Before she had time to feel guilty over her thoughts, she heard someone scream and stopped in her tracks just before she reached them. Her heart felt as if it were about to leap from her throat and wither up. What was it? Her mind thought the worst. No! No, not now when they were just about to escape it! Had the pestilence come?
Worse. It was Bertram. He’d returned, a bit slumped over on his horse. His shoulder where Elias’ dagger had landed, was wrapped in dirty bandages. He brought with him six mounted men. They surrounded the group of villagers and two of the men expelled the contents of their bellies, spreading their disease they carried to the four winds.
#
“Lily!” Elias shouted to her. He had to think clearly! His thoughts had never been influenced by his heart before. Panic and urgency filled him as he lowered little Eddie to the ground. He had once commanded five hundred men and, thankfully, his training kicked in. “Get the children and move oot of the way!”
While she moved, he yanked a knife free from his belt and flung it at the man closest to her. The blade landed keenly into the man’s throat. He ran for his horse and helped Richard out of the saddle. “Go to Simon,” he commanded the apothecary. To Simon, he called out, “Take him and Lily and the children back to the shop!” He leaped into the saddle and rode his horse to the front of the line and set his gaze on Bertram. He would kill him for this.
He heard someone sniffle and looked to his left at Deirdre, just a few feet away on Simon’s horse.
She stared at him and tears spilled from her eyes. “You are willing to fight for people you hardly know.”
He didn’t answer her or look around to see who was watching him. He didn’t listen to Bertram ordering Richard to get him and his men something for their sickness. The apothecary hadn’t gone to the shop. Had Lily? He didn’t turn around to find out but yanked on the reins with one hand and tore his claymore from its scabbard with the other. He rode directly for Bertram but two of his men rode in front of him to stop Elias. They died just as quickly. Another foolish man who was sweating profusely came at him pointing his shaky sword. Elias swung his blade around his shoulders and separated the man’s head from his body. A woman screamed. No, several women screamed. Elias chanced a look around. Agnes and Estrid were weeping loudly.
Bertram had moved away from him, leaving in his place two more of his men. These could barely hold themselves up in their saddles. Some parts of their skin had turned black, like their fingers. There appeared to be large boils on their necks beneath their hoods.
“Please,” one of them begged. “We just want a cure.”
How many of the villagers were affected? How long would it take for the rest of them now? Everything had changed. In an instant. They weren’t going to Invergarry. Instead, they had just been sentenced to death. A very unpleasant one.
“Ye shouldna have come here,” he told them and killed them within seconds of each other.
“He has Lily!” Osbert’s wife, Ivett, screamed, pointing somewhere beyond the evergreens.
Elias’ stout heart nearly faltered.No! Please, no!He saw Simon trying to hold back Richard but when the old man saw Elias thundering forward on his horse, he managed to break free.
“Elias, do not kill him!” Richard shouted as Elias turned the bend and came to Bertram and Lily standing face to face.
Damn it! Why hadn’t she listened to him and gone inside? “Lily…” he began.
“Do you know what you have done?” she screamed, pointing a dagger at Bertram. “You have killed us all!”
“Lily,” Richard commanded. “Put away your dagger! We need him to find a cure! Wife, do you hear me?” he asked with authority. “We need him. How can I know what works if I have no one with whom to try my mixtures?”
“Perform yer experiments on me,” Elias offered, moving his horse closer to Bertram’s.
Bertram knew he was too weak to fight, especially with one arm. He dropped his sword and held up his hand.
“Get off yer horse,” Elias demanded.
Bertram did as he was told and wiped his sweaty brow. “Hell, but ‘tis hot.”
“I do not want to wait until one of us is stricken,” Richard called out as many sobbed and wept bitterly, for they knew they would most likely die now. “I want to have some knowledge of this monster before all my friends are gone. Let me try my remedies on him now.”
“Kill him!” someone called out. “As he has killed us!”
“Aye, kill him!” others shouted. “We do not want him alive to infect more of us.”
“He will not come near you,” Richard shouted to them. “Everyone here will likely become ill by the rest of us. Finding a cure is vital now! You must let me try now that I have a living patient.”
Everyone cried the same thing. Kill him! Elias wanted to. He hated Bertram Chisholm for all he’d done to Lily, for what he had just done to Sevenoaks.
Elias slanted his gaze to Lily. He wanted to scream and tear out his hair. No! He wouldn’t let her die! He wouldn’t let the sickness take her! It was too late for everyone now. Richard needed to start practicing his remedies on someone who was ill now! The choice wasn’t his to make. Lily was the one he’d hurt the most. But this was about more than Lily now. This was about the lives in Sevenoaks.
Elias pointed the tip of his blade into Bertram’ back and looked to Richard. “Where do ye want him?”
“In the shed.”