Lord Eberwyn shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, lass, but I dinna have a...what did ye call it? A ‘land-line’?”
Lily sighed. Of course he didn’t. What kind of people were they? She pinched the bridge of her nose and sucked in a breath.
“Right. Fine. Look, you’re going to Edinburgh, right? I’m heading there too. Could you give me a lift?”
Everything would be alright once she got back to the city. She could go see her specialist and figure out exactly what had caused the blackout this time.
“We’re on Order business,” Oskar replied. “We dinna have time to coddle passengers.”
“Coddle?” Lily said, putting her hands on her hips. “I don’t remember asking you to ‘coddle’ me! You’re going to Edinburgh, I want to go to Edinburgh. Is it too much to ask to drop me off?”
“It might be useful having a healer along,” Magnus mused. “In case anything goes wrong with our esteemed guest here. The last thing we need is to be delivering a corpse.”
“Corpse?” Alfred squeaked in his slurred voice. “Why are ye talking about corpses?”
Oskar scowled at Lily. “Fine. Ye can come with us.”
Relief washed over her. Finally, some luck. Once she was safely in their car, she could begin to relax. She could get to Edinburgh, book in to see her specialist, and get everything sorted. She would call work and explain what happened and maybe take a couple of days off to recover. Everything was going to be fine.
Lily followed as Oskar and Magnus half-dragged, half-carried Alfred Brewer through the dilapidated house and out into the courtyard. After the gloom of the house, the weak sunlight was almost blinding, and Lily put her hand up to shield her eyes.
Two horses and a cart stood in the middle of the courtyard with a fourth man busy adjusting the traces and checking the cart’s wheels. He straightened as Alfred was led out and walked over. He had shoulder-length sandy hair held back with a leather band. A bow and a quiver of arrows was strapped across his back.
“Ye did it then?” he said to Oskar.
Oskar nodded at Lily. “Shedid it. Reckons he’s alright to travel now.”
The man’s eyes shifted to Lily. “Then ye have my thanks,” he said. “I’m Emeric.”
“Lily,” she replied, holding out her hand for him to shake. As Magnus had done, he took it and kissed the back of it.
“We owe ye a debt, my lady. The whole of the Order of the Osprey owes ye a debt, and the rest of Scotland as well—although they dinna know it.”
Oskar rolled his eyes. “Will ye give over with the theatrics? Ye are as bad as Conall. Let’s get Brewer into the cart and be on our way.”
Lily blinked. Wait. Had he just said they were taking Alfred on thecart? Sure enough, the three men bustled Alfred over to the wagon and unceremoniously lifted him into the back.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, stomping over. “I thought you were taking him to Edinburgh?”
They glanced at each other. “Aye,” Oskar said. “We are.”
“In that?”
“What would ye like us to take him in?”
“How about a car like normal people?”
Oskar’s eyebrows pulled down into a scowl. He was good at scowling, she’d noticed. “What are ye talking about? Lass, we are lucky to have even this. If Lord Eberwyn hadnae been kind enough to lend it to us, we’d all be riding on horseback with yer precious patient slung across a saddle. Now, do ye wish to come with us or not? We are in a hurry here.”
Lily stared at the wagon. It looked like the kind of thing a farmer would use back in the olden days, with a large, broad bed and high, spoked wheels. Even the horses looked like something out of a story, with their enormous hooves, hairy fetlocks and unruly manes. This was madness. They seriously expected to transport a patient in that? And they expectedherto ride in it too?
She looked around at the empty courtyard. There was no sign of any other transportation. What choice did she have?
The rickety wooden boards creaked beneath their weight as Emeric and Magnus climbed up and settled themselves in the back of the cart with Alfred.
Oskar raised an enquiring eyebrow and bowed extravagantly towards the seat at the front of the cart.
“If my lady would care to take a seat?”
