Chapter 5 #2
Questions burned on her tongue yet she knew better than to ask them. Now was not the time and she doubted she would get any answers anyway. So she contented herself with walking along by his side.
Had he come after her? Or had he merely been out looking for these people? She couldn’t hope helping it was the former. Which was also ridiculous.
Around them, the landscape began to change until eventually Elodie found herself walking downhill through scrubby trees, into a cut in the land that was all but invisible from above. As they reached the bottom of this cut, the hidden valley of the Steading appeared before them.
The refugees slowed. Several gasped. Others simply stared.
The settlement wasn’t large, but after days on the road it must have looked like paradise.
To be honest, after her experiences wandering around the wild countryside this evening, it looked a bit like that to her.
Smoke rose from chimneys. Children played in the street.
So...normal. Even if it was hundreds of years away from everything she was used to.
As Ronan led them along the track, villagers began noticing the newcomers. Heads turned. Conversations stopped. Faye came hurrying and the healer’s expression darkened as she took in the group.
“God save us,” she muttered.
Ronan stopped in front of her. “We’ve more folk.”
“I can see that.” Faye’s gaze swept across the refugees. “There are thirty if there is one.”
“Closer to thirty-five.”
Faye closed her eyes briefly. “We’ve barely enough room as it is.”
“We’ll make room.”
Faye sighed then looked over at Elodie. “Ye found our wayward sheep as well then?”
Ronan’s gaze flicked her way. “Aye. And our wayward sheep has brought the rest of the flock with her.”
Behind her, the refugees shifted nervously and Elodie recognized the expressions on their faces. The uncertainty. The fear of being unwelcome. Without even thinking about it, she turned around and began addressing them.
“Right,” she said loudly. “Everyone listen up!”
Old habits, it seemed, died hard. Years of project meetings and crisis management made the words slip out before she could stop them.
“Families stay together. Anyone with sickness or injury needs to see Faye. Children first.” She glanced at the villagers who were gathering around to stare at the newcomers.
“We’ll need something to eat and drink for everyone. ”
Several villagers hurried to help, obeying her instructions without question. Ronan said nothing, merely watched with a slightly bemused look on his face as she began ordering his people around.
It took some time to get everyone settled but the whole village turned out to help.
It seemed the arrival of new folks was nothing out of the ordinary and they all clicked into action smoothly, settling most of the newcomers in an open-sided barn to get warm and dry whilst a barrel of ale was cracked open and bread and cheese brought for the famished arrivals.
Faye examined those with injuries or illness and detailed those she thought needed the most care to be given temporary beds in people’s homes. Elodie worked with Ronan to coordinate it all and by the time everything had been sorted, full dark had fallen.
“Everyone get some sleep,” he ordered. “Ye are safe now. We’ll meet in the morning to discuss what we do next.” He glanced at Eamon and some of the other men. “Double the watch,” he instructed. “We canna be too careful.”
Eamon and the others trotted off to follow his instructions and the newcomers began to bed down for the night. Elodie found herself standing a little to one side, alone and unsure what to do next. So much for finding a way home. Instead, she’d be spending the night here. Oh, heck.
“Are ye all right, lass?”
Elodie jumped and looked up to find Ronan standing in front of her. For such a big man he could move as silently as a cat.
“What? Oh, fine. Fine.”
He said nothing, merely watched her, and she could see the questions in his eyes, wanting to know why she had left the Steading and where she might be going. But he didn’t ask those questions.
“I was just wondering what will happen to them all,” she said, gesturing at the arrivals. And what’s going to happen to me. What am I supposed to do now?
“We’ll discuss that tomorrow. For tonight, go with Faye. She says ye can stay with her for as long as ye need.”
Relief swept through Elodie. “Oh. Okay. Thanks.”
He snorted. “Dinna thank me. Thank her.”
Elodie studied him. “I didn’t mean for the accommodation. I meant for coming after me tonight.”
His eyes met hers, glinting in the lantern light. “Ye are welcome,” he murmured.
He didn’t look away and neither did Elodie. She couldn’t. She felt trapped by that bright blue gaze of his and she felt her heart begin to beat a little faster.
“I’m too old for this!” Faye said suddenly, coming between the two of them. “How are we going to house this many people?”
Ronan dragged his gaze away from Elodie and focussed on the healer. “That’s a problem for tomorrow. Wasnae that what ye used to say when we first met?”
Faye harrumphed, unimpressed. “Come along,” she said to Elodie. “I want to check that lump on yer head and then its bed for ye. Gallivanting around the countryside at night with that injury! I’ve a good mind to tan yer hide for ye!”
Ronan gave Elodie a sympathetic smile as Faye grabbed her arm and marched her off, muttering all the while.
When they reached Faye’s cottage, Elodie realized that the healer was right.
She was suddenly exhausted, so much so that she could barely keep her eyes open.
Faye gently examined the lump on Elodie’s head, made her track her finger as she moved it back and forth in front of her eyes, and promptly announced that she would live.
She bade Elodie lie down on the bed and pulled the blanket up around her.
Elodie opened her mouth to mumble her thanks but sleep took her before she could utter a word.
HER FIRST NIGHT IN the seventeenth century passed like any other, with nothing to indicate she was so far from home.
She slept soundly, woken only when a rooster began crowing at the far end of the village.
She pried her eyes open with a groan and found Faye sitting by the fire, stirring a pot of something that sent a delicious smell through the room.
The soft light of dawn was leaking through the gaps beneath the shutters.
What time was it? Early, that much was clear. She considered turning over and going back to sleep, but Faye didn’t give her that opportunity.
“Finally!” the healer snapped. “I thought ye were going to sleep all morning! I nearly burned the porridge waiting for ye to wake up.”