Carnelian

Chapter 7

Lady Adrianna sat beside her son, laying damp cloths on his brow to absorb the heat of fever and praying for her youngest son as she perused his features. He'd turned into a fine young man, broad of shoulder and lean of waist.

His hair was dark, the way his father's was, but instead of the natural curl in the viscount's hair, Sir James' bore the same, straight locks as his mother; thick hair that tended to stick straight out from his head if not confined by a leather thong behind the nape of his neck, and sported the same reddish highlights that so plagued his younger sister, the Lady Isadora, if she forgot to wear the hood of her cloak up when in the sun.

His beard had more than a little of the red as well, though it would be a few years before that beard took on the fullness of manhood. Despite the untended appearance of his grooming, Lady Adrianna could tell that he preferred to wear no beard at all, which tended to give him a more youthful appearance than his five-and-twenty years.

His eyes were the same brown that she remembered, almost hazel but not quite. Adolescence hadn't been kind to him, she decided, for his face was marked by the scars of youthful acne along with the deeper marks of a case of cowpox. Lady Isadora and her maids did not find him overly attractive at all, but Lady Adrianna, with a mother's heart, saw her son as handsome and her prayers turned to praise, thanking the Almighty that he had survived to return to her.

Sir James moaned in delirium and began to toss fretfully, for the stump of his wrist was reddened and hot to the touch. Though the flesh had knit together over the bone-ends, and the suture-lines were clear, it was obvious that infection lurked, deep within the injured arm. As he tossed, Lady Adrianna was able to pick a single word from his fevered ramblings on occasion. She tugged on the bell-cord after a short time.

"My son asks for Willow and Veronica. Fetch some; the willow tea will ease his pain and fever; but make a paste of the Speedwell. With God's grace, it will ease the infection in his arm."

Her maid curtseyed from the doorway. "Yes, Milady. Odd though, that he should know that." She backed from the room, leaving her mistress to ponder how a knight should know of herbal remedies.

~~~

Having camped overnight, Lady Firestone and Bold Shale decided to cut through the viscount's land and make straight for the Deep Woods, rather than continue on by the road. The path through the viscount's forest would be more difficult, but Bold Shale distrusted the viscount's vassals and he also wished to visit with the fairy clan nearest the viscount's lands, the Brave clan.

Seeing a chance to see her old friend again, Lady Carnelian agreed, knowing that Brave Garnet would welcome her. Approaching the Enchanted Forest from this direction would also allow the lady to pass through nearly all of the villages and encampments within her control. Jakin made it known that, however the lady chose to return home, he would not leave her side until she was safely inside the Enchanted Forest.

Winston preferred to stay with the road, where the travel would be easier, but Talon disagreed. "As much as I and my cubs like you," she told the ox, "you must admit that a bull and a bear make for strange bed-fellows. I would not like to leave my tracks alongside yours, in so public a place again, where anyone may follow them. Your tracks belong, but mine would surely bring attention."

With no more regrets, the ox turned away from the road. Bold Shale quit his perch between Talon's ears in order to scout the most reasonable path. Talon directed her cubs toward practicing moving quietly through the undergrowth, rather than crashing about with abandon, as the three of them were in the habit of doing.

By midafternoon of the following day, the travelers had passed through the dense undergrowth of the viscount's forest and broken through into the Deep woods, whose tall trees prevented most of the undergrowth.