16

Mairyn was back with Joscelin and several of the other women. Joscelin sat next to her husband, holding his hand. Kym came back with a bowl of water, Roban next to her carrying cloths. Neemyn used the chamomile water to clean the wound on Shepp’s head. One of the women ran from the room, retching. Joscelin sat by quietly, never taking her eyes from Shepp’s face.

Flora arrived followed by Haas and Jonithon. They looked like they were having trouble keeping up with her. Haas was carrying her pack for her.

“I was already on my way down when these boys caught up with me,” she said.

“It is good you are here, Flora. He has a head wound and he fell over a cliff landing hard,” said Neemyn.

“Joscelin, I want you to go get me several feather pillows,” said Flora.

“I’m not leaving. Have someone else do it.”

One of the other women ran off to get the pillows.

“Mairyn, I know you received some silk thread from Madame Gertrude. Please go get it. Someone get me a pot of honey and many clean pieces of cloth and strips of cloth. Is Cook boiling water?”

“Yes, I instructed her to do that when they brought Shepp in,” said Neemyn. “

Mairyn returned with the silk thread.

“Take your thread to the kitchen and putting it in water at a roiling boil. A few minutes are all that is needed. And have someone bring a pitcher of the strongest wine in the halle.”

When everyone was back with all of the things Flora called for, she cradled Shepp’s head on the pillows.

“Taking care of this wound will not be easy to watch, Joscelin, are you sure you wish to stay?” Joscelin just held onto Shepp’s hand and nodded. Flora cleaned the wound on Shepp’s forehead with the wine, opening the flap of skin and pouring in some wine.

“Mairyn, you do the finest stitching of anyone here. I will hold the skin down and I need you to sew the flap closed to the skin on his forehead and scalp. I see you thought to bring your sewing kit. Smart girl.”

Like she did when a ewe was having trouble giving birth, Mairyn did not think about what she was doing, she just did it. She took her fine iron needle from the sewing roll. Flora poured wine over the needle and over the white silk thread. Mairyn thought about Shepp’s skin like two pieces of cloth and sewed the skin together with careful stitches. She lined the skin up so the edges matched carefully. She made the stitches small. She did not hear any of the talking going on around her. When Mairyn finished sewing Shepp’s head she cut the thread with her alabaster knife. She sat back on her heels, wiping the sweat from her own face. Flora smiled at her and nodded her approval. Flora slathered honey on the sewn up wound to prevent infection and speed healing. She covered this with a clean cloth and held that in place with strips of cloth wrapped around Shepp’s head. Once that was done, Flora gingerly felt all over Shepp’s head and found a swelling bump on the back of his head. She checked all of his limbs and pressed on his stomach. Everything else seemed to be fine.

“The lump on the back of his head is not bad. I think the hit on his forehead knocked him out. Bring me a bowl of cider vinegar and someone brew some willow bark tea. He will have a bad headache when he wakes and he must be kept awake all night.” The vinegar was brought. A couple of the men helped sit Shepp up. Flora held the vinegar under his nose. Shepp opened his eyes, coughing. He groaned, but continued to sit up with his eyes open. He looked at Joscelin and smiled.

“I had a little tumble,” he said to his wife. She broke down crying and hugging Shepp. “Easy girl or you will hurt me.”

The willow bark tea arrived. Flora handed it to Shepp.

“Sip this until it is all gone. Do not guzzle it but drink it all.”

Wulfgard and the other men from the search party arrived.

“How is he?” Wulfgard came up to the crowd at the fireplace. “You’re awake. Thank the gods.” Wulfgard sat on a bench. He looked exhausted. “I can not believe a child of mine is causing all of these troubles. I am deeply shamed.” No one responded to him, They were sure he did not mean to speak out loud. “We did not find him. Where could he be hiding?” Wulfgard covered his face with his hands.

“We will find him Uncle.” Petre put his hands on Wulfgard’s shoulders. “We will find him.”

“I’m ready for a celebration,” said Shepp.

Everyone in the room looked at him.

“A celebration was planned and we should go ahead with it. I just have a small headache. I could use a beer.” Everyone laughed.

