Page 60 of Historical Hotties
“You two,” she said. “Help me get him into the keep. Edie, get my medicament bag. Then I want you to send someone into the village to find Emmeric the physic. With the village in flames, Ido not even know if he is still there, but send men to find him. I will need help with Cassius, so hurry. Hurry, Edie!”
As the two older soldiers got in behind Cassius to help him cross the bailey, Edie fled back into the great hall to gather Dacia’s medicament bag. The other maids were still there, wide-eyed at what they had just seen, and Edie encouraged them to continue tending the men. She instructed the other servants to do the same, and put Fulco in charge, but as she came to the bag, she noticed that Amata was still standing where they had left her.
Head down, she quietly collected the bag, but Amata stopped her.
“I shall take it,” she said, reaching out to demand the bag. “I will help Dacia with Sir Cassius. You will stay here.”
Edie knew about the earlier fight with Dacia and Amata because she had been in the chamber across the landing when she’d heard it. She had heard everything. She had never been so proud of her mistress than she was when she heard her tell Amata everything that had ever needed to be said to the spoiled young woman.
Therefore, she knew that Amata’s demand for the bag and the insistence to help Dacia were not altruistic. Amata had a motive in mind, as she always did, so Edie politely shook her head.
“Nay, my lady,” she said. “She asked for me. I shall take it to her.”
Amata reached out and grabbed it, but Edie held firm. “Let it go,” she insisted. “I will take it to her.”
“Nay, my lady. Please release it.”
Amata yanked on it, but Edie wouldn’t let go. “I said give it to me,” Amata said angrily. “You are a stupid servant. You cannot be any help to her, so let it go.”
Edie’s dislike of Amata had reached its limit. She wasn’t going to let Amata help Dacia, and in a sense, she was protecting Dacia against a woman she’d long tried to protect her from. She’d seen years of abuse and selfishness from Amata towards Dacia. It had been heartbreaking to watch.
Now, she wasn’t going to take anything more.
Amata never saw the hand that shot out and slapped her across the face. Suddenly, she was falling onto her backside as Edie slipped from the hall, out into the night, where Dacia and the escort of soldiers were just reaching the steps leading up into the keep.
As Amata screamed, Edie just kept on walking.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“One more step,Cassius,” Dacia said gently. “We’re almost there.”
Cassius could hardly lift his leg. He’d been functioning on a battle high ever since those arrows carved into his body, but now, that high was wearing off. His entire left side was soaked in blood and he was starting to feel faint.
But he couldn’t let his guard down.
He had to make it into the keep under his own power.
Once inside the keep, there was a constable chamber inside the door to the left. It wasn’t a big chamber, but it had a good-sized bed in it and a hearth and, at the moment, that was all that was needed. There hadn’t been a constable in the chamber in years, so it sat cold and unused except by visitors on occasion.
Dacia took him inside the chamber.
“Sit, Cassius, please,” she said softly as she and several soldiers lowered him onto the bed. Once he was down, she looked to the men around her. “Bring light in here, as much as you can, and get a fire going in the hearth. I need hot water and as much wine as you can find, so get that for me right away. Hurry, now. There is no time to waste.”
Two of the men fled, but the older two didn’t move. They were looking at her with some uncertainty.
“My lady?” one man finally ventured. “Have you…?”
She looked at him sharply. “Why are you still here? I gave you orders.”
The men nodded patiently. “I know, my lady,” the first man said. “And we shall follow them. But after we’ve helped you remove those bolts. Have you ever removed them from a man’s body before?”
Dacia looked at Cassius, who was gazing at her with complete and total trust. There wasn’t anything in his expression other than the full knowledge that she would heal him. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind. But Dacia had to be truthful in her answer.
“Nay,” she said reluctantly. “I… I suppose you were right to remain because I am sure I will need your assistance. Help me lay him on the bed and remove what clothing we can. I must see the wounds.”
Between Dacia and the two old soldiers, they manage to lay Cassius flat on the bed and straighten him out as much as they were able. He was so tall that his booted feet hung over the end of the bed at least a foot.
“Hurry,” Dacia commanded softly. “Help me get this clothing off.”
