Rescued by a Highlander

by Susan Payne

  Jason and Torrey brought their contributions and tied them onto the pack animal, all of them happy with their hunt. Four good-sized stags were worth spending a day in the saddle. The hunt went well and Jillian proved she was as capable as the men.

  There was venison that night, several dishes made up of the heart and liver, pies and broths. Jillian received praise from the other hunters. She merely smiled and nodded at their teasing, happy to be accepted in a role that was more comfortable to her than chatelaine.

  She noticed Agatha was at the table eating and hadn’t sent her any looks that could have been replaced by daggers. Jillian was very relaxed and content as she went to bed with her husband.

  Of course, Gawain needed to congratulate her in his own way and it was a while before they went to sleep, both equally exhausted from their early rising and the exertion of the hunt. Jillian tried to remind herself to speak with Lady Edith in the morning about what she should be watchful of if she were with child.

  Jillian broke her fast with several of the others living in the keep. Then went in search of Lady Edith in the buttery where she evidently spent much of her time brewing the ale and cider for the tables as well as elixirs and potions to keep the clan healthy.

  She found that lady in the lower level where her medicine room was, as well as, her father who was appearing so much better she exhaled a deep breath before speaking. At dinner, the candlelight hid the fact his pupils were a normal size and the whites of his eyes were no longer yellowed. His hair was still white, but not falling out as it had been a few weeks ago. He was the father she was used to - talkative and lively.

  Both of the older people welcomed her and they spoke about the supper the night before. And of their gathering herbs for the coming winter which Jillian understood her father to have been helping with. She could not ever remember her father having an interest in such things at the castle, but mayhaps having been poisoned and then saved by the healer here had him feeling grateful to Lady Edith.

  Finally, her father sensed that Jillian came with a purpose and that purpose was a private matter between her and the healer. He told both women he would see them later in the day. His gaze remained on Lady Edith until she smiled and nodded that he was dismissed.

  “Now, Jillian, how can I be of assistance? Are you feeling unwell?” the older lady asked almost happily but the smile left her face when Jillian shook her head.

  “I, well, I was wondering how one knew when one was with child. I mean I know I haven’t been here long, but it is very important that I know as soon as possible.”

  Lady Edith appeared concerned. “I guess it is not my business why you want to know such a thing so quickly, but a missed monthly flux, of course, is the first sign. Then you may feel tired and ill, especially in the morning, but not necessarily only then. Food tastes change and sometimes odors that never bothered you will make you run for a bucket.” Lady Edith asked, “Any of those things seem familiar?”

  Disappointed, Jillian shook her head again. “I guess I’m not with child, yet. Gawain will be displeased.”

  Lady Edith was the one to shake her head this time saying, “The Laird knows these things take time. He cannot possibly be upset so soon that you are not with child. And you, too, should not lose heart. After all, it has not been that long and it is not unusual for it to take several months even for two healthy people such as you and the Laird.”

  “I know, I guess, but it is just that once it happens, I have so many plans to put in place.”

  At Edith’s worried expression, Jillian changed the subject. “Is my father fully cured? He appears almost as he did before except, he is still thin, well thinner than I remember him being.”

  “He will begin to gain weight back now, too. I think all the poison is washed from his body and he will continue to regain his strength. Thank be to God his mind was never affected which can be the outcome of some of those poisons fed to someone over time.”

  Jillian could tell the older woman was seriously relieved. “Then I will give thanks for that and ply my time before worrying over conceiving a child this soon. I will take things a day at a time. My father is the most important person to me and if you say he is regaining his health, I will take happiness from that.”

  Jillian went outside to the bailey to nurse her disappointment in finding she wasn’t going to hold her child in nine months.

  Near the stables, Jillian walked toward the dogs sleeping in the afternoon sun. The big deerhounds raised their heads and then thumped the ground with their bushy red tails, their tongues lolling out of their mouth. She bent to pet the lead hound and the rest of them, five in all, got up and surrounded her pleading for their portion of appreciation. Jillian felt herself smiling easily and talking with them until a large burly man came out who introduced himself as Mac, the stable master as well as master-of-the-hounds.

  “The Laird said these dogs were trained to hunt boar and game birds?” Jillian asked the man as she calmed the dogs circling her feet, brushing up against the round-dress she was wearing.

  “Aye, Madam. Ol’ MacDuff here and his bitch be the best boar hounds and their three pups, not from the same litter mind you, are trained up in flushing out game birds. It takes only the two for the boar hunts. Too many dogs and they can get injured when the boar turns on them. MacDuff and his Bride keep the boar worried enough that he never sees the hunter come up on him.” he explained as if to a novice.

  “We had a larger pack but they were all trained for boar. I had a spaniel to help me hunt birds. I prefer the hunt of larger game, though. May I take the dogs out for birds one day this week?” she asked as if she were not the Laird’s wife.

  The man looked at her keenly, but knew she had gone out with the hunting group the day before. “Of course, Madam. The more mature one will keep the others in line. Just let me know when you want to go and I’ll point you to the best areas to get a good chance of bringing back supper.” He smiled as she told the dogs to go and lay back down as she returned to the keep, thinking she could be happy here once everyone realized she was serious about what she liked to do.

