Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

M urdoch jerked up his chin at the sound. The others did the same, all turning to look across the loch, where Callie and Aila were returning from their flower picking, arm in arm. The guards moved to their feet, also startled by that scream, but none were as fast as Murdoch who was already on his feet.

"What was that?" Clyde asked, reaching for his belt.

"It was Eloise." Murdoch knew her voice, even in such depths of fear.

He raced away, jumping and leaping over the rocks at the side of the loch. He passed Callie and Aila who had already spun on their heels and turned back in the direction of where the scream had come from.

"Eloise?" Murdoch shouted for her, needing another call from her to know exactly where to run.

"She's here," Harper's voice answered him instead.

Murdoch darted between two Douglas firs, his hand reaching for the weapons at his belt, in case an attacker was lurking between those tree trunks. He halted, skidding to a stop when he saw what had actually happened.

Eloise had staggered back against a tree, standing on one foot as she raised the other in the end. Harper waved a mad hand at the grass nearby.

"There may be more, dinnae came too near."

"More what?" Murdoch cried, hurrying to Eloise's side.

Her face was red, the sinews in her neck taut as she tipped her chin back, seeming in unimaginable pain.

"The snake!" Harper shouted loudly.

Murdoch took hold of Eloise's waist, dragging her away from the tree.

"Ow," she muttered. "It bit me."

"What? Where?" He lifted her easily, into his arms. The skirt of her gown fell down past her knee, revealing her ankle that was now bright red, with two puncture marks across the skin. "In the name of the wee man. My father's note warned us about adders."

"Adders?" Callie's voice sounded as she appeared behind him. "Quick, let me see." She examined the wound, reaching for Eloise's ankle.

At once, Eloise winced, apparently the light touch making the pain worse. When she turned her head toward Murdoch's shoulder, hiding against him, he held her tighter. The pain was clearly unbearable, yet she was gritting her teeth and trying to contend with it as much as she possibly could.

"Harper, what sort of snake was it?" Avery had appeared along with the others and moved toward her. Clyde walked straight to Harper's side and took her arm, pulling her away from the tree where she cowered. "Was it an adder?"

"Adders can have different markings. They can indicate the strength of the venom," Callie went on, never once looking up from the wound.

"Venom?" Murdoch muttered in sudden fear. "What sort of venom are we talking of here? Sickness for a few hours? A few days?"

"Sometimes something worse." Callie gulped. "I need tae ken what the snake was like."

"Harper!" Avery turned to Harper once more. "What did the snake look like?"

"I dinnae ken. It was all so fast. I was so afraid."

Murdoch's arms tightened around Eloise. A horrible thought shot across his mind, one where Eloise fell completely still, and those bold blue eyes never opened again.

I cannae let that happen.

She lifted her head from his shoulder, her lip trembling with the pain.

"Brown and black," she whispered. "Aye, that's what it was."

Murdoch looked to Callie, looking for confirmation of just how poisonous the adder could be.

"Most bites from such snakes arenae fatal, but… sometimes, they can be," Callie whispered, clearly scared to say the words.

Murdoch backed up from her, carrying Eloise with him.

"We need tae get her the right medicines. Now," Callie said simply.

"Then we take her tae the healer's cottage on the estate." Murdoch turned and ran away, carrying Eloise.

"Ow, Murdoch! Ye have tae run slower," Eloise pleaded, her small hands gripping to his shoulders.

"Nae chance of that. Hold on tight, Eloise." He ran across the loch and hastened to their horses, pulling himself up into the saddle fast and nestling Eloise in front of him. When she grimaced in pain, he reached for her knee and hooked it over his thigh, trying to keep her injured ankle away from colliding with the horse. Sat sideways in front of him, her body was practically turned toward him. "Ye will be fine," he promised in a low voice as he flicked the reins. "I'll get ye there fast."

"Murdoch – oh!" Her words were cut off as the horse darted forward.

Murdoch was all too aware of the others following on horseback, even the guards who struggled to keep up. Despite the fact that Murdoch's horse carried two, he urged them on at such a pace that they strode out ahead of the others, crossing the ground much faster.

When they reached the estate of the castle, he cut down the hill past the curtain wall and to the very edge, where a small cottage met the river.

Wilson must have heard their mad approach as he raised himself up from where he was bent beside the river, picking leeches or other such creatures from the watery depths.

"Wilson!" Murdoch shouted, aware that Eloise had gone rather limp in front of him in the saddle. "She's been bitten by an adder."

Wilson leapt into action, striding toward his cottage.

"Bring her in at once. We must clean the wound."

Murdoch halted the horse by the cottage door and jumped down, reaching for Eloise to help her down next, though he never put her on the floor and carried her in his arms.

"Murdoch?" she whispered, her voice soft and her eyes half lidded.

"I willnae let anything more happen tae ye." He spoke from the heart, not thinking anymore about it as he followed the healer into the cottage.

He'd barely put Eloise down on the bed that Wilson gestured to, when Callie and Avery appeared behind him in the doorway.

"Save her," Murdoch begged Wilson, who was already mixing something up in a small bowl.

"Leave her with me, sir."

I have nay intention of leaving her side at all.