16

Meehall waited until Sarah's breathing was regular so that he knew she was asleep, and then he rifled through her backpack. There had to be a medkit in here. She had everything else. Ah, he found it. And good, there was a sterile needle and thread, along with a local anesthetic.

If he didn't stitch her wound closed, it would scar, and she would hate that. Oh, any warrior would wear a scar with pride, but Sarah was not really a warrior. In her heart, she was a sage, the type of person others took their troubles to.

He knew that way back when, she'd only taken up the quarterstaff to impress him. He had been more selfish then, and he had let her. Theatrically, she was good at quarterstaff, with all the twirling she did. But she was not a skilled fighter when it came down to actual battle. She had swung at thin air today, when there was a warrior coming at her.

Why had he let her come along to the battle? He should have insisted she stay here at the inn, if not back at the safe haven with the children and elders.

He peeled the bandage off her arm. Good thing she had that antiseptic ointment. She'd rubbed off the scab and rubbed the ointment into the wound very well and thoroughly. It was a gaping wound, 3 inches long.

He set to work stitching it up neatly. It was an exacting task that took him a while. He had done this before several times for many friends and relatives, so it shouldn't have been affecting him the way it was, but affect him, it did. Before this moment, he hadn’t realized how deeply he still cared for Sarah.

After he finished stitching, Meehall surprised himself by getting sleepy as well. He got on the other bed and fell fast asleep.

***

Meehall was awakened by Eoin’s ecstatic voice. "We won the battle. We won! Dae ye hear me, Meehall? We won! 'Tis a happy day. Wake up, wake up!"

Meehall sat up and rubbed his eyes, then looked quickly over at Sarah. She wasn't even roused by the yelling, so only a few hours had passed and she was still under the power of the tea.

Meehall looked to his brother. "Good. Good, sae where are Nadia and Ellie?"

Eoin’s face didn't fall. No, he merely looked annoyed, not even disappointed, just annoyed. "Half the Camerons managed tae escape us through a portal that closed when we and the Murrays approachit. They took the lasses with them. Howsoever, we dae hae a lead, a captive we found alive on the battlefield. I hae volunteered tae interrogate him." He rushed out and could be heard taking the stairs two at a time.

What? Meehall couldn't let his little brother interrogate someone. He jumped up and rushed  downstairs, then outside, where he saw his brother huddled next to a man who was sitting on the ground and tied with his back to a stake. He went to pull Eoin away from the man and talk some sense into his brother.

But Searc, clan chieftain of the Murrays, gestured.

Two men ran over and held Meehall by the arms, keeping him from interfering in the interrogation while Searc asked question after question.

Meehall relaxed in their grip. “Verra well. I dinna want tae fight ye. I wull na interfere. My friend is still up in the inn room under a sleeping tea. Allow me tae gae back and watch ower her."

Searc gestured again, and two women ran toward the inn. "They wull look after Sarah. Ye need tae stay oot here. The more eyes and ears on the captive, the more we wull learn. Ye wish tae ken where the lasses hae been taken, aye?"

Meehall took a deep breath to calm his temper. It wouldn't do for him to get into it with the clan chieftain. Especially not after pulling Eoin out of a fight with Searc not a full day hence. "Verra wull. I will bide, watch, and listen."

It was a gruesome few hours with the captive groaning in pain and pleading for his life but resisting their urges to tell them where the lasses were. At long last, though, they got him to talk.

"Tahra wishes tae alter time as she pleases!”

“She goes tae a sacred grove tae perform a ritual!”

“Nay, the portal takes her elsewhere. She does yet hae tae ride tae the grove.”

“At least one traveling lass will hae tae be sacrificed. Two would be better, and three would be best."