Page 34 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
“It’s like she just said,” Conall advised. “The bairns are smaller, so it takes less to make ‘em ill. The poison would need time to build up in the system of a full-grown man or woman. Is that right?”
Again, Eliza looked impressed as she nodded.
“Aye,” she confirmed. “That’s a part of it. There’s also the way the bairns were ingestin’ it. It’s nae all the wee ones who fell ill, is it?”
Conall and Dougal shook their heads in unison.
“And the ones that did,” Eliza forged on, “I’m assumin’ the ones that fell ill first are the ones that play in it the most often?”
Conall wasn’t certain. He did not get to spend as much time at the lake as he would have these days. But Dougall did. His guard route often had him riding to and from this very village and when Conall glanced at the guard, he was nodding vigorously.
“Aye,” Dougal’s words left him in a rush. “The first four are the ones whose maithers do the washin’ for the town. The bairns are there near every day.”
Eliza hummed in affirmation, letting them know Dougal had confirmed her thoughts before she began speaking again.
“The bairns likely drank straight from the source,” she explained. “Especially if they were playin’ in it all day. It wouldnae take ‘em long to drink enough of it to make ‘em sick. The wee one’s who werenae there as often would be next, because they were still gettin’ it directly from the water. But the adults, they wouldnae be drinkin’ their water fresh from the lake.”
“Ale.” The word left Conall’s lips on a breath the moment it rose to his mind.
Eliza’s gaze fell on his, that same impressed glint flickering in her soft brown eyes as she nodded.
“Ale,” she repeated. “And stew and fish. A few adults might take a handful from the shores once or twice. But most of their water is used for somethin’ else. So not only would it take longer because they’re larger, but they wouldnae be getting’ as much of it, either.”
“We have to order everyone to stop usin’ it,” Conall said, voice hard and resolute.
His eyes flicked to Dougal. The young guard’s face was pink with indignation, and Conall understood.
Dougal had grown up in the village where they stood. His mother, although she now resided in a small house not far from Conall’s castle, had raised him within these streets.
It was one of the reasons he had chosen Dougal to accompany them. He knew that out of all his guards, Dougal would take the people falling ill the most personally, and he would do whatever was asked with enthusiasm when it came to protecting them.
“I’ll make the rounds,” Dougal answered, his voice low and fervent. “I’ll go house to house if I have to; start warnin’ people off of the lake.”
“Where will they get their water from in the meantime?” Eliza asked, turning her attention to Conall.
“There’s a stream nae too far past the lake,” he explained, his mind working quickly to come up with a solution. “It’s runnin’ water, so it’ll be fresh. It’s a bit more of a hike. But if it means they willnae be poisoned, I cannae imagine they’ll mind.”
“And they cannae play in it anymore,” Eliza said, her words falling quickly. “They cannae use it to wash their clothes, or to cook with. They cannae eat the fish from its depths. Not for quite some time. It will take a while for the arsenic to no longer be in the lake. Quite a long time.”
Dougal nodded, gathering all the information that he could before he began making his rounds. Conall listened intently as well, soaking in all of the instructions Eliza was prattling off.
When they returned to the castle, Conall knew he would need to begin drafting letters. All his parishes and the councilmen that oversaw them would need to know.
He’d need Eliza to walk him through the symptoms, and how to create the tonic should they begin appearing.
Because Conall did not doubt that if it was happening here, there was every possibility that it would be happening elsewhere. Someone was coming for his people, and therefore, someone was coming for him.
Dougal, finally having received the last of the instructions from Eliza, turned to Conall.
“I’ll be visitin’ everyone,” he explained. “I’ll work with Aulds. The whole town will ken what to do by nightfall.”
Conall wished him luck, watching as the young guard turned on his heel and strode across the town with a purpose that Conall hadn’t before seen in him.
Turning his attention back to Eliza, he found the healer watching him with a weary expression.
“What’s on that mind of yers?” she asked.
“I’m thinkin’ ye and I have a lot of work ahead of us,” he explained, his voice gruff. “So we best get to it.”
