by Bess McBride
A deep voice murmured against my ear.
“I have a sgian-dubh inside the lining of my coat, Debra. Ye’ll have to pry the shot out wi the tip of the knife.”
I jerked up to a sitting position. Iskair looked at me with half-open eyelids.
“I can’t!”
“Ye must, lass. Ye can do this.”
His eyes fluttered again.
“Iskair! Where is everyone? Are they hiding? Can I find someone to help? One of the guys?”
“Gone. Macleod took them. I dinna ken about the lads.”
“What about Dylan?”
Iskair’s eyes closed again.
“Iskair?”
He had fainted again. I lifted my hand and peeked under the bandage. His wound still oozed, and I suspected that the pistol shot was keeping the wound from clotting.
I searched the lining of his jacket for the sgian-dubh and pulled out a sheath from which I retrieved a deadly looking short, sharp dagger. I removed my bandage from his wound and studied the broken reddened skin.
Rising up on my knees, I leaned close, the metallic smell of blood pungent. I couldn’t immediately see the pistol shot, which I assumed would be a round lead pellet. I glanced at Iskair’s face. He appeared to be unconscious again, the better for him.
I dreaded sticking a knife into Iskair’s groin, terrified that I would push the shot farther or nick an artery. I set the sgian-dubh aside and slipped my index finger into the wound. Iskair didn’t flinch so I assumed he was well and truly out of it. I didn’t feel the shot at first and pushed my finger in farther before encountering a hard surface. Too thick to pull out with one finger, I reached for the sgian-dubh with a shaking hand. Guiding the tip in slowly, I maneuvered it around the shot, pricking myself in the process.
As Iskair and I mixed blood, I imprisoned the shot between my finger and the blade and withdrew it slowly. Blood started flowing then, and I gritted my teeth, as I had no doubt that it was Iskair’s blood. I had plenty to spare. He did not.
The shot popped out, and I dropped everything, grabbed the bandage and reapplied pressure both to his groin and the wound. I had no way to stitch Iskair and no intention of doing it anyway. My head throbbed. I had reached my limit of personal bravery and was about ready to pass out myself.
My shoulders sagged, and I longed to drape myself over Iskair’s chest, but his breathing appeared rapid and shallow. I didn’t dare. I kept the pressure on for another ten minutes and then lifted my hand. Peeking under the bandage, I saw that the blood flow had stopped.
I searched for something to tie the bandage with. Ripping a strip off my arisaid, I wrapped it around Iskair’s hips as best I could and tied it off. Then I lay down by his side, wrapped an arm through his and either slept or fainted.
“Lass?” I heard sometime later.
“Iskair?” I opened my eyes and jerked upright. Iskair lay flat on his back where I had left him, though he turned his head to look at me. Over his shoulder, I saw through one of the apertures that twilight descended.
“Can ye help me rise? I must search the castle for the others. No sooner did I reach the hall than I was shot. I knew no more.”
I scrambled to my knees and paused. “I’m not sure I want to pull you upright. I’d really like to see your wound clot. I did manage to dig the shot out.”
“Thank ye,” he said, his voice huskier than ever. I searched for one of the containers of water but remembered seeing none of them. Presumably, the Macleods had taken all the food and drink.
“I canna lie here. I must search the castle. Help me rise, lass.”
I rose and held out my hand, eyeing Iskair’s large frame with misgiving. I doubted that I could really pull the big man up. Iskair grasped my hand and rose to a sitting position. He paused, breathing heavily, my hand still caught in his.
“Please don’t do this, Iskair.”
“I must,” he said. Balling up a fist and pressing it against his wound, he worked his way onto his knees, grasped his sword, and then pushed himself upright, obviously sparing me as much of his weight as possible by leaning on the sword like a cane.
Upon reaching his full height, he swayed, and I dropped his hand and ran up under his left arm to support him. To attempt to support him, that was. With my slight frame, I needed to brace my feet apart as I struggled to steady him. It was as if I tried to hold a falling oak tree upright.
