“I want to go. I believe I can do good. The Grahame infirmary is full of fine healers. Let me go.”
She met Brendan’s gaze, waiting for him to make his decision.
Brendan took a moment before responding, fingers drumming on the tabletop again. He met Freya’s eyes once more, something unspoken passing between them.
“Ye can go, Senga,” he said at last. “I believe ye are right. Yer skills are needed out there.”
A muscle jumped in Noah’s jaw, but he said nothing.
“Senga. Senga, wait!”
She froze at Noah’s voice. Bluebell turned her head, mildly curious. Perhaps she recognized Noah’s voice, too.
They were nearly ready to depart. Senga’s horse was the last one to be brought out of the stables, saddled and ready to go. The other healers had gone into the stables to pack their medicines and supplies in the saddlebags, which meant that Senga was the last one to get ready.
A large group of Grahame men waited by the gates. Noah should have been at the head of them, not hurrying towards her with a grim look in his eyes.
“What is it?” Senga asked, trying to keep her voice even. She kept replaying the kiss over and over in her mind, as she had ever since it happened.
“Are ye truly serious about coming out with us?” Noah asked, glancing warily over the saddled horse.
“Of course I am.”
“Yer father is out there. It could be…”
“Don’t ye tell me that it could be dangerous,” Senga burst out, rounding on him. “I am not afraid of danger. I’ve had enough danger in my life to last me a lifetime, so I can assure ye that I know what I am getting into.”
He stared at her for a moment, brow furrowed. “Ye really mean it. Ye really mean to do this to me.”
She met his gaze squarely. “I do. I am not doing this to ye. I am doing itfor them.” She jerked her chin, indicating beyond the Keep walls. “I am doing it for the folks who need our help. The folks who needmyhelp. Do ye understand?”
“I suppose so,” he responded tightly and turned on his heel, striding away to take his place at the head of his troops.
Senga watched him go, worrying her lower lip. A moment too late, she found herself wondering what he’d meant when he’d saidye mean to do this to me.
It didn’t matter, not right now. She hastily turned back to Bluebell, and continued packing. There was no doubt in her mind that if she wasn’t packed and ready to go by the time they left, they’d leave her behind.
They reachedthe village several hours later. That was several hours of tedious travel, in the rain, with the sky iron-gray above them and the earth slippery and muddy beneath them. They traveled too fast for Senga to catch her breath or rest at all, but not fast enough to cover the ground at too great a speed.
The healers were placed in the middle of the group, protected and flanked by the soldiers. That meant that Senga and her fellow healers huddled miserably in their saddles, clutching their sodden cloaks tightly around them, not speaking to each other.
Noah led the way, of course, but she could hardly see him through the haze of rain.
Quite without warning, the whole troop halted. Senga peered up, blinking rain out of her eyes, and pushed back her hood. The rain had faded to a bleak drizzle, enough to keep them wet but not enough to risk washing away the road entirely. However, thick mist had begun to creep down from the hills, rolling onto their pathway and blurring the line between sky and earth. The rain stung her eyes, and she blinked hard to keep the rain out.
“We’re here, looks like,” one of the healers commented. “Not that ye can see a thing.”
At that moment, a low, strange sound came rolling out of the mist. Senga’s skin prickled.
“What in heaven’s name isthat?” a soldier muttered, craning his neck to see.
One of the older healers, a heavily wrinkled woman who’d dragged behind for most of the way, lifted her head.
“It’s a grieving wail,” she stated flatly. “That’s the cry of someone who has lost everything but their life and finds that they don’t even want that anymore.”
Senga clenched her jaw. The order to move forward had not been given, but she urged her horse onward anyway, pushing through the soldiers.
“Stay here,” she instructed the other healers, glancing over her shoulder. “I’m just going to see what’s ahead.”
