knives and other instruments Lachlan didn’t recognize.
“Our job,” he said giving a slight inclination of his head to the other men in the room, “is to fix that broken arm of yers.”
“What’s my job?”
“Yer job is to sleep while we do it.” He removed two small bottles from the leather satchel. Speaking over his shoulder, he said, “We will need some warm cider and some whisky.”
“Ye’re going to give the boy whisky?” Jamie asked incredulously
“Of course nae, ye eejit. The whisky is fer us for when we’re done.”
It had taken nearly two hours to reset the poor boy’s arm. The four men had waited until he was sound asleep before they began their careful work.
“I pray to God that someday, someone invents a way to see inside a body,” Thomas said as he pulled on Gylbeart’s arm.
Gylbeart groaned, his face twisting in pain, but he was unable to open his eyes. Jamie held a comforting hand on the lad’s shoulder while Fergus and Lachlan assisted the healer.
“I also pray we can find better ways of helpin’ people without bringin’ them more pain or sufferin’.”
Once he was satisfied the bones were back in place, he quickly set the arm in a sturdy splint. “When he wakes, he will be in a good measure of pain,” he explained.
“Can we give him more of the tincture?” Fergus asked.
“Nay,” he replied. “If we give him too much, we risk killin’ him. We will have to wait at least eight more hours before we can give him more.”
Once his work was done, Thomas stood to his full height and stretched his arms out wide. “I have done all I can for him,” he said in a grave tone. “Pray the poor child does nae get a fever.”
Fevers, as they all well knew, could be deadly. ’Twas a fever that took Lachlan’s mother from him when he was not much older than Gylbeart. A sense of dread fell over his heart.
Thomas withdrew another bottle from his leather roll. “Put a few drops of this into cider every few hours,” he said as he placed the bottle on the table next to the bed. “That will help ward off the fever, but ’tis nae a guarantee.”
Lachlan and his men stood and stretched, all the while they kept a watchful eye on their patient.
“Why did ye nae call on the Chisolm healer?” Thomas asked as he poured whisky into four mugs. He handed one to each of the men.
Lachlan explained everything they had learned earlier. When he was done recounting the story, Thomas whistled low and shook his head in dismay. “I have ne’er heard the like before,” he said. “A bunch of backward eejits if ye ask me.”
There was not a man in the room who disagreed.
Thomas left more instructions before quitting the room. Jamie and Fergus left with him to see about getting something to eat. Moments after they left, there came a knock upon the door.
Cautiously, as he still hadn’t gained the fealty of these people, Lachlan opened the door with his sword drawn.
’Twas Murdoch standing on the other side. He raised one eyebrow when he saw Lachlan’s sword at the ready. Raising both hands in the air, he said, “I am unarmed.”
“What do ye want?” Lachlan asked gruffly. He was in no mood for nonsense from any of the Chisolms, let alone the man who’d been a thorn in his backside ever since his arrival.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. In a low whisper, he asked, “Did ye mean what ye said earlier? About no one bein’ sent away again?”
“I say what I mean and I mean what I say,” Lachlan told him. “The practice of sending the less fortunate away stopped today.”
Murdoch glanced to his left then his right as if he were afraid of being seen talking to the new laird. “What about those who were already sent away?”
Lachlan hadn’t had time to consider that. “Come in and let us discuss it.”
Lachlan poured two cups of whisky, handed one to Murdoch before taking a seat near the hearth. The two men faced one another and spoke in low tones. Gylbeart slept, albeit peacefully, nearby, and Lachlan did not wish to wake him. “Tell me about this being sent away nonsense,” Lachlan said as he sipped on the whisky.
Murdoch leaned forward in his seat, rolling the mug between his hands. “I am nae sure when it began,” he said. “It has been happenin’ for as long as I can