A Healer for the Highlander

by TERRI BRISBIN

  ‘I think your plan to summon a healer from the abbey is a wise one.’ Anna shook her head. ‘I have not the experience or learning to use all of this.’ The lady’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Anna. ‘Where did this come from? Who gathered and used such a wide variety like this?’

  ‘Apart from Morag who was here but a few months, there has not been a healer other than Old Ranald for years. The previous laird saw no reason for one. So, I think this has been untouched for four years? Mayhap longer.’

  So, most of these would be useless, too old and impotent to do much good. But there might be something. If that was what the lady was offering.

  ‘Since your skills will serve our people, I pray you to take whatever you can use from here. And, if you have need of other supplies and such, speak to the steward or to the cook.’

  When Anna had made the decision to return here, she had thought to be quietly ignored, allowed to be there, but with little or no attention to her. This response was unexpected and she hoped it was a sign that her true aim would also be successful.

  Her son’s acceptance into his father’s kith and kin.

  ‘You have my permission to come and sort through all of this when you can. It looks daunting to me, but then I do not have the experience that you do.’

  The lady’s admission of ignorance made Anna like this woman even more. She did not pretend to something she did not know.

  ‘Thank you, my lady,’ she said.

  Lady Cameron turned to leave, but stopped just before they reached the corridor. Facing Anna, her expression filled with worry and concern, she reached out and touched the younger woman’s hand.

  ‘Will Davidh’s lad be well?’ she asked. ‘He has been through so much and so many challenges.’ For a moment, Anna did not know if the lady referred to the father or the son. ‘Young Malcolm is special to me, for his mother was my goddaughter.’

  As it had the last time, hearing his whole name spoken startled Anna. It was not an uncommon name among the clans, it just had such power over her.

  ‘Davidh was one of the first to stand for Robert. His faith in my husband, though he is young, helped to stabilise things over the turbulence. I hope you can help his son.’

  ‘I will try, my lady. I will try.’

  Lady Cameron patted her on the hand and then turned and walked out of the chamber. Anna followed along, impatient to return to her tasks of the day. When they reached the main level of the keep, the lady pointed the way back to the hall.

  It would take hours—nay, days—to sort through the contents of that chamber. In spite of the daunting amount of time she would need for it, Anna’s hands almost itched to begin that work. As she walked into the yard, she began formulating a new plan to accomplish all that she must. Winter had begrudgingly let go its hold on the lands and she needed to have her plants and field ready for the longer, warmer days of the summer-growing season.

  So caught up in her thoughts was she that she walked into Davidh without seeing or hearing him. The shock of contact with his bare chest unsettled her and she lost her balance. Lucky for her, he’d seen her and grabbed hold of her shoulders before she could fall to the ground.

  ‘Your pardon,’ she said, stepping back away from him. As she looked up and up to meet his gaze, she noticed his uncovered chest.

  ‘I called out to you, but you did not seem to hear me,’ he explained. His chest was the most muscular chest she’d ever seen on a man. Granted, she did not go around gaping at half-naked men, but she’d seen more than a few in the years since she began helping her mother. And this chest, these arms, were some of the best she’d seen.

  ‘I fear I was so overwhelmed by the lady’s generosity that I was lost in my thoughts over how to proceed.’

  Now she noticed that he’d tied his long, dark hair back into a tight tail. Then she saw the men standing in the yard watching them. All of them strong and powerful warriors. All of them holding swords or other weapons. All of them watching her speak to their commander.

  ‘I have disturbed your training,’ she said, with a slight curtsy to him. ‘Forgive me.’ She began to walk away, but could hear the whispers of the men who yet watched the encounter.

  ‘You did not disturb...the training,’ he said. For a moment she thought he was going to say something else. ‘I wanted to make these men known to you, Mistress Mackenzie.’ Davidh pointed to three men who stood closest to them. ‘They will be helping with your field and planting on the morrow.’

  ‘Mistress,’ they each said, nodding at her. She studied each face so she would recognise them.

  ‘I thank you for your help,’ she said. Then she turned to the commander. ‘And I thank you for your offer.’

  ‘Robert agreed that helping you was a good idea,’ he said. Leaning closer, he spoke softer then. ‘He and Elizabeth like having a healer back in our midst. As do I.’

  ‘I will be ready,’ she said. She would not waste their time once they arrived. Three men would complete the work in less than a day. And with her working at their side, it would go even quicker. ‘In the morn then.’

  * * *

  A sense of anticipation grew within her as she visited the village and saw to those who asked for her help. Though Davidh’s son said he felt stronger, Anna worried over something she heard in his breathing. Suisan had been very careful in giving him the concoctions and medicaments Anna had made and yet there was just...something amiss. Something she could not identify.

  While not wishing to worry the boy, she advised him to limit himself to one excursion in the village each day and only if he was not coughing for all of the morning. Suisan met her gaze with a questioning one and yet Anna could not explain her hesitancy or her concern.

