Through a Dark Glass

by Barb Hendee

  Kai, Sebastian, and Daveed entered the room.

  “Sebastian, help me with this armor,” I asked.

  As he moved to assist me, Kai looked down at us.

  “Daveed,” he said. “What did you mean about Rolf? Where is he?”

  Daveed wouldn’t look at anyone, and he began speaking quietly. “Dead, back where he fell. Right as we rode up to the lodge to meet Lord Allemond, men came out of the trees . . . maybe thirty of them. We were outnumbered. They struck Rolf down first.”

  He went on to say that Jarrod had been injured, but not fallen off his horse. Daveed had jumped onto the horse and ridden fast before he could be stopped.

  “I left everyone else behind,” he said, his voice edged with pain and self-recrimination.

  The room fell silent again, but now Kai was shaking.

  “You did the right thing,” I said to Daveed. “What else could you do? Had you not tried to save Lord Jarrod, you’d both be dead.”

  Daveed raised his eyes to me, but I’d only spoken the truth.

  “It was Allemond?” Kai demanded. “He planned this?”

  Daveed nodded. “Yes, he must have.”

  “Then he’s dead! Captain, prepare the men! All of them. We’ll attack tonight and burn Monvílle Hall to the ground.”

  “No,” Sebastian broke in. “Captain, stand down. We can’t attack the Monvílle estate. That place is a fortress, and with a wall high enough for archers.”

  “We can’t sit here and do nothing!” Kai shouted. “They killed Rolf!”

  Sebastian grabbed his shoulders. “I didn’t say we’d do nothing.”

  Kai jerked away, lost in grief, but I suspected Sebastian was right. An open attack would only further injure the Volodanes.

  Standing, I hurried to Kai. “I’ll write to my father and tell him everything. When the council learns of this, Allemond will be punished.”

  Sebastian joined us. “Good. Kai, listen to her. She’s right, and I won’t allow any of our men to be killed in a futile attempt.”

  As he said this, I realized that with Rolf gone and Jarrod incapacitated, Sebastian was in charge of the keep.

  I turned back toward Jarrod, whose eyes were still closed. “Everything else can wait. Is there a physician within riding distance?”

  “Not that I know of,” Sebastian answered.

  “There’s Abigail,” Kai said, his voice still shaking. “I can ride and get her.”

  “No,” Sebastian said flatly. “He wouldn’t want that.”

  “Who’s Abigail?” I asked.

  “A wise woman from the village just beyond our own,” Kai answered. “She’s a skilled healer.”

  “She’s a witch,” Sebastian said, “and Father wouldn’t want her touching him.”

  His words surprised me. At this point, we had to try anything.

  “I’m going to see what’s taking so long with the water,” I said. “We need to clean the wound. Kai, would you come with me?”

  He looked so defeated that for a moment, I wasn’t sure he’d heard me. Then he followed me out into the passage. Once we were alone, I gripped his shirtsleeve.

  “Is this Abigail a true healer?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’ve seen her at work.”

  “How far away is she?”

  His eyes settled on my face, and I had his full attention. “Two villages to the east, but the distance isn’t far.”

  “Then ride and get her. Bring her here.”

  “Sebastian said no.”

  “He’s wrong. If we don’t do something, try something, your father will die.”

  As the youngest member of the Volodanes, perhaps Kai had lived so long under the shadow of doing as he was ordered that it had never occurred to him to disobey an order from his father or one of his brothers.

  But now, as my words sank in, he nodded. “I’ll hurry.”

  Then he was running down the passage for the stairs. Betty bustled past him, carrying a basin of warm water. She and I entered the room, and I set about cleaning Jarrod’s wound.

  Sebastian stood behind me, watching for a while, and then he looked around. “Where’s Kai?”

  “I sent him after Abigail.”

  “What?”

  His tone held an edge of threat I’d never heard, but then again, I’d never crossed him before.

