Page 76 of Flanders' Folly
Flanders looked to the fire, still burning fiercely. Then he found Robert, who stood with his father, and gave the lad a wink. When he found James, he lifted a single brow.
His tall friend offered a shrug, then a grin and a nod. It was all he needed.
Flanders gave his friends a quick salute with two fingers, then turned and ran straight for the fire. The heat hit him like diving into a hot loch. He held his breath and plunged forward, his boots slipping on crumbling embers. With his heart focused on Brigid, his mind shouted to another.
Wickham!
A mere heartbeat later, he was engulfed not in flame but in that same darkness he'd seen in his dreams of Brigid—a nothingness that he assumed was death. Now, it was merely a dark shade of hope.
A large, firm hand gripped his forearm, steadying him.
Auch, but ye’re a trustin’ bugger.
38
THE ENDINBURG HOUSE
* * *
Flanders stumbled as the darkness receded, leaving him blinking in a light so bright it hurt his eyes. He stood in a chamber with walls as smooth and flawless as polished marble but without the shine. The floor beneath his feet was as flat as frozen water.
The future, at first glance, was perfection.
"Welcome to the Edinburgh house," Wickham said, steadying him with a hand on his shoulder. "Are ye sound?"
Flanders searched all around the space, but they were alone. "Where is she?" The hand on his shoulder tightened. He didn't care for Wickham's expression.
"The doctor is with her. Her skirt caught fire."
Flanders' heart lurched. "Ye’ll take me to her?"
That hand held. "Aye. Let's hear what the doctor has to say today."
"Today?"
Wickham smiled and nodded. "I waited a day before goin' back fer ye. Imagine my surprise when I saw ye headin' into the fire. A lucky thing I didn't trust ye to keep yer head."
"A day!"
"Auch, well, Time passes only where ye stand in it." He waved a hand. "No matter. Ye'll not need to worry about that again. Come on. Let’s remove those chains first." He strode away, deeper into the castle he called the Edinburgh house. Back home, if they'd traveled from Todlaw to that growing city of the same name, in less than a minute, it would have been miracle enough on its own.
He left him standing in a hallway, staring at a painting of flowers, and when he reappeared, he held small tools that made quick work of the locks on his shackles. They were similar to the ones James had used to free the chains from the chair.
Was that only moments ago?
They left the heavy shackles on the floor and continued on until they came across Bella sitting on one of two cushioned yellow chairs beside a closed door. She jumped to her feet, genuinely relieved to see him. The similarities between herself and her sister made his heart ache.
The door opened just then, and all else was forgotten.
A man in strange white garments stepped outside and smiled first at Bella, then at Wickham before he turned and looked up at Flanders. To Flanders' surprise, the man addressed him in French, though the words were oddly formed, with unfamiliar cadences that made them difficult to follow.
"I assume you are the man she has been asking for?" the doctor said.
Flanders blinked, grateful for the years he'd spent in the French court with James, but still struggling to make sense of this strange version of the language. He replied in his own rougher French, "I am. How is she?"
The doctor's brow furrowed slightly as he parsed Flanders' accent and phrasing. When he continued, he spoke slowly. "Most of her burns were superficial," a word Flanders didn't recognize. Then he clarified, "Not deep. But her pain is severe. The burns were contained to the front of her calves and her right thigh. The scarring should be minor. The pain should ease in a few days."
Flanders nodded, still struggling to follow.
