Stone Cottage in the Woods, 1743
After the interrogation Isabelle had been moved to a different part of the woods, together with all the men, that had been in the hut. She had been tempted to take her chances and run, but knew with so many weapons around she would only risk getting killed.
And even Jamie, whom she thought had been the nicest of the bunch, had made sure that she could not run.
"For your own safety." he had told her grinning and lead her out of the hut.
So the young woman had endured, even listened to the men making snide remarks about not having seen a female in a long time. Isabelle only shook it off with a slight eye roll, before they finally arrived at the stone cottage.
Jamie had informed her, that it was one of the hide-outs they had used to get away from the British.
"Sit there by the fire, lass." the young Scot told her before he left the room to join the other men.
Isabelle sat there, but only for some time before she went to the window and looked out. She had tried to make it sink in, that she had landed herself in a different time, but she couldn't do it.
Too surreal was the thought that this had happened to her. Of course in the 20th century there had been films done about something like that, but never in her wildest dream had Isabelle thought, that it could be real.
She was brought out of her reverie, when the door opened. Jamie came in, carrying a tray with some dried fruit and a piece of pork. He smiled and put it on the small table beside the chair. "I brought you something to eat. It is not much, but it will hold you over for a while."
"Thank you." Isabelle said and turned back to the window.
Jamie grinned at her before he left the room. "Don't thank me yet, ye can make yerself useful and go look for some berries or something."
With that he walked out the door and left a flustered Isabelle behind. Who did he think he was. It was a trait she inherited from her father, always having a temper.
Not bothering to touch even a slice of the food, the young woman stormed out of the room and went after the Scotsman. He was standing in the circle of his comrades and was laughing at something Murtagh had said.
"Who the fuck do you think you are? I am not some slave you can order around!" she spoke loudly, poking Jamie's back to get his attention.
He stood in front of her, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at her, as Isabelle was at least two heads smaller than him, his sky-blue eyes glinting. "As far as I know yer fate hasn't been decided as of yet, so ye should watch that loose tongue of yours."
While speaking these words, Jamie had stepped closer to her, standing now chest to chest with the young Irish woman, making her look up into his face. Before Isabelle knew it, he had grabbed her arm and dragged her outside.
"Maybe we should go looking for those berries right now."
Isabelle stumbled behind the redhead as they walked together through the woods. Jamie didn't regard her with even the slightest look as she nearly fell down to the ground a third time.
"Come now Sassenach, stop being so clumsy." he said, laughing as she yet again tumbled, and this time really fell to the ground.
Now finally fed up with his mocking, Isabelle jumped up and used the momentum of her surprise attack, to knock the man in front of her down, before she made a mad dash through the woods.
It didn't matter to her where she went, she just wanted to get away from the brute and his comrades.
By now her dark tangles, that had been held in a braid had fallen out and where whipping around her face, as her brown eyes searched for another way to escape this madness.
The rustling of the leaves behind her, told her, that Jamie was in hot pursuit of her, making her run faster. Again she felt the sting of the twigs that were scraping her face and arms.
Isabelle found another escape route, but as she tried to move that way a large hand grabbed her shoulder and brought her down to the ground. She was turned around and could look into the angry face of Jamie, his eyes glinting dangerously and his red curls unkempt from his fast pursuit.
"Ye have been very foolish, Isabelle." he ground out and stood up, dragging her with him.
He inspected her, seeing the breeches she wore were ripped in different places and even the shirt had a gash on the side.
"We gave ye shelter and food, and still ye want to flee."
Isabelle looked at him and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You didn't give me shelter. You kidnapped me and dragged me through the forest like a slave."
Jamie stood, taken aback by her outburst. So she wasn't the shy little damsel he thought Isabelle was. Grinning he leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear. "Ye may not be a slave, but ye still got to earn your keep."
He only wanted to tease her, but by the near slap she had delivered, he knew that she had taken it to heart. Grabbing the hand that had wanted to hit him, Jamie turned and led her back to the patch of berry bushes not too far from the cottage.
"Can ye tell me somethin' 'bout ye?" He finally asked when they found a bush to gather some wild berries.
Isabelle looked at him. "What do you want to know?"
Jamie crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against one of the trees. "How about how old ye are?"
"20."
Isabelle supposed it was enough for him. She saw the young Scot nodding his head and
kneeled down to reach for the fruits under the bush.
"How come ye are wearing such odd garb?"
Swallowing the Irish woman turned to her captor. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." she said and moved on to the next bush.
Jamie sighed and helped Isabelle to pluck the berries from the leaves. "Ye could always try me."
Looking at him she thought about it and proceeded to tell him her story. That she originated from the future and was only visiting family in Scotland, when she made the mistake of walking through the stones.
The young man had let her words sink in. He himself knew that the Standing Stones of Craigh Na Dun were magical, so there was now saying if she was lying or telling the truth. "I will keep it my secret, no one else will know of what ye have told me."
