Troubled By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (Highlander Forever Book 6)

by Rebecca Preston

  Connor frowned, looking thoughtful. "I suppose it's possible they've had contact with a different set of sores," he said, an amused look creeping across his face. "It's not unusual for milkmaids and cowherders to end up in bed together, after all…"

  Karen wrinkled her nose at the thought of that… but she had to admit, that was a likely explanation for what had happened. After all, the girls had been sick for a week — that was plenty of time to have spread the infection to the cowherders. "Can't imagine anyone being interested in those young men," she said, and Connor laughed.

  "We all made our fair share of mistakes in our youth, didn't we?" he teased her gently, his eyes sparkling. "Are you telling me you never had a flirtation with some rough young man?"

  "Not like those men," she said, wrinkling her nose. "But you're right. I might check with the girls, see if they've got lovers among the cowherders — it's better to catch the disease early, especially if it's already spreading so deeply into the human population."

  They rode back to the inn together after that, chatting idly about her work back home, and the similarities it bore to what they were doing now. But Karen couldn't help feeling a little distracted, preoccupied by the investigation. There was something here that didn't quite add up… some information she was missing. Information she needed to get her job done.

  And she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

  Chapter 16

  The rest of the day passed pleasantly enough. Connor had told her that Old Maggie was coming out to check up on the herds the next day, and she jumped at the chance to be invited along to help — she'd heard so much of this mysterious figure that she was determined to meet her as soon as she had the chance. It seemed Maggie was something of a local expert on livestock as well as on illnesses. Karen was hoping she could shed some light on the Sidhe, and on what strange forces had brought her here. Her decision to make the best of her strange situation was making her feel a lot better, but she still had some lingering questions — and a fair bit of apprehension about the strange new life she was entering. Knowledge was power, and it seemed Maggie was the one who knew the most about the supernatural goings-on around here. She just hoped the old woman would be willing to share some of her information.

  Her night's sleep was restful, and thankfully untroubled by strange dreams, and when she woke at dawn, she felt rested and ready. Her body, it seemed, was already getting used to spending time on horseback, with her legs much less sore and stiff than they had been the day before, and she found herself humming happily as she headed down the stairs for breakfast, looking forward to what the day ahead held. She, Kay, and Connor had volunteered to help the villagers begin to sort through the herds, looking for infected animals and quarantining them separately to help slow or ideally stop the spread of the disease. Cowpox was unpleasant in humans, and problematic in cattle — sick animals had a direct impact on the village's food supplies, after all. It felt strange, to live so close to the actual source of one's breakfast, lunch and dinner… she was so used to being alienated from the source of her meals. One more thing to get used to, she supposed.

  After breakfast, she went to collect her horse from the stable. Connor had insisted she keep the mare for the time being — she'd already grown attached to the horse, and she stroked her nose affectionately as she got her tacked up and ready for the day. Having a car was fine… but cars didn't shove their noses into your hands and close their eyes happily when you rubbed their necks. She much preferred this particular way of getting around.

  By the time she reached the paddock that had been designated for quarantined animals, she realized with a shock that she'd been running late. The paddock was a flurry of activity — she could see Liam and Connor in the midst of the cows, working hard to separate one animal from its fellows. As she watched, they wrestled one young cow over to the fence, where she saw Kay standing next to a pile of rags… but she got a shock when the rags shifted and she realized that it wasn't a pile, but a person. Shockingly short — well under five feet tall — and wearing what seemed to be at least a dozen layers of mismatched clothing, the figure peered at the cow that was presented to it, then waved an imperious hand and the two men began wrestling the cow away to a paddock where several cows were already waiting.

  She urged her horse toward the fence where Kay was standing next to the woman — then blinked in shock as she almost ran down a slight young woman with bright red hair, who was standing in her path with an imperious look on her face. A girl of maybe sixteen, with a pair of enormous blue eye that held a great deal of authority — she waved Karen down from her horse, curiosity vibrant on her face.

  "You're the new one the Sidhe brought, right?" she said breathlessly, taking the horse's reins from Karen's unprotesting hands. "Karen, right?"