Both Flora and Neemyn said that as long as Shepp was able to stay awake and he did not vomit, he would be fine.

“Mairyn did an excellent job sewing up the wound,” said Flora. “Her stitches are so tiny and she held the skin together so closely that the scare will be very hard to see.”

“More cause to celebrate,” said Shepp. “My amazing beauty will not be harmed, so my wife will not leave me when it is time for us to redeclare ourselves.”

Everyone went about their business again. Llood went off to clean up and change clothes.

Mairyn went to her room to clean the blood from her hands. She also saw she had gotten some blood on her dress. She went to her chest to get out a fresh dress. She changed dresses. Hopefully she would be able to get the blood from her dress later. She cleaned off her metal needle and put it back into her sewing roll. She wrapped the roll up and tied it with its ribbon. She put it back in her sewing basket, moving around some of the items in the basket. She nicked her finger on something that was in the basket. She pulled everything out and found a small copper knife that did not belong to her in the basket. It must belong to one of the other women and got put in her basket by mistake. She would return it at the next sewing circle. She wiped the blood from the prick on her finger and went out to help in the preparations for the afternoon’s celebration.

She helped carry benches to put around the tables that had been taken outside. She helped collect stools to place in the courtyard for the musicians. Bowls and platters full of food were carried and a put on the tables. Jugs and pitchers of wine and ale were added to the tables. All of the plates, bowls, cups and mugs in the halle were laid out on the table. Everything was brought out now by everyone because all of the people would join in the party. Everyone would be helping themselves. No one would serve anyone else. All of the people in the town were invited, even Madame Gertrude and Lauryn. No one thought they would come, but still they were invited. People began arriving. As they did they also helped set up for the party. 5

Children ran around between the adults, playing chasing games and adding to the noise in the courtyard. Mothers tried to grab the smaller ones and corral them with some babysitters but they weren’t having any luck. Finally they gave up and let them run. Torch poles were put into the ground for the sun would drop behind the mountain soon and they would need light to eat by and for the dancing later. The people in town who could play instruments had arrived and were gathering by the stools on a small stage that had been setup at the base of the mountain’s wall. They were already receiving horns of ale to wet their lips or loosen their fingers. There were three people who played single pipes. One man played a drum and a ram’s horn. And a fifth man played a small harp. They began playing a few quiet tunes together, getting a feel for themselves as a group. It seemed that everyone had arrived. Shepp was helped outside. Wulfgard’s chair had been brought out and Wulfgard allowed Shepp to rest in it. Shepp’s wife Joscelin never left his side. When everyone sat down to begin eating, Madame Gertrude arrived. She had come alone. Lauryn was not with her. Madame Gertrude sat at the end of a table furthest away from all of the other people present. No one went up to her to talk to her. She glared at anyone who dared look at her, so they stayed away from her. She did not eat any of the food but she helped herself to many cups of wine. Soon people just ignored her and went on with the party. Children were hauled to tables and made to sit and eat. Once the children saw the honey cakes and the fruit pies it was not hard to keep them still. People ate until there was hardly any food left on the tables. Mairyn did not eat much. She did not feel well and her finger where she cut it on the cooper knife was throbbing painfully. When most of the food was gone, the tables were pushed back to the edges of the courtyard to make more room for dancing. Mairyn had never danced before. Petre tried to get her up to join the fun but she insisted on watching for a while so she could see how it was done. Finally, Petre convinced her to get up and dance with him. He placed one hand on her waist and took the other hand in his. Mairyn cried out in pain. Petre looked at her hand. It was swollen and red. As he was taking her over to Flora to have the herbalist look at Mairyn’s hand someone behind them screamed and there was a loud thud. Mairyn and Petre turned around to see a body laying on the stage where the musicians were seated.

“It’s Lauryn,” said the harpist. “She’s fallen from the mountain path.”


