Autumn's Touch (Seasons of Fortitude Series Book 3) Read online

  Benedict wiped the blood from his hand onto the sheets. Then he snarled at Ravenscar before he gladly wrapped up the man’s dead body in the sheet and blanket. He needed to cover the corpse’s open eyes that still stared right through him. He couldn’t wait to burn the bastard in the fire. Ravenscar wouldn’t win this time. He might have ruled by fear in life, but hell if Benedict was going to let him rule from the grave as well.

  Benedict was strong – stronger than Ravenscar could even imagine. He’d lived through a lot of horrible things and still managed to survive. Nay, he wouldn’t have his life ruined by this incident. Instead, he’d use it to gain everything that was once his liege lord’s. He’d survive, no matter what it took to do it.

  Bailey ran over and sat down at Benedict’s feet. The dog’s tail wagged, brushing aside the rushes on the floor as he looked up with sad eyes.

  “It’s all right,” he told his hound, hunkering down and running his hands through the dog’s fur to calm it. Bailey jumped up, rubbing against him, reaching up to lick his face. Dogs were so forgiving. And Bailey was the only one that knew what really happened that day.

  Reaching into his pocket, Benedict pulled out the raven brooch that Torkel had tried to steal from Ravenscar. He looked at the brooch, nodded and smiled. Then he pinned it on his tunic and glanced back at Ravenscar’s dead body on the bed.

  “I’m Ravenscar now,” he muttered under his breath, “just like you said. Only, I will survive, and you will never be able to control me again!”

  Chapter 4

  Autumn and Nairnie had arrived in Scotland and spent the last two days with Autumn’s brother, Reed, and his wife, Maggie. Maggie was from the Gordon Clan. While Shaw Gordon was married to and lived with her sister, Spring, in the Highlands, they had a sept here in the Lowlands as well.

  Maggie was heavy with child and very uncomfortable since she was due to birth the baby any day now. Her black hair was pulled back into a braid coiled around the top of her head. She stared up at them with big green eyes that gave away how tired she felt.

  “Ye’re too big,” Nairnie told her, reaching out and feeling the woman’s stomach. “Ye are goin’ to birth twins.”

  “Twins?” Reed’s red head popped up from the other side of the room. He put down their five-year-old daughter, Fia, and spoke to Maggie’s brother who had just turned six and ten years of age. “Duff, take Fia out to play. Take Morag with ye, too,” he said, speaking of their three-year-old daughter in his other arm that he placed on the ground as well. “Lester is out there and he might like someone to talk to.” Reed and Maggie had two daughters, but Reed had always hoped for a son. Duff had been like a son to him since he was so much younger than Maggie. Autumn’s brothers, Rowen and Rook, both had three children already, and it bothered Reed that he was lagging behind.

  “Aye, Reed,” said the boy happily, taking the children outdoors.

  “Reed, you don’t sound happy,” said Autumn. “I thought you were looking forward to having a third child. Now with twins, you’ll win your silly competition with Rook and Rowen by having the most children.”

  “I am happy,” he said, not at all sounding convincing.

  “He’s afeared,” said Maggie, grimacing and rubbing her hand over her stomach. “He thinks if I have more than one bairn, I’ll die the way his mathair did when she birthed triplets.”

  “I was a big bairn,” Reed said. “My bairns are sure to be big as well. I dinna want to lose ye, Maggie.”

  Just as he said it, Maggie cried out in pain and bent over holding her hand to her stomach. “Oh, Reed. I am in so much pain.”

  “The bairns are comin,’ said Nairnie, feeling Maggie’s stomach again. “Reed, bring yer wife to the bed. Autumn, get some hot water from the hearth and also some clean rags.”

  They worked quickly to prepare for the birth and also to accommodate Maggie. Autumn’s heart went out to the poor girl, as she could see Maggie was in a lot of pain.

  “Let me help you,” said Autumn, sitting on the edge of the bed and laying her palm on Maggie’s forehead. “Just relax. Everything will be fine.” She continued to stroke her sister-in-law’s head while she put her other hand on Maggie’s belly.

