Father, don’t let the guild masters tell Lord Taurin anything!
* * *
Daylight had begun to bleed into the sky when Clara, waking, eased herself back from her sleeping sister. Outside, in the coop, her rooster crowed, boldly announcing the new day.
She turned, sensing heat on her cheek. Surprisingly, a fire blazed in the hearth, its flames dancing around her best kettle, which hissed with steam.
She peered through the hearth to see the table righted and the doorway clear, with early-morning freshness rolling in to mix with the fire’s warmth. But no one was in sight. Where was Kenneth?
Clara rose, slipped past the curtain and stepped outside. Long, dark shadows stretched from the forest behind her house, shading her garden. She spotted Kenneth to her right, easing up the hatch to her chicken coop at the far end of the garden. The hens inside cackled their disapproval.
Though he still wore his clothes from yesterday, they had been brushed and straightened. His dark tunic and lighter leggings fit him well. She could see strong muscles along his back as he reached into the coop.
“Shh, ladies,” he cooed softly. “I just want a few eggs. You can spare them.”
Clara shoved her hands on her hips. “But I cannot!”
The hatch slammed shut and Kenneth spun, his hand dropping to his sword. Clara rolled her eyes. Only a soldier would take his sword to the henhouse for eggs.
“I was going to coddle you some eggs, but your hens are reluctant to move off their nests. I think I’ve upset them.”
“They’re fussy old women. I usually let them set for a while and come back when the sun is above the trees.” She looked up. “The sky is still clear. Was it cold for you last night?”
“I’ve slept in colder spots.”
She was glad to hear that, for all he’d had to keep him warm was his cloak, which was now tossed over his shoulders. Slipping past him, she lifted the hatch and propped it up with her shoulder to ease her hand under the hens’ warm bodies for their eggs. One old bird pecked her in defense, and Clara hastily recoiled. Automatically, she reached out with her left hand and received a sharper peck that time.
“Ouch!” She jumped back quickly, and the hatch slammed shut on her festering hand. She cried out again.
She stepped away, curling her stinging hand and biting her lip. Her palm hurt far more than it should from a simple splinter, and seething with the pain, she marched away from the coop, toward the corner of her hut, where the sun’s rays were reaching into the village and she could get a better look at her wound.
There, she peered down at her hand and sagged. The skin was red, shiny and open. The splinter site angrily announced that the wooden door to the dungeon had been filthy. Such filth had caused her flesh to fester. When she reached down to touch the skin with her finger, it felt smooth and hot.
“Let me see it.” Kenneth came up behind her and took her arm.
She fisted her hand and pulled it closer to her chest. “’Tis nothing but a scratch. The hen startled me, ’tis all.”
Kenneth shook his head. “If there is nothing there, then there is nothing to hide.” He firmly turned her wrist, easing up only when he noticed her grimace. “But if you are injured, you will need to have it cared for.”
“’Tis only a small cut.”
Kenneth tilted his head and raised his brows. “You say you pledged to do no harm, but you’re harming yourself. Therefore your word is about as healthy as that hand.”
Reluctantly, hating his rationale, she opened her fist. Kenneth frowned. “I’ve seen worse, of course, but a wound like this must be cleaned before it can heal.” His tone softened and he met her gaze with dark, unexpectedly warm eyes. “You’re a midwife, Clara. You should know that.”
“Aye, I do! Yesterday, ’twas not so bad, so I decided to wait until the light of day to pick out the wood. It has worsened overnight, unfortunately.”
“And it’s begun to fester. If you ignore it, ’twill cause a red streak up your arm and you will get very sick.”
She looked up at him. He knew a lot about injuries for a soldier. He must have seen plenty of them. “I know about the blood fester. My aunt would have used a leech on it, which are plentiful in Colchester with the Colne River close by. But I have none here. I’ll have to use that water you’ve heated to open the wound and dig out the splinter.”
“Nay, I’ll do it. You’ll probably shake too much. Do you have any salve? Honey would be best, but I fear it’s been in short supply lately and best saved for new cuts that have been cleaned.”
She blew on the hot flesh. “You sound like you have experience. Aye, honey works best before a cut begins to fester. In a copper pot above the hearth is a salve. It smells awful, so I usually mix it with wintergreen, which also helps to cool wounds. That’s in the clay pot beside it.”
He looked around, spying a bench along the low front wall of the hut. “Sit down and I’ll get what I need.”
“My thanks.” She sat. “But you’re a sergeant at arms, not a healer. How do you know of these things?”
“I have had to stitch many a wound. I recently sewed up Lord Adrien’s leg.”
“He fought here before I came?”
“Not in a battle, but against those who had tried to take over the keep and kill Lady Ediva.”
She bit her lip. “I had heard about a danger to Lady Ediva, but thought the old midwife had been responsible. Surely she hadn’t stabbed Lord Adrien?”
He shook his head slowly. “Nay, I believe she sought to stop the fight and was murdered for it. I will tell you the whole tale another time. First we need to clean that wound.”
Kenneth stopped at the corner and turned. “Your aunt was a healer and midwife, also?”
“Aye. My mother sent me to be with her years ago, and I learned the skills from her.”
“Where did you live before?”
“By the sea. My father was a fisherman.”
“Was?”
“He went out on his boat one day and didn’t return. My mother had too many children to feed, so she sent me off to my aunt in Colchester.”
“Is your aunt still there?”
Clara shook her head, not trusting her voice to explain. She’d tried her best to save her aunt’s life, but in the end, had lost the woman who was more of a mother to her than her real mother.
Finally, she dared to speak. “She died several years ago, and I took over her home and the craft.”
“Craft? You make it sound like midwifery should have its own guild.”
Her eyes flared. “We should. Too many people think only
