Of the Fells

[heartofcourage]

Val let out a long sigh as her mother buried her face against her shoulder and swore that she should never have to go off to war. Valentina gently pulled her mother from her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"Ma, I don't know what Papa promised you when I was born, but I have to go. My family needs me to keep them safe during this fight. I'll be alright. I promise."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Your father didn' promise me anythin' except that he'd do everythin' 'e could to keep you safe. I suppose I... promised myself tha' you wouldn't ever be caught up in war. When y'started taking an interest in healing, though... I knew this day would come." Kitty kissed her forehead. "Jus'... stick close t'your father... there's no one I trust more t'defend you than him, and no one I trust more t'keep him safe than you... Don't let 'im overwork 'imself, and you'd better not either."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Everyone is going to be alright, Ma." Val said softly as her mother kissed her forehead. "I'll take care of Papa. I promise."

Val knew that her mother would worry no matter what. She was the baby of the family and her mother had worried about her most of all. This moment wouldn't be any different, even if she was a grown woman.

 

[KieranSoares]

As the group finally set out on their way, the remainder of the Ghis family watched along with all the wives, mothers, and children. The journey wasn't much longer than two days' steady march, but the sight Valentina came upon that third morning was something she couldn't have imagined in her worst nightmares. The field was littered not just with corpses, but many blown-apart bodies. Valentina had never seen anything capable of doing that until she heard the first explosion near her. They were called culverins, a giant metal monstrosity called 'guns' and 'cannons' by the English. Valentina had heard of them years ago from Durban when he'd returned home from Asia. He'd told her about fireworks and how the Chinese had invented gunpowder. He'd told her about the dragonhead cannons the Chinese used the ward off the more aggressive Mongol hordes. It seemed that the gunpowder horror had finally reached the west. These beasts were simply huge metal tubes with a fuse and a metal ball meant to fire out faster than any arrow with thousands of times the effect.

When Valentina heard the first explosion, it wasn't a cannonball shooting out, it was a defect cannon blowing itself apart and killing the crew around it and anyone nearby. Other cannons did the same. Within ten minutes, Valentina saw six blow apart and only one shoot correctly. The weapons were clearly defect on purpose, but the question was why they were so. Only the English had them thus far, so it was another question as to how Sarah had them.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina was disturbed by the sights that she saw on the battlefield. Nothing could have prepared her for what there was in front of them. She tried to seem unaffected and courageous but she was really shaking inside. The sounds of the booming cannons that she could hear made her jump and she wished that she were anywhere else but there. Maybe her mother had been right and she should have stayed behind in Inverness.

 

[KieranSoares]

Her work began immediately. Thanks to her youth and energy, Vincenzo sent her out as a runner to treat the wounds of men fallen from the vanguard who, if tended to, could get back up and continue to fight. Vincenzo worked to save the lives of the more seriously injured who would have to be sent home if they survived.

Valentina's first charge was a young man, hardly sixteen, with an arrow that had gone clean through his thigh. The boy put on a brave face, but Valentina could tell that he and the other man had seen horrific things that no human should ever witness. The boy hardly knew he was injured, even with shrapnel lodged in his shoulder and shield arm from an exploding cannon. The terrifying thing was that the shrapnel was not metal from the barrel, but bone from the blown-apart body of a fellow young soldier from Wick. The boy didn't say much to Valentina beyond explaining the bone shards in his shoulder.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina did her work with a brave face. Her hands might have shaken but she did her best to not let anyone see the struggle that she was having. She removed the bone shards from the young soldier and left him to rest. She made her way to her private tent and sat down, letting out a shaking breath as she pulled out a piece of paper to write a letter.

Theo,

Things have been tough here in the midst of battle. The things that I've seen I don't think I'll ever be able to forget. I try my hardest to keep up a brave face, but I'm struggling. I can't allow them to see me falter. They need me to be strong and to be able to help them in their time of need. I don't feel like I can ever tell my fears to Papa. He has seen so much in his life and I am just starting out. I just felt the need to talk to someone that might understand.

I hope to speak to you in person soon.

Valentina Ambrose

 

[KieranSoares]

For the first couple weeks, messages would make it quickly and easily between Inverness and the battlefield, so Valentina received a reply in only three days, brought by a wounded soldier who, despite his injuries, could still ride perfectly well and had taken up messenger duty to remain useful to his king despite a bloodied and broken arm and fractured kneecap treated by Vincenzo. He rode up to Valentina's tent and sent a man inside with the letter. It was snowing hard, so Valentina's work had been moved inside her tent to shelter the wounded men and Valentina from frostbite while she worked. When she got a brief break to read, she found that Theo's letter was written in quite a nice, flowing script that she recognized to be Kayla's handwriting. It seemed Theo couldn't read or write.

