“Blaire is verra sick. I doona think that she will heal on her own. She needs modern medicine to keep her from dying. I believe Bri will look for a way to heal her. If I can only leave something in the spell room for her, she will find it without having to travel forward once more. It takes a toll on the body, and I doona think Bri should go through again.”
“Why dinna ye say so, love? Give me what ye need to leave for her, and I shall go at once. I know that ye doona like to return to the castle. I’ll go and be back in time for supper.”
Morna stood and kissed her husband firmly on the mouth. “I knew there was a reason I married ye.”
Leaving him smiling in the living room, she went in search of the antibiotics and all of the other medications needed to rid Blaire of the sickness that threatened her life.
*
1646
By the next morning, I was coughing up blood and me skin was so warm to the touch that sweat covered me body. I drifted in and out of sleep, delirious, nonsensical dreams dancing before me eyes.
When the visions stayed present while awake, I really began to worry. Me vision constantly blurred. I could hardly register when someone was in the room with me or when water was being poured down me throat. I knew that someone stayed in me company, washing me, trying to get me to eat, changing out me sweaty clothes and bloodied cough rags, but I could hardly speak, I was so overcome with fever. And I could no move without the aide of another.
Liquid built deep inside my lungs. I knew death was coming for me.
Each morning, Bri would come to dose me with the medicine, Advil, she’d brought back with her the last time she’d passed through the portal. It aided in breaking the fever only for a little while. With each passing day, the medicine seemed to burn off more quickly, and I found meself in delirium once more.
On the fourth morning, I knew it was time to say me goodbyes. Only one person demanded the forefront of me mind. After Bri came to administer the pills, I asked her to stay and help me in the few short moments when me fever would recede slightly.
She stayed by me side until I could think more clearly. Knowing I would no last long, I gave instructions right away. “Bri, I need ye to get me some parchment and a pen. I need to write to Arran and tell him what is happening. I need him to come and say goodbye.”
Bri started to argue but as she looked me over, decided against it. She too could tell that there was no much life left in me. I scribbled the note quickly, grimacing as a splatter of blood landed on the parchment as I coughed. I handed it over to her, and she sealed it without reading, respecting me privacy, as I’d known she would.
“Ye will send someone with it right away, aye?”
She nodded and placed a moist rag onto me forehead. “Of course I will. Now rest. I’ll take it to someone now.”
“Thank ye.” I shut me eyes as she left, feeling more peaceful than I had in days. Now I only had to hold on until Arran could come and bid me farewell.
*
Bri ran through the castle and out the back doors in search of Kip, calling out to him before she even reached the stables. “Kip, can you call one of the lads that helps you with the horses straight away? I need one of them to ride out toward Arran at once.”
She slowed her pace as she rounded the corner into the stable to find Kip already ordering a young lad to mount up for the ride.
“O’course. He shall take good care of it. Won’t ye, lad?”
The lad nodded, and Bri gratefully handed the parchment up to him, only pausing to kiss Kip lightly on the cheek before taking off at a full run back to the castle. Time for her to enter the spell room once more. She’d be damned before she let Blaire die.
Flying through the castle, Bri nearly slipped on the steps leading down into the castle’s basement. She recovered quickly, not pausing to catch her breath until she stared open-mouthed into the contents of Morna’s spell room.
Sitting on top of the spell book was everything they needed. Syringes filled with antibiotics, more Advil, and some medicine to break up the fluid in Blaire’s chest all sitting on top of the faded, yellow parchment as if it had always been there.
She almost turned to stop the messenger but then decided it was best to let him go. These medicines would help greatly but, as sick as Blaire seemed to be, she didn’t know for certain if they would be enough to save her. She wouldn’t deny Blaire’s last wish to see Arran if they did not.
Smiling, Bri moved into the spell room to gather up the treasures. Morna’s days of magic had not ended with their last trip back into the past. She was watching over the Conalls and her beloved home still, centuries away from them all.
*