Page 41 of Wild Hearts

"I accept your apology," he compromised carefully, before letting her continue the journey. Not until she was well ahead of him did his face show the tenderness he felt toward her.

CHAPTER 9

When Tabrizia arrived back at the castle, she found Shannon with her jaw swollen from an abscessed tooth. Everyone was giving her advice. Troy offered to pull the tooth for her, but she was horrified at the suggestion. "Don't you realize when you lose your back teeth, your cheeks sink in and you look old?"

Alexandria said, "I'll go down to the kitchen and get you some cloves. If you hold one against the sore gum, it will make it bearable for a while."

Damascus wondered, "Isn't there an old gypsy remedy or spell or something? Doesn't it have to do with a cobweb? You'll have to ask you-know-who about it."

"As if I would let him see me looking like this," Shannon said scathingly, holding her swollen jaw

"I can give you some practical advice," offered Tabrizia, "We will make a poultice to draw off the poison. It can be made from either bread or oatmeal; they both draw well."

"Please show me how-to make it, the pain is unbearable. I'll try anything," said Shannon.

"It has to be put on as hot as you can stand it, and as soon as it has cooled, you replace it with another hot one. You will likely have to do it all day before it works. When the poison is drawn off, the swelling will go down."

They all rallied around Shannon for a short time, but each in turn went off to make her own preparations for the harvest festival that would be upon them with the first light of dawn.

Only Tabrizia held out and was still patiently boiling oatmeal until darkness fell in the late afternoon. Shannon noticed the dark smudges under the younger girl's eyes and felt remorse. What the hell had Paris done to her last night? She looked fragile enough to break. Shannon was by nature generous, and on impulse said, "Someone should meet Johnny Raven for me and tell him I'm not coming out tonight."

Tabrizia raised her eyes to Shannon's. "You must be able to read my thoughts. I have been planning to meet him all day. Will he take me to Edinburgh?"

Shannon nodded. "He'll take you. Your ransom was paid, it seems only fair."

Tabrizia stood on a little knoll outside the castle walls, wrapped in the dark green velvet cloak she had lent so often to Shannon. Even though it wasn't as cold as it had been the previous evening, as the mist swirled about her, she shivered with anticipation of the unknown. She could hear a horse in the darkness coming at a fast gallop, but though she peered hard into the fog, she could make out no rider. Suddenly, the horse was upon her, but before she could throw herself back, two strong arms plucked her up, and she found herself in the arms of Johnny Raven.

He was as startled as she. "What game is this? Where is Shannon?" he demanded. At close range, the gypsy had jet black eyes with long lashes. His hair curled down onto his shoulders in wild disarray. The moon, moving mysteriously through the mist, reflected upon the golden coin that dangled from his left ear.

"She's in misery with a tooth abscess. She thought you would take me to Edinburgh."

"What reward do you offer?"

"I can pay you nothing; I have nothing," she admitted honestly.

He laughed. "To leave empty-handed a castle bursting at the seams with riches is folly indeed. Are you so innocent in the ways of the world?"

"I came with very little; I am leaving with even less," she told him.

"Do you intend to offer me your body?" he asked boldly, appraising her openly.

She gasped. "No, no. Won't you help me for charity's sake?"

He looked at her with contempt. "I would die before I would ask charity of anyone. Where is your pride? It stiffens your resolve and prevents you from becoming the world's poor little victim."

She saw that she was still wearing the emerald ring on her thumb. "Here, take this," she decided, thrusting the now repugnant symbol from her.

"Wait for me," he ordered, and slid from the horse quietly. In an impossibly short time he was back with a small sheep's carcass. It had been skinned and trussed, ready for roasting on the spit at tomorrow's festivities. He fastened it behind the cantle of his saddle and remounted.

She did not protest his theft. After all; the Cockburns lived by the same tenets, didn't they? The gypsy very obviously had such a low opinion of her, so she tried to explain, "I had no control over the things that happened to me!'

"Horseshit! Fortune favors the bold. You have to seize the moment and make it happen! For instance, what you should have done was hide the emerald from me, then, the moment I left, take off for Edinburgh and steal my horse into the bargain," he instructed, digging in his heels as the animal leaped forward. He knew the country intimately. She had no need to fear the treacherous bog that lay in wait.

"So, you take whatever you want in life. Aren't you afraid that the price you will have to pay someday may be too high?"

"I shall pay without flinching," he assured her with arrogance.

Tabrizia wished she had thought of this means of escape long ago, but to tell the truth, something had always half held her back. Now the tie was severed forever, and she would put the past behind her and go forward to meet her new life. She would show those damned Cockburns, her father included, that she didn't need them.

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