  Three days later, Jillian, dressed in her male attire, went out to the stable and asked the stablemaster for the use of the dogs that morning. He had a young lad saddle her Palfrey even though she told him she would do so, but then realized these people would feel badly if they couldn’t help the Laird’s wife in some manner, so swallowed the objection.

  Jillian rode out across the fallow fields towards the best areas pointed out for game birds. She remembered the stablemaster warned it was a little boggy and that her horse may get slowed down. That was also why it was a good chance the birds would be found there, too. The three young dogs were happy, nose to the ground and heading in the same direction as she was. Of course, they got scent of the geese that stopped overnight in the fields as well as anything that came to peck at the leftover seeds in the ploughed rows. Over all, they were well trained and kept up with her as they travelled the miles until she saw the edge of the fields and underbrush. Jillian pulled her horse up and dropped the reins knowing Lancelot would stay close and come to her whistle when she needed him.

  She used the command the stablemaster taught her to direct the dogs. They were so similar to her own pack at the castle she caught on to their personalities quickly and soon she and the dogs were working well together. She sent the dogs in to flush a good-looking prospective area and knocked her arrow preparing for whatever flew-up or ran out. She had heard the call of several types of birds so prepared for either escape route.

  The dogs did their job and Jillian did hers. She kept working the area as the birds dropped back to the brush a few yards from where the dogs flushed them. As she got ready, she sent the dogs into the underbrush again. There were already a dozen brace of birds hanging from her saddle, but she wanted enough to be cooked up for supper.

  She made the motion and the dogs raced back. Coming around from one side forcing the birds out toward the open fi
eld when there was a thrashing through the brush.

  Jillian heard the snorting and the grunting at the same time as the dogs put up a noisy cacophony of barks and woofs. They picked up the scent of the wild boar thrashing just inside the brush covering and went wild.

  She tried to recall the dogs but it was too late. They followed what their parents probably had taught them and began biting at the boar’s rear end, turning him and taunting him into a frenzy of fear and anger.

  Trying once more to get the pups’ attention, she recognized they were beyond listening to her commands. She soon realized the dogs were in trouble. The boar, having lost its fear, was planning on charging instead of running. He placed his rear to the thicket and faced the hopping, biting pups with his head lowered and tusks readied.

  She heard one of the dogs whine in pain as she saw it flung by the deadly sharp teeth of the boar. She also realized her presence had not gone unnoticed and now she was the target of the boar’s bad temper. Not having a chance to make it to her horse and the dogs were too untrained to know how to turn the boar away, she had to decide how to save herself.

  It began running at her with his red-rimmed eyes and drooling mouth, grunting with each step he took as he raged towards her. She only had the arrows and pulled another from her quiver. Kneeling, digging the toe of her boot into the ground as best she could, Jillian held the long shaft in front of her like a pike. Her only chance at this point would be a direct hit into one of those beady eyes.

  Trembling, she wasn’t sure if it was her or the shaking of the earth she felt as the animal charged. Jillian stayed her ground and the boar didn’t appear to change its route, coming directly for her. Taking a deep breath, she faced the charging animal holding the shaft firmly and waited. Then time ran out. The boar was right in front of her with the dogs barking and jumping, their sharp little teeth nipping at the boar’s body as it lay less than a foot from her. The last of its breath expelled from its lungs and her three-foot arrow sticking out from one dead eye, blood flowing profusely.

  Tears of relief rolled down her face and then she began to laugh as the dogs went wild thinking they had caught the wire-haired beast. She took a moment to stop shaking and tried to figure out how she was going to get home. One of the dogs was bleeding from his injury but it wasn’t keeping him from the excitement of the kill.

  Finally deciding the only way was to tie the boar to her saddle and drag it back to the keep while she carried the injured dog on her lap. It wasn’t easy and she probably appeared quite a sight riding up through the gates. The guards appeared shocked seeing her covered in blood from the wounded dog. The other two with their muzzles framed in blood.

  No one attempted to touch her, but several people followed the sad parade to the stable. The stablemaster came out. His face creased in worry as he saw the blood and then the dog in her arms.

  “I don’t know how bad he is. He may have broken ribs so I tried not to move him too much. The other two merely got blood on themselves from the dead boar.”

  The mention of the boar had the man now looking at the lump she was pulling behind her horse. The master of the hounds began issuing orders and reached up, taking the dog from her, carefully laying it on a bed of straw just inside the door.

  “You men, help, Madam. She’s tired out doing a man’s job. You there, get that boar taken care of.” He organized the removal of the dead birds as well then offered to help her down.

  Jillian shook her head explaining, “I’m not hurt. Only a little scratched up from the brush and grasses retrieving the birds. I’ll go and clean up before I scare anyone else.”

  There were several servants who fell back as she entered the keep, but no one said anything to her directly. Merely murmurs and scurrying as someone called for Ann and Lady Edith. Neither actually needed by Jillian, but a bath would be appreciated. She welcomed removing the smell of blood and death from her nostrils.

