“Mistress, ye must come at once!” The young girl’s cheeks were flushed with color as she hurried forward, and Eleanor instantly recognized her as the maid that Iain had been flirting with on that day with the laundry.
“Is it Marion?” Eleanor asked at once.
Iain looked up, but his attention was instantly drawn back to the task at hand as the Laird struggled to stand on his own.
Please let her be alive.
Eleanor said a silent prayer before turning back to the young girl. “Is she…”
The girl swallowed hard, but nodded. “Ye should come at once, Mistress… Fiona is waiting for ye.”
Without wasting any more time, Eleanor followed the young girl, picking her way through the broken courtyard with pieces of weaponry and broken barrels lying about. There was no telling how many people had been wounded, or even killed, but Eleanor only cared about one now that she knew that Andrew and Callum would be okay.
The inside of the castle was just as messy as the courtyard, as men and women were dragged inside and laid to the side.
Eleanor’s eyes searched for Fiona, or even a glimpse of Marion, but neither of the women was anywhere to be seen.
They hurried along busy corridors and through the kitchens until Eleanor was not certain at all of where they were headed.
“Just up ahead,” the girl looked back over her shoulder and beckoned Eleanor as if she could read her mind.
Waiting for the large oak doors to be unlatched, Eleanor barely waited for them to open before pushing through. The sight that met her gaze made her blood run cold.
The dimly lit room held several stretchers, with a large table in the middle. Herbs and spices hung from the rafters in bunches. It was clear to Eleanor that it was a healer’s chambers of sorts, but the sight that took her breath away was the lifeless figure of Marion lying on the bed.
Eleanor sucked in a sharp breath and walked toward the stretcher, closing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. Kneeling, she took Marion’s cold hand in hers.
“Nae, this cannae be…” Eleanor whispered, tears pricking her eyes.
Marion’s face was as white as a sheet, and her chest was still.
Dread flooded her body as Eleanor began to mourn one of the only friends she had ever made in her life. Images of her younger brother’s lifeless body flashed before her eyes. It had been her fault that he had drowned, she knew it. Everyone had tried to tell her that she was not to blame, but Eleanor knew she should not have been reading while her brother was swimming.
She blamed herself for giving in to her own selfish desires and sending Marion from her chambers.
“Take heart, lass, she is but asleep.” Eleanor felt a gentle hand on her shoulders as someone whispered from above her.
Looking up, Eleanor locked eyes with Fiona, who was staring down at her with a gentle smile on her lips.
“She lost a lot of blood, lass, but I trust that she will wake up again. She needs her rest now, as do ye. Ye look as if ye have seen better days,” Fiona pressed gently.
Coming to her feet, Eleanor quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. “I am well; it is Marion who needs all of our attention.” Her eyes began to burn from the sheer force of trying to keep them open.
“What ye need, lass, is a bath and some rest. If we can manage to fit in some ale and a bite to eat, ye will be well on yer way to recovery,” Fiona prompted her gently before turning back around to Freya. “Fetch a bath and heat some water for the mistress.”
Freya hesitated at first, glancing at the bed while wringing her hands together in front of her apron.
“Was there somethin’ else that ye needed?” Fiona raised her brows.
“It is just… I just…” Tears welled in the young girl’s eyes as Freya eyed the bed.
“Yer friend will be fine,” Fiona said.
“But she wasnae yer friend,” Eleanor added, reading the guilt on the young girl’s face.
Looking from one to the other, Fiona nodded. “I see.”
Freya shook her head as she dropped her gaze. “Nay, I wasnae her friend. I kent very well that she was in love with Iain, but I flirted with him and teased her whenever I could. If I could take back things now, I… I…” Her voice broke again as a fresh flood of tears fell down her cheeks.
