A Healer For The Highlander

‘Aye. But not before trying the slippery one a few times.’

Iain’s laughter rang out through the trees and she once more noticed the resemblance to his father. Was it there or had she just made herself believe she remembered so many little details about the short relationship? Did her memory reveal things in the way she wanted to see them?

‘Look, Mam.’ Iain pointed into the distance at the road that led to the falls from the loch to the south.

A man rode towards the falls. She had wondered how long it would take for her presence here to be revealed when she’d helped the lad days ago. Here was her answer. She let out a sigh and shook her head. Now, they would come as they had before, some seeking the witch while others came simply for the challenge of climbing the falls.

When the man slowed on the road and glanced up at the falls, Anna drew her son back into the shadows of the thick forest here at the top. They could not be heard over the crashing waters of the falls, but if the light fell just right through the trees, they could be seen. And she did not wish that yet.

She had tasks to finish, plants to sort and the weeds to clear from the garden before she would be ready to begin offering her services to the villagers here. Her mother had taught her the knowledge of herbs and plants before she’d passed two years ago. Anna had been content to remain among the Mackenzies until that day, then the restlessness began. The news of the Camerons’ recent upheaval and new chieftain only confirmed her decision that it was time. Gilbert Cameron’s reputation as a ruthless man had kept her away, but his demise and his older brother’s installation as chieftain drew her here.

It was time.

‘Have a care, Iain,’ she warned as her son walked away. ‘Until we know if we are welcome here.’

Her son nodded and then crept off into the forest, exploring as lads did when they found a new place. No doubt he would bring home some fowl or rabbit for supper in his explorations. His hunting skills along with his ability to accept and to adjust to new situations surprised her, but she thanked the Almighty her son had them. It was easier to move as they must and not have to deal with a resistant boy of his age.

Anna returned to the cottage and began the daunting task of cleaning it. Once cleaned she could organise the rest—the plants and supplies. Time sped along as she accomplished many of the tasks she must before day’s end. The crunching of twigs and leaves outside her opened door warned her of Iain’s approach.

‘Good day.’

Anna glanced up to find a tall man standing at her door. His height and breadth almost blocked it completely as he stood there outside. As she walked closer, she realised he was crouching down to look inside the cottage door, which was too short for him.

It was the man they’d seen below, walking along the road. The plaid wrapped around his waist and over his shoulders identified him as a Cameron. From the dryness of that garment, she realised that he’d not climbed the falls to get here. That meant he knew the other path to reach this place. And that did not bode well for her and her privacy or security.

‘Good day, sir,’ she said.

Anna wiped her hands on the apron at her waist and pushed the loosened strands of hair out of her sweaty face. She must look an utter mess with her dirty gown and face. While he...was dangerously attractive.

The man had gathered his long, dark brown hair back away from his face which allowed her to see its masculine angles. And his intense eyes that were the colour of the darkest wood in the forest. And his strong chin. He was the most attractive man she’d ever met, here on Cameron lands or in the north on Mackenzie lands. She swallowed to ease the nervousness at that realisation as her throat tightened and tried to speak past it.

‘I did not mean to interrupt you,’ he said, stepping back as she approached him. ‘I have heard that you are...’ He paused then, as though not able to utter the word that most used.

‘The Witch of Caig Falls,’ she said.

Chapter Two

‘I was about to say healer, but if you would prefer the other...’

She’d blurted out the reply before he could finish his sentence. He guessed it was not the first time someone had called her a witch. Davidh watched as her green eyes widened for a moment and then they sparkled as she smiled. Her full, pink lips curved into an enticing and intriguing one as he wondered if she considered the name a curse or a compliment.

She laughed then and he could not look away. The smudges of dirt across her face did little to hide the freckles on her cheeks. And the curls that had escaped her kerchief showed strands of fiery red and copper amidst the other shades of brown. His hand lifted to pull more of the locks free and Davidh struggled to stop himself.