  “We must try something. Kai cannot lose his brother and his father in the same night, and I know you don’t want your father to die.”

  A flicker passed across his eyes, and I shivered. Did he wish for his father’s death?

  “I’ll not let her bleed him further or use any leeches,” he said.

  I didn’t answer. If she were a woman to employ such methods, Kai never would have suggested her name. He never would have ridden to fetch her.

  “Daveed,” I said. “Go and find Miriam and have her tend to your head. Then you should rest.”

  Sebastian nodded to him, and he went out. Shortly after this, Sebastian cleared the room of everyone but himself and me. Jarrod hadn’t even twitched. His chest barely rising and falling was the only indication that he still lived.

  “I’m sorry about Rolf,” I said softly.

  “I wish I could be,” Sebastian answered.

  Were they really so estranged that he couldn’t even mourn his dead brother? It wouldn’t be so for Kai. He had loved Rolf.

  Time ticked by, and finally, I heard hurried footsteps out in the passage.

  Kai ran in. “I’ve brought Abigail. We must let her try.”

  Someone entered behind him. She was not at all what I’d expected. In my mind, I’d pictured a crone, an old wise woman. But Abigail was perhaps thirty. She wore a faded red gown, and her thick brown hair hung loose down her back. She carried a bag in her hands.

  I stood. “Thank you so much for coming. Will you come look at his wound?” I pitched my voice to show her the respect a healer deserved, and she came to join me.

  Sebastian tensed, but glanced at Kai and said nothing.

  Leaning down, Abigail spoke only to me as she probed Jarrod’s wound. “The blade missed any organs, my lady, but we must stop the bleeding. He’s lost so much already.”

  “How can we seal it?”

  She opened her bag and removed several items. “I have thin fishing line and a small needle. I’ll need to sew him up.”

  Looking up to Sebastian, I begged, “Please.”

  Emotions warred across his face. “And what if her tender ministrations kill him?”

  Kai strode over. “He’s more likely to die if we do nothing! Let her try.”

  With a sharp exhale, Sebastian stepped away.

  I nodded to Abigail, and she began to work, threading the needle and starting at the left side of Jarrod’s wound. She sewed carefully and slowly, and the process took some time. We were well into the night by the time she finished.

  After tying off the thread, she drew a bottle from her bag. “I’ll need a clean rag.”

  “What is that?” Sebastian asked.

  Again, she spoke to me. “It’s a mixture of ground garlic and ginger in vinegar. It must be applied to the wound three times a day to stave off infection.”

  I felt some of my tension easing. Kai had been right to ride out for this woman.

  “Thank you,” I said, grasping her hand. “We’ll see that you are well paid.” For the first time since seeing Jarrod in the courtyard, I began to hope that Kai would not lose his father. I brought a clean rag and Abigail showed me how to apply the mixture.

  “Now, all we can do is wait,” she said.

  “Can you stay the night?” I asked. “We can arrange a guest room.”

  “Yes.”

  “What about you, Megan?” Kai said. “You must be tired.”

  “No, I’ll sit with him.
”

  He pulled a chair over near the bed and sat. “Me too.”

  “Oh, for the sake of the gods,” Sebastian said, sighing and sinking down on the end of the bed. “Then I suppose it’s a family vigil.”

  I hoped this was a front on his part, and that he was more worried about Jarrod than he let on.

  * * * *

  In the early hours of the morning, while Kai slept in his chair and Sebastian dozed at the end of the bed, Jarrod’s eyes fluttered open, and he looked at me sitting beside him.

  “Try not to move,” I whispered. “You’re badly hurt.”

  He watched me in confusion at first, and then I saw some cognition coming back into his face. He tried to speak and failed and tried again.

  “Where’s Rolf?” he got out.

  I grasped his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  * * * *

  The following few days were difficult for us all.