  “Breathe!” commanded the old midwife, rolling up her sleeves and getting into position to bring the children into the world.

  This wouldn’t be an easy birth, but with Autumn’s help, Maggie’s pain was lessened.

  “I – I dinna hurt so much anymore,” said Maggie after a few minutes, grabbing on to Autumn’s hand. “What are ye doin’ to take away my pain?”

  “She was struck by lightnin’ and now has a healin’ touch,” said Nairnie. “Here comes the first bairn.” The baby didn’t want to come out, but with Nairnie’s help, it soon made its entrance into this world. “It’s a laddie!” she exclaimed.

  “Losh me! I have a son.” Reed ran his hand through his hair and then paced the room like a caged wildcat.

  “Come here and take yer son,” said Nairnie. “I need to birth the next one and Autumn needs to keep her hands on Maggie to help alleviate the pain.”

  “I feel naught but a wee bit of pain now,” said Maggie with a big smile.

  Nairnie handed the naked, wet baby to Reed. Reed’s two big hands tenderly took the newborn, and he cradled it to his chest. Autumn smiled to see such a tough warrior act in such a tender way.

  “Here’s the next bairn,” said Nairnie, this one being an easier birth than the first. “It’s another laddie,” she announced.

  “Two sons?” Reed let out a yelp of excitement and Autumn had to hold back her laugh. He took the second boy into his arms as well.

  “You finally got the boys you always wanted,” she told him.

  “We’ve got to name them, Maggie. “What will we name them?” asked Reed anxiously, staring down at his newborn sons with a broad smile on his face.

  “Och, Reed, give the lassie time to catch her breath,” scolded Nairnie. “She’s just given birth to two sons!”

  “I’ll get some herbs now to help with the healing,” said Autumn, taking her hands away from Maggie. She walked over to her bag and prepared a solution that included comfrey and lavender that she would put into a bath. “I also have chamomile that I’ll infuse in a cup of hot water for you to drink to help you relax.”

  “I’m sorry, Maggie, I didna mean to ignore ye,” said Reed, bending over and kissing his wife atop the head. “How are ye feelin’, Wife?”

  “My pain is better, thanks to Autumn’s healing touch.” Maggie reached up to kiss her husband who was bending over the bed with the babies in his arms. She then proceeded to kiss each of her sons as well.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Autumn told her, preparing the herbs. “My healing touch comes from spirit and just works through me. I’m naught more than a medium for the healing power to reach others.”

  “What other tricks can ye do?” asked Reed.

  “It’s not a trick and I don’t know,” Autumn told him. “I’m still trying to understand it myself. But it does seem as if my touch brings about faster healing.”

  “Ye’d better watch yerself, Sister,” said Reed, giving the first son to Maggie and holding on to the second. “Because with yer gift, ye’ll now be coveted by every warlord from the Highlands all the way to Cornwall.”

  * * *

  The next morning after Lord Royce’s crew finished with their trade, the ship prepared to return to Mablethorpe. The day was dreary and the sky turned dark, so the crew was eager to leave right away to beat the oncoming storm.

  “Autumn, canna ye stay with us for a while?” asked Maggie, holding one of the twins that they’d named Conall.

  “Aye, we’d like to have a longer visit with ye. Especially since Dougal wants to ken his aunt better. Dinna ye, Dougal?” Reed took the second twin’s hand and made his new son wave to her.

  Autumn giggled. Reed could always make her laugh, even when times became rough. “I’ll be back soon, I promise,” she told them.<
br />
  “My lady, the ship won’t wait,” said her guard, Lester, from the cart they’d used to get here from the coast. He had insisted on sleeping outside the entire time they were there, watching to protect Autumn. “By the look of that threatening sky, they are going to want to get back to Mablethorpe before all hell breaks loose from above.”

  “Aye, we wouldn’t want all hell to break loose and encounter a storm while we’re at sea,” said Autumn. Just the word hell had her wondering about the mysterious man named Ravenscar that she’d seen on her way here. Something about the man and his legends intrigued her. She couldn’t help wanting to know more.

