Page 31 of Highlander’s Claim

“Aye,” said Artur.

She nodded. What could she use instead of antibiotic cream? She wished she knew more about herbal medicine. Something about garlic and onion came to mind.

“Did you notice these sores, Mhairi?” Jenny asked.

“Aye. God is putting them through a test. ’Tis a miasma they’re carrying.”

“Miasma?” Jenny asked. “Like, a smell?”

“Aye. It comes from the orphanage.”

“Can you please show me?”

“Aye.” Mhairi exchanged a glance with Aulay. “I suppose I can.”

“Come,” Aulay said. “I’ll show ye myself.”

They walked behind the keep and towards a timber building with a thatched roof. As Mhairi opened the door and stepped in, Jenny could smell a combination of dust and rotting food and vegetation. There were ten big beds and chests lining the walls. The windows were without glass, and daylight shone through them. There was a long hearth in the middle, a hole in the roof above it. The floor was covered in reeds. The sheets on the beds and the blankets could use a good wash—they looked gray brown with yellowish stains.

“Nae matter how much lavender I throw on the floor reeds, nothing helps,” said Mhairi.

No doubt bacteria gathered here; it must be in the floor reeds. Who knew how many years they had been here and what was underneath.

“What do you use against infection on wounds?” Jenny asked.

“Infection?” Mhairi pronounced the word awkwardly.

“Umm…rot?” Jenny guessed.

“Ah, rot-wound. Wild garlic and honey.”

“Oh, this is perfect! Honey will work great and will probably soften the sting of the garlic. The children have impetigo. It’s a disease…” She thought about how to put it in terms they’d understand. “That’s the miasma that they all have. We should try garlic mixed with honey.”

“I only have wild garlic.”

“That will work. I can help you.”

“Aye. Thank ye, my lady. I have those things in my medicinal basket.” She showed them to the opposite end of the room and approached a table with a basket on top of it. Aulay came in, too. The woman retrieved a glass bottle with a green liquid in it. Pieces of a green plant swam in the liquid. “’Tis the wild garlic tincture that Bhatair made. Jenny, would ye pour some into the bowl and some honey and mix the two together?”

While Mhairi rummaged in the chest with jars and pouches standing by the table, Jenny did as asked. “The floor needs to be cleaned of those reeds,” Jenny said. “There’s where the miasma comes from. The sheets will need to be washed well. The mattresses beaten out. All that holds the sickness that afflicted them.”

Aulay looked around the floor. “Mhairi alone canna do all that.”

“I’ll help,” Jenny said as she stirred the honey and the wild garlic tincture. “I’m happy to. And if you can, it would really help it if you could make wooden floors for the children. They will keep warm better, will be easier to clean, too, and will keep miasma away. Is it possible, do you think?”

Aulay nodded and pushed the reeds with his foot. “If ’tis better for the children, everything is possible. Timber is always an expensive resource, but we have the woods on Islay. Most of the timber goes into shipbuilding, but I can spare men to take some timber they already have and build the wooden floors. I promise ye.”

Jenny studied him. He was so handsome with his strong jaw and chiseled cheekbones, plus all those bulging muscles, threatening to tear the seams of his tunic.

“Let me get the rake and start on cleaning this,” he said and walked out. When he came back, he worked the rake, clearing the reeds out of the building.

Jenny started clearing them out as well. Under the reeds, on the packed-dirt floor, there were little corpses of mice along with dry and rotting pieces of food. Children came into the house and watched them work.

“What are ye doing, Lady?” asked Artur.

“Cleaning your home,” said Jenny as she stopped and turned to the boy.

“Oh. I thought floor reeds were supposed to do that.”