Voices Deep Inside (Book 1)

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Taking Back the Herd

After dinner, Roman excused himself, since he wasn't feeling well. By the middle of the night, Roman vomited and broke out with a raging fever. His body was trying to fight the infection of his wound. The night maid had heard Master Roman, and she came to his aid.

She brought cool water to his room and laid out fresh night clothes for him to change into while she went for his mother. Roman slipped off his wet nightshirt while the maid was gone, and then he fell back into bed, burning up with fever.

His mother came in and saw her son laying across the bed. She ordered the maid to remove the chamber pot and bring more cloth bandages, honey, and boiling water. His bedding was soaked from sweat, and Rose grabbed another set of sheets for his bed.

Amos came up with the maid, and he helped Master Roman to his chair, while the maid quickly made his bed with fresh linens.

Amos and Rose removed Roman's bandages from around his waist to reveal the source of infection. His right side was full of infection. Rose sent the maid to Rupert's room to wake him up from his slumber. They needed Rupert to help carry Roman downstairs.

Rupert carried Roman down the stairs, and Rose instructed the servants to cover the trench table. The men laid down Roman on the trestle table with his right side in the air. The kitchen staff boiled water and lit additional lamps to provide extra light.

Rose retrieved her tiny scissors, needles, and thread from her sewing box. Through the rest of the night, Rose picked fibers and dirt from the wound, and Rupert feed Roman whiskey by the tablespoon. They kept a cool cloth on his forehead.

Rose scraped and cleansed the wound, causing it to bleed. Then she and Amos set to sewing up the gaping wound. Amos held the skin together as Rose stitched the skin together.

She used the alcohol to clean her needles, and she applied tiny stitches as she threaded and knotted the incision shut. When she finished, she placed honey on the stitches and packed it with clean bandages.

Rupert held him up while Amos wrapped the bandages around his chest to hold the other bandages in place. Rupert and Amos then helped Roman back to his bedroom to lie down and sleep off the whiskey Rupert had given him.

After seeing Roman to his room, Rupert went back to his bedroom and changed into traveling clothes. Then, he woke his two brothers to get dressed to travel. He went down, ate breakfast, and asked Lydia to pack food to go.

Rupert knew his mother would not leave Roman's side. His father came down for coffee and looked suspiciously at Rupert's clothes.

"Going somewhere?" asked Gordon Thanturnam.

"Might be," said Rupert.

Then, the other two brothers walked in wearing similar clothes.

"Is there something I should know?" asked Gordon

"Come down to the stable and I'll explain," said Rupert.

He finished his cup of coffee and walked out the back door to the stable. Rupert ordered a hay wagon to be harnessed to a team. He gathered the reins for several horses and placed them in the hay wagon.

By the time his father and brothers arrived in the stable, Rupert had gathered the stable boys and liverymen into a meeting. Rupert stood in the center and unleashed his anger.