“Damn,” Aidric said, realizing it was worse than they’d thought. “Jareth, it goes all the way through, but I do not think it hit anything vital. Can you breathe?”
As Jareth nodded, Stefan was trying to pull the mail and fabric away from the wound site. “We need boiled linen and medicaments for this, things we do not have here,” he said. Then he looked to Desdra. “How far are we from the castle?”
Desdra was pale with sorrow. She was also a little sick because she’d never seen a man with an arrow in his body and, unfortunately, her first happened to be Jareth. It was an effort not to become physically ill.
“Not far,” she said. “Over the next rise, we will be able to see it.”
“Then we must ride for it and ride fast,” Stefan said, returning his attention to Jareth. “Can you ride?”
Jareth nodded. “Get me on my feet,” he said, grunting. “I can make it to the castle.”
They pulled him up, carefully, making sure he was steady before Stefan ran off to grab his horse. Desdra’s palfrey was nowhere to be seen, so Stefan brought the horse back into the shelter of the trees. Once they helped Jareth to mount, Stefan lifted Desdra up behind him. Her arms went around his torso, holding on tightly, as Jareth spurred his horse up to the road. As a short but brutal fight went on behind him, he headed to Portbury Castle at a gallop.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Portbury Castle
It was goingto take all of them to get the arrow out.
When the projectile entered, it had broken on his shoulder blade. They’d figured that out by the angle of the shaft and angle of the tip. They were different. Orion, for all of his annoying habits, was actually a very skilled healer, something he’d trained for when he fostered at Kenilworth. His mother had been a healer and it was something he’d learned as a child, and the master knights of Kenilworth had recognized that, so they permitted him to train with the physician at Kenilworth who took care of the knights. Therefore, there was no one more qualified to remove the arrow than Orion.
But he didn’t like the looks of it.
“Very well,” he said after thoroughly examining the injury. “This is going to take all of us. I believe the arrow is broken, so it may not come out cleanly. Aidric, ask the soldiers about a local physic. He will have medicines that I do not. Fetch him immediately. Meanwhile, Dirk and Britt—bring me scalding hot water and any rags that have been boiled clean. If they haven’t been, then do it immediately. Boil them for at least a quarter ofan hour and do not let them touch anything when you remove them from the pot. Bring them to me immediately.”
As the three knights fled, Orion turned to Hugh, who had been hovering anxiously. “I will need your help,” he said, catching Stefan’s eye as well. “Both of you. This arrow is bent, which means we cannot take it out in one piece. The shaft will have to be pulled out of his chest, but the head will have to come out of his back. And we must do it in a way that ensures no wood or debris is left behind.”
As Stefan and Hugh nodded seriously, Jareth smiled weakly at Orion. “When did you become the serious physic?” he said.
Orion was focused on the entry wound. “I’ve always been.”
“How did I not know this?”
“You never asked.”
There seemed to be a rebuke in that answer, but it wasn’t untrue. No, Jareth had never asked him about his background. All he knew was that Henry wanted him to be part of the Six, so he was. And he was as annoying as hell. They’d spend so much time being vexed by his irritating personality that it never occurred to Jareth that they may have had something to do with it.
It wasn’t like they’d really welcomed Orion into the group.
But at this moment, it was as if something had changed between them.
“You are right,” Jareth said after a moment. “I never asked. I apologize.”
Orion didn’t answer right away. He was still trying to gauge the angle of the arrow as compared to the angle of the head.
“My mother was a healer,” he finally said. “I fostered at Kenilworth and the master knights like for their trainees to have a specialty. With some, it is weapons, with others, it’s tactics or strategy. My specialty was healing.”
“Kenilworth,” Jareth said. “That is impressive. Your family must be prestigious.”
“It is,” Orion said. “The House of Payton-Forrester has always served the lords of Beverly Castle, in the north. They are allied with the House of de Wolfe and the Earls of Teviot.”
“Knights?”
“Aye.”
“No titled lords?”
“Nay.”