  Jarrod suffered from his wound while dealing with loss on several fronts. He had valued Rolf as a son and a companion. Those two had overseen the land and the harvests and made great plans for the future together.

  With Rolf gone in an instant, what would become of Jarrod’s plans?

  His injury kept him in bed. I sat with him, fed him, and tended his wound.

  Kai was angry and mourning and hungry for revenge. Sometimes, I felt that he was simply waiting for Jarrod to heal enough to announce a plan for vengeance upon Allemond Monvílle.

  Sebastian seemed to struggle with both his obvious lack of mourning and his mixed feelings over his father’s recovery. I understood him the least. He rarely came into Jarrod’s room.

  But on the second day, Kai was with me as I tried feeding his father some broth.

  “I need to get out and check the west fields,” Jarrod said, pushing away the spoon. “Make sure the men there are looking after the wheat and barley.”

  “Father, you can barely sit up,” Kai argued. “You cannot leave that bed.”

  “The men need to know we’re watching!”

  “I’ll ride out,” Kai said.

  “You?”

  “Isn’t Geraldo the leader of the nearest west village? He knows me, and I can make sure he knows I’m watching.”

  Jarrod leaned back and nodded slowly as if this idea had not occurred to him. “Good. Don’t tell him what’s happened. Just tell him you’ll be helping to oversee the harvest this year.”

  “All right.”

  Kai leaned down and brushed my cheek with his lips before he left.

  As the door closed behind him, I turned to Jarrod. “You need to stay calm and not move around so much or you’ll tear your stitches.”

  “I’m not a child.”

  “No one is calling you a child. Now eat some of this broth.”

  That night near dinnertime, I went downstairs while he was resting and asked Betty to bring in our meal, but only Sebastian awaited me in the hall.

  “Where’s Kai?” he asked.

  “Probably not back yet. I’ve gone ahead and told Betty to bring dinner.”

  “Back from where?”

  At that moment, Kai strode in. He was dusty and slightly sunburned, but he also looked less angry than I’d seen him since Rolf’s death.

  “Where have you been?” Sebastian asked.

  “Out in the west fields, but I think the wheat and barley are both in good shape. No signs of disease at all.”

  Sebastian went still. “Father sent you into the fields?”

  “Well, he can’t go himself.”

  A moment of silence followed, and then Betty entered carrying a large tray with a plate of roasted rabbit and potatoes. The three of us moved toward the table. Sebastian seemed troubled, possibly more than troubled, but I couldn’t see why.

  As we sat, he said, “I thought if Father didn’t recover well enough to resume his duties, we might hire a land manager to take over for Rolf.”

  “A land manager?” Kai echoed, sounding appalled. “You know Father would never agree to that. We look after what’s ours.”

  “And you will take Rolf’s place collecting taxes?” Sebastian challenged.

  Kai breathed in through his mouth. “If I have to.”

  “Could we not leave this for now?” I said, hoping to ease the tension. “Your father might make a full recovery, and then he can decide how he’ll wish to proceed. Right now, the loss of Rolf is too fresh for any decisions.”

  Kai looked at me and nodded, but the rest of dinner was a strained affair.

  I didn’t know why Sebastian was so against Kai taking Rolf’s place. If he wanted to be the one taking charge, riding the land, overseeing the crops, why he did not just say so? Kai had a generous heart and would gladly have shared those duties, even taken second place to his older brother. But Sebastian appeared to want no part in these tasks.

  He simply didn’t want Kai doing them either.

  * * * *

  Whether Sebastian liked it or not, Kai rode out every day. Sebastian never once offered to accompany him. At night, in bed, Kai would tell me of his adventures, of the people he met and the flocks or crops he checked.

  “You sound as if you like the work?” I asked.

  “I do. It makes me feel useful, and I like being out on the land, connecting with our people. I want to talk to Father about lowering taxes this year, maybe cutting them in half. We don’t need the money, and our people need more of a chance to thrive.”

  “You’re a good man.”