Valentina,

I was glad to hear from you and I asked your sister Kayla to help me read your letter and write back to you. I hope you don't mind. She's teaching me to write and read.

For all the difficulties you and those out front face, you're doing an amazing job so far. Very few men have had to return home, and Inverness is as safe as she's ever been. Not a single force has gotten through your line, and the wounded men who return are doing well, thanks to you and your father. I know it's difficult, and I've heard the horror stories... I only wish I could be there to help you, but Lady Julia insists that I stay to defend the town if the worst should happen, especially Annie and little Ciaran. Annie's begun to call me Uncle, and she's been asking about you ever since you left. She loves you dearly. I'm doing all I can to take care of things here so that you and Brogan can focus on everything there, and your sisters and Julia have been amazing teachers and entirely invaluable to me. Selena's begun to tease me here and there about missing you, though. She's a serious woman, but not too serious.

I may not understand what it's like to be around those things the returning men call 'cannons', but I do understand the hardship you face. I faced something like that back home... But know that, no matter how hard it gets, your friends and family are behind you, and if you need me there, I will come. And maybe, when you return, we might have dinner together, if it's not too forward of me to ask.

I'll see you soon enough.

At the very bottom, she could see Theo's own shaky letters, signing off his name.

 

[heartofcourage]

Val read Theo's letter and felt her breath catch in her throat. She gently pressed the letter to her chest, thinking about what he was asking of her. He wanted to have dinner. Did he have...feelings for her? The very thought made her dizzy and she found herself smiling as she let out a little breath. She would wait to write her letter in return. She needed time to think things through.

 

[KieranSoares]

A chance to answer Theo would be hard to find in the coming days, especially when Brogan was suddenly brought to Valentina with a broken arrow lodged in his outer thigh and a nasty slash across his chest. Neither was deadly, but the chest wound was very bloody and the arrow wound could get infected or get worse if the arrowhead wasn't removed. He had to be practically dragged in, fighting against Boar and another man. He was covered in tiny scratches and a couple larger cuts mostly from shrapnel, not the mention blood that chiefly was not his own. Valentina had seen him in this bloody battle rage too many times to count over the course of her life and more so as a healer, but it became no less awe-inspiring nor terrifying to see the beast that Brogan became when homes and lives depended on him.

Boar finally got him sat down and got Brogan to stop fighting, but the enraged king's chest still heaved with exertion and his eyes were wide and wild and his jaw was clenched tight. "Get me back out there, Val..." He spoke in a deep rumble. "... Fast as y'can..." He then looked to Boar and the other man. "Go, dammit! They need everyone out there!" Both men hurried off, while Brogan waited. Anyone could see he almost trembled with energy, and one could feel the heat radiating from him. His fingers couldn't have been pried from his Claymore even if he was dead.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Brogan, you need to calm yourself. It will take time to retrieve the arrowhead and then you will need to wait while I stitch up the wound. You don't want to bleed to death before you walk back onto the battlefield." Valentina chided her older brother, gathering all the she needed to work on his wounds and make sure that he survived.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Calm? There's a goddamned war out there an' I got dragged off th' field fer wounds tha' my men would suffer ten times b'fore they retreated!" Brogan snarled like the wild bear many perceived him to be, but he quickly pulled himself back, realizing he was letting his hostility reach to his sister. "... M'sorry... Jus'... If it weren't fer some stupid title, I'd still be out there... I hate it, tha' men far better'n myself 'ave taken swords t'the chest an' suffer worse while I 'ave people tryin' t'pamper me fer a damn arrow wound."

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina bit her tongue as Brogan lashed out at her. She knew that he was stressed and he would take it out on anyone that spoke to him. She just so happened to be that person in his sights. She worked quietly as he apologized and continued to complain about not being out there on the battlefield.

"Brogan, you have a family that would tear me apart if I didn't treat you." Val said softly, looking up at him with an understanding. "I know that you're the king and I know that you think you're invincible, but there is more than you to think about now."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I bloody know I'm no' invincible, Val," Brogan grunted. "But there's men out there tha' should be in 'ere instead o' me... Plenty of 'em." He sighed and finally sat back, resigning himself to his frustration in silence. He wouldn't sit still a second longer than Valentina required. The moment she finished the stitching and bandaging, he was back on his feet, picking up his shield and axe.

 

[heartofcourage]

When Brogan hopped up the moment that she was finished and left, she sat back with a sigh. Her brother was stubborn and would end up dead if he didn't stop with his bullheadedness. Val was surprised when she felt the tears on her cheeks. She wasn't even aware that she was crying until she felt the first tears falling.

She stood from her seat, moving to her writing desk. She pulled out a fresh piece of paper and her ink well, writing a new letter to Theo.

