"I will not let you die. Did they knock out your teeth?" Kevin asked.
She shook her head.
"Are you hurt inside?"
Again, she shook her head. "My mouth is cut." She felt her lips with her fingertips, and was grateful when Thomas handed her a cloth. She dabbed at her lips and took a deep breath.
Thomas remembered to speak English. When he spoke to Clymer at the creek in Gaelic, it seemed to disturb her. "We need to get her home, Kevin, she needs rest."
"It will hurt her if we go faster."
Anna shook her head. "Get it over with, and do not cover me."
"She is right, Kevin. The longer she is on a horse, the longer she will bleed."
Finally feeling a little anger of her own, she twisted free of his hands, ignored her bare feet, and walked back to his horse. She waited for Kevin to mount, let Thomas lift her and decided to see to her own comfort. Her legs were over Kevin's leg and the bruise on the side of her knee was touching it. So when she noticed Thomas folding the extra plaid, she said, "May I have that?"
"Aye." When she pointed to her knee, he folded the plaid smaller and slipped it under her leg.
Next, she moved Kevin's arm lower on her hip. Then she touched the piece of plaid over his shoulder and looked up at him. He realized it was not soft enough, pulled the cloth out of his belt, and tossed it over his shoulder. Then he opened his shirt so even it would not chafe her skin.
The one thing she couldn't do anything about was the inside of her mouth. The cut, apparently from her own teeth, went all the way from her lip to the back of her jaw. It was swollen on the inside too and each up and down movement of the horse made her teeth go into the cut again. The last thing she did was turn enough to put her head against his bare chest so she could hear his heart again. Then she grabbed hold of his arm, closed her eyes and relaxed.
Kevin was surprised by her boldness. She was showing him how not to hurt her and he was grateful. She was also holding on tight so he could go faster and he couldn't help himself. He softly laid his cheek against the top of her head. "Tell me if you need to stop again." He felt her slight nod.
He had ridden hard to get to her, but he wasn't about to ride that hard getting her back and only urged the horse to gallop. It was still a long ride and Kevin noticed Thomas often looking at her face. She was still bleeding, but Thomas didn't seem too concerned, so Kevin kept going. He knew she wasn't sleeping; she still had a grip on his arm and he realized it was a good way to know she was still alive. The priest, he noticed, was praying and crossing himself often.