As his men did as he asked, he collapsed onto his back on the ground and closed his eyes, resting, breathing, and willing the pain away.
“Should we take him back to the keep?” That was Bhaltair.
“Nay, a chamber here will do. I will stay with him. One of ye, too, must watch over him while I rest.”
“I’ll go beg a chamber from the abbot,” Rabbie said, and moved away.
“What can I do?” Aftyn’s voice, close, comforting. Did he imagine her bending over him? Touching his face? Nay, he didn’t imagine her. Her touch gave him a bit of pleasure in the midst of all the pain. He clung to that.
“See if the abbot has a place inside for the less injured,” Fearchar answered for him. Jamie didn’t have the strength.
She must have moved away. Jamie didn’t hear her any more. Or anything else. The next he knew, he woke in a strange chamber on a pallet. The injured man lay on a similar one on the opposite wall. Rabbie sat on a bench between them, his gaze on the other man until Jamie moved.
“Ach, ye’re back with us,” Rabbie said. “I’ve food and drink aplenty for ye. And I’ve gotten a few drops down him a time or two.”
“Good,” Jamie told him as he forced himself up. “Keep trying.”
Rabbie handed him a cup and set the platter beside him. Bread, butter, sliced venison, honey, cheese, apples, enough for both of them twice over. He made short work of two of the four pitchers of cider and water lined up under the bench. Once he finished, Rabbie ate from what he left, while Jamie drank another cup of cider.
“Ye did more than ye should,” Rabbie said, censure plain in his tone.
“I did what I had to do,” Jamie answered, his gaze on the injured man. “He’s still breathing freely?”
“Aye. Ye saved his life. Nearly at the cost of yer own.”
Jamie dismissed that. He’d survived, and so had the priest. “There is still much to do.”
“And the abbot is most concerned. I doubt he slept all night, but with Lathan and Keith help, all the fires are out and cleanup has begun.”
“Bhaltair and Fearchar?”
“Resting outside this door.”
Jamie forced himself to his feet, every joint aching. But the pain of the man’s injuries had faded. His throat no longer burned. He took a deep breath. His chest felt clear. “Did ye bring in my bag? I must work on his hand if he’s to have the use of it.”
Rabbie nodded toward the opposite corner of the room. Good, it was there.
“Aftyn and Neve?”
“With the other injured and some of the Keith men.”
“Aftyn will come here, soon enough. I must finish what I can with him and cover the wound before she arrives.”
“Ye dinna think ye can tell her? Show her what ye can do?”
“Nay, ye ken I canna. ’Tis too dangerous.”
“She might understand…”
“It doesna matter if she does. Remember where we are. The kirk frowns on abilities such as mine. If she doesna accept it, my life could be forfeit. All our lives here. Perhaps even those in the Aerie. The risk is too great.”
12
Aftyn tapped on the door, hoping not to disturb the injured man. But she had to know how Jamie was. She’d seen Bhaltair pick him up and carry him into the abbey’s guest quarters while others carried the injured man.
Jamie was probably just exhausted, but in thinking back over the reactions she’d observed in him at the market, at Robena’s, and with Braden, she wondered. She needed to see for herself that he was safe, and not suffering along with his patient’s pain.
When no one answered, she rapped on the door and waited. The door was made of thickly hewn oak, but still, she thought she heard someone moving around inside.
