn into something more serious.”
She brought in hot water, added honey and gave them each a small amount of whiskey before urging them to drink it. Then they lay down on the bed so that she could rub some warm soothing oil on their backs.
When she was finished, they sat up and smiled at each other, and the love in their eyes was almost palpable. Amanda felt very jealous of them because they had something that she doubted she would ever have, something so strong that it was unbreakable.
“Thank ye, hen,” the old lady said, her faded blue eyes full of grateful tears. “I am so glad Hamish brought ye. He is a very good man.”
“He is,” Amanda agreed. “Now go and eat. There is a deer on the fire and it smells delicious!”
As she worked, Amanda heard the villagers begin to talk amongst themselves, presumably about her, she thought.
However, after a while, she began to concentrate so hard on what she was doing that she became unaware of anything else.
There were all sorts of ailments that needed her attention, from minor cuts and abrasions and infections to a dislocated shoulder and a broken arm that had to be straightened and splinted.
After a few more fairly simple cases, a young girl with a badly cut arm came in, accompanied by an older woman whom Amanda thought was her mother. She washed the wound, then stitched and bandaged it before pronouncing the treatment finished.
“How did you do this?” Amanda asked, frowning.
“I-I was tryin’ tae reach an apple on one o’ the trees in the castle orchard,” the girl replied. “I wanted tae bring it home for Mammy. But I fell down an’ cut my arm.”
“I see.”
Once again, Amanda felt a surge of rage. How desperate would someone have to be to risk their lives for an apple?
“Are you Hamish’s sweetheart, mistress?” she asked suddenly.
Amanda felt a flush sweeping over her cheeks. “What? No,” she answered, shaking her head. “I am just the healer who works for him.”
The young woman smiled. “He is such a good man,” she said sadly. “Everybody here loves him. If only his father hadnae—”
Suddenly, the older woman burst in. “Shhh, Jeannie. The lady doesnae want tae hear about a’ that.” She sounded scared.
“Yes, I do,” Amanda declared firmly.
She realised she might have a chance of actually learning what had happened between the brothers that had led to this disarray.
“Hamish is always angry, and I want to know why. Why are your people hungry? Why is no one taking care of the place properly?”
The older woman cleared her throat and began to speak.
“The old Laird, Andrew McNeill, Hamish’s father, married his wife when they were both very young,” she began.
“An’ they were both healthy, so ye would think they would have nae trouble in havin’ a bairn, but after five years Milady had still no’ got wi’ child, an’ the Laird was desperate for a son, an’ though he was a good man, he had Struan by another woman. ”
“You mean he took a mistress?” Amanda was horrified. “What did his wife do?”
“Most people think, although they cannae be sure, that Lady Flora went along wi’ his plan,” the woman answered, “because they stayed married, an’ she raised the boy as her own.”
“Anyway, three years later Milady had a son as well, but this time the bairn was born in wedlock, so he was goin’ tae grow up an’ be the real Laird, an’ that was when the trouble started.
Struan stayed wi’ the Laird an’ his half-brother in the castle while they were growin’ up.
As far as everybody knew they were a happy family, then one day the Laird an’ Lady both died in a carriage accident, an’ Hamish was supposed tae become the Laird. ”
She sighed, then passed her hands over her face before looking at Amanda again.
“But it didnae turn out that way. Struan had been secretly stealin’ money fae his father an’ had hired some thugs tae work for him.
They got intae the castle one night. Hamish told us they threatened tae kill one o’ the guards’ family if he didnae open the big gate for them.
Hamish an’ his men—the ones that were faithful tae him—managed tae get out alive by the skin o’ their teeth.
Then Struan claimed the Lairdship, sayin’ it was his right since he was the elder o’ the two o’ them. He said he would burn a’ the villages if Hamish didnae give up. Hamish went tae live in the forest, an’ after a while the rest o’ us came tae join him.”
“Why?” Amanda asked, although she was fairly sure she knew the answer.