‘Nay, healer is preferred since it is truer than the other.’

Davidh was not convinced. Mayhap she was bewitching him with some spell as she stared at him now? His mouth went dry as she stepped closer and he forgot to move back to allow her to pass. Her body brushed his as she walked away from the door and he turned to follow her movements. Something within him woke, a feeling unfamiliar for it had been so long since he’d noticed it last.

She intrigued him. She appealed to him in a way he could not describe. She aroused him.

‘’Tis the healer I came seeking, but I expected someone...older. Are you the one who saw to Tavish?’

‘The lad who fell and twisted his ankle? About two-and-ten?’

‘Aye. That one. He sang your praises to his family and to others. That is how I discovered you were here.’

‘Are you ill?’ She leaned in towards him and took in his measure, glancing over his body and then staring once more into his eyes. ‘Have you a fever?’ She lifted her hand up as though to touch his forehead and paused, her hand waiting there a scant few inches from his skin. ‘Your pardon,’ she said as she dropped her hand back to her side.

‘I have no need of your services,’ he said. His choice of words was ill made and he shook his head. ‘My son has been ill for some time and nothing has helped him.’ Davidh shrugged, fighting the urge to beg her for any help she could offer.

‘I have not unpacked my supplies yet, but tell me of his symptoms so I will know if I can help him.’

He could not help it—he let out a loud sigh of relief. Something in her expression gave him confidence that she could indeed help his son.

‘His breathing becomes laboured often,’ he said.

It took a few minutes for him to describe all the ways his son had suffered over the last year and how he seemed to worsen by the week. She nodded as though she recognised these signs and symptoms and he found himself studying the way her brow gathered when she asked him to clarify something he’d said. She was methodical in a way the village healer was not. Her questions made sense to him as she tried to understand his son’s illness.

‘Can you help him?’ he asked when he’d finished.

‘I have my suspicions about the cause of his illness, but I must see him to be certain.’ She glanced around the small clearing in which this secluded cottage sat and then back towards the falls. ‘Can you bring him here on the morrow?’

Now Davidh looked at the surrounding land and wondered if it was possible. This small area of woods and clearing around the cottage was like an island in the middle of sheer rock cliffs on one side and a large river that rushed around the other and fell, forming the falls. Oh, aye, he’d followed the path that Malcolm had told him of all those years ago, but he would have to carry his son to bring him here. Shaking his head, he looked back to the woman.

‘Nay. I see no way to get him here in his condition. Even using the hillside path that I did.’ She looked startled at his reminder of how he’d arrived there, but he did not let that deter him. ‘Can you not come to the village and see him there?’ As her expression turned into one of refusal, Davidh knew she would not come. ‘I can pay you in coin for your inconvenience.’ He would give her every bit of coin or valuables he might own if she could help his Colm.

‘’Tis not about payment. I have not yet asked the chieftain’s permission to be here. To offer my herbs and skills to his villagers. So, to visit your son before I do so would offer an insult he could not ignore.’

Once more relief flooded him. This was not an obstacle. He could bring this woman to Robert and make her known to him easily.

‘Then I would take you to Robert and see you given permission to live here among us.’ The words came out even as innate caution raised within him.

Robert trusted Davidh’s judgement and would accept this woman on his word. He searched her face for any sign of danger and found only sympathy there.

‘You could do that?’ Her gaze narrowed then and she studied his face more closely. ‘I do not even ken your name or who you are.’ She glanced away then, as though thinking on something, and turned back to him. ‘I did not mean that to sound as rude as it did, especially not when you have just offered help to me.’ A scant smile eased her mouth.

‘I did simply invade your home without an introduction and never asked your name either,’ he said. ‘I am Davidh Cameron and I command the Cameron warriors for our chieftain.’

