Page 13 of My Scarred Laird
Their father came down with it and Islay prayed that she could save him. But the sickness the woman brought was not to be defeated, and Islay watched with horror and sadness as her father succumbed to the disease.
He coughed up blood, and she cried as he took his last breath, not knowing they were even in the room.
Daracha sobbed alongside her, and Islay turned her efforts to healing those she could, but to no avail.
With each new person lost, Islay felt as if she failed them.
People needed her, but everything she tried didn’t work, and she soon ran out of all the medicants she had.
She tried making more, but by the time she had made even a few, more people had died, and she was left floundering.
After a month, most of the people in the village and in the castle had passed away.
It was heartbreaking, and the rest of the survivors blamed her.
They told her she hadn’t done enough to save those she could.
Even though they didn’t know how hard she tried to save everyone.
No one knew.
And after the plague that swept through their clan, everyone that had survived left.
She didn’t blame them. She didn’t want to be reminded about how badly she failed them either.
How everyone had died, men, women, and children.
That had been the hardest on Islay and after people left, she shut herself in her room, crying for those she lost.
She had come to a decision then. Knowing she couldn’t stay here any longer. That she needed to move on and find a new home.
Islay knew leaving their holdings had been the best decision she could have made, though it had been the hardest too.
Daracha had refused to come with, even though they were the only ones left after a mysterious plague entered their valley and wiped their clan out.
She didn’t know how the two of them had been spared, and she thanked her lucky stars they had.
She had found the letters from her father to the Stewart Laird confirming what she already knew that Daracha was meant in marriage for him and she was meant for his brother.
But after the death of their father, Daracha once again refused to listen to reason and or the set negotiations that had already been agreed upon, and Islay took in on herself to follow it.
Islay knew that she wasn’t the sister the Laird wanted, but she had to try. She was still a Brodie and hoped that in itself would be enough.
Though she heard the rumors of the Laird and how people were terrified of him.
She knew not to listen to rumors. Her own father had been the recipient of such rumors.
They said that he deliberately left a battle and left his allies to get killed.
That hadn’t happened. Her father had been badly injured in the battle and a soldier had taken his helmet and sword and horse.
They saw the soldier leave the battle and thought it was her father.
When they pulled through and found out about her father’s injuries, and that he hadn’t left as they thought, they had come begging to be forgiven.
Her father had told her not to believe rumors. Only to find the truth for herself.
She wanted to do just that. To find out who the Laird was, for who he was. Not for the rumors swirling about.