  "Yeah, that's me," Karen said blankly, a little taken aback by the plucky girl.

  "I knew it! You talk just like Kay and the others," the girl said with a grin. "Brilliant to meet you. I'm Kaitlyn. I'm Maggie's apprentice," she added, sticking her chest out with pride evident in her posture.

  "I'm looking forward to meeting her," Karen said. "I've heard a lot about her."

  "Don't believe a word the villagers say," Kaitlyn said, rolling her eyes. "She's not a witch. Well, I mean… most of what she does isn't witchcraft, anyway. It's not her fault half the people round here are too dumb to know the difference between magic and medicine. Anyway, come on," she said firmly. "I'll go put your horse with the others. You go meet Maggie."

  From Kaitlyn's gestures, Karen surmised that Maggie was in fact the short-statured person she'd mistaken for a pile of rags. She felt an odd thrill of apprehension, though, as she approached Kay and the small figure. For all that she was barely the height of a child, there was something about Maggie that suggested a much more powerful presence. And that apprehension wasn't alleviated by the beady-eyed stare she received when she approached the two of them.

  "There you are!" Kay said brightly.

  Was she really that late? It was barely past dawn… it seemed she had something to learn about how early people got up around here.

  "Karen, this is Maggie. Maggie — this is Karen Frakes, our newest arrival."

  "Aye, I can see that," Maggie said thoughtfully.

  Her voice was — fascinating. Something odd about it, some kind of resonance that made it more powerful than an old woman's voice had any right to be. There was something about Maggie that suggested her appearance belied her true nature, and Karen made a quiet note not to underestimate this little old woman any time soon.

  "Good to meet you, Karen. You're settling in well?"

  "Pretty well," she said with a smile. "It's all… pretty overwhelming, but I'm coping."

  "I can see that, too. Good," the woman said with a sudden cackle. "A bit of mettle is a valuable thing. I understand you're investigating the spread of the pox?"

  "That's right," she said. Had her friends been telling Maggie about all her movements — or did the woman just know things? Somehow, she suspected it could be either. "I'm a doctor — well, I was a doctor. And an infectious disease specialist, back in my own time."

  Maggie looked very thoughtful at that. "The Sidhe choose to send us a medicine woman just as an outbreak of pox hits the village. Very interesting. No question as to the role you're destined to play here, hmm?"

  She hesitated, not sure how to respond to that. Was she destined to play a role? What role? Was Maggie suggesting that the Sidhe had put her here with some knowledge of what was going on — that it wasn't just a coincidence that an epidemiologist had arrived just as an epidemic seemed about to tear through town? "I'll do my best," she said with a shrug. "I'm used to having a lot more equipment, though…"

  "Nonsense," Maggie said briskly. "All you need is a good mind. That one's sick," she added, barely looking away from Karen as Connor and Liam wrestled another cow toward her.

  "How'd you know?" Karen said, frowning as she looked after the animal — it d
idn't have any visible sores on its udders, not that she could make out from this distance at any rate.

  "Just a hunch," Maggie said solemnly… though the way Kay covered her mouth with one hand to hide a smile made Karen suspect something else was at play.

  Chapter 17

  So, the day wore on. It wasn't long before Karen and Kay had gotten involved with the work, heading into the herd to drag animal after animal before Maggie's watchful eye. Some of them were obviously sick, with lesions clear as day on their udders — these they took straight to the quarantine paddock. The ones that seemed fine they took to Maggie, whose practiced eye seemed to be able to tell sick from well… even when there were no visible signs of illness. Karen was a little worried they were putting healthy animals in with the sick ones — but as everyone else seemed to trust Maggie's judgment absolutely, she made the decision to do so as well. After all, she was hardly going to argue with the most respected witch in the village, now was she?

  "What are you grinning about?" Kay glanced over to her. They were on the other side of the paddock, taking a quick breather. The villagers had heard that Maggie was in town, checking on the cattle — it seemed every farmer in town was driving his herd down to be inspected, and the paddock was filling up just as fast as they could empty it. The sick herd in the quarantine paddock was growing, too.