Beads of sweat ran down Iskair’s face though the temperature had cooled as evening fell.
“Please don’t faint,” I muttered. “You’ll hit the ground and start bleeding again.”
I reached for his kilt to examine the wound, but Iskair stayed my hand.
“Lass, I canna have ye lifting my kilt.”
I looked up at him and rolled my eyes. “You have got to be kidding me! There’s nothing you have that I haven’t seen by now, Iskair.”
“I ken that is true, but allow me my pride. What is it that ye wish me to see?”
“I want to know if blood is soaking through the bandage.”
He nodded, sheathed his sword and turned partially away from me. He lifted his kilt to examine the wound. Dropping the material, he turned back, still allowing me to steady him.
“No blood flows down my leg.”
“Okay,” I said in an exasperated voice. “Well, now that you’re up, what do you want to do?”
“I must search the second floor and the garret to see if the lads are–”
“Are?”
“If harm came to them.”
I nodded grimly.
“I haven’t heard sounds to suggest that anyone else is here...or alive.”
He nodded. “Can ye hand me my pistol?”
I leaned over and picked up the pistol. He stuck it in his belt.
“The sun is fading. We must find water and something to eat.”
“You do need to drink. You’ve lost a lot of blood. There was that well down below, but I would need to boil the water.”
“Come—let us climb the stairs.”
Iskair, to my amazement, stepped out of my arms and moved toward the spiral staircase leading to the upper floors. Granted, he walked with a painful-looking shuffle, but he willed himself to move.
He paused at the foot of the stairs, looking upward, his head half-turned, as if he listened.
Instinctively, I whispered, “Do you want me to run up there and see what I can?”
He shook his head. “Nay, if there is blood, I dinna wish ye to see it.”
“I’ve seen plenty of blood today.”
Iskair turned and looked down at me.
“I didna mean the fluid.”
I nodded, understanding then that he meant death. If the Macleods had slaughtered any of the Morrisons, he didn’t want me to see it.
He began his ascent on his right foot, dragging his left leg behind him. I reached up to steady his back so that he didn’t fall over, but I knew I couldn’t possibly have stopped his fall.
I followed his slow progress up the stairs, hoping that his blood loss and obvious pain didn’t make him keel over. He reached the upper floor and paused. I had never been up there and had no idea what he looked at.
“Nay, there is no one here,” Iskair said in a low voice. He shuffled out of sight, and I ran up behind him. Upon reaching the second floor, I saw him standing on a stone slab just inside an arched doorway. I imagined what I looked at must have been a hallway with rooms leading from it, but the floor was largely gone. I saw bits of wood planking here and there, but most of it had disappeared. I assumed much of the wood had been carried away by locals over the years for firewood. All that remained were the vaulted ceilings of the great hall below.
“Wow,” I said. “This really is a ruin.”
“Aye.” He turned around. “To the garret where I sent Kenny and Euan. I am no looking forward to reaching it.”
We returned to the stairs, and Iskair dragged himself up to the top floor. We emerged onto a stone parapet that ran the circumfer
ence of the square tower. While the walls supporting what must have been the roof were still intact, the roof itself was gone, leaving a vast hole in the middle of the castle.
“Where are they?” Iskair asked, stepping out onto the walkway. “Mind yer step.”
I followed him as he scanned the roofline. He made his way toward one of the square openings in the walls and looked out. From the way Iskair looked down at the ground, I wondered if he searched for men who had been thrown off. The idea made me queasy. I walked over to the next window and thrust my head out to look down.
We faced the back of the castle, and I saw no broken bodies on the green turf below, though as Iskair had said, sunlight was fading. I felt him at my elbow, and I looked up.
“Do you think Kenny and Euan didn’t come up here?”
“Nay, I am certain that they did. It is possible that they saw the Macleods coming and ran down to warn the others, then engaged in battle. I dinna think it likely that Angus Macleod would take the men hostage.”
