“That was the distraction.”
“I see. I hope that Cook will remove Gormelia from the kitchen then. She canna allow someone to try to poison anyone else out of spitefulness.”
“I agree.”
When they entered the kitchen, the other women had already cleared out, all except for Cook, Gormelia, her friends, and Nelly. The dishes, pots, table, and floor were clean. Gormelia was sitting at the table, looking pale and unwell.
Instead of checking on Gormelia to see how she fared, Aisling’s mother examined the food. “Who would mistakenly put these mushrooms in the meal?” She looked at Gormelia as if she knew the truth.
“I will tell the chief what has happened here. She will be banished. If her friends, Kenna and Wilma, had anything to do with it, they will be banished as well,” Cook said.
“You saw what had happened?” Aisling asked Cook.
“I saw Gormelia place that plate at your setting, and she has never done so before. I had thought maybe the two of you had reconciled and she was trying to be nice. But when Nelly started the fight and you switched plates with Gormelia’s, I knew something was terribly wrong. For one thing, Nelly doesn’t start fights.”
“But you let Gormelia eat the poisonous mushrooms,” Aisling’s mother said.
Aisling was surprised at that also.
“Aye. I had to know if she had added something poisonous to the food. If she hadna, then it was as I thought at first. She was trying to make up to Aisling. But when she got sick from eating the food right away, I knew why Aisling had switched out the plates. How did you know Gormelia had poisoned your plate?” Cook asked Aisling.
“Nelly saw her add something to the food and then serve it to me.” Aisling owed her life to her observant friend, and she would be forever grateful.
Cook nodded. “I’m sure Gormelia’s friends were all in on it. They left after the morning meal to gather herbs and mushrooms from the forest. All three of them. They could easilyhave found the deadly mushrooms then and saved them for Aisling’s food. Gormelia is lucky she didna eat too much of the food.”
“She still may die,” Aisling’s mother said. “Someone doesna need to eat much of the mushrooms to kill them, but it can take a while to die a painful death from eating them. Have someone take her to her pallet to lie down. It’s up to her whether she lives or dies. There’s nothing I can do for her.”
Cook left the kitchen and returned with a man who took hold of Gormelia’s arm, but she could barely stand.
“Check her belongings for any hint of the deadly mushrooms or anything else that could have poisoned her,” Cook said.
“Aye, Cook.” He lifted Gormelia in his arms and carried her to the women’s chamber.
“We need to tell the chief what has happened. The word will have already spread, but we must tell him all we know, or the stories will be so exaggerated, he willna know what to think,” Aisling’s mother said.
“Aye. I will have Kenna and Wilma go also so we can learn what they knew of the matter.” Cook left the kitchen again.
“Nelly should be with us, too, since she saw what Gormelia had done.”
“Aye, go find her.” But before Aisling left the kitchen, her mother hugged her. “I canna believe Gormelia would go to such extremes to harm you.”
“Neither can I. I was glad Nelly saw her do it.” Aisling hurried off to find her friend. Nelly loved the herb gardens and would help the gardeners there when she wasn’t cooking meals. Sure enough, as soon as Aisling reached the gardens, Nelly waved at her.
“What news? Is Gormelia going to be all right?”
“Mayhap no’. ‘Tis her own fault for trying to poison me. But we need to see the chief about this.” Aisling took her hand and led her out of the gardens.
“Just you and me?” Nelly’s eyes were huge. She appeared to be afraid she would get into trouble with the chief for some reason.
“Nay, Cook and my mother also. And Kenna and Wilma.”
Then they met up with Aisling’s mother, Cook, with her jaw clamped so tight that her cheek twitched, and Kenna and Wilma, both ashen, both visibly shrinking from the weight of whatever they expected to happen next.
What had they thought? That if Aisling had died, no one would have suspected any of them of poisoning her? Gormelia had been the most antagonistic toward her, but Kenna and Wilma went right along with her mean behavior, companions in taunting Aisling.
But when they tried to see the chief, Morag intercepted them in the hall outside their chamber, her face a perpetual scowl, barring their way like a stone pillar. Her hair—so dark it looked blue in the right light—was rope-braided and looped over her shoulder.
Her dress was the color of oxblood, an omen if ever there was one, and her hands were folded in front of her with such stillness that for a brief moment, Aisling wondered how she could stand there, controlling her emotions when she had to have already heard what had happened.