Petre and Mairyn turned in the direction of the stage. Petre let go of Mairyn’s arm because she was rooted to the spot and would not move forward with him. He had to push his way through the crowd who had formed a circle around the musicians’ platform. Wulfgard, Flora and Neemyn also forced their way through the crowd. Lauryn lay facedown on the stage. The wood of the stage under her was split and splintered and covered in blood. Neemyn crouched beside Lauryn’s body and felt for a pulse in her neck. He did not find one. He stood up and looked at Wulfgard and shook his head. As one, the crowd looked up the mountain wall to the place where Lauryn had fallen thinking she had perched herself there to watch the celebration, lost her footing and had fallen. No one expected to see anything, but they all did. A face, briefly illuminated by the light from the torches flashed at them and was gone.

“There’s someone up there,” said one woman.

“That was Gideon,” said Shepp.

Several men immediately took off to climb the path. Someone had gotten a quilt that had wrapped a tired child earlier and draped it over Lauryn’s body, covering her head to foot. Madame Gertrude elbowed her way forward, stepping on feet, pushing and shoving. She grabbed the quilt at the end covering Lauryn’s head and flung it back, throwing the blood soaked blanket onto several people. She spun around pointing at the crowd.

“You did this.” Madame Gertrude shrieked and pulled on her hair. “This happened because of you, because you took your love away from her.” She shoved back through the crowd. “And gave it to this worthless piece of…”

When Madame Gertrude broke through the people and reached Mairyn, Madame Gertrude found the object of her hatred lying on the ground unconscious. This was so unexpected to Madame Gertrude that she became speechless. The people followed Madame Gertrude and now the crowd surrounded Mairyn. Flora knelt down beside her and immediately noticed her swollen red hand. There was a dark red line from her hand traveling up her wrist. Flora bent over to listen to Mairyn’s breathing and heartbeat.

“She’s dead.” Zina screamed and tried to run away but was hindered by the crowd. “He did not say it would kill her. She wasn’t to die.” Zina collapsed to the ground, keening and crying. The people closest to her took hold of her sleeves so she could not escape.

“Bring Zina inside and watch her,” said Wulfgard. “Flora, you must save Mairyn. What do you need?”

“We must work fast. I need a very sharp knife.” Wulfgard handed Flora his. She sliced into Mairyn’s arm at the point above where the red line was traveling. Neemyn, knowing what she would do, position a catch bowl next to her and told Kym to fetch wine for Flora to rinse her mouth out and to disinfect the wound. Flora allowed Mairyn’s arm to drain over the bowl for a minute, then she began sucking at the cut mark she had made, and she spit the blood and poison into the bowl. After doing this several times and rinsing her mouth with the wine between each draw on the cut, she cut a slice on the finger that had the original cut on it, allowed that to drain and then sucked on that cut, spitting out the blood and the poison. Flora then tied a piece of cloth that Neemyn had given her around Mairyn’s arm above the cut mark she had made. Once this was done, Flora thoroughly rinsed her mouth with the wine and poured wine on the cuts she had made.

“Let’s get Mairyn into her bed. She will become feverish soon. We need a large fire and lots of blankets to draw the fever from her. I need my bag to make poultices to continue to draw out the poison and prevent the wounds from turning green and black.”

The litter that was used to carry Shepp down from the mountain was fetched and Mairyn placed upon it and carried to her room. Petre held the head end of the litter. When they reached Mairyn’s room, Petre lifted Mairyn from the litter and placed it in the bed after Roban had turned down the blankets. He stacked several large logs in the fire place and got the fire blazing. He went to his room and brought back several of his own quilts including the one his mother had made for him when he was a child. This quilt he lay on top of all of the others and tucked under her chin. Then he looked to Flora for more instructions. He stood by the head of the bed next to Mairyn, waiting for Flora to give him something more to do.

“Petre, come with me,” said Wulfgard, “We must bring Lauryn’s body in from the courtyard and place it in the cold storage cellar.”

“Don’t make me go near her,” said Petre, still looking at Flora.

“Let the boy stay,” she said. “He can help me.”

Petre nodded his thanks to her.

“Get a pot of water set up over this fire, Petre,” said Flora, “and find my bag. I believe it may be in Cook’s rooms.”

Petre ran off to do as she asked.