Chapter Twenty-Four #2
His sister and his mother squealed with delight when Logan told them Elspeth had awakened. His mother hurried out of the room, pulling his father along. Logan hefted his sister on his back and wrapped his arms under her knees.
“Och, Logan,” his mother said on the way. “’Tis a good thing Jamie found yer physician so quickly. We must buy theriac from him.”
“Why do ye keep callin’ him my physician?” Logan asked her. “I dinna know him. I thought he was Tor’s physician. How will we pay him?”
His mother began talking, but Logan didn’t hear what she said. The physician! It was a man with dyed black hair and a limp. Logan knew his hair was dyed because the edges of his bonnet were stained black. Logan did not think anything of it at the time. But now…No one knew who this physician was.
“Son,” his father said, stopping him when he saw the panic in Logan’s face. “What is it?”
“The physician,” he said, “’twas her brother.” They all stopped and then watched him run off to Elspeth’s rooms with May on his back.
*
Elspeth’s smile was wide when Logan burst into her bedroom with May’s face over his shoulder.
“Put her down here on the bed,” Elspeth told him gently.
“I am perfectly capable of standing on my own two feet.” May gave her older brother a light swat on the arm when he bent to set her down on the bed.
The instant her eyes fell on Elspeth’s, she seemed to forget her ire at her brother. “Och, Elspeth, I was so afraid we would lose ye. We were poisoned! Och, when I think of someone poisoning my mother or father—”
Elspeth cast them both a worried look.
“Nae, Elspeth,” her new mother reassured her quickly. “The Lochiel and I did not drink.” She turned to her daughter. “Remember, we were not poisoned, May.”
“But ye would have been if ye had been home,” May argued. “Both of ye, nay! All of us would have been poisoned! Who would have saved us? Who would avenge us?”
Elspeth immediately looked away, fearing the sound of her words coming from May’s mouth.
“Should we not make certain they die this time?” May asked, settling her gaze on her father.
“Who?” Elspeth asked her husband.
He hesitated for a moment and then cast his sister a dark glare. “Helen and Roderick.”
“What?” Elspeth asked, stunned. “But I thought…”
“Roderick helped her escape,” Logan told her. “She poisoned everyone’s afternoon water…and—”
“He saved everyone from dying with his theriac,” Elspeth guessed.
Did she remember him standing over her bed, or had she been dreaming?
Remember who saved yer life today, Ellie. Dinna make me return to show ye again. I might stay away.
She told Logan what she remembered. She felt safest with him here and took him by the hand when he stood by the bed.
Aye, she remembered who saved her life. Logan did. He saved her from more cruel masters, from a gloomy life of hate in her heart and hopelessness in her days.
When his cousins returned without finding Roderick, Elspeth felt guilt and shame for being the sister of a jackal.
“I am pleased that ye are all here,” the Lochiel told his younger cousins. “I want one of ye stationed at May’s door, one at this door, and one at my door.”
“I can protect Elspeth,” Logan growled.
“Aye, but ye will still need to sleep,” Jamie told him. “I will stand at yer door.”
“And I,” declared Ewen, “will stand at May’s door.”
“Good,” the Lochiel commended. “Steafan, ye will guard my wife. But first, go to the garrison and assign more men to the gatehouse and all the entrances of the castle. I want Woodburn caught.”
“Aye, Lochiel.” Steafan hurried about his duty.
“Now, come,” the Lochiel mumbled. “Let us leave this lady’s bedroom.”
Ewen and Jamie followed Elspeth’s father-in-law into the outer sitting room, but Logan lagged behind. His sister rolled her eyes heavenward. His mother smiled behind her fingers at her son’s obvious affection, then turned away just a bit to give them privacy.
“I will be right ootside the door,” he assured her.
“Go on, I will be fine,” Elspeth told him, smiling with a bursting heart when he held her knuckles to his lips for a kiss before leaving her.
“Goodness, he is completely transformed!” May laughed and then gave Elspeth an astonished look. “How did ye do it?”
“I dinna know, truly. He didna need any transforming to me.”
May gave her a doubtful look. “Truly? He smiled enough fer ye then?”
“Aye,” Elspeth told her.
“Did ye truly help him regain the use of his arm?”
“May!” her mother scolded. “Dinna be so bold.”
“He is the one who has been practicing fer six years and never giving up,” Elspeth said. “He just needed a clear path to follow.”
His mother laid her hand on Elspeth’s. “Ye are that clear path. His face is lit with direction.”
