A Year & a Day (11 page)

Jane kissed the children and sang them to sleep, with a soft, soothing melody. But on the inside she was seething with passionate emotions. She was apprehensive that when she fell asleep tonight, the lyn0x would come to her in her dreams.

77

A YEAR AND A DAY

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gone exceedingly well, far better than he had anticipated, and he knew most of it was due to the competence of Dumfries' steward, Jock Leslie.

All that was needed to make the demesne flourish was money for new flocks and herds, and the de Warenne coffers were healthy. He did not consider it a waste to spend personal monies, even though Dumfries belonged to the crown. In the back of his mind, Lynx had the notion that his sojourn in Scotland might just be long-term.

Though the subjugation of Wales had taken place a decade and a half ago, Edward Plantagenet and his armies had still found it necessary to spend most of the last ten years building great castles along her borders to hold the wild tribesmen under control. Lynx doubted the Scots would be any easier to control.

His mind moved on quickly to Dumfries' immediate needs. A few hunts would supply them with venison, boar, and game, and the river Nith and the open sea of Solway Firth would provide an abundance of fish and shellfish. If he established a market in the town of Dumfries, Lynx knew it would attract produce and supplies from miles away, perhaps even from across the border in England. And he would encourage ships to bring in goods from Wales and Ireland.

He reminded himself to visit the Franciscan monastery on the m0orrow to learn if they produced aught more useful than prayer, and for the umpteenth time, he pushed away a thought that refused to leave his mind entirely.

When Lynx had finished reviewing the day's events and had gone over his plans for tomorrow, he allowed himself to examine the thought carefully. Jock Leslie had a daughter who wasn't spoken for. Was this Providence? Was this his chance to beget an heir? Breeding seemed no problem whatsoever for the Leslies.

A moment of self-doubt assailed him. Did the fault lie within 78

himself? The de Warennes were not prolific breeders; neither he nor Jory had produced a child.

Still, he argued with himself, his father had produced not one but two children. If he mated with a Leslie woman, mayhap the odds would be in his favor!

Lynx imagined how shocked the nobility would be if he wed a commoner. John de Warenne would disapprove of such a union, but Lynx cared naught for that. He was a man who made his own decisions regarding his personal life. The king would not be best pleased either, yet hadn't Princess Joanna just married her husband's squire?

His thoughts turned to the young Leslie woman. Her appearance, age, and temperament were of little importance to Lynx de Warenne. If she could give him a child, the rest was immaterial. All that mattered was that she be willing. The accepted custom of handfasting somehow made the idea more plausible. If the union produced no child after a year and a day, the union could be dissolved. On the other hand, if the young woman became pregnant, he would marry her immediately.

Lynx's thoughts became clouded as he recalled the feelings of loss he had suffered when his wife Sylvia had died. He hadn't spent enough time with her and had been ridden with guilt. He assured himself that would not happen if he wed a girl of lower station. There would be no romantic involvement whatsoever, for either of them. The relationship would be a simple one. She would be the mother of his child. In return she would receive the respect and honor due her as his wife.

Try as he might, Lynx could think of few disadvantages to the idea. Alicia would throw her usual tantrum, but when he pointed out to her that their relationship would remain unchanged, what possible objection could she have? In any case, Alicia had no say in the matter and would be miles away in Carlisle for the next few months.

Lynx's thoughts returned to Jock Leslie. His steward was the key to any such plan. He would speak to Jock in the morning. If

he and his steward could come to terms on an agreement regarding this matter, that would be all that was necessary.

Now that he had made up his mind to pursue the handfasting, Lynx felt more at peace with himself than he had in a long while. He fell asleep visualizing himself holding his baby son. When his dream began, he was surrounded by children who looked like him.

Eight

lhe following morning Lynx de Warenne decided to ride to Lochmaben to buy livestock. The Bruces derived a great deal of their wealth from the herds of cattle and flocks of sheep that covered most of Annandale. Lynx asked Ben and Sim Leslie to accompany him since they knew far more about sheep than he would ever know. Lynx also invited their father, Jock Leslie, to accompany him. The six-or seven-mile ride up the valley to Lochmaben Castle would give Lynx the opportunity to lay the proposal for the handfasting before his steward.

Lynx left his squires at Dumfries, relying on their innate common sense to handle whatever might arise in his absence. Though lower in rank than the young de Warenne knights, Thomas and Taffy had their lord's full authority to take charge should it become necessary.

At midmorning, Jane was startled when her brother James came bursting through the doorway of the stone house, his arms and face strea0ked black with soot and sweat. Jane stepped back when she saw that a tall, fair-haired stranger accompanied him.

James addressed Megotta. "There's bin an accident at the forge! One of the lord's knights has bin burned. Fetch some ointment!"

Megotta's face and attitude became stony. "My healing salve is for Scotsmen, not filthy Englishmen!"

James's mouth fell open. "Are ye daft, woman? We need yer help!"

Megotta folded her arms across her scrawny chest, pressed her lips together, and replied firmly, "Ye'llnot get it!"

Taffy stepped forward. "Ma'am, I'm Welsh, not English. 81

Some of our Welsh are healers as you are, but they are unfamiliar with the plants and herbs that grow in these parts. Could you tell the medicine men the properties of some of the local plants?"

"I could, but I won't."

When James spotted Jane, he turned from Megotta in frustrated fury. "Jane, will ye come?"

With an apprehensive glance in Taffy's direction, Jane nodded her head and ran to get her medicinal box.

On the way to the forge Taffy said, "Lord de Warenne will be most grateful to you, lady."

Jane saw relief and gratitude writ plain on the squire's face and saw something else there too. The well-muscled youth had a blush upon his cheek when he spoke to her, and Jane was discomfitted to realize that the young man found her attractive.