  By day, I sat with Jarrod. I wouldn’t let him out of bed, but before long, he was able to sit up without tearing his stitches. When he was bored enough to begin snapping at me and finding fault with my every move, I brought in a deck of cards and Kai’s chess set. We played for hours.

  I’d brought some books from home, and I tried reading to him, but much of what I’d brought was history or philosophy, and he had little patience with either.

  On the afternoon of the sixth day, I sat in a chair beside the bed, working on some embroidery as he slept.

  “What is that?” he asked.

  Raising my eyes, I saw that he was awake. The cloth in my hands was tightly held inside a small wooden frame, and I held it up for him to see. I was nearly done with a section of pink and yellow roses. “It’s a pillow cover.”

  To my surprise, his expression softened. “I never thought to see a lady working on a such a dainty task in this house.”

  I hesitated. For so long, I’d wanted to ask about Kai’s mother, but something had held me back. “Did your wife not embroider?” I asked carefully.

  “Bridget?” He laughed and then winced. “She’d have thrown that out the window or used it to start a fire.”

  Setting my embroidery in my lap, I perked up with interest. “She didn’t care to sew? What was she like?”

  “She cared nothing for sewing or playing harps or reading history books or any such niceties. She was a big woman with thick wrists and strong shoulders, looked just like Rolf with long hair. She bowed to no one and argued with every word I said.” His voice caught.

  “You loved her.”

  “I did.”

  Again, I hesitated. “How did she die?”

  “When Kai was born. I couldn’t believe it at first. She birthed Rolf and Sebastian so easy they both nearly dropped out onto the floor. But Kai was turned rump down, and the midwife couldn’t turn him proper. Bridget strained all night, and he finally came, she was torn something fierce. She died before dawn.”

  His eyes were far away, remembering a painful time in the past.

  “Poor Bridget,” I said. “And poor Kai, to grow up never having known his mother.”

  “Aye.” Jarrod nodded and looked at me. “He feels things more deeply than the other two, takes after my own mother.”

  It
seemed so odd to be talking like this with Jarrod. I had no idea he understood Kai so well.

  “In his mind though,” he went on, “I think Kai sees his mother as someone like you, small with fine manners who’d blow away in a strong wind.”

  “He would have loved her for exactly who she was.”

  “Aye,” he said again. To my further surprise, he patted my hand. “You’re a good girl. I was worried at first, but you’ve done well by Kai, given him more faith in himself, and you fit in here. The gods know how, but you do.”

  I was so moved by this I had no response. These were the first kind words I’d had from him.

  His eyelids fluttered.

  I stood. “You rest, and I’m going to get you some tea.”

  * * * *

  The next day—day seven—he could no longer be kept in bed. Right after breakfast, he yelled at me to help him up.

  “I can’t support your weight,” I answered. “You don’t move, and I’ll be right back.”

  After running downstairs, I caught Kai before he’d ridden out, and he helped his father down to the great hall so Jarrod could at least sit downstairs and have some company besides mine.

  The first thing he did was order Betty to bring him “some real food,” and she scrambled off.

  A few of the guards came in to play cards with him, and this was a relief to me. He needed something to do. I’d watched his wound carefully, and it was knitting. I didn’t think it would do him any harm to have a change of scene so long as he didn’t try to stand on his own.

  Sebastian watched all this with a cold expression. “So he’s up and about, is he?”

  “To a degree,” I answered. “I may need you to help me get him back upstairs later.”

  “If he’ll let me.”

  “Of course, he’ll let you. Sebastian, sometimes, I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

  At that he flashed a smile. “And a good thing too.”

  For the following week, Jarrod grew a little stronger each day, to the point where he didn’t need me every moment.

  His period of convalescence continued to solidify some changes in the family dynamics. The guards began coming to Kai for instructions, and I had full control of the household, including the budget. I hired a laundry woman from the village, who was glad for the work.