Don't Forget to Dream (29 page)

“
I am sure he knows his limits,
”
Master Stephen assured her.

“
That fool of a man has no idea of his
limits,
never has,
”
she muttered. Master Stephen placed a calming hand on her shoulder and her grumbling soon ceased. She turned to Rhyla with a firm, almost grim determination as she removed a small blade from between the blankets.
“
It is my finest and
sharpest. It
should do the job.
”

Rhyla took th
e offered knife and examined it.
T
he edge had been recently honed smooth with a wet stone and there was not a trace of dirt upon the blade or the handle.
“
It is perfect, thank you.
”
She glanced briefly to Lady Emelia and found the confident reassurance she was after.
“
We had best begin then. Master Stephen if you can hold his shoulders down and,
”
she turned to
Lan
who sat quietly on the edge of his b
ed, h
is face paled
as he momentarily a
met Rhyla
’
s gaze.
“
Lan, I will need you to hold his legs down in case he awakens while we are doing this. Are you up to it?
”

The young man swallowed before slowly rising,
“
I can do it if it is going to help Walt.
”

“
Good, thank you. Mistress Belinda I will need you ready with the towels and dressings,
”
Rhyla said comfortably taking control of the situation. Using a small bowl she carefully washed her hands and the skin around the wound and dried both with one of the small towels before placing it under Walt
’
s leg. She took the knife up once again and held the blade in the flame of
one of the candles for a minute. O
nce it was hot enough she doused it in one of the buckets of water.

Lady Emelia remained by the window out of
their way, ensuring she
watched that she did not obstruct the fall of light across their patient. She was so proud of the
way Rhyla was handling herself. T
he problems they had been faced with had faded and she
watched as Rhyla
now calmly guided everyone exactly as she had need of them. She neither bullied nor begged, just gave simple, polite, sensible direction. Her natural leadership
was a continuation of a young woman
who had been brought up in a world where you were taught from
a very
young
age
what it was to man
age a household.
There were few who found this skill so innately.

Looking at each of her assistants once again Rhyla took up her position by the bed. She glanced at Walt
’
s lax features and measured his rapid shallow breaths. Reseating the hilt of the knife in the palm of her right hand Rhyla secured the edges of the oozing wound with her left. The skin burned beneath her fingers and the little pressure she applied caused more of the green putrid material to seep and trickle past her fingers. She paid it no mind as there was worse to come.

Drawing a deep breath she smoothly and quickly slashed open the skin from the centre of the wound upwards along the thigh. Walt groaned softly but his brief movement was easily countered by his cousin and Master Stephen. Thick green pus with streaks of dark red blood and blacks flecks poured from
the cut but there was more still to come
as she sliced away down the leg opening the abscess enough to release all of the accumulated filth.

“
Water Mistress Belinda,
”
she asked calmly, placing the knife down and reaching out for the ladle that was awaiting her. With the towel beneath the leg she slouched down the wound before using a bandage to wipe away the thicker lumps of pus and rotten tissue. Now the debris was cleared she inserted two fingers into the wound to feel for the suspect splinter. A few moments of carefully wiggling her fingers between the crevices and pockets of the hot abscess, releasing the accumulated gelatinous fluids finally brought her to the sharp hard edge of the offending splinter. Grasping it between the tips of her fingers sh
e very slowly withdrew the charred
fragment.

A broad smile filled her face and a soft giggle escaped her lips as she looked down at the two inch long black sliver.
“
Got it,
”
she said softly triumphant. Placing it to one side she turned to Mistress Belinda who was troubled and not a little sickened by what she had seen.
“
More water please Mistress
Belinda,
we need to remove every bit of this pus as we
possibly
can.
”

“
Yes Miss Rhyla,
”
she replied hoarsely.

Rhyla was briefly taken aback by the addition of a title but disguised it by turning to the men at either end of the bed.
“
How is he?
”
she asked Master Stephen, as she did not think by
Lan
’
s
pallor that he was up to answering.

Master Stephen looked at her stoically,
“
Barely twitched after that first cut.
”

“
Good, I am glad he was unconscious for it.
”
She quickly set to cleaning away the rest of the dark blood and putrid debris with copious amounts of water. When she was satisfied that she could not get it any cleaner she had Mistress Belinda remove the soiled towels. As
Lan
’
s
colour was still a very unhealthy grey shade and his breathing a little more laboured than when they had started, she had him return to his bed and Master Stephen moved back to
the foot of the bed to elevate the leg ready for bandaging. She placed a clean wadding of bandage over the wound that was now oozing blood alone and tightly wrapped it in place with several more bandages from knee to groin.

Pausing finally to clean her hands in the remaining water Rhyla was satisfied that there was little more to do than wait and see if they had acted in time to help the young man.