“He would have killed them,” I said flatly.
Iskair nodded.
“Aye.”
I turned and searched the rest of the roofline. The stones of the parapet on the front side of the castle had fallen away, and we couldn’t go over there, but I knew that no dead men littered the ground in front of the castle.
“So where are they?”
“I dinna ken. I didna see them when I rushed back into the castle. The Macleods had already gathered the women and children afore I reached the hall. I saw Ann and the woman Catherine holding the auld men, before I was shot. It would seem that the women prevailed and the auld men were taken alive.”
“So you think the Macleods actually took the women and children? They didn’t—”
“Nay, Angus would no harm his grandbairns, and truth be told, he fancies Ann. I believe they are alive.”
“Fancies Ann?” My eyes widened.
“Aye, he did want her for himself when he first saw her. She is in some danger from him, but I dinna ken he will kill her.”
“Would they have killed Dylan?”
Iskair startled me by placing gentle fingers under my chin to lift my face to his.
“I didna see him, lass. I dinna ken why they would take him. He is of no use to the Macleods.”
I remembered Dylan told me Cynthia had saved herself by pretending her father would pay ransom.
“What about ransom? Dylan comes from a wealthy family. They would pay for him!”
Iskair eyed me intently before shaking his head.
“Again, ye concern me, lass. If Dylan is yer brother, why do ye speak of him as if he comes from another family? Secondly, perhaps ye were no aware, but the promise of ransom has already been shown to be a falsehood. Angus would no believe such a thing were I to speak of such an offer again. He kens that my cousin, Murdo Macaulay, was betrayed by Cynthia. I was betrayed by Cynthia. My time has no been easy since she escaped.”
“I heard about that,” I said ruefully.
“Did ye now? That I was made a fool of?”
“No, no one thinks that, Iskair. Cynthia was just fighting for her life.”
“Cynthia and I have made our peace, but Murdo no longer trusts my judgment.”
“No, I guess not. I’m sorry.”
Iskair tilted his head. “Ye have no need to apologize, but I thank ye for yer kindness. If ye wish yer water, we must go down to the well on the ground floor. I dinna ken what has become of my pouch. I will collect some wood for fire, and ye can boil yer water as ye wish.”
Iskair gestured that I should precede him, and I climbed down the stairs, pausing when he stopped to rest, until we reached the ground floor, where the small well centered the chamber.
“I’ll go get the wood,” I said. “I saw some downed branches when I came through the forest.”
“Nay, I canna have ye marching about on yer own. I dinna ken if Macleod left some of his lads here, perhaps hoping that the Morrison men would come.”
“Why would they assume John and his men would come here? They didn’t know about the courier you sent.”
“They would if they captured him afore he reached John.”
Chapter Ten
We collected wood, albeit slowly. Iskair challenged himself by carrying far too heavy a load, but there was no arguing with him. He dropped them on the stairs and conceded that I could run up and down the stairs with them.
Using a flint and one of the smaller stones lying about the ruins, Iskair started a fire in a corner of the chamber, far from the open doorway.
I peered down into the well, seeing water glistening within.
“What would we boil it with? How do we get it out? Any ideas?” I asked over my shoulder.
Iskair made as if to rise, albeit painfully.
“Don’t get up. Just tell me what to do.”
“I dinna normally boil water, but I ken ye believe ye must.” He seemed to think for a minute before speaking again. “Find a stone that is hollowed out enough to hold a wee bit of water, and bring it to the fire.”
“Good idea!” I looked around. Most of the stones on the castle walls were still largely mortared in. “Should I run down to the beach to see if I can find one there?” A peek out the door showed that night had fallen in earnest. I didn’t relish traipsing around in the dark.
Iskair shook his head.
“Nay. A wet rock when set fire to will explode.”
“Really?”
“Aye. Perhaps someone left something behind upstairs. Let me go search.”
“No, I can do it!” I looked toward the dark staircase. “Except I have no light.”