  Ann reached the chamber door as Jillian did. The girl’s eyes were round with fear and worry so that Jillian had to mention once again that none of the blood was hers. She began peeling the soggy clothes off her body when Gawain raced in, his face red from his exertion to get from somewhere deep within the keep.

  “What by god’s teeth were you trying to prove, Woman? I can’t leave you alone on your own a moment before you are endangering yourself. I didna think you had a death wish,” he said falling into the brogue in his worry and fear for her.

  “Ann, go supervise a bath but do not bring it in until the Laird and I have finished speaking,” Jillian had the presence of mind to say.

  Then turned to her husband who was standing close but was afraid to touch her in fear he would do more injury to her wounds. His eyes searched her body not landing on any one place for long.

  “I will repeat one last time - none of this is my blood. I had to carry one of the dogs back on my lap because he was injured trying to save me. I guess they all saved me because they kept that damnable boar busy enough to give me time to figure out some way of killing it.” She finished taking off her clothes and wrapped herself in a nearby blanket.

  This was one time her naked body did not dissuade her husband from his original task. “What were you thinking of to go boar-hunting on your own. Even men don’t do that reckless of an act!”

  Jillian narrowed her eyes and said slowly, “Husband. I know you have been dealt a shock and I do not know what you have been told. I was merely bird hunting with the three pups and we came upon a boar that was not happy with our intrusion. I was lucky enough to have had an arrow and the boar was unlucky enough to have charged me.”

  Then she gave a deep sigh admitting, “I do not know if I shoved the arrow into its eye or if the stupid beast did not realize that what I was holding would be any sort of danger to him. Either way, I stuck him through the eye and into his brain and he fell like a log in front of me - dead.”

  After listening to her story, Gawain wrapped his arms around her. “You are never to leave this bailey alone again. You are to let me accompany you wherever you go and, if I cannot, one of my guards will. Do we have an understanding? You are very dear to me.”

  “I am not carrying your child. I spoke with Lady Edith.”

  “That is not why you are dear to me although that alone might make you stop and think before you put yourself in danger.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll tell Ann she can come in now. We are done talking for a while.”

  At supper, the talk was of naught but Jillian’s besting a wild boar on her own and without weapons and then riding in like a conquering hero with the injured dog on her lap. She finally had to leave, unable to stop the comments from all around her.

  Agatha watched her but didn’t say anything one way or the other. Jillian was sure she thought that the wife of a Laird should not be out hunting boar like some common huntsman and should not have sunk so low as to carry a dog on her lap, wounded or not.

  Gawain followed closely and said casually as he undressed, “The grouse were very tasty and the partridge pie was one of Cook’s best.”

  Jillian accepted the compliment as she was sure he meant it. “Fresh game bird is a delight no matter how it is cooked, but you are right in that the pie was the best I have ever had, also. My father did not have much to say this evening. Did he seem tired?”

  Gawain hesitated, not wanting to break this tenuous laying down of arms. “He told me he was worried about you and I told him, as your husband, I would handle things.”

  Jillian stopped undressing and asked, “So you’re going to ‘handle’ me?”

  Knowing this was the area he wished to stay away from, Gawain said, “I thought we already had.”

  Jillian appreciated his use of the term ‘we’ and then nodded and continued to get naked before climbing into the bed and waiting for her husband to come to her.

  Gawain blew out the candle and the mattress dipped as he crawled in next to her, pulling her to him as he always did. “I don’t want this to come be
tween what we have together. I do not want to change you but you must realize you affect many people around you. Probably did even at the castle, but it did not matter since everyone thought of you as a child and that you would grow out of it. Here you are my wife and future mother of my children. If anything happened to you, it would mean a great deal to a lot of people, people you do not even know yet.”

  “I understand your worry and it is not as if I planned on the boar’s attack. I often went hunting alone on my father’s land and I had the dogs and my own horse, which is trained to come to me when called. It was a once in a lifetime event and now we are through it.” Then she added, “More women die during childbirth then get gored to death. You may wish to think about that, Laird.” She rolled over as he allowed a hiss of breath to escape through his gritted teeth.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lady Edith sent for Jillian as she read in the upstairs library. Jillian had spent the last few days in the room after checking on the progress of the pup’s healing and a talk with her father usually accompanied by Lady Edith in her workroom or the solar off the great hall.

  Jillian approached the hall hearing Agatha’s voice o-o-oh-ing and ah-h-ing over something. Entering the hall from the curved stairs, she found the tables covered with bolts of lovely colored material, lace, braided belts, and chains for wrist or neck.

  Now Jillian understood Ann’s speculative look and she smiled at the young girl and said, “I suppose you have something picked out for yourself for a new frock?”

  Ann’s eyes got large as she said, “Oh, no, Madam. I thought it time for you to select your own gowns. The travelling salesman has beads and gold banding and all sorts of lovely things.”

  Lady Edith added her own urging saying, “I loaned you those other items since you didn’t have anything with you, but they are not of fine enough quality for the Laird’s wife.”