Elspeth shrank back an inch. No one noticed. She wanted to ask if the direction was toward battle. She wanted to ask…nae, beg him not to go.
How could she beg him not to fight for his king after she helped him train to do it? She sat for as long as she could, thankful when May complained of cramps in her legs and Ewen came to whisk her away.
“Do yer parents not mind that Ewen fancies May?” Elspeth asked her husband when he came to sit next to her.
“Why would they?” he asked. “Because he’s no’ a noble?”
“Aye,” Elspeth answered honestly.
“’Tis May’s life. Ye try tellin’ her differently.”
“Why would I?” Elspeth put to him and then broke into laughter without knowing why.
For the hundredth time, however much a hundred was, she thanked God for bringing Logan Cameron into her life.
“I dreamed of ye often, husband,” she confessed and curled her arms around him tighter.
“What did ye dream aboot?” he asked in between laughter at her giggles.
“In one dream, ye pined fer me good and proper, seeing that I was dead.”
“What? Cease! I dinna want to hear anymore, Elspeth.”
“Verra well,” she pouted, shrugging her shoulders.
Someone banged on his door. He went to it and opened it to his brother.
“Ealar, what are ye doin’ here? ’Tis no’ yet sunrise.”
“Would ye prefer me to wait until sunrise to tell ye—” his eyes opened wide and full of happiness when he saw Elspeth awake in bed. He forgot his brother and went to her.
“’Tis good to find ye awake, fair swan.”
Elspeth laughed softly into her hand. “Ealar, ye ferget yerself.”
“I remember perfectly,” Ealar went on.
“Brother,” Logan said before his brother said anything else. “I think the fair swan is tired since ’tis the middle of the night. What did ye come here to tell me?”
“Och, aye,” Ealar said, remembering. “I found Helen.”
Logan stood up. “Where is she?”
“In the lower cellar.”
Elspeth swung her legs over the side of the bed, but Logan stopped her. “Nae. Ye stay here. Ye are still recovering and ’tis filthy doun there.”
He made certain she stayed in bed and then hurried out of the room.
Alone, Elspeth left the bed and went to the door. She pressed her ear against the wood, and not hearing anything, she opened the door and stepped outside.
Someone stepped in her way.
“Where might ye be goin’?” It was Jamie, guarding her bedroom door.
“I was going to…the…ehm…I wanted to….” Finally, she stopped struggling and slapped her thigh. “Jamie, are ye not curious about what Helen is saying to Logan?”
“Nae, why should I be? He will tell us tomorrow, lass.”
“I have nae doubt of that, but if Roderick is involved, I wish to know now.”
Shockingly, Jamie didn’t argue any further but beckoned her to stay close behind. When they reached the last stairwell, Jamie stood in front of her, blocking her way.
“This is as far as I bring ye.”
“Nae!” she protested. “I could have found my own way this far.”
“Och, nae I couldna let ye come doun here on yer own. Logan would skin my hide.”
“But that is nothing compared to what her brother will do.”
Elspeth spun around toward Roderick’s voice. She couldn’t make him out in the dark, just a silhouette. But it was him.
Everything happened in a blur of speed. Jamie freed his sword from where it hung on his belt and stepped in front of Elspeth.
“Ye best be here to surrender, Woodburn,” he warned, ready to fight and defend her.
“Dinna do anything foolish, Roderick,” Elspeth added to the warning. “Ye will die here today if ye do.”
Roderick sucked his teeth at her. “Ye constantly underestimate me, Ellie.”
“Logan!” she hauled off and screamed the way she had wanted to for years. Her voice echoed through the hall and hopefully through the door to the cells. “Logan, help me!”
She heard the loud clang of a cell door.
“Logan, Roderick is here!” she shouted before he opened the dungeon door.
Roderick leaped for her, but before he landed on both his feet, the door opened, and Logan appeared for an instant. He reached out, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him.
“Jaime!” she cried out, lest he be forgotten.
Ealar swept past her, his black cape flapping like wings behind him. He did not immediately attack but closed his hand on the door and pulled it shut, away from her eyes.
She thought she could hear the drumming boom of Logan’s heart beating. His cousin, and now his brother, was out there with the man who came here because of her.
They heard the sounds of sword fighting. Elspeth squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for Ealar and Jamie.
And then, before she could stop him, or mayhap she didn’t truly think it fair to stop him, Logan swung open the door and joined his brother, closing the door behind him.