Chapter 43 Alexandria
ALEXANDRIA
Oh no, oh no, oh no — I repeated over and over as I crouched over him and pushed his shoulder so he was on his back. “Where are you hurt?”
He muttered, “In all the places.”
“Dammit.” I unclipped his chin strap and shoved off his helmet. “Where’s your vessel? We need to get you to the hospital.”
Pocket.
I felt his hips for his pant pockets, realizing there was hot dampness on his right hip. “What’s going on there, you’re bleeding?”
He raised his head and looked that direction. “Shot, tis not… Tis just flesh deep.”
“Good, that’s good, but still will need a bandage. Your shoulder though, there’s blood.”
He raised his head again. “Twas a blade, ye ken, could hae been much worse.”
“You didn’t tell us any of this when you told us to go on without you…”
“Och nae, tis true, but tis fine, I am right behind ye. Ye should hae gone.”
There were a few bags lying in the dirt, accidentally left by our troops.
There might be a bandage, but first I needed to get us out of here.
I unsnapped his tactical vest and unzipped the front and shoved it aside, realizing there was velcro on his shoulders, I peeled that up and got it all splayed out so he was free.
“Thank God I didn’t, Torin. You just fell off your horse and you can’t get into your own pockets!”
I patted all over his chest and waist. “Where is it? I don’t feel it!”
He said, “There, at the waist.”
I felt.
“I don’t feel it, Torin, where is it?” I unbuttoned his coat and felt all along the fabric, finding the opening of the pocket.
I dove my hand in and fished around. “Could it have gone into the lining?” I felt the bottom of the pocket for a hole, nothing, well sewn and sturdy and it had been the inside of the coat, it would have been near impossible for it to fall out.
I slid my hand all around up and down the coat anyway.
“I need to roll you on your side, check your back…” I ran my hand over every square inch of his chest, back and sides.
And then, panicking, began checking through his pant pockets and every square inch of his pants, legs and glutes. “It’s not here.”
“What dost ye mean, I put it there m’self.” He weakly put a hand on his chest near the pocket.
“I’ve looked, I’ve looked everywhere. Unless it…” I stood up and looked all around his horse’s legs. “Did you drop it when you fell? Did you put it in the bag while you rode?”
“I can barely move, I couldna.”
My eyes wide, I said, “See, Torin, you could barely move! I swear when you survive this and we get out of here I am going to be so mad.”
His hand went to his shoulder with a grimace. I blew hair off my forehead.
I glanced back at the castle, no one was coming — one grace out of this whole ordeal.
I ran over to the bags left behind by the troops, and swiftly opened them, glancing inside, grabbing the handles, and rushing them back to Torin. One had a cross on the side, please let it be First Aid.
I dropped to my knees beside him and tore it open. “Yes! Okay, my love, I’m going to try to remember my First Aid class.” I found gauze pads, pressure bandages, antiseptic wipes, even a small bottle of iodine and a roll of medical tape.
“I’m going to do your hip first.”
I unbuttoned and zipped his pants and peeled them back, “Good pants, lots of stretch.”
They were bloody and I tried to hide the gag.
The bullet had carved a shallow furrow along the outside of his hip, it was ugly, and bleeding steadily, but with some tender prods it seemed no deeper than muscle. I pressed a thick gauze pad hard against it.
He hissed through his teeth.
“This one’s not too bad.”
I ripped open an antiseptic wipe, dabbed iodine around the edges, then folded fresh gauze into a thick compress and taped it down with long strips across his waist to keep pressure steady.
“I think that will hold until we figure out… everything else.”
I buttoned the top of his pants, climbed across him to his shoulder, and peeled his shirt down. “Aw, honey, now you’ve got another cut near the bandage, what are you doing to yourself? You’re a mess!”
“I hae been at war.”
A tear slid down my cheek. “You can’t die on me, Torin, please don’t.”
He weakly waved his hand around. “None of this will kill me, Princess, I’ve had harder knocks sparrin’ with Max on a fine spring day back when we were young and daft. Daena fret.”
“You promise?”
“Aye, I promise.”
The blade had given him a big deep cut on his shoulder, blood seeped dark and slow. I wiped the area clean as best I could, pressed another folded pad directly onto the wound, and bound it tight with the roll of bandage, looping it over his shoulder and under his arm like a sling to immobilize it.
He watched me the whole time, eyes half-lidded with pain but never leaving my face. “How am I goin’ tae use m’arm if ye tape it down?”
“You’re not, you’re going to let it rest.”
“Och, what happens if I hae tae fight us away?”
I joked, “I will be your sword.”
He gave me a half smile. “That is a terrible idea.”
I finished knotting the last strip.
“You have to let this shoulder heal, I’ve seen it injured too many times. I don’t like it, I’ve had enough. You don’t get to do that anymore.”
He chuckled. “Och, ye are bossin’ me.”
“I mean it, you have to listen.” I tried for a smile and mostly failed. I tucked the leftover gauze and tape into my coat pocket. “Speaking of, how are your ears?”