“Because Struan McNeill is a cruel swine!” the younger woman replied, her face a mask of rage. “He treated everyone as if they were dirt under his feet, an’ when we heard where the real Laird Hamish was, we came tae be wi’ him. He is a fair man—if you treat him right, he will treat you right.”
“Yes, he seems to be,” Amanda agreed.
She finished wrapping a bandage on the girl’s arm, and they both thanked her and smiled at her widely before leaving. Amanda felt more than ever that she was becoming one of the community.
A group of elders had been sitting around them in the hall awaiting their turn for treatment, and now one of them spoke up.
“The mistake was that Laird Andrew shouldnae have raised Struan,” he said bitterly.
“He was too kind-hearted for his own good. Struan doesnae care about anybody but himsel’.
He doesnae help people wi’ fixin’ their houses, an’ when we have bad weather, like the floods last year, he pretends it hasnae happened an’ does naethin’ about it.
He is quick enough to help himself to our harvests, though! ”
He spat on the ground in disgust, and the look in his eyes as he spoke of Struan was one of pure hatred. “He couldnae inherit what he wanted so he stole it! Some people think he even killed the Laird an’ Lady, but naebody could prove it.”
“Aye,” said an elderly woman. “When they found the carriage, two o’ the wheels had been sawed halfway through the rims. It wasnae the kind o’ thing that could have been caused in an accident.”
“Aye, an’ when Struan was asked about it later,” another man said, “he didnae seem very sorry.”
Amanda listened with fear and sorrow filling her heart. Struan McNeill was monstrous, and he had not only stolen Hamish birthright but also had not the slightest interest in caring for his people. He might even be a murderer.
Yet, Hamish was bearing an almost unbearable burden. He was suffering under the responsibility of keeping his people alive while trying to find some way to retrieve the inheritance that had been wrenched away from him.
Hamish was working on the repair of a cottage near the hall, and he could see Amanda treating her patients through the big windows and the open door.
He was hammering a nail into a piece of wood, repairing the roof of a cottage that had been damaged in the last gale force wind; however, he could not keep his eyes off Amanda.
She was exceptional, he thought. She had been kidnapped, tied to a tree, suffered illness and been made to sleep with a strange man, yet still, she had chosen kindness.
Although Struan was by nature cruel and selfish, Hamish was unprepared for the speed and ferocity of his coup.
Their parents’ bodies were hardly cold in the ground before Struan’s hired thugs attacked him.
Hamish had been angry at himself for not preparing for this because he knew what his half-brother was capable of, but he had been determined not to give up without a fight.
When he managed to get out of the castle alive with some of his faithful guards, he had only survived by the skin of his teeth.
He had immediately headed for the nearby forest along with his men when one of the villagers from Inchkeith came across them while he was cutting wood.
He recognised Hamish at once, and after listening to the story of the coup, took him into the village.
After hearing his story, they embraced him as their leader since he was a man of honour and the rightful Laird, telling him that he had inspired them and given them hope.
Now, looking across at Amanda treating his people with such skill and gentleness, he wondered, after the way he had behaved towards her, if he deserved that respect.
Presently, Amanda came out of the hall and stretched, then placed her hands in the small of her back to massage it. It gave him a view of her shapely body once more, and he remembered how it had felt to hold her in his arms on his bed.
What is she doing to me? he thought.
Just then, he looked down as a small boy of about seven years old tapped his arm. Hamish smiled at the youngster, whom he had seen many times before.
“The elders asked me tae gie ye this,” he said as he handed over a small package wrapped in a piece of old cloth. “They said it was for the pretty healer.”
Hamish smiled and ruffled the little boy’s hair. “Tell them I said thank you, and I will give it to her as soon as she is finished.”
The boy ran to take the message back to the others, and Hamish put the little gift in his pocket and went back to work, but every now, and then he glanced at Amanda.
He had never before met anyone quite like her.