Highland Blood

Chapter 14

The fever that swept through Moray took some work to defeat, but I worked tirelessly to stamp it out. I’d planted herb gardens in the small garden in the unused part of the castle near the chapel. As I suspected, the ground there was good. I could feel the otherworld close to me there, despite the presence of the chapel. As I worked, I felt eyes on me. When the herbs grew faster and larger than they should have, further proving my assumptions, I brewed medicines which I distributed to the people who came seeking my help. Word had spread through the countryside that the Lady of Moray was gifted in herbcraft. Soon, I found all manner of people at my door seeking help. It pleased me to busy myself helping the people of Moray as my little ones grew inside me.

I was hard at work one late summer morning, on my hands and knees amongst the basil and spearmint, when I heard boot steps along the stone walkway leading to the small garden. No doubt, it was time for lunch. Already the little babes inside me were fluttering about hungrily.

“Just a few more minutes,” I said. “I’m half-bathed in soil,” I added with a laugh, clapping the rich dirt off my hands. When I did so, I picked up the sharp scents of the herbs.

“Corbie?”

I turned to find Gillacoemgain standing there. He looked dirty and road-weary, his shoulders drooping from tire. He was staring at me, a confused look on his face.

Moving slowly, the burden of my belly already bothering me, I rose.

I’d been wearing a pair of Gillacoemgain’s old breeches under my dress so I could kneel down on the soil. I wiped off the dirt then dropped the skirt of my lavender colored gown, suddenly aware of how sweaty and messy I was.

Gillacoemgain’s eyes drifted to my stomach. Word, I realized then, had not yet reached the Mormaer’s ears of my pregnancy.

“You’re…” he whispered, looking closely at me. “Corbie?”

I smiled. I had told the lie to myself so many times, so many nights, that the children were his that when the moment came to tell him, I almost believed it. “I’m pregnant.”

Gillacoemgain crossed the space between us quickly. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his face into my neck. “Sweet wife. The north is quiet. My wife is with child. There is nothing more in this world a man could want.”

He kissed me then, strongly and passionately, and I felt the love pour from him.

A moment later, he sighed heavily, and I felt his mood shift. “Artos,” he said, nearly growling the name. “He met me at the gate to tell me you’ve spent the whole summer roaming the countryside and had been using the part of the castle I’d closed. He never said a word…just whipped me into a fury while he complained bitterly. I came here to…”

“To?”

“With anger in my heart,” Gillacoemgain admitted.

“No one told me. Artos, in particular, though he knew I was working here. He has been a problem these many months. I didn’t think it wise to let him speak on your behalf. I’ve taken over the public hearings. I didn’t want him to speak in our name.”

Gillacoemgain nodded. “So he complained, and rumored you were doing a poor job at it,” he said then half-smiled at me, “which I doubted. Artos was part of my father’s court. I kept him on in good faith.”

“He does not treat the people of Moray fairly. His decisions and actions further promote the false…reputation you have.”

Gillacoemgain frowned. “He’ll be gone by nightfall.”

I looked around the garden. “It’s such a lovely space. I planted herbs here, medicines. There has been a sickness in Moray. The herbs…I used them to make tonics,” I said then peered closely at Gillacoemgain. A pained look twisted his tired features. “Why did you close this side of the castle? They did tell me your brother once resided here.”

Gillacoemgain gently wiped dirt off my cheek. “That chamber,” he said, pointing to a room above the garden, “is where my sister was murdered.”

“Murdered?” I gasped, looking up. “How?”

Gillacoemgain took my hand and led me to a bench nearby. He looked up at the window, and I could see the deep sorrow in his face. Something bad had happened, something he would rather not remember. But he was tired, and when we are in such a state, the stuff inside us that steels us to sorrow weakens.

“The story that everyone knows is that my sister fell in her chamber, hit her head, and died. But I…I know the truth of the matter. Findelach was my elder brother, and all our lives he was cruel to both my sister and me. He was a rough child, and my father boasted that one day he would be a great warrior. He was. But he was also a cruel man. When he went to Inverness to be with his wife and child, I thought my sister, Crearwy, and I had escaped him. I kept her here with me, kept her safe until a husband could be found for her. I long suspected my brother had…mistreated our sister, but she would never say so. But it was there, in that chamber, when I saw the truth for myself. My poor, sweet sister. He had…he used her as a brother should not use his sister…and beat her besides. I found her half dead. Findelach escaped, and my sister died in my arms. For that reason, I followed my brother to the ends of Moray and snuffed out his life. You must swear to me, Corbie, not to tell the truth of this. Swear it. But I wanted you to know. You might carry the child of a man who killed his own brother, but I did it for a good reason.”

I stared up at the closed casement. Was the world full of cruel men? Did we walk amongst vicious people who hid behind false smiles? Behind closed doors, how many women suffered at the hands of men who were supposed to care for them? My heart broke for Crearwy, the sister-in-law I would never know, and for my husband who’d borne the secret. “I swear to keep your secret like it was my own,” I said, lacing my fingers between his. “I’ll move the garden,” I told him.

He shook his head. “Crearwy would have loved it. Grow your herbs here so her spirit can enjoy them.” Gillacoemgain set his hands on my stomach. “So big already?”

“In Nairn, a woman told me I carried twins.”

Gillacoemgain laughed. “So you shall carry my sun and my moon,” he said then turned serious. “Why did you go out? You know I had asked you not to.”

“The children of Moray…there was an illness. I went out to ensure that the next generation of people in this land were healthy and strong. I went out to save lives,” I said, realizing then the complex nature of the Mother Goddess: she was both a life-bringer and a destroyer. Despite the fact that it was the dark goddesses who seemed to rule over my fate, it was the Great Mother who’d coached my hands all these months. As I grew ripe with life, I practiced her earthy magic.

Gillacoemgain nodded then sighed heavily, as if he had no good retort for my answer. “I’m weary, wife. And you’re as dirty as I am. Come, let’s have your maid draw us a bath.”

I laughed. I had, in fact, missed Gillacoemgain’s touch. More often than I cared to admit, his taste and the feel of his body came to my mind. And while Banquo lingered forever around the edges of my heart, Gillacoemgain had been foremost in my thoughts the past few months.

“After you,” I said, smiling up at him.

“You smell like mint,” he told me, planting a kiss on my cheek.

“You smell like horses.”

He laughed. “Come then, my wife, and let me see that belly,” he said, leading me away.

I cast one look back at the garden as we left, and this time, I saw the ethereal figure of a girl with long black hair standing amongst the herbs, smiling at me.