  "Just thinking about Maggie. She's quite a character."

  "Oh, you don't know the half of it," Kay said with a laugh. "She acts all tough, but she's as soft as anything on the inside. Loves shortbread, too. That's her secret weakness." Kay chuckled with her eyes twinkling. "Don't tell her I told you, but if you ever need a favor from her, shortbread's the path to her heart. Especially the kind that Blair makes, up at the Keep."

  "How does she know whether the cows are sick?" Karen wanted to know, keeping her voice low. Maggie was far away, but something about the woman suggested that she might have better hearing than a regular person.

  "It's either magic or experience," Kay said with a shrug. "Doesn't really matter which, does it? I think she likes people to assume magic, though."

  "Is she actually…" Karen hesitated, unsure of how to phrase this. "Can she actually do magic?"

  "Oh, yes. She's a half-fae," Kay explained. "She doesn't talk about her parents much, but we know one of her parents were Fae and we think she grew up beyond the Burgh, in the world of the Fae. So did Maeve, up at the Keep. She's actually a Changeling, and has bright silver eyes, which were a gift from the Fae," she explained. "She knows a few tricks, too — mostly uses them to entertain children. Maggie's powers are a lot more … significant, I suppose, seeing as she is actually half-fae. I'm certain she saved my life when I first got here. Most of us got sick when we first arrived here," she explained. "Something about the germs… it might happen to you, too."

  That hadn't even occurred to her. "Of course. Our immune systems wouldn't have been ready for the bacteria and pathogens they encountered here…" She frowned to herself. Was she about to fall sick again with some kind of horrible flu she hadn't had a chance to develop an immunity to? What if it killed her? Again?

  "Maybe you won't," Kay said with a shrug. "If you were sick when the Sidhe took you, they might've just cured you of all illness. Anyway, if you do get sick, talk to Maggie. She'll set you straight."

  The two of them gazed out over the paddocks, taking a moment to enjoy the peace. It was midmorning now — the work had been going on for hours, and Karen was already looking forward to a hearty lunch at the inn once they'd finished quarantining the sick animals. She'd been a little worried about mixing up the herds so thoroughly, but it seemed all the farmers could recognize their own cows, so it would be easy enough to return them to their homes once they were well again and unlikely to infect their fellows. Liam and Connor were working together to separate a cow from the herd, and Connor looked up to meet her eyes as she looked at him, for all the world as though he'd sensed her gaze. He gave her a broad grin and a wave, and she waved back, trying to fight the flush that rose to her cheeks at having been spotted.

  But it seemed Connor wasn't the one she needed to have been worried about seeing her blush. Kay had whipped her head around faster than Karen had believed possible, and there was a keen look on her face when she looked back over to her that took her aback.

  "What?"

  "You've been spending a bit of time with our Connor, haven't you?" she said thoughtfully, her eyes twinkling.

  Karen could see where this was going from a mile off. "I know, I know. One of the barmaids at Thomas's inn already warned me. He's a womanizer, he's a playboy, all of that stuff. It's fine. We're just friends." Not that she would have necessarily minded being more than that, her treacherous mind whispered… but she suppressed that thought as firmly as she could. But Kay was looking thoughtful.

  "I actually disagree," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe he was that way a few years ago… but I honestly think our Connor has been growing out of that particular phase. Men always do, eventually. He's been seen with far fewer women around town of late. I have a suspicion he's interested in settling down."

  "That's nice," Karen managed with a shrug, trying to stop her face from burning the way it was. What did it matter to her whether Connor wanted to settle down with some girl? No business of hers whatsoever… but Kay's eyes were gleaming knowingly.

  "He seems rather taken with you," she said innocently. "The way he looked up when he saw you riding up this morning… the way he hangs on your every word…"

  "He does not," Karen murmured, embarrassed — and, to her dismay, more than a little thrilled — at what Kay was saying.