  Chapter 5

  “Nelek, get in here,” Benedict called out from his prone position on the bed in his dark chamber. He’d been sick and confined to bed ever since he’d burned Ravenscar’s body. He ached everywhere and could not break his raging fever.

  “My lord?” The door opened and Nelek’s dark head peeked around, but he stayed in the corridor. Benedict’s dog, Bailey, was the only one who didn’t seem to worry about catching the illness. The hound curled up next to him on the bed. Benedict ran a hand over the dog’s back, trying to calm his thoughts of dying.

  “God’s eyes, come in and close the door,” he grumbled. “I don’t want the entire castle to hear what I have to say.”

  “Aye, my lord.” Nelek slinked into the room and was closing the door when a loud clap of thunder from the storm startled him. He jumped and turned around, holding his hand to his heart.

  “Have you found a healer yet?” Benedict knew this scene all too well. This had been him and Ravenscar less than a sennight ago. He thought he would have been stronger than to have caught the plague from that wretched man, but it seemed Ravenscar was laughing at him from the grave, after all.

  “Nay, my lord. I tried to find a healer earlier but the storm was too bad so I came back to the castle.”

  “You fool!” Benedict pushed up to a sitting position in bed. “Can’t you see I’m dying?”

  “Dying?” The young man looked at him from the corner of his eye. “You don’t look like you’re dying.”

  “And how is a dying person supposed to look? By the rood, I’ve got a raging fever and feel as if I’ve been run over by a heard of oxen in mating season. Of course, I’m dying!”

  “Oxen in mating season?” Nelek shuddered and made a face.

  “Hasn’t anyone found someone to heal me yet?”

  “Nay. Oh, wait.” Nelek held a finger in the air. “That reminds me of something I heard just minutes ago down in the great hall.”

  “What reminds you?”

  “The oxen.”

  “Egads, Squire, I don’t want to hear about your infatuation with that servant girl who makes the oxtail stew again.”

  “Nay, not her. I don’t care about her anymore. Besides, she’s got her eye on the baker’s son. Although that Scotswoman named Iona that helps her in the kitchen is nice. And fetching, too.”

  “She’s twelve!”

  Nelek shrugged. “Just the right age for marrying. Don’t you think?”

  Benedict’s head throbbed and he felt as if he were going to retch. His entire body itched. When he scratched it, he thought he saw some raised buboes.

  “Bring that candle closer, quick! Look at my arm.”

  Nelek did as told, holding it up over the bed to see Benedict’s arm. “What am I looking at, my lord?”

  “The buboes, you fool. Don’t you see them? I’ve got the plague.”

  “All I see is a hairy arm.”

  “Look closer!”

  Nelek moved the beeswax candle closer, bending over the bed to inspect Benedict’s arm. When he did, there was a flash of lightning and a loud crash of thunder again. Nelek jerked upward, spilling hot wax on Benedict’s arm.

  “Aaaaah!” Benedict cried out, causing the dog to get up and jump off the bed. “Watch what you’re doing, you simpkin. You just burned my arm.”

  “Allow me, my lord.” Nelek touched the wax on his arm then pulled back his fingers. “Too hot.” He bent over and blew on his arm next.

  “Don’t make me get out of my deathbed to wring your neck, Nelek, because I swear I will.”

  “I’ll just do it quickly and it shouldn’t feel so hot.” He yanked at the wax that had already hardened slightly and pulled it upward in one quick motion.

  Benedict cried out again.

  “My lord, is everything all right?” came the guard’s voice from outside the door.

  “Yes,” he said, only so the guard wouldn’t enter.

  “Well, that solved one problem,” said Nelek, holding up the wax.

  “What problem is that?”

  “We now know how to get rid of the hair on your arms.”

  “Stop it, Nelek, I am dying. I need you to find me help.”

  “That’s what I was trying to tell you. Oxley was out riding and saw a ship sail into the harbor because of the storm.”

  “Harbor?” asked Benedict, sinking back into the covers almost wishing he were dead he felt so miserable. He scratched his body, squirming on the bed. “What harbor?”

  “Our harbor. Right here at Ravenscar,” announced Nelek.