“Tis fine, I am tired is all, and I was promised pizza after the battle but I daena think the Visigoths deliver it out this far.”
Just then I heard a trilling sound behind me.
“Dude, what are you doing here?” The cat walked over as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Torin raised his head. “Och nae, cat, I told ye ye couldna come, nae one listens tae me.”
Dude said, “Meow.”
I asked, “Where have you been, how did you get here?”
Dude sat down and licked his paw.
“You’re lucky I stayed behind, or you would be stuck here too.”
The cat looked unconcerned.
I chuckled. “What are we going to do?”
“We canna stay here, we just beat this castle decisively, we ought tae get from the shadow of it.” He pulled himself up to sit and looked up at the sky. “And we need tae do it fast as we need shelter from the rain.”
I looked up and gulped. “Rain? That sucks. Didn’t Ryan say he had men on the inside?”
“Aye, but we daena ken who or whether they are feelin’ friendly towards us.”
I pouted, “So what do we do?”
“First, ye help me tae m’feet.” He put out his good hand and I heaved him up.
“Now, we are goin’ tae load these packs on Cathbarr, load up our cat, and then ye and I are goin’ tae ride tae the inn south of here.”
“How do you know there’s an inn?”
“Tis Oban, right up the road. Twas on the map, ye dinna see it on the map?” He slid his sword into a sheath on Cathbarr’s saddle.
“No, I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Och nae, Princess, what if ye were here alone?”
I raised my chin. “I didn’t need to worry about that.”
“Why nae?”
“Because you wouldn’t leave me, I don’t need to know there’s an inn because you know there’s an inn.”
He said, “Twould still be good for ye tae ken where ye are and how tae get tae shelter.”
“I am aware of that, lesson learned.” I helped him clip the bags to Cathbarr’s saddle.
He glanced in one. “We hae weapons. If we hae coins we are goin’ tae be good.”
“Should we go through all the bags?”
“Nae, we are out in the open, we will go through our spoils at the inn. We will hae plenty of time, we are stuck here for a bit.”
“How long do you think?”
“When we daena return tae the Kingdom, Max will send someone for us.”
“If he makes it.”
“Oh… och nae. He was injured?”
“Yeah, I don’t know… it was worrisome, Charlie too.”
“Tis unsettling how each time we tried for a different outcome many of the details remained the same.”
I nodded and added, “But if Max does or doesn’t… either way, the uncles will send someone.”
“Aye, and the inn is in Oban. They will search there, we will likely only be here for two days. Cathbarr, m’wife is goin’ tae put a cat in yer pack, nae complaining.”
The horse whinnied as I picked up Dude and tucked him into one of the packs.
Then Torin said, “Now m’wife is goin’ tae get on ye, ye hae been tae war, I ken ye are excited, ye must be gentle.” He put out his knee with a wince. “Mount up, mo leannan.”
“I am not going to step on your knee when you should be in the hospital.” I put my hands on the saddle and jumped, pulled, and swung my leg over, yanking my skirts after me. Cathbarr was gentle, he shook his head as if it bothered him that Torin even needed to ask.
I settled into the saddle.
“Verra fine, lean forward so I can get on.”
He grasped the reins and saddle and with a grunt pulled himself up behind me.
Using his hand to shift me, hissing in pain, he got himself intae position.
He gave a weak huff of laughter. “Twas not graceful, but I am on the horse, we will be at the inn afore it—”
It began to sprinkle.
“I am not right in everything, tis another good lesson.”
He turned Cathbarr away from the castle. “I was right tae bring the horse, twas a good idea. He saved m’life back there.”
I patted Cathbarr’s neck. “Good boy. Only thing better would be all our horses.”
“Aye, at least we hae Dude.”
We rode slowly across the hills on a high path, Cathbarr’s hooves muffled on the damp turf, Dunstaffnage’s broken towers receding behind us.
“Why aren’t we on the coast, that looks like a good route?”
“Because there is another castle ahead, Dunollie. Tis held by the MacDougalls, and they are much like the crabs that crawl on their rocks, skittish and scuttlin’ when ye need them, quick tae snap when ye simply want tae pass by.
Better we keep wide of their walls. I daena hae the strength tae deal with them on this day. ”
I chuckled. “Okay, yes, let’s steer clear of the crab men.”
The sky, which had been pale and forgiving earlier, now lowered in heavy slate-gray sheets. The first cold drops spattered against my face. “How long will the ride be?”
“Twill be about an hour.”
The wind rose off the firth, carrying the sharp scent of rain and salt. Within moments the heavens opened and there was a steady, relentless Highland rain, drenching us both and turning the world into a watercolor blur of green hills, silver water, and the two of us alone beneath it.
I put my hand out. “We’re going to be so wet.”
He chuckled, saying, “Aye, we will be and all your dreams are comin’ true, Princess: ye are ridin’ on a horse with yer husband in long ago Alba, and from the verra beginning ye get tae start complainin’ on the Scottish rain.”
The end.