“Nay, ye dinna have a torch. I will go.”
Iskair pushed himself to his feet and hobbled over to the staircase. I followed.
“Stay here by the light of the fire, lass. Ye dinna need to trouble yerself.”
“Are you sure?”
“Aye.”
I watched from the bottom of the staircase as Iskair dragged himself up the stairs. Unwilling to leave my post to lounge by the fire, I waited, listening to the sounds as Iskair moved. They faded, and I hugged myself and glanced at the doorway, the darkness outside.
About five minutes passed. “Iskair? Are you all right?” I called out.
I heard no response. My heart, never really back to its pre-sixteenth-century regular rhythm, jumped as I imagined that Iskair had fainted. I grabbed up the front hem of my skirts and climbed the stairs, the light from the fire fading as the staircase wound around. I emerged into the now darkened great hall.
“Iskair?” I called out. “Are you all right?”
“Aye,” he said from somewhere nearby. “It was no easy task in the dark, but I found a cup that someone left behind...and some oatcakes. We shall feast this night!”
I felt his presence beside me, and he took my hand in his. The skin of his palm felt a bit warm, too warm, and I wondered if he was coming down with a fever. If so, that likely meant an infection. My heart sank.
“You feel hot,” I said as we turned to descend the stairs. This time, Iskair led the way.
“Aye, I feel warm.”
“What if your wound is infected? I don’t know what to do, Iskair.”
“Infected?”
“Festering, whatever you call it.”
“Auch, I ken yer meaning now. I truly hope not. I have no time for such nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense. We need to do something!”
We reached the ground floor, and Iskair hobbled over to the wall near the fire. Upon reaching the fire, he withdrew the pistol from his belt, settling that and his sword down on the floor. He lowered himself to a sitting position and withdrew a small flask from the folds of his sash along with the oatcakes wrapped in cloth.
“I found the whisky upstairs. I dinna like spirits but thought ye might care for a bit of whisky.”
“That’s it! That’s what we’ll do! We’ll pour that on your wound.”
“Auc
h, nay, lass. I ken that will smart!”
“I think it will,” I said, taking the flask from him. “Lift your kilt and let me look at your wound.”
Iskair eyed me for a moment before complying. I noted he was careful to show me only his wound. I pried the bandage away, worried that I might disrupt whatever clotting had occurred, but no new blood flowed. The area surrounding the hole was indeed red and hot.
“Okay, I’m going to pour some of the whisky over it. Are you ready?”
“Aye.” He nodded. “If ye think it necessary.”
“I do,” I said, wincing as I poured some liquid over the wound.
Iskair drew in a sharp breath and hissed, but he said nothing. I readjusted the bandage and sat back to look at him.
“Are you all right?”
“Aye. I will live.” Lines creased his forehead.
“You are so tough,” I said in awe.
He shook his head. “Get yer water.”
He handed me the cup, and I rose to head for the well. The level of the water was about three feet below the surface, forcing me to lie on my stomach and lean in to scoop out a cup. I was not unaware that I would have to refill the small cup repeatedly, but I supposed we were lucky that some poor soul had thought to bring the cup along.
I returned to the fire and set it down on a flat rock that Iskair had positioned on the edge of the fire.
“Tea would be nice about now,” I said randomly as I waited for the water to boil.
“Aye!” He lifted the flask to his lips and took a sip.
“I thought you didn’t like spirits,” I said.
“I dinna, but the wee cup disna hold much water.”
“You know, it’s probably just as well that you drink some of the whisky to ease your pain. Just leave me some to reapply to your wound.”
“Again?” Iskair took another sip.
“Maybe in about twelve hours. We’ll see.”
He rolled his eyes, and I almost laughed.
“Here. Eat.”
I took the oatcake he offered me and bit into it. A howling sound from outside startled me, and I jerked my head around to look at the doorway.
“Dinna fash, lass. It is only the wind.” Iskair’s deep voice reassured me, and I turned back to the fire.
