Sherwood Rogue

Chapter Eighteen

Weak and drowsy, I woke in my own bed at the lodge.

The pain was gone and I was able to think clearly about what happened . . . . How long ago?

What had happened? I had always enjoyed good health, there were no plagues roaming the country, I ate only what I chose with my own hands, I was cleaner now than I had been in seven years. What could have happened?

I tried to sit up, but the sharp pounding in my head told me it was an injudicious movement, and I fell back against my pillows. A sound made me turn slowly and look toward the window, where I saw Andrea in the chair, stirring awake. A glance at the sky outside told me it was early morning.

"Milady?" Andrea inquired, coming to sit on the edge of my bed.

"Do you feel any pain?"

"Just a throbbing headache. What happened? How long have I been out?"

Andrea glanced out the window, much like I had. "Since Lord Scathelock found you, it's been two nights and a day. You've given us all a scare, milady. Mostly milord. It was as if he knew something was wrong. He was on his way to dinner when he asked after you.

When he heard no one had seen you since morning, he ran out of the hall and for the stables.

"He told me that when he found you, bleeding in two places, he thought you'd been thrown by that fool horse that just stood next to you, like a bump on a log. I know something of healing, so they brought you to me. And look." She reached toward me and lifted a heavy amulet off my chest. "This is to ward off the evil in your stomach that made you sick."

I blinked, trying to figure out the correlation between an amulet and my physical condition, but it was too much to think through.

"Andrea, what happened to me? I don't remember bleeding."

"You ate an evil spirit that made you ill, then I assume you fell off your horse."

"I remember falling. But I was bleeding?"

"Aye. On your head, here." She touched a bandaged spot on my forehead, which felt tender despite her gentle fingers. That must have been what knocked me out.

"You mean I got food poisoning?" I asked, finally catching on to what she was saying. "The boiled beef . . . . Did anyone else get sick?"

"Aye, most of us had a brisk bout with it. Yours was the worst because of the fall. But what we don't know is how you got this other wound." She drew back the covers and lifted my sleeping gown up my thigh, exposing a bandage. I looked down at it in amazement.

"How bad is it?" I asked. I must have gotten it fighting Milo, but I didn't remember him cutting me.

"Not bad. A scratch, really. Master Scathelock is all set to send out a hunting party to find whoever it was who hurt you."

"Has he?"

"No. What happened?"

I sighed in relief. "Um, I was riding in the forest and I went off the path. I guess a branch snagged me," I lied. I had to have a good story to tell Will in order to keep him from going after Bran.

"Is that your story?" Andrea laughed. "I'm sorry, milady, but I bandaged that wound. That's from a blade, or I'm a—"

"It's from a branch, Andrea," I said firmly. "At least as far as Will and everyone else is concerned. Did he get a good look at it?"

"No. It's small, but there was a lot of blood. Milady, if you don't mind me asking, what really happened out there?"

"I made some friends, Andrea. They're important. Never mind my leg. I can't tell Will about it. Not yet. And you keep it under your tongue. Where do you think he is now?"