Warrior's Ransom (The First Argentines #2) - Jeff Wheeler Page 0,41

poisoner. The boy tugged the handle of one of the doors, but he struggled with its weight, so Ransom grabbed the edge and opened it effortlessly.

The hall was a mirror of the corridor. The furniture had all been shoved to the side, and men slept on pallets throughout the room. Some had bandages wrapped around their heads. Some were missing limbs. Other writhed and groaned in pain. The scene was awful, but Ransom’s senses cut through the injuries to the woman he sought.

Lady Alix knelt by one of the couches, blood up to her elbows as she tended to a dying soldier who moaned with pain at her ministrations. It shocked him to see her like that—out in the open, working to save a life rather than destroy it. The cloak that had concealed her identity was gone. Her golden hair, so much like Queen Emiloh’s, was disheveled. She wore a black-and-gold brocade gown that seemed especially out of place in the gory scene around her.

“This way,” said the boy, and he started walking toward the lady.

As they came closer, Ransom realized she was in the process of sewing the man’s side wound closed. As he approached, she finished and then put a slab of moldy bread on the wound before bandaging it. Seeing the splotches on the bread brought back memories that roiled his emotions. Memories of this woman saving him.

She turned, noticed him, and shook her head. There were bloodstains on the gold of her gown. A smear of it on her breastbone.

“I don’t have time for you right now,” she said wearily. “If I don’t tend to some of these men, they’ll die before dawn.”

“How can we help?” Ransom asked, stepping forward, feeling his concern grow despite his wariness.

“Unless you can gut a fish, you’ll only be in the way,” she said. “We have barrels of rotting fish and no time to prepare and cook them. Some of these men haven’t eaten in days.”

“Dearley,” Ransom said. “Take the men to the kitchens. See that they help.”

Lady Alix’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Thank you. There are servants digging graves beyond the walls. They could use some help as well.”

“I’ll see to it, my lady,” Dearley said. He turned and began dividing up the men.

Ransom noticed Lady Alix had a long strand of pearls wrapped around her left wrist. The pearls were covered in blood, and it seemed odd that she should wear such a thing while treating the men. Was it something she had won from the Fountain on her own quest to the oasis? He knew she’d gone on one, for the deconeus of St. Penryn had told him so.

“What can I do?” Ransom asked, coming closer to her.

“That one is already gone,” she said, pointing to a man who’d collapsed on the floor. “Carry his body to the doors over there. They’ll bring a wheelbarrow and take him to the pit.”

Ransom did as she asked, bending down and hoisting the corpse up over his shoulder. As he looked around the room at the other men suffering, dying, he couldn’t help but think of his own gift from the oasis. With the Raven scabbard, he could help heal these wounded men, one at a time. But if his relic were discovered, it might be stolen from him. Someone might kill him for it. She might kill him for it. It would be prudent to keep it secret, but he could at least help these men with his hands and his strength.

He worked side by side with Lady Alix, helping where he could—pressing bandages to wounds, moving men, and doing whatever else was asked of him. The manor became darker and darker, and he noticed the candles were indeed sparse and more would be welcomed. Food came in later on, carried on trays by the knights he’d brought with him. They went from person to person, offering pieces of roast fish to the wounded, the dying. Other knights brought tureens of water and helped the injured drink.

It was long after midnight when they were finished tending and feeding the injured. Lady Alix bathed her hands in a water dish, turning it pink as she scrubbed her fingers clean. She dried them on a towel.

“My uncle’s room is yours,” she said, looking at him with sad eyes. “I haven’t had the heart to go in there since I learned he was gone. There’s a chamber for your knights next to it. Get some rest, Ransom. We will talk on