The effects of his words were immediate and surprising. Her green eyes grew wide and fluttered several times at his words. Then those eyes filled with tears for a moment before she glanced away. Strange, that. Davidh searched her face for some sign of familiarity, but there was no way he could have met this woman and forgotten her. A moment later she seemed to pull herself out of whatever reverie she’d fallen into and looked at him with clear eyes.

‘Forgive me for my refusal to help you, sir,’ she said softly as she curtsied before him. ‘I did not understand who you are and I meant no insult to the chieftain or his man.’

This part, this obeisance, still unsettled him, but Davidh understood that, in his new position of service to the new chieftain, it would be something to which he must accustom himself. He was in a position of honour and a certain level of power and others who wished to gain entrance or favour with the chieftain would attempt to go through him to get it. He nodded at the woman.

‘I took no insult from your words, mistress. I suspect Robert would not take insult from your coming to the village first, but others might on his behalf.’

There were always some who protected the chieftain’s dignity or just wanted to toady up to him to gain advantage for themselves. She waited with a look of anticipation in those lovely green eyes and he lost his thoughts for a moment. When he wanted to speak, he realised he did not know her name either.

‘What are you called?’ He finally forced out the words. He wanted to know what name he would whisper when he brought her to mind when she was not there.

‘I am Anna. Anna Mackenzie.’

‘Lately of...?’

‘I have lived with my mother’s family in the north.’

‘What brings you south? Here?’

Though he was being less than hospitable and was questioning the person who possibly held his son’s life in her hands, Davidh could not forget his duty to his clan. She glanced away, staring off in the direction of the falls, and then back to meet his waiting gaze.

‘I have been learning the healing ways since I was but a wee lass and showed some skill in them. I have always wanted a place to call my own. A place to hone my skills and to help the ill and injured.’ The seriousness of her words gave him pause.

‘You make it sound like a calling.’

She smiled then and he nearly let out a gasp. No woman before had caused such a visceral reaction within him as this one did. In a short time, she had him uneasy and aroused and curious. This was not good. He had many things that needed his focused attention and anything, anyone, who took his mind off his responsibilities was not good.

‘My mother often spoke of it in those words,’ she, Anna, said. ‘Some people were called to certain stations or places in their lives. She was called to be a healer and it would seem that I have been, too.’

‘We have a healer in the village, but he sees more to injuries. He kens little of concoctions and ways to heal other than what most ken.’

‘Then who has been treating your son?’ she asked, stepping closer to him. A breeze rustled through the clearing and Davidh inhaled an enticing scent. A soap mayhap that she used? So taken by it, he paused a bit too long and she noticed.

‘We had another, a woman, who was here for but a few months, before leaving with her husband to his village. Morag left me a goodly supply of the syrups and medicaments that Colm needs. But now Old Ranald sees to things.’

She muttered something under her breath before she nodded.

‘I will come in the morn, if that is convenient for you,’ she said.

‘Come to the gates and tell one of the guards to send to me when you do,’ Davidh said. ‘I must get back now.’

He’d spent too much time here and the sun was beginning its journey down to night. Even using the path Malcolm told him about would be treacherous come dark. And the one that went down along the falls was dangerous at any time of the day. Only fools and wee lads were stupid or proud enough to try it.

‘On the morrow, then,’ she said as he nodded and turned to leave.

‘How did you ken about that path to get up here?’ she asked.

‘I have known it for a long time. I just had no need to use it until now.’ He stopped then and faced her, for the loud rushing of the falls would make hearing his words impossible if he walked closer to them. ‘My old friend Malcolm told me of it.’

He did not know her at all, but the expression on her face alarmed him, nonetheless. ‘Mistress, are you well?’ he asked.

‘Aye,’ she said, waving him off. ‘I would prefer that no one knew of it.’ He understood that a woman living alone far from the village had reason to wish for privacy...and for safety.

‘I will share my knowledge with no one, Anna,’ he said, seeing her worry ease and her face brighten. ‘On the morrow, then.’

It took him less time to reach the bottom of the falls and the horse he’d left tied there in the shade. And, for the first time in such a long while, Davidh felt hope rising in his heart.

