“What does he eat?” Magrath asked, and Leith gave him a strange look. The healer sounded like his mother when it came to his food. Was he thinking the same, that his food was the thing that addled his mind?
“He used to eat a lot of red meat,” Leith said. “Now that he’s recovered, he asks for the same thing. Could that be it?”
“It has in rare cases but I dinnae ken this is the issue,” Magrath said. “I did me own inquiry when I came to the town last night. I was told yer Faither’s madness had left. Perhaps it is an imbalance of his life-humors or lunacy.”
“At first, we contacted a physician,” Leith said, shuddering at the memory of that day. “The man kent it was an imbalance too and placed leeches on him, even cutting him. He almost died under that man’s so-called treatment. I stayed at me Faither’s side for days, making sure he lived.”
“And others?” Magrath asked.
“They tried other methods, but I quickly realized they dinnae have their head on their goddamn shoulders,” Leith seethed. “When the last wanted to open me Faither’s head, we quickly realized it wasnae of the body but rather of the mind. When he came back to himself, he told us that he saw himself doing those deeds but could not stop himself from doing them.”
“I’ve had some men complain about that,” Magrath said. “It comes from a dual malady, one part is mania and the other, melancholy. Mania makes a man frantic and melancholy can come from certain food, like meat with blood in it. Those who suffer from melancholy are often sad and suspicious, seeing phantasms and delusions. They are unable to recognize the real world from those they alone can see.”
Hope surged into Leith’s chest. If the man had seen this before, he could cure it. “Ye ken a lot about this. Do ye have a cure?”
“There are some herbal potions that can purge his body of his blood if it is tainted, but I need to see him first,” Magrath said.
Leith nodded and stood, “Please come with me.”
He guided the man to his father’s room and hailed Dugald. “This is Magrath, Dugald. He will be seeing me Faither for a while, keep a keen ear on them.”
“Will do, Sir,” Dugald nodded. “I was looking for ye, Mister Cooper is searching for ye. He seems serious. He left yer Faither’s office for the barracks.”
Hellfire, Leith cursed. He was already on edge, and a sudden ominous feeling in his gut told him that something was not right. What is Cooper up to now?
With his teeth gritting, he strode through the corridors, his mind set on throwing back anything Cooper had to dish out. He had it up to his neck with the man’s insolence. He might be the best war-chief around but he could be replaced. Leith was teetering on edge. If Cooper uttered one disrespectful word, he was removing the man from his office and—God help him if he did anything more—from the clan entirely.
He found Cooper in right where Duglad he told him, near the barracks. He must have just done his regular checks and was coming back. He stopped a cool five feet away from him. “Ye were seeking for me?”
The way Cooper stiffened and his eyes going deadly had Leith preparing for an attack. “How foolish are ye, boy? Ye bedded the lass?”
Despite not expecting that, Leith did not flinch. “How the bloody hell is that any of yer business?” He demanded again, rage beginning to flow through him like a river.
“I have eyes around this place, boy,” Cooper seethed. “I’d be a fool if I dinnae have eyes inside and out.”
“Ye spied on me?”
“There was nay need,” the man sneered nastily at him, “if ye werenae so obvious with it. Ye ken, I am the one who is protecting the clan, it is me business to ken what goes on here and outside,” Cooper snapped. “Ye dinnae ken who this woman is, and it’s so convenient that she has nay memory. And now, yer sleeping with her! What is next, ye want some poison in yer food before our enemies come upon us? What would we do if we came to find ye with a knife in yer back and this woman suddenly gone? Wake up, boy! If it wasnae for me, ye ken ye would be living in peace now? The other clans would have taken us over and we’d be nothing but a memory.”
Leith was seeing red, “Attack me all ye want, but when ye dare imply that Mary is a part of yer bloody suspicions, I have nay choice, Cooper. From now on, ye are relieved of yer duties. Until ye get yer head from the clouds, ye have nay doings here or in the village!”
“How dare ye—” Cooper lashed out, reaching to grab Leith, but he ducked under, swiftly grabbed a dagger from his boot and pressed against the man’s neck, right onto his pulsing vein. “I dinnae want to hurt ye, Cooper,” he hissed as the blade rested on his skin. “Ye’ve been good to me and me Faither, but this is beyond yer place. Get out, peacefully.”
The man’s face was a slab of flint, “Ye will live to regret this. I’ve been on the battlefield three times as much as ye have been. Ye dinnae ken how to spot a real enemy if one was in yer face.”
“Is that a threat?” Leith said coldly, his blade not slipping an inch. He hated doing this but Cooper had pushed him too far. It felt horrible holding a blade to the neck of the man who he had once counted as a friend. “Give me one more reason to deem ye as a traitor to this family and I’ll put ye into
