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I could feel the steps of the process of a in theof skin and rate of bone, the snap of tendon, and the slippery, rubbery, blood-squirting vessels, sliding away into the severed flesh likesnakes

I sed No It wouldn’t come to that Surely not

"Ye need fat meat You’re verra thin, a muirninn," Ja"

I turned round, swearing silently toThree babies in four years! And a one-handed husband, who couldn’t e the man’s work of a ho andthat he could handle

Marsali made a small sound, half-snort, half-sob

"How did you know? I havena even told Fergus yet"

"Ye should--though he kens it already"

"He told you?"

"No--but I didna think it only the indigestion that troubled hi Now I see ye, I ken what it is that’s weighin’ on hih to taste blood Did the tansy oil and vinegar iven her not work? Or the dauco seeds? Or, as I strongly suspected, had she just not bothered to use either one regularly? Well, too late for questions or reproaches I caught her eye as she glanced up, and

"Och," she said with a feeble s, bodies stretching slowly like ani, and pressed the leeches gently onto the swollen flesh near the wound

"It looks nastier than it is," I said reassuringly, hearing Marsali’s unguarded gasp at the sight That was true, but the reality was nasty enough The slashaped Instead of the sealing and granulation of nor to erode, the exposed tissues oozing pus The flesh around the wounds was hugely swollen, black and mottled with sinister reddish streaks

I bitas I considered the situation I didn’t knohat kind of snake had bitten him--not that it made much difference, with no antivenin for treatment--but it had plainly had a powerful hemolytic toxin Tiny blood vessels had ruptured and bled all over his body--internally, as well as externally--and larger ones, near the site of the wound

The foot and ankle on the injured side were still warn, insofar as it meant the deeper circulation was intact The probleh to prevent aof tissue The red streaks bothered h; they could be only part of the heic process, but it was ns of septiceht on the mountain, but he hadn’t had to; I’d seen h the dark with death beside theht and a day since then, chances were he would go on surviving--if I could control the infection But in what condition?

I hadn’t treated snakebite injuries before, but I’d seen sufficient textbook illustrations The poisoned tissue would die and rot; Jamie could easily lose most of the muscle of his calf, which would cripple hirenous

I stole a look at him under my lashes He was covered with quilts and so ill he could barely race and the pro him--and yet I would do it if I must To cripple Jaht made my stomach clench and sweat break out on my blue-blotched palms

Would he wish that himself?

I reached for the cup of water by Jamie’s head and drained it ht--but he was ive him up, no matter what I had to do to keep hiht, Da?" Marsali had been watchingscared I hastily tried to rearrange my features into a look of co me, too One corner of his mouth turned up

"Aye, well, I did think so Now I’h"

"What’s the matter? Do you feel worse?" I asked anxiously

"No, I feel fine," he assured h his teeth "It’s only, when I’ve hurt pie--but if I’m desperate bad, ye’re tender as milk Now, ye havena called me wicked names or uttered a word of reproach since I came home, Sassenach Does that mean ye think I’m dyin’?"

One eyebrow rose in irony, but I could see a true hint of worry in his eyes There were no vipers in Scotland; he couldn’t knoas happening to his leg

I took a deep breath and laidon a snake! Couldn’t you have looked where you were going?"

"Not whilst chasing a thousand-weight ofI felt a tiny relaxation in the e to slared down at him instead

"You scared bloody hell out of ain

"Maybe ye think I wasna frightened, too?"