His son would not die.

This woman, this healer, this Anna Mackenzie, would help his son and Colm would grow up to be the man that Mara and Davidh had dreamt of at his birth.

His son would not die.

The chant was familiar to him, but now he allowed himself to believe it could be true.

* * *

Anna barely made it back inside and to the table before the tremors began. Even her teeth shook as she grabbed on to the wooden chair next to it and lowered herself down. She prayed that Iain would not return now and see her like this.

Davidh Cameron. The commander of the Cameron warriors. Counsellor to his chieftain. An influential man. A powerful man. One who could ease her path or make her life a hell.

Malcolm’s closest friend.

Memories flooded her mind then and she gasped at their strength. Malcolm’s voice as he explained about their boyish antics together. Defending their decision to tease Malcolm’s sister by putting a dead bird in her bed and the repercussions of that act. Speaking of their plans for the time when Malcolm was chieftain and Davidh would be his man. Malcolm revealed that Davidh had helped and protected him many times.

They were closer than true brothers could be.

Malcolm was gone these ten years now and Anna wondered if his friend yet thought about him. Clearly the man had married and had a son since Malcolm’s passing.

A son he’d named for his closest friend.

Funny that, for his friends had called Malcolm Mal while this man had called his son the other part—Colm.

Would he help her? Not only in meeting and gaining permission from the new chieftain to live here on Cameron lands, but also in helping her son claim his birthright? For just as Malcolm would have been chieftain, so his son should be in line to claim the high seat, as well.

Now, though, a different branch of the clan held it and this chieftain had sons who thought it theirs. Her son would present a threat to that plan.

The sound of footsteps outside drew her attention. These were Iain’s and he stepped inside the open door holding out his quarry for the day’s efforts. A rabbit. Big enough to provide several meals for them, but not so big as to infringe on the rights of The Cameron.

‘A good catch,’ she said, pushing herself up on shaking legs. ‘I will make stew.’

She knew he watched her as she took the rabbit he’d caught, killed and skinned and began preparing to cook it for supper. Anna tried to calm her nervousness, but her hands were unsteady when she lifted the heavy iron pot on to the hook that would hold it above the fire. Iain quickly came to help her. He took it from her as though it weighed less than a feather.

Her son was growing into manhood.

Her son needed to learn about the important things for the life they, he, would claim among the Camerons if her plan worked. The skills of a warrior and the knowledge of a possible heir to the chieftain and more—things she could not teach him.

But Davidh Cameron could.

While the stew simmered in the pot, she gathered together the supplies she needed to take with her to the village. Then she explained to Iain the tasks she needed him to do while she was away for the morning.

All the while, her mind turned over and over the plan she’d devised before they’d left her mother’s people. Now that Davidh Cameron was involved, she saw another way, another possibility, to get what she wanted most for her son.

It would not be easy. It would not be quick. It could be dangerous. Nay, that was not true and she would not be foolish enough to ignore the truth that she knew now.

Davidh Cameron was dangerous, for he would defend and protect his clan and his son from all who threatened them.

Even if the threat came from his closest friend’s lover and her son.

Chapter Three

The clouds gathered as she made her way along the road through Achnacarry village towards the castle. Anna lifted her woollen shawl over her head and tossed the end of it across her basket to protect the supplies she carried. If the chieftain gave his permission, she would see Davidh’s son before returning to the cottage.

There was so much work yet to be done and she’d not planned to reveal her presence until she was ready. She could almost hear the fates laughing at her for believing she would control every aspect of her endeavour. If only that boy had not ventured so close... But once he’d fallen she could not ignore him or his injury.

The sigh that escaped her then seemed to echo across the road as she continued on, not wanting to delay this meeting for even a moment more. She nodded a greeting to an old man who walked by her away from the castle. Though she passed by a number of people of all ages along the way, not many acknowledged her. She was a stranger here, for now, so it was to be expected. Would there ever be a place or time when she was not that?