  That got Benedict’s interest. No ships ever docked at Ravenscar. Not since the last three times when his liege lord had his men board and steal from the ships that had attempted to dock overnight. He couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to get close to Ravenscar.

  “From where did the ship come?” asked Benedict, needing to know more.

  “It came from Scotland but is going to Mablethorpe. It’s one of Scarborough’s ships. That’s what the dockhand told Oxley. He said it was carrying something of great importance.”

  “How important? Gold? Spices?” He scratched his leg and then tried to reach his back as well. “Never mind, I don’t care. Just get out so I can get some rest.”

  “The ship carries a healer, my lord.”

  “A healer?” He lifted his head. “What kind of healer? Who is it?”

  “Two healers, actually. One is an old Scottish midwife and the other is a young woman with hair as red as the flames of hell. She supposedly can heal people and take away their pain just with her touch.”

  “She can?” Benedict saw the answer to his problem. This was the light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. “Go fetch her for me.”

  “We’re in the midst of a nasty storm, my lord. Can’t it wait?”

  “Nay, it can’t. Take Oxley with you.”

  “But what if she won’t come with us? What if she’s just like all the rest – afraid to step foot on Ravenscar’s shores.”

  “Then take her by force if you have to, I don’t care. Kidnap her if that’s what it takes, but I want the woman here right away. Do you understand?”

  “Aye, my lord,” Nelek answered with a nod of his head.

  “Well, why are you still standing there? Hurry! I’m a dying man and cannot wait. Bring the girl to me immediately. No matter what it takes, I want the young healer with the bright red hair!”

  * * *

  Since the storm proved to be too intense to continue to travel, the ship had been forced to dock.

  “Captain, I don’t think we should have docked here,” complained one of the crew. “You know the stories that surround this place. They aren’t good.”

  “We had no choice,” said the captain. “If we stayed out there much longer, we were going to break up in these rough waters.”

  Autumn stood with one hand on the cabin door, looking out at the pouring rain. The crew ran to and fro, slipping on the wet deck, securing things and preparing the ship for the night. The wind brought with it the smell of salt air and the feel of cold rain as Autumn’s face was kissed by the elements of the sea. It made her feel alive. Storms were intriguing and exciting! Curiosity got the best of her and she wanted to see the clouds swirling in twisting patterns like a palette of an artist. The rain pounded against the roof of the ship’s cabin above her head, soundin
g like music to her ears. Lightning lit up the sky in wonderment while thunder crashed in her ears like the tabor of a minstrel. Her body tingled with excitement.

  “Close the door and come inside before ye get struck by lightnin’ again,” scolded Nairnie, lying on the small bed, tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable.

  “I wonder where we are,” said Autumn closing the door and walking over to look out the small, round open window of the tiny room.

  “We’ll be docked all night and willna set sail again until the storm breaks,” Nairnie told her. “Try to get some sleep.” Nairnie closed her eyes and almost immediately started snoring. The old woman could sleep through anything, as it seemed nothing disturbed her.

  Autumn watched the storm out the window, holding on to what she could as the ship swayed back and forth in the choppy sea. They’d been docked for well over a half-hour and no one had told her much. She’d seen one of the crewmembers on the pier talking to a man earlier. She wondered who he was and what he had been doing out in the storm.

  The harbor was empty, except for one small, broken-down ship. When lightning lit up the sky again, she knew exactly where they were.

  “Ravenscar,” she whispered, seeing the tall, foreboding castle in the distance. This was the castle of the man they called the beast! Not able to see it clearly, she decided to venture out into the storm to take a better look. First, she made sure Nairnie was sleeping, and then she tiptoed across the floor and donned her long cloak quickly, pulling the hood up over her head. She slipped out of the room, into the night, closing the door behind her.

  “Where are you going?” growled Lester, surprising her. “Get back into the cabin and lock the door until we leave Ravenscar. There is no telling what might happen to you. Especially on the docks.”

  “I just wanted to take a better look at the castle,” she explained, holding on to one of the ship’s stable fixtures to keep her balance. Autumn pulled her hood higher to keep the rain off her head.