“I don’t believe it was his intention. I think he meant to help me fight these men, but the sword was more than he could control.”
Brie leaned into Hall, brushing aside his hand so that she could better see the wound for herself. It was small, but it appeared red and swollen, as if infection had already set in.
“We need to do something with this. I dinna think I’ve seen a wound go bad so quickly. And never in one so insignificant as this.”
Halldor leaned back against the tree, allowing his eyes to close for a moment. “A wound from the Sword of the Ancients is hardly insignificant. It’s fatal. It’s betony and yarrow I need now. Agrimony and vervain. Perhaps even a pinch or two of joy-of-the ground.”
“Herbs?” Brie choked out, Halldor’s calm pronouncement ringing in her ears.
He had to be wrong. She wouldn’t accept his having been struck with a fatal blow, not even from a weapon as mysterious as the Sword of the Ancients.
There had to be something she could do to slow the progress of whatever evil the sword had left upon his body.
“Honey smeared over the opening would do more good than yer weeds. If only we weren’t caught in the dead of winter, I might find an active hive.”
“If we weren’t caught in the dead of winter, I’d have my herbs.”
Wishing for the impossible wasn’t going to do a bit of good, so she’d have to make do with what she carried in her provisions. She might not have honey, but she did have the next best thing.
Brie hurried over to her horse and dug through her pack of supplies to find the flask she sought. Returning to Hall’s side, she pulled out the stopper and poured a bit of the contents onto his wound.
His eyes flew open and he jerked away from her, sniffing the air. “Mead? I’d be better off to have that inside my body rather than poured upon it. At least drinking it might afford me some relief.”
“Honey ale,” she corrected, turning her concentration to his shoulder.
With her tongue pressed against her teeth, she made atsking noise, and pressed a tentative finger to the wound. The opening seemed to sizzle as if she’d poured the ale into a hot pan.
One thing was clear to her.
“This is beyond my abilities.” She waited for his sarcastic response, but none came. Apparently he agreed. “We need to get you back to Castle MacGahan.”
“Eventually,” he said, pushing away from the tree to stand on his own two feet for the first time. “But first we need to see if our young friend left anything behind. Ah, I see he’s abandoned his fine, fine steed.”
Hall’s strength might be returning but his good sense had taken its leave. Brie shook her head as Halldor slowly made his way across the opening to the worst example of horseflesh she’d ever seen. Not even old Cook would be seen on such a pitiful excuse for a horse.
Halldor unlaced the bag tied to the saddle and poked around inside, turning a worried frown in her direction as she reached his side.
“The sword and the scrolls have escaped our grasp, but not the jewels. All the jewels are here, save for the one I already carry.”
That was excellent news, but to look at the big man next to her, she’d never have guessed it. “I’d think you’d be happy to retrieve at least part of what you set out to find.”
“You don’t understand,” he said. “The jewels serve as a guard upon the sword and the scrolls. A barrier to control their power, like guards around a prison. Without the jewels, there’s no telling what mischief their evil can cause.”
Explanation enough for his frown.
He reached for the palfrey’s reins and headed toward his own mount, stumbling halfway there.
Brie was at his side in an instant, dipping her shoulder once again under his arm, ignoring him when he tried to push her away.
“There’s no dishonor in accepting assistance from an ally.”
A trace of his earlier smile reappeared when he looked down at her, bringing with it the odd tightening in her chest.
“Wise words, little one,” he said at last. “I’ll try to remember them. I’d be grateful for your assistance so that we might be on our way.”
“Good.” This new, reasonable O’Donar was quite the surprise. “Yer sure you can ride?”
“I can ride. We’ve wasted more than enough time here.”