  The woman chuckled, turning her gaze back to the paddock now that she'd clearly satisfied herself that Karen was a little more interested in Connor than she was willing to admit.

  "We're just friends, that's all. He helped me when I first got here, so I'm helping him with the epidemic. That's the only reason we're spending so much time together."

  "I wouldn't be so sure." Kay shrugged, her eyes dancing. "But whatever you say. I think he's interested. Do with that what you will."

  "I'd have no idea," Karen said, rolling her eyes. "I never have any idea if anyone's interested in me. Absolutely useless with men, me."

  "That sounds familiar," Kay admitted with a broad smile. "But if it's any consolation… well, if I ended up with the love of my life, you can too." She tilted her head. "But how are you doing, really? With everything we talked about the other night…"

  "Honestly, I'm doing okay," she said with a smile. "Thanks for — for filling me in. And for being honest about all of it. It's a lot to handle, but… I think I'll be okay. It helps to have something to do," she added, gesturing at the herd of cattle. "Something to focus on aside from how far away home is."

  "For sure," Karen agreed with a smile. "We'd better get back to it, hey? Fancy that. You travel hundreds of years into the past and thousands of miles from home and you still wind up herding dumb animals into quarantine to stop them from getting sick."

  "At least these dumb animals stay in quarantine when we put them there," she laughed, gesturing to the cattle. "Humans are much harder to control. I'd take a sick cow over a sick human any day."

  Chapter 18

  It was a long, hard day. By the end of it, her body was sore and aching — but they'd successfully quarantined all the ill cattle from their fellows. Karen suggested running regular checks on the remaining cattle in order to catch any of the animals for whom the pox was still incubating and not yet showing symptoms, but Maggie just chuckled at that, explaining that she was fairly certain she'd gotten all of the sick ones, not just the ones who were showing symptoms. Remembering what Kay had said about Maggie being a half- fae, Karen just nodded her assent, happy to trust the woman. After all, if magic had brought her here, was it really so outlandish to assume that magic could tell a sick cow from a well one?

  They talked a little about the way the infection had jumped to humans. All four o
f them had been wearing thick leather gloves all day while handling the cattle, just in case, and Maggie didn't seem surprised to hear that a handful of milkmaids had already fallen ill — she rummaged in the depths of the ratty cardigan that she was wearing as the top layer over all her other clothing and withdrew a little pot, which she pressed into Karen's hands after a moment.

  "You'll be visiting the maids again, yes? That's for the lesions. Helps them heal and stops them itching."

  "Great," Karen said thankfully, tucking it away. "If you have any more, the herdsmen might need some."

  "The herdsmen?" Maggie looked up sharply at that, a frown on her face. "Men've caught it?"

  "A couple of them, yes. We saw the lesions at the inn a few nights back."

  "Don't like that," Maggie muttered to herself, a dark look on her face — but when pressed, she grew cagey, refusing to explain what she meant. But Karen couldn't help drawing a connection with the unease she'd felt when she'd visited with Mary. Something here didn't add up… and she was determined to figure out what it was.

  The salve was as good an excuse as any to get up bright and early the next day to head over and visit with Mary again. It was a pleasant ride despite her aching muscles from the work the day before — it was surprising how much strength it took to wrangle sick cows. She rode past the quarantine paddock on her way up, smiling to herself at the way the cattle were peacefully grazing. Even all coming from different herds, they already looked like the best of friends. There was something lovable about cows, and she hoped very much that the creatures weren't in too much discomfort as a result of their sores.

  Cameron answered the door to the cottage, just as she'd expected. The boy was bright-eyed and bursting with energy, and quickly showed Karen inside, rattling on about how carefully he'd looked after Mary, about how he'd washed his hands every time and been very careful about touching her sores. He seemed fascinated by the nature of the disease and how it was conveyed, and she couldn't help but smile, answering his questions with as much patience as she could. She recognized that enthusiasm, that interest — it was exactly how she'd been as a child, exactly what had brought her to the study of medicine as an adult. Perhaps the village's next doctor was right here in this room, chattering away to her about his sister.