When they reached the forge, a circle of men were gatheredabout a young knight sitting upon a stool. Another knight, obviously a concerned friend, knelt before him. As well as Jane's brother Alex, Lord de Warenne's squire Thomas stood by looking helpless, while two dark Welsh archers conversed in Celtic.

At the sight of the men Jane hesitated, but felt James's hand at the small of her back urging her forward. She was met by the heat of the braziers and immediately realized the hot air would add to the knight's misery.

"Please," Jane appealed to her brother Alex, "bring him outside where it's cool and sit him on the grass."

The young knight's tunic had been removed and Jane saw that his burn extended from his left elbow all the way up his arm and across his shoulder. She also saw that he was in agony. As she knelt before him to examine the injury, seven men crowded about her, all talking at once.

A furious Thomas told her the two brainless young knights had been wrestling and that there would be hell to pay when Lord de Warenne returned. The injured man's friend, Sir Harry, the knight with whom he'd been wrestling, proclaimed it had all been his fault and SirGiles must not be blamed. The two dark 82

Welshmen began to question Jane about the contents of her medicinal box, pressing her to tell them what herbs she used to heal burns.

Filled with dismay at the men crowding about her, Jane turned beseeching eyes upon her brother.

"James, please, make them step back."

When he realized Jane was agitated simply by being among strange men, he urged the men to give her some space. "Ma sister is very shy of men. If ye want her to help, ye'll have to stand back an' keep yer tongues from clatterin'. "

"Alex, I need a bucket of cold water," Jane directed, and watched three men run to do her bidding. Jane took a clean linen cloth from her box and looked into her patient's eyes. "Sir Giles?" When he nodded in response, she said softly, "This will take the fire from the burn."

Jane noticed how bloodless his face was and that his eyes welled with tears that he stubbornly refused to shed. She dipped the linen into the cold water and wrung it out over the man's shoulder and arm, over and over again. Her repeated action fell into a deliberate rhythm and seemed to have a hypnotic effect on the wounded knight. She never actually touched the cloth to the burn, but squeezed cold water over it like a waterfall.

When two buckets had been emptied, she knelt before Sir Giles, patiently waiting for the breeze to dry the arm and shoulder. From her box Jane took a pot of aromatic green unguent and spread it thickly, coating the entire area, which had already begun to blister.

When the air no longer touched his skin, Giles closed his eyes, a tear running down his cheek.

"You have the gentlest touch I've ever known, demoiselle," he whispered hoarsely.

His friend, Sir Harry Eltham, drew close. "Do you need bandages, demoiselle?"

Jane looked up into his face with alarm, but when she saw how young he was and how concerned he was for his friend, some

of her apprehension melted away. "No, it is better not to bind it. The unguent must be applied every few hours."

Impulsively, Sir Harry grabbed her hand and lifted her fingers to his lips. "Thank you, demoiselle."

Embarrassed, Jane snatched her hand back and gave her full attention to her patient. She knew the terrible shock his system had received; a burn caused a greater degree of agony than the pain of other injuries. Jane knew she had the power to alleviate and diminish that pain, perhaps even eliminate it altogether.

"Please lie prone," she asked shyly.

Sir Giles obeyed immediately. She was the only one who had been able to help him.

"I want you to distance yourself from the pain. You must do it, but I will assist you." Jane's fingers brushed the long hair from the nape of Giles's neck then pressed down firmly at the base of his skull.

After about two minutes, she ran her fingertips down the length of his back on either side of his spine and repeated the strokes a dozen times.

"It has gone!" Giles said with a dazed look of disbelief on his face.

As Sir Harry and Taffy came forward to help Sir Giles to his feet, Jane held up her hand to stop them. "He should rest," she said firmly. She handed the jar of unguent to Sir Harry and told him to put on more in about four hours.

"Thank you, demoiselle, we are forever in your debt."

"You are an angel of mercy, lady," Taffy said. The looks on the young men's faces were akin to worship.

Thomas came forward withthe two dark Welshmen at his heels. "Lady, this is Rhys and Gowan, our Welsh healers. Will you show them where to gather the herbs for that green salve? The plants are strange and it is imperative that our Welsh healers learn the properties of the herbs that grow here."

Jane hesitated. "My grandmother has taught me to guard our knowledge of healing plants."

Thomas said shrewdly, "If you will not pass on your knowl-

edge to our Welsh, Lord de Warenne will order you to nurse all his men who fall sick."

The threat thoroughly intimidated her as it was meant to. “I’ll teach them what I know about our plants," Jane reluctantly agreed, "but I will not go into the forest with strange men unless my brother James comes with us."

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thistle, alkanet, bryony, and hemlock. As Jane listened to them converse with James, she realized the two Welshmen were not so very different from her brother. Their English was sprinkled with Celtic words and their appearance was also similar, with their dark hair and muscular, stocky builds.

As Rhys and Gowan began exchanging their knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants with her, Jane lost her fear of the Welshmen. As they picked and examined the plants Jane pointed out, they realized there were great similarities between what grew here in Scotland and what grew in Wales.

Jane pointed to a plant that seemed to grow everywhere. "That is balm, one of the two herbs that go into the green unguent for burns."

"What is the other, lady?" Rhys asked.

"Scotch thistle, which also grows in abundance here."

"Thistles are prickly-headed instruments of the devil. How do you pick them?"

"Ah, there is a secret to it. If you pluck them gingerly, they will cause sharp pain to yourfingers, but if you do it boldly, grasping the whole head firmly, the thistles collapse and feel like thistledown. Here, let me show you."

When Rhys attempted to pick one, it stabbed his fingers cruelly and Gowan laughed at him, but he didn't give up, and his second attempt brought success.

When they sat down in a clearing to share bread and cheese,