  * * *

  The next day was both the hardest and the most satisfying in such a long time. Not only did the three men Davidh pointed out arrive at her cottage, but he joined them, as well. Better still, the lady sent them along with a huge basket of food for them all. Even though Anna had made a very large pot of stew and had bread from the baker, she realised it would not have been enough for four strong, hard-working men.

  Several times during that day, she found herself standing in the shadows and watching the men work. Digging, sawing, raking and more, they were all strong men familiar with physical labour, but her gaze was drawn by just one. His men did nothing that he was not willing to do. She noticed the deference paid to him as commander, but also the easy comradery that existed among them.

  Once or twice during the first part of the morning, she noticed Iain skulking closer than he should, but her son understood and stayed back. Soon, she’d promised him. Soon.

  Once the work was done and the men gone, Anna understood it was time. Time to put her true plan into motion. To reclaim her son’s birthright. To claim his place among the Camerons.

  After keeping him hidden since their arrival, she needed a way to bring him into the light and introduce him. A few days later, unfortunately the decision was made for her.

  * * *

  The rains came later that night and it poured down in torrents for the next day. The water collected in the river above the falls and pushed over them with a brutal force that could almost not be contained within the rocky formation or be caught in the pool below. She’d warned Iain not to go near them until the overflowing currents returned to their usual amount and ferocity. Working inside after midday, she was crushing some dried leaves into a powder when Iain came running.

  ‘You have to come!’ he screamed. ‘Mam, it’s a boy!’ He was gone before she could ask him anything.

  She followed him out of the cottage and towards the falls. The roar of the waters had not diminished since this morning and she could hear nothing over it. Iain stopped near the top and gestured to something below.

  God, but there was a boy on a ledge next to the falls!

  She crep
t closer to the edge, trying to keep her balance while not losing her footing. The rocks were slippery and water from the falls constantly poured on to them, making them even more dangerous. Anna managed to lean over and saw her worst nightmare right there below her.

  It was a boy, but not just any one—it was Davidh’s son clinging to a shallow handhold in the rock. His body trembled and he fought to get his foot into a divot in the rock that could hold him. Far below him, a number of other boys from the village watched in horror as their friend clung to keep from falling to his death.

  ‘Go!’ she shouted as loudly as she could. They could not hear her so she waved them towards the village, praying that they would understand that they needed to go get help. When they ran off, she hoped it would come in time.

  But Colm would not last long enough. He was already weak and had not the strength to hold on for much longer. She called out to Iain to get a rope and then moved quickly down the hill until she was level with the boy. His face was ghostly pale and his body shivered. Though he moved his lips, she could neither hear nor understand what he said.

  Iain returned with rope which she tied around her waist while he secured the other end, tying it to a sturdy tree. She motioned to her son to come closer—the overwhelming roar of the water made it impossible to hear.

  ‘Give me your belt, Iain,’ she shouted once he was close enough. She grabbed Iain and hugged him tightly to her for a moment. ‘I love you, Iain. Now stand back and do not come any closer to the edge. Be ready to pull me back once I have him in hand.’

  Anna reached down and gathered the back of her skirts and pulled them up tightly. After tucking the ends of her skirts into the rope at her waist, Anna formed a loop with the belt and wrapped the length of it around her hand. Then, she began to inch her way to the edge. What had the boy done to get himself to this point? It mattered not for she could do nothing to change it now. She was his only hope.

  Offering up a prayer for strength, Anna took the first step out on to the rocks, holding on to the rope. She could not dare to look at Colm as she moved ever closer. She needed to keep her attention on every step she must take to reach him.

  It seemed as though it took hours to get close enough to him to try to grasp him, but soon she stood just inches away. Holding out her hand, she urged him to take the looped end of the belt from her.

  ‘Put it around you,’ she shouted. ‘Over your head!’

  It took several tries before he could grab it and manoeuvre it over and around him. When it was in place, Anna nodded to him as she wrapped the belt around and around her hand, easing him closer to her. Then, with a glance to Iain to begin pulling her off the rocks, she backed up and tugged Colm with her. The belt became crucial when the boy lost his hold and began to slip.

  With all of her strength and that of Iain, too, she pulled the belt while allowing the rope to guide her off the rocks and on to the hill next to the falls. She collapsed to the ground, holding Colm in her arms as she tried to catch her own breath.

  ‘Mam?’ Iain knelt at her side and yelled at her.

  Anna rolled to her side and nodded to her son. Thanks to his efforts and quick response, Colm yet lived. As she studied the boy’s face—now grey—she could feel him struggling to breathe. ‘We must get him inside now.’

  Iain helped her to her feet and they half-carried, half-dragged Colm up to the cottage. Once there, she laid him on the pallet while Iain gathered blankets. She quickly undressed Colm and tossed his wet garments to one side. Within a short time, tea with several herbs that would stimulate his breathing and fight the fever that would come were steeping.

  And Anna began what she knew would be a long struggle to save Colm’s life.

  Chapter Eight

  He was not at Suisan’s cottage or in their own. He was not sitting by the well or in any of the other places the lads in the village liked to gather. Davidh noticed that none of Colm’s usual companions were anywhere he looked in the village either.

