She draped the blanket over Amanda’s shoulders and Amanda thanked her with a nod, since her teeth were chattering too much to speak.
Hamish looked at Fiona suspiciously, knowing that her concern was false, but he ignored her. He knew they both looked dreadful, soaking wet, filthy and disreputable, but he was not overly concerned about that, since he was more worried about Amanda’s welfare.
She needed to be dried off and warmed up as soon as possible, or he feared that the consequences would be serious, so he tried to lead her off to the side to get her warmed up.
“Come,” he said. “We can dry you off in my tent.”
However, what she said next astonished him.
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “My patient comes first. I will feel better knowing that he is recovering.”
“You will be no good to him if you make yourself ill too,” Hamish protested. “Look after yourself first!”
Amanda opened her mouth to argue with him, but at that moment Fiona stepped out in front of them, frowning deeply.
“What happened tae youse two?” she asked, looking them both up and down.
“I was trying to fetch the water and I slipped,” Amanda replied.
She was suddenly furious as she looked at Fiona. However, she did not waste time berating her, but marched past her into the tent where her patient was lying. Hamish followed on her heels. To her relief, some kind soul had left a basin of water there for her, and she soaked a cloth in it and applied it to his forehead.
There was still the wound on his arm to be seen to, however, and Amanda looked at it grimly for a while, knowing she would have to disinfect it somehow.
“I need some honey and red wine,” she told Hamish. “This wound will kill him if we leave it much longer. And can you please hold him down while I see to it? It might be quite uncomfortable for him, and I don’t want him wriggling too much.”
Hamish frowned, then nodded. He went to fetch the substances Amanda needed, then held the patient down by leaning on his shoulders as she directed while she squeezed the poisonous pus out of the wound. It was not too difficult, since Jimmy was too weak to put up much resistance.
The whole procedure made Hamish feel quite sick, but he noticed that it did not seem to bother Amanda at all; she was concentrating so hard on what she was doing that she was oblivious to everything else. She washed the wound with wine, then smeared it with honey and finally applied a bandage which consisted of a piece of sheet from one of the beds.
Hamish was amazed yet again at her resourcefulness.
After that, she took off his shirt and breeches, leaving him in only his underclothes, and began to wash him all over. Meanwhile, some other women watched her, saying and doing nothing.
Once he was sure Amanda could handle the situation, Hamish strode over to Fiona, who folded her arms and tried to look concerned but only succeeded in appearing nervous. Hamish was not fooled. She could not rein in the hostility and jealousy that she felt for Amanda, no matter how hard she tried.
“How is the patient?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
Hamish saw red. “Do not pretend you care,” he barked. “If you had any concern at all for anyone but yourself, you would have gone to the river and fetched water instead of letting the lass do it. This is all your fault.”
He poked Fiona in the chest with his forefinger so hard that she stumbled backwards, then she looked up at him with undisguised fury in her eyes.
“Worried about your wee lassie?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She shrugged. “Why dae ye care so much? She’s just a Sassenach—nae good tae us or anybody else.”
If Hamish had been a different kind of man he might have shaken or slapped her, but had never, and would never strike a woman, so he merely glared at her furiously.
“She is the key to getting my clan back,” he growled. “And I will not have you risk that in any way with your petty antics. We may need her services if we go into battle against Struan. We have his healer, so he has none, and that gives us a huge advantage, so perhaps you should learn to keep your mouth shut and help her instead of standing in her way. Now get out of my sight!”
Fiona had stiffened, looking up at him with an expression on her face that said,You have not heard the last of this,then she turned and stalked away.
Hamish turned to watch Amanda working, admiring the confident way she did her job with such competence and skill. It was obvious, at least to him, that she had been born to be a healer. He could see it in her every movement, her concentration, calmness, and most of all in the compassionate expression on her face.
Even though she was still absolutely soaked and shivering with the cold, Amanda prepared some willow bark tea without assistance. This was no mean feat, since her hands were shaking so much she could hardly hold the jug, but somehow she managed to pour the tea into a cup and hold it up to Jimmy’s lips so that he could sip it. Hamish was about to offer to help, but he held back. Somehow, despite her shivering and exhaustion, Amanda Tewsbury seemed too proud to accept any help even from him.
“Come, drink this,” she murmured soothingly. “It will make you feel better, I promise. I am a healer, and I have cured many fevers this way. It works for me when I am sick, too. Drink up.”
Jimmy, who was now somewhat conscious, spat the first few mouthfuls out, since the tea was very bitter, but Amanda persevered, coaxing it into his mouth until he had swallowed all of it. She applied a wet cloth to his forehead again, then stood up and looked down at him, sighing wearily as she wished that she had managed to rescue her store of medicines from the carriage. She wanted some poppy milk to help him sleep and relieve his pain.
Amanda spread a blanket over the young man and tucked it in around him, then said, “I will be back to see you later.”
