Besieged by Diana Gabaldon

Author:Diana Gabaldon [Gabaldon, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2022-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

A modest cough woke him, well after dawn, to find Tom Byrd beside his bed, holding a tray containing breakfast, a steaming cup of the local equivalent of tea, and a note from his mother.

“Her Grace met Rodrigo and Azeel late last night,” Tom informed him. “Them being on the way back posthaste to fetch her, and happen as how she stopped at the same inn where they were stopping to water their horses.”

“She—my mother—isn’t traveling by herself, surely?” At this stage of her life, he wouldn’t put it past her, but…

“Oh, no, me lord,” Tom assured him, with a slightly reproachful look. “She took Eleana and Fatima and three good lads by way of escort. Her Grace ain’t afraid of things, but she’s no ways reckless, as you might say.”

Grey detected a certain emphasis on “she’s” that he might have taken personally but chose to ignore it in favor of reading his mother’s message.

Dear John,

I trust Tom Byrd has told you that Olivia sent Word asking me to come to her at Hacienda Valdez. I met your two Servants at a Hovel somewhere on the Road, they being on their Way back with a similar but more detailed Message, this one written by the local Priest.

Padre Cespedes says that nearly everyone in the House is affected by the Illness, which he—having seen many Occurrences of Fever during his Years serving God near the Zapata Swamp—is sure is not a relapsing Fever, like the tertian Ague, but is almost certainly the Yellow Jack.

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