"Thank you." Isabelle whispered softly and gifted the young Scot with a smile.
/7
Isabelle had tried to flee two other times, but every time one of the men had gained on her, dragging her back to the hide out. By the last try Dougal had threatened her with a flogging, so she would learn her lesson and not run away again.
After her run in with Captain Jack Randall, the ancestor of Frank, she had promised to not do it again. At first Isabelle thought she had finally woken up from her dream, as she saw the brown eyes, that reminded her of her uncle.
But she had been oh so wrong. This Captain Randall was far from the gentle nature Frank had been. He was ruthless and cold. But it had taken him trying to kill her, as Isabelle resisted him, when Jack Randall wanted to bring her back to the fort with him.
On the way back to the cottage Dougal had told her all about Frank's ancestor, after he had rescued her from said man.
"Will ye believe me now, lass. The British are out for our blood, and for that of the ones associating with us." he said and brought her inside.
Knowing Isabelle for the few days she had been forced to stay with them, Dougal had only slightly warmed up to her.
When she hadn't tried to run, the Irish woman was mending their clothes or cooking some stew for them. All in all she was helping them more than she was trying to get them all killed.
Once they had come through the doorway, both Isabelle and Dougal could see Jamie crouched on a stool, rocking back and forth while he had his head bent and clutched his right shoulder in pain.
Angus, a smaller man moved behind him and slit the collar of his shirt, over his breast and down the sleeve.
A flurry of gasps sounded as they all had a good look at his wound.
"What happened?" Dougal asked and watched as Angus probed Jamies shoulder.
The young man grimaced and clenched his teeth. "Fell with my hand out, when the musket ball knocked me back off the saddle. I landed with all my weight on the hand, and then crunch! there it went."
Isabelle winced slightly as she saw the extent of his wound. Jamie had dislocated his shoulder and blood was still oozing from the furrow on the top.
Angus laughed dryly. "Crunch is right. Though the wound's no trouble, as the ball went right through and it's clean." he went and picked up a cloth that had already seen better days. "But I don't know about the disjointure. We'd have to get a chirurgeon to get it set properly."
Jamie winced and looked at his comrades. "I couldna manage to get on a horse, hurts bad enough just sitting still."
Isabelle watched the display in front of her. After Jamie's declaration of not being able to ride and Dougal not wanting to leave him behind, Angus tried with the help of Murtagh and Rupert, another friend, to set the joint back in it's place.
They tried to force it back, but angled the arm wrong and the young woman saw that it was causing him pain. Isabelle felt her nurse training kick in and jumped in the middle of the circle.
"You are doing it wrong." she said and moved Angus arm before he could do anymore damage.
"What do you mean?" he snapped irritated at her interruption.
"If you do it like that, you'll break his arm off and not set the joint." she explained and earned questioning looks from the men in front of her. "You need to get the bone of the upper arm in the right angle so it slips back into the joint."
Isabelle took Jamie's wrist, pulled it up and his elbow in. Without further explanation she cupped the elbow, knowing that sometimes the anticipation of the pain worsened it, and whipped it upwards and in. It was a hard task to do, as the muscles around the joint had been swollen and were pulling on it.
And then a soft crunching pop was heard.
Jamie's grim expression turned into a broad grin of relief. "It doesna hurt any more!"
Isabelle whipped the sweat from her brow after the task was done and too smiled at her accomplishment. "You should make sure not to move the arm too much, let it rest the next two or three days before you use it again, but go very slow with it."
The man in the room gave her a surprised look at what she had done. "How did ye know how to do that?" Dougal asked.
"I am a nurse." Isabelle simply answered, thinking about the conversation she had with Jamie before.
Then men of course knew that she was a odd one, but they never would have guessed that she had the knowledge of chirurgeon. Rupert and Murtagh gave Isabelle an odd look before the were brought out of their reverie by Angus.
"Well you seem to know something about wounds too, and not just about babes." This earned him a chuckle from his comrades. "Can you dress it?" he asked and pointed at the bullet wound in Jamie's shoulder.
The young Irish woman nodded her head and looked around. "Do you have some decent cloth and something to disinfect it with?"
A howl of laughter went through the cottage as the men gave her a funny look. "The only cloth we 'ave are the ones laying there." Rupert said pointing at small table beside the fireplace.
"Disinfect? Ye dinna need tha'. Ye just use the Whiskey and pour it over the wound." Dougal said gruffly and pushed a flask into her hand.
Once they were sure Isabelle could do it on her own, they left the room. Sighing she looked at Jamie and proceeded cleaning the wound and wrapping it. As there was no clean cloth, she ripped parts of her shirt away to wrap it with.
"Thank you for what ye did." he said and watched as her hands moved swiftly over the bullet wound.
"No need, we are square now. You helped me and I helped you." she said, lastly finishing the wrapping.
Jamie nodded his head and put his hand over hers, that still lingered on his shoulder.
So another one. Hope you liked it, please let me know what you guys think. Thank you.