  The boy had not the strength or stamina to go very far, so they all must be hiding somewhere nearby. After more searching and asking everyone he met along the way, Davidh was convinced the boys did not exist. The only place he’d not searched was the keep, but the guards would not allow a gaggle of young lads through the gates without a reason—or without mentioning it to him as he’d left.

  Colm was missing.

  He stood outside his house and ran his hands through his hair, looking, searching once more for any sign of them. If Colm had not been so ill until just recently, Davidh would think nothing of the lads disappearing for hours, off exploring as boys did. Still thinking of possible hiding places, Davidh heard their approach and turned to see a pack of boys running towards him. It was their screaming and their faces that struck terror in his heart. The first boy reached him and Davidh knelt down to face him.

  ‘He is on the rocks. Colm is climbing the rocks!’

  ‘Where? Where is he?’ Davidh asked, even though he suspected the truth already.

  ‘The Witch’s Pool!’ another called out.

  ‘The falls!’ Tavish said. ‘He was trying to climb the falls and got stuck.’

  He heard nothing else. Explanations could wait until his son was safe. Davidh mounted his horse and rode like the demons of hell were chasing him. Without thinking, his thoughts fell into the same old pattern.

  Dear God, not the boy. I pray you, not the boy.

  He did not know how long it took him to reach the road to the north and then to the falls, but he crossed the last few yards before the falls would be visible with his stomach in his mouth. Rounding the last curve in the road, he heard the crashing waters and looked into the pool and then up along the rocks and the falls.

  Nothing. No one was there. He jumped to the ground and ran to the edge of the road nearest the pool. The pool churned deep and wild from the force of the waters pouring into it from above. Glancing upwards, Davidh saw no one on the rocks and no sign of anyone along the hills on each side of the falls.

  Thank God!

  But where was he, if not here?

  Anna’s.

  Davidh climbed his way up the path that led to the top of the falls and ran the rest of the way to her cottage. Voices within told him she was there. He lifted the latch on the door and pushed it open without knocking. His son lying pale and quiet on the pallet in the corner caught his attention first and he’d taken several steps towards him when she spoke. He glanced over at her while yet walking to his son.

  It was not the fear in her voice that stopped him then. Nor was it her dishevelled, wet condition. Nay, what stopped him was the boy, young man, standing at her side there.

  He was clearly of Cameron blood, the crooked nose inherited generation after generation declared him so, and yet Davidh did not remember seeing this boy in the village...or ever.

  ‘What happened to my son?’ he asked. With a nod at this newcomer, he continued, ‘And who is this?’ Facing them, he noticed the similarity in colouring to Anna.

  ‘This is my son, Iain,’ she said, placing her hands on the boy’s shoulders. ‘He found Colm clinging to the rocks below.’

  Davidh stared at the boy and then at his...mother. Why had she kept him a secret? Where had he been? Ah, the movement he’d seen several times in the forest, in the shadows. The boy had been here all along. He had many questions, but his own son’s racking cough stopped everything. Davidh went to his side, but Anna pushed her way there.

  ‘He has a fever and the cough has returned. We got him out of his wet clothing and made him warm. The tea has several herbs in it to help his symptoms.’

  Concise and clear, her explanation gave him all the important details, but they left out much of the story he needed to know. Her own garments were soaked and he could feel the damp seeping into his own trews where their legs touched.

  ‘If you will sit behind him a
nd support him, I must get more into him now.’

  Davidh picked up the slight body of his son and slid behind him. They arranged him against Davidh’s chest, all the while Colm made no sound and did not rouse. After pouring more of the fragrant brew into a cup, Anna handed it to him and they worked to get it in his son. When her hands and body trembled, Davidh realised that she was cold and wet.

  ‘You should get out of those wet garments,’ he said. ‘I am the one without any healing skills, if you should grow ill.’

  ‘Try to wake him while I do,’ Anna said. She walked to the other side of the cottage and into a smaller chamber.

  He spoke to his son, called his name and shook him gently, but nothing seemed to work. He was deeply asleep or unconscious and would not wake. Glancing into the shadows, he realised that her son stood there watching everything without speaking a word.

  ‘Iain? How many years have you?’ he asked the simple question to get the boy to speak to him. He’d remained hidden for almost a fortnight so Davidh suspected the boy would be wary of strangers.

  ‘Ten and almost three,’ he replied. The boy remained there, nothing moving except his gaze which flitted back and forth from Davidh to his mother’s chamber.

  ‘My thanks for finding my son,’ he said. ‘No doubt he would be dead if you had not.’ The boy nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. The gesture felt somehow familiar to Davidh, but he did not know why. ‘Can you tell me what happened or how he got there?’

  Anna entered and nodded at the boy. ‘Go ahead, Iain. Tell the commander what you saw.’

  ‘They, your son and others, were gathered around the pool. It looked like they were fighting...arguing. Yelling back and forth and then your son started climbing the falls.’

  ‘I do not understand,’ Davidh said. ‘He knew the other way. He could have reached the top without going near the water.’