Children Of Myths, Act One: Scotland

A day at the river

As soon as the door of the Ptarmigan opened, Fergus expected to see his son and their guest enter as cheerfully as they were at noon. Instead, Connor had come in carrying Bakhur on his back and the two Grims behind him yelping in concern.
The innkeeper dropped the mug into the water and hurried to help his son.

"What happened? Did he got hurt?"

"No, physically not." Connor started up the stairs "I'll take him to bed, then I'll explain."

He took the boy to his room, made him lie down and then put a sheet over him.
Bakhur's legs were still weak and was unable to walk after the seizure from a few hours earlier. He felt mortified for having made such a scene, even though the young innkeeper repeatedly told him that it wasn't his fault and that he should take his time to heal.

"Jug of water, check. Dish with the stew, check. Bread, check" Connor counted after going up and down a couple of times from the bedroom to the kitchen to bring him food and drink.

"Shukran..." sighed Bakhur "I'll call when I finish."

"Of course, take your time. Maybe send your friends down, now just eat and rest."

Connor left the door open and went downstairs to get a glass of beer and something to eat with his father. Fergus asked him to explain what was wrong and then hissed between his teeth as his son told him about what had happened at the Neivers house.

"I swear, he looked possessed."

"I don't know what that laddie has been through, and I don't think I want to know" The innkeeper leaned his abdomen against the counter and snorted deeply "Sometimes the mind is a huge bitch and makes you remember the worst things... Sometimes even to me, I dream of Effie on the bed coughing up blood."

Connor undid his ponytail, smoothed his hair and tied it back together before taking a sip from his mug. "Don't remind me..." He had already figured out what would happen to his mother when the doctors took her to church, more like a lazaret at the time.

There was a heavy silence between the two before Connor finished his beer and changed the subject to something much lighter "We found out that Bakhur comes from a family of goldsmiths and lived in Egypt."

"Really? A respectable job indeed" Fergus began to rearrange the mugs on the shelves while his son began to dry other crockery with a towel "Anyway, we have to think about when the merchants will come from Aberdeen and see a room occupied, what shall we say?"

Connor pursed his lips "That... One of the beds is broken?"

"If they see an Ottoman boy around town it might arouse suspicion. Then they end up treating him badly again and it would hurt me, because he's a good lad and doesn't deserve any more suffering."

There was still a week left before the merchants arrived, they would come up with something.

What Connor wanted to do, however, was to cheer him up a little, given the day's fiasco. He really wanted Bakhur to be able to rebuild a life there in Fìor Tobar Beinne, he had promised it to Artica...

"Dad, what do you suggest I do besides taking him on errands with me?"

The innkeeper thought for a moment with his fingers drumming on the counter, rose his eyes then smiled, nodding to himself.

"Today, one of the fishermen said he saw red reflections in the water and something moving against the current. I guess they're back, at last."

Connor grabbed his father's shoulders with an excited grin "Dad you are a genius, the weather is perfect, maybe I can also involve Artica and Safie so we can all spend a nice day together by the river at the bottom of the valley."