Her life had consisted in segments for as long as she could remember. Her earliest years she remembered not so she would have to accept the explanation her mother had given her. Then, the years spent here, living above the falls while her mother saw to the ills and hurts of those who came to her. A smile came to her face when she thought on the next part—the months with Malcolm.

A few glorious and shining months of love and happiness and hope. Anna would live on those memories her whole life.

Then, her flight north and separation from him and the birth of their son. Iain had only two years when the news of Malcolm’s murder spread across the Highlands and clans. Her mother had helped her through that desperate time—and Iain, a sunny, happy child, did, as well. His childhood years seemed to fly by and then her mother’s passing drove Anna to make her decision to return here.

To the lands and clan of her son’s father.

Anna glanced ahead and saw the guards standing on each side of the large iron gates that allowed entrance to the castle grounds and keep. Would they send for Davidh at her, a stranger’s, word? They caught sight of her and moved to block her from entering, as guards did.

‘What is your business within, mistress?’ the taller one said. His hand on his sword reminded her that she was an outsider and unknown to them.

‘Davidh Cameron said to call on him this morn. He said to send word to him of my arrival.’

The change in their expressions and the strange glint in their eyes happened and fled so quickly that Anna almost missed it. It was obvious that they misunderstood her purpose or the handsome commander’s wishes in this. Anna drew back the shawl to expose her basket, filled with various jars and containers of medicaments and such.

‘He has asked me to see to his son,’ she said.

Now sheepishness entered the men’s gazes and they nodded and stepped back to their positions on each side of the gate as one, the shorter one, called out to someone within to send word to their commander. Anna expected Davidh to come for her, but another man hastened down the path to the gates instead.

‘Come! Come,’ he called out. The guards nodded her to go so she walked through the gates, stopping when the man reached her. ‘He is expecting you, though the chieftain is too busy to speak to you just now. Come, you can wait inside.’

She had to quicken her steps to keep up with this man and she did, arriving at the doorway of the keep out of breath. But he was not done yet and led her within, down a long corridor towards a noisy chamber. As they reached the doorway there, she heard angry words being exchanged. The man took her by the arm and tugged her to a place by the wall.

‘Stay here until Davidh calls for you.’ The man nodded at the stool there and walked away before she could say aye or nay.

Anna sat as directed and then glanced about the chamber, the great hall of the keep, and sought out the only one she knew here. She heard his voice before she saw him. There he was, standing at his chieftain’s side, involved in some discussion. Well, from the raised, angry tones, it sounded more like an argument, but she was a stranger to the proceedings here and could not gauge if there was true anger or something else.

Studying the various people up on the dais, she could see that Davidh was held in high esteem, not only by his clan’s chieftain but also by those who served the laird. Several times as she watched, the chieftain asked for his counsel on the matter and others referred to that opinion in their own statements. This seemed to be about an incursion on to their lands and the question was about the actions to be taken. The discussion continued for some time, and, though not familiar with the particulars of it, it sounded as though Davidh’s judgement would prevail.

‘Enough.’

When spoken by the chieftain in a tone and loudness that all could hear, the arguing was done. She watched as the powerful man sat back against his chair and nodded. Everyone surrounding him stepped away and waited on his pronouncement. Instead of calling out orders to them, Robert Cameron spoke softly then.

‘I will make my decision by nightfall and Davidh will have your orders.’

From their stances and the manner in which they held their bodies, Anna could tell some were not pleased at all by this. Whether they wanted the chieftain to act now or whether they did not wish for Davidh to play such an integral role, she could not tell. But clearly the chieftain’s men were not in agreement with this. When the small gathering broke up, Davidh raised his head and nodded at her.

So, he knew she was there. He called not for her, but motioned a servant to his side and spoke to the woman. Anna watched as she picked up a cup and pitcher and made her way down from the dais, along the hall’s stone walls to where she sat waiting.