“Sit by the fire afore ye fall down. I’ll be back in moments.”
Jamie nodded, closed the door and did as Bhaltair bid. He rubbed his leg with both hands, resentment flaring up in him again that this talent, as his mother called it, carried such a heavy price for its wielder. And she wondered why he preferred fighting to this.
A few hours’ sleep would improve his outlook, and tomorrow, he’d visit the villager Aftyn had described, treat Niall again, then, if he wasn’t too spent, continue to help her with the journal.
He found himself looking forward to seeing her, wishing she was here. He indulged in imagining her kneeling before him, rubbing his leg. Thinking about where that could lead took his mind off the pain.
The door opened, breaking into his thoughts. Rabbie entered, followed by Fearchar and Bhaltair, with a tray of cups and a jug of mead.
“When will he be ready to travel?” Fearchar asked quietly, as he filled the cups and handed them around.
“I told the laird a sennight, but Niall might be strong enough to go a day sooner. I'll do more with the wound tomorrow, but ’tis nearly healed and must stay covered the rest of the time we are here. No one can see it. Especially not Aftyn and Neve.”
They all nodded, understanding what consternation its rapid healing would cause.
“He must start walking with a cane on the morrow,” Jamie continued after emptying his cup, “so that he begins to regain his strength.”
“What about Aftyn?” Bhaltair crossed his arms, cup in one hand.
“What about her?”
“How much will ye be able to help her before we go? Or will she come with us?”
Jamie tensed and shook his head. The thought of leaving her stung. “She willna leave her home. But her mother left a journal. ’Tis hard to read if ye dinna already ken most of the cures she describes. From the notes I give her, Aftyn will be able to continue learning from it even after we’re gone.”
“Neve, too?” Rabbie asked.
“Neve, too,” Jamie assured him. “We will leave them better off than when we arrived.”
His friends seemed satisfied with that, tossed off the rest of their drinks and filed out, all but Bhaltair.
“Wake me if he seems in any difficulty,” Jamie told him.
“I will. Now go. Ye need rest, too.”
Jamie nodded. “I ken it,” he said as he limped to the door. The pain in his leg was less, but still hobbled him. “We willna be here much longer.”
“Ye ken Niall has his eye on Neve, but so does Rabbie. And she’s not encouraging either of them.”
“We’ll be gone before it becomes a problem between them,” Jamie told him, hoping he was right.
Bhaltair frowned at that, but Jamie didn’t stop to ask why. He went to their shared chamber and fell into the cot, asleep immediately.
* * *
The next morning,Neve entered the herbal with Alastair clinging to her skirts and looking around wide-eyed. He seemed entranced to be in the keep until he spotted Jamie. Immediately, he tried to run back the way he’d come, but Neve got a grip on his arm and held him in place. “Wheesht, laddie. Ye’ll come to nay harm here.”
“But the healer is here.”
“Aye, I am,” Jamie said from his perch at one of the workbenches where he was transcribing from Aftyn’s mother’s journal. He set it aside and knelt before the lad. “Ye came to me yesterday to help yer ma. Do ye remember?”
“Aye.”
“And did I help her?”
“Aye, ye and Aftyn.”
“Exactly.” Though in truth, Aftyn had been the most help to Mhairi. Jamie had been pleased to see her sitting, eating, and with the will to have him dump her abusive husband behind their cottage. “I’ll see that ye are nay harmed.”