“
If you are ready Lady Emelia,
”
Mistress Belinda said gathering the soiled towels and bandages into the now empty buckets,
“
I am su
re dinner will be ready shortly, that is i
f you feel up to it.
”

Chapter 11

Seasoned timbers stood neatly stacked by the dun
’
s wall. They had been coming in from all over the estate for a week. Every spare plank and shingle that Rhyla could find had been commandeered to rebuild the storage shed. She had happily ridden out the day after arriving at the Black Swan Estate. Master Stephen had accompanied her, showing her around the farms and comm
unities that made up the Estate, introducing
her to everyone. She was surprised and relieved to find how welcoming they were to the untitled assistant of Lady Emelia. Unbeknown to Rhyla
,
her easy conversation and clear understanding of their way of li
fe and the skills of their work
won them over more than any courtly title could have.

The joy and freedom of riding
astride
in her divided dress, found amongst the stores of the dun, was the first exhilaration of the day. She had spent so long within the Palace that she had forgotten the simple thrill of the wind in her hair, the fresh country scents all around her and the strength of the mount beneath her. For the first time in a very long time Rhyla
remembered life in Bendarin and was consumed with the
happiness and the peace she had known as a child.

The ease at which she was able to negotiate the procurement and delivery of the timber had been a thrill she had never
before experienced.
Yet her excitement was marred as
,
late in the day, shortly before they were required to return to the dun, Master Stephen led Rhyla to a small cottage on the edge of a village on the far side of Dratton. Here they found Adele, widowed so young and returned to her parent
’
s care before her new home with Peter had been finished. They stayed long enough to express their condolences on behalf of Lady Emelia but the young woman
’
s grief was too much for Rhyla to
bare
. Too many women, wives, mo
thers and
daughters, would be grieving for the loss of men who would not be returning from the conflict with the bandits. As they left the cottage Rhyla could only pray she would not be one to suffer
Adele
’
s pain and anguish as she thought of Callum. The grief of
losing
her parents was more than enough
for her to
bare
.

Since that first day
,
Rhyla had barely paused for breat
h but it was soon time to return to Lestran. In
the comp
any of Mistress Belinda she
checked on the patients, changing dressings and discussing
how
to gradually
increase the
freedom  allowed
to the wounded men.
Walt remained in bed for a full week but he had quickly regained his colour and strength. Rhyla had returned from her first excursion to find him propped up on pillows drinking a watery broth. She was so startled she nearly dropped the fresh towels she had been carrying. They changed his dressing and washed his wound twice daily for five days before settling down to once daily as the ooze of pus diminished and the aggressive red swelling began to fade.

Lan
and Machin were free to walk out in the fresh air with strict instructions to remain within the dun
’
s encircling compound. Neither Rhyla nor Mistress Belinda felt the need to specify further on the limitations of the activities.
Lan
was content to sit and talk to his friends and neighbours. Machin on the contrary headed straight for the small forge by the end of the stable block. He had been out of bed for less than an hour when Rhyla had discovered him bellowing at his apprentices about the condition of the forge and the standards of the work before him.

Never before had Rhyla scolded a man old enough to be her father. Machin had paled under her tirade, quickly agreeing to oversee his boys and vowing not to lift a hammer till she deemed him suitably healed. The young apprentices did not escape her tongue either.  Knowing her way around her father
’
s forge had made this one seem like home the instant she had entered the broad doorway and felt the blast of the furnace. Once she had finished with Machin she spun on the two young men, chastising them for the
poor care of their tools that were lying about
randomly on
the
bench or floor rather than hung on the wall in their appropriate places. Despite the heat she could see by the dull red glow they had inade
quately stoked the furnace.
She
scolded them f
iercely for such tardy work. It
would result in inferior quality metal that was more difficult to work and not as strong. With Machin remaining to observe and
listening to his
further reprimand
of the lads, Rhyla
departed promising she would return to assess their work in an hour. She was pleasantly surprised to find the forge in appropriate order, Machin seated quietly
nearby
with a contented grin as he watched his sweating apprentices labour.

For the remainder of her stay the patients were all very clear on the limitations she set them. Never again would she trust in common sense, she had declared to Lady Emelia later that evening. Lady Emelia smiled knowingly, more than impressed and happy with the authority and skill by which Rhyla performed her duties, and had
persuaded
others perform theirs.

Lan
’
s
breathing and the burns to Machin
’
s arm were suitably improved after a further week that she was satisfied for them to return to their homes. By this time Austin was able to come downstairs to oversee the building of the new storage shed but the tightness of the scars forming on his leg prevented him from doing
any
more than hollering as he lent on a barrel watching the sawing of the timbers and the slow rise of the cen
tral frame.
Thanks to generous applications of salves from Maya, the
herb woman
, the scars softened
,
freeing the movement to his hip and allowing him to help in the erection of the walls.