Page 40 of To Wed a Witch
"But the traveling healer said 'twas impossible," another voice called out."Said only unnatural power could cure such sickness."
Sìne felt Bhaltair tense beside her."What traveling healer?I want to speak with this bloody man!"
"He left during the night, my laird," someone replied."Said he'd seen enough to ken that dark forces were at work in Ferguson Keep."
The crowd began murmuring among themselves, and Sìne caught fragments of conversation that made her blood run cold.
"What if the rumors about her are true?"
"No mortal woman could have saved that boy..."
"The traveling healer warned us this might happen..."
"She's bewitched..."
"Enough!"Bhaltair's voice cut through the whispers."I'll not have my wife slandered by superstitious nonsense.She just saved a lad's life with skill and knowledge, nothing more."
But Sìne could see the doubt in some faces, the way certain clan members had begun crossing themselves when they looked at her.The trust she'd worked so hard to build was crumbling before her eyes.
"Perhaps," said a voice from the back of the crowd, "we should ask ourselves why this stranger felt the need to warn us.What did he see that we've been blind to?"The speaker was Callan Wilson, one of Bhaltair's Council members.The fact that even he was voicing doubts sent a chill through Sìne's heart.
"He saw a healer at work," Bhaltair replied."Nothing more, nothing less."
"Did he?"Callan asked."Then why did he flee in the night like a man who'd witnessed something unholy?"
"Perhaps because he was sent here to cause trouble.After all, only a slanderous thief or a lecherous devil would hurl accusations then scurry away at night like a coward!"Ada's voice shouted from the crowd with a furious look upon her face.Several people murmured in agreement and nodded their heads.
"Aye, and mayhap this stranger paid Callan Wilson coin to spread vile rumors about the mistress.We all ken his son has been vying for the lairdship now that our prospects have changed!"Kenneth the blacksmith shouted.
"I agree!Callan has been acting mighty strange.How come he kens the movements of this traveling healer so well?"Dugald called out.
Soon the suspicious glares were cast upon Callan instead.He looked outraged, and an argument followed amongst those gathered around the cottage.
It ended when Bhaltair roared, "Enough!The lad was poisoned, deliberately if ye must ken it.And it was not his mother's doing.Someone else had got to the boy."
The crowd was silent as several gasped at the news.
Bhaltair continued, "Aye, someone meant the wee lad harm.But ye see, I did not ken why until right this moment when I see some of ye trying to accuse my wife!"
Sìne froze for a moment because Bhaltair had indeed read the situation the same way she had.Whoever poisoned the lad wanted this to happen.It could only be this mysterious traveling healer.He knew Sìne would recognize immediately what was wrong with the child.Sìne stared directly at Bhaltair and paled as the realization hit her.
It was a trap!
It seemed Bhaltair had come to the same conclusion.Someone wanted the clan to turn against his wife.To drive a wedge between them, and if the clan brought an accusation against her, they could force him to cast her aside.The marriage would become null and void.Bhaltair knew he would not rest until he found the traveling healer.
***
THE REST OF THE DAYpassed in an atmosphere of growing tension.While some clan members continued to seek Sìne's healing services—grateful for her skill and dismissive of superstitious fears—others began avoiding her entirely.
She noticed the way conversations stopped when she entered a room, the way people made the sign against evil when they thought she wasn't looking.Children who had played happily around her just days before now hid behind their mothers' skirts.
"It's starting again," she confided to Bhaltair that evening as they sat by the fire in their chamber.Aidyn slept peacefully in his arms, oblivious to the tension surrounding them.
"It's the work of that traveling healer," Bhaltair replied."Whoever he was, he came here with the specific purpose of undermining ye.The timing is too convenient to be coincidence."
Sìne had been thinking the same thing."But who would do such a thing?And why?"
"Someone who benefits from seeing our marriage destroyed," Bhaltair replied, his voice dark with suspicion."Someone who's been waiting for the perfect opportunity to turn my people against ye."