Dearest Theo,

For the first time since this war began, I'm afraid. I do not know how things will end, but I have hopes it will be for the best. I miss Inverness...and you.

Valentina

 

[KieranSoares]

Valentina would not get a letter in return when, just after her own letter got through, Brogan's messengers were suddenly cut off from any kind of safe path home to Inverness when they were nearly surrounded except for a single highland trail that was one of the roughest and most dangerous in the region. Even if Theo could've gotten a letter back through, Valentina would've never had time to get to it when suddenly, one night as she slept rather fruitlessly in her tent, she was woken by a particularly horrible explosion nearby. Within minutes, there were men carrying in two bloodied messes that she almost couldn't recognize as Boar and Durban. Boar was just bloody with shallow cuts, but he was in absolute agony that she soon learned was from having been sent backwards off a short cliff by the defect cannon exploding, and landing on his feet thus essentially ruining his knees. Durban, however, was entirely unresponsive and his skull was fractured and his body ripped apart by shrapnel. A bloody, massive gash in his temple with metal embedded in his skull told of how close he'd been to the cannon. If he wasn't in a coma, he was suffering brain damage or a bad concussion and had blacked out.

 

[heartofcourage]

Val was shaken when her brothers were brought into her tent for treatment. She simply stared at them for the longest moment before she could get herself into action. She gave Boar herbs that would dull his pain and told him to lie still. Durban needed her attentions far more at that moment. His injuries were far beyond her healing knowledge, but she knew if she didn't help him, Marri would be a widow very shortly.

She cleaned him up, sutured his wounds and removed the metal from his body. She gave him herbs to stop the flow of blood and to calm him, even though he had yet to respond to her as she was treating him. She was shaking when she finished, praying that he would wake up very soon.

 

[KieranSoares]

Vincenzo arrived at her side just as she finished doing all she could for Durban, and he did what more he could before assisting her with Boar. Vincenzo gave him even more herbs as the pain was just so immense, until Boar was dazed and quiet. All they could really do was clean him up, bandage whatever needed it, and put splints around his knees in hopes that they'd heal. Medicine of their time simply didn't have the knowledge to fix such damage, but Vincenzo and Valentina could at least make sure Boar would walk again.

 

[heartofcourage]

They worked silently side by side, not saying anything as they both worked to save Boar's legs. Val was struggling hard to keep her tears at bay. She wouldn't cry over her brother. Those tears wouldn't do anyone any good.

 

[KieranSoares]

Come midnight, they finally left Durban and Boar to rest, and Vincenzo sat down with a long, tired sigh, rubbing his eyes. Valentina had never seen him look so tired, nor so old. Kitty's sons were his own now, and though he wouldn't lose them while he still drew breath, he still felt a deep pain knowing his boys were fighting so hard and taking such awful wounds.

Vincenzo drew Valentina to his side to sit with him, and he kissed her cheek with a soft mutter in Italian of 'well done'.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina clung to her father as he pulled her against his side. She was trembling like a leaf in a wind storm. He was the one person that she couldn't hide from and he knew that she was struggling in the middle of that battlefield.

 

[KieranSoares]

As Vincenzo felt her trembling, he wrapped her in a protective embrace and laid his head against her own. After a long silence, he muttered, "I'm sending Boar home as soon as possible, and when Durban's stable enough to move, I'm sending you back with him to make sure he can take the journey. This battle isn't going well for either side, but with leaders falling in Brogan's forces, we may need to retreat before long..." He might not have been a military tactician, but he knew as well as any soldier that they weren't doing well especially since two Ghis brothers had fallen. Now it was up to Brogan and Ashien and Brogan's brother-in-arms Cole.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Papa, I won't leave you here alone." Valentina said as he told her that she was going back with her brothers. "If you are staying then so am I."

She glanced up into his familiar gaze, afraid that he was sentencing himself to death out there among the soldiers. Alone would be so much harder than with an assistant that knew her way around the tents.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Don't argue with me, cara mia..." Vincenzo sighed. "Durban won't survive here even with us, and he won't make it at home without you. I can handle this until you-" but then the tent flap opened and in charged a man in black with a drawn dagger. Vincenzo couldn't react fast enough before the blade plunged down into his right shoulder and sunk deep. Both men toppled back onto the floor and Vincenzo lay motionless aside from painful trembling.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina was about to argue with her father when a black figure suddenly appeared in the tent with a sharp looking dagger. She barely had time to pull from her father's arms before he was attacked and the two men tumbled to the ground. She watched numbly, shaking as he was suddenly motionless on the ground and the man in black turned his gaze towards her. Her feet felt rooted to the ground as she saw blood pooling under her father's shoulder. She should have screamed, should have ran for help, but she simply stood there dumbstruck.