Aunt Brenna put her hand to his chest and said, “Nay, you will be silent until I tell you that you can speak. Hagen and Brynja will explain.”
The door opened and Logan stuck his head in. “Beware, she can be an ornery witch when she wishes to be.”
Aunt Brenna said, “Unless you’d like me to make certain you are on a pallet next to him, you’ll close the door, Logan.”
The door slammed. Connor caught Aunt Brenna’s smirk.
His beloved aunt said to Hagen, “Tell me exactly what happened. Leave nothing out.”
Connor said, “I can…”
“Connor, shush. I’ll not tell you again,” his aunt said.
Sela said, “Connor, do what she says. You’re too weak.”
So he relented. He settled his eyes on Hagen, who sat on a stool in his line of vision, and listened.
“We were behind a crest, and Da heard Dugan—and aye, Dugan Comming—say he was going to kill him if he ever saw him. I tried to stop Da, but he stepped out and the battle just began. Just like that. His men of ten or so were everywhere. We only had Brynja and me and Alaric. Broc and Merryn had gone to look for bairns. And another came at Da’s opposite side. He cut him down, but Dugan got his belly when he cut the other man down. Da crumpled to the ground and there was blood everywhere…”
“Hagen, I see the blood, his, Brynja’s, and your tunics and plaids are all saturated, but there’s no wound.” Aunt Brenna looked at him and said, “Where, Connor? Where were you stabbed?”
Connor used his hand to point to the spot, and he watched his aunt lift his tunic, looking for an open wound, but there was none. “I only see a scar that looks like a lightning bolt.” Sela looked over Aunt Brenna’s shoulder. Hagen paled and squeezed Brynja’s hand.
“Where, Connor? Point to the wound.”
He did, and then said, “It healed. Lia was there.”
Sela gasped and Maeve flopped onto a stool.
“Lia healed you? But there’s so much blood.” Aunt Brenna looked at Hagen and Brynja. “Is all that blood on you and Brynja Connor’s blood? Neither of you are wounded? Anyone else with a wound? Alaric? Broc?”
“It’s all from Da.” Hagen nodded, Brynja nodded.
Aunt Brenna looked back at him. “That’s impossible.”
Connor took Brenna’s hand and said, “Listen to me. And you are all sworn to secrecy. Lia told Hagen to set his hands on me, then told Brynja to put her hands on Hagen’s. And this heat shot through me just before the lightning bolt hit over my head. The pain disappeared.”
The three look stupefied, then he said, “Hagen, you and Brynja may go. Get something to eat.”
The two left, holding hands. “I’ll be back, Da.”
“My thanks to both of you,” he said. “And we’ve only told everyone that Lia healed me. That’s it.”
Once the two were gone, he looked at Maeve and his wife and said, “I saw Mama and Da.”
“What?” Maeve asked, leaning forward.
Aunt Brenna said, “It’s not unusual for people who are nearly dead to have seen loved ones. It’s common. Probably as a dream.”
Connor grabbed Aunt Brenna’s hand and said, “Nay, Da said to forget Dugan. That I would not be taken yet, that I was to help gather the group who were to work with Lia.”
“Lia? Da knows Lia?” Maeve asked.
“He said Hagen and Brynja are bound together, that they will have special powers, along with Grant and John. And others too, but I woke up. They were so real. Da yelled at me for allowing my emotions to drive me. He said to forget Dugan. Said there are worse things happening.”
Connor’s cheeks dampened from the tears that he hadn’t known had fallen.
Aunt Brenna patted his hand and said, “Connor, it sounds like you had quite an ordeal, but you are pale and weak, and you need rest. I’m going to treat you as though you had a huge wound that you lost all that blood from. Mayhap Lia put some odd stitches in you. I don’t know. You’re wounded and you’ll do what I tell you. I want you to drink first. Maeve, would you get him some broth, please? Drink the broth, then sleep. Your body, even though there is no more blood, has been through an ordeal. If you wish to heal to do whatever my brother wants you to do, then you must stay here and do what I say.”
