Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse by authors_sort Page A

goes well."
    At the sound of Ricardo's high-pitched, frightened voice, Maria Pia sat up on her bed and looked anxiously around, afraid the don's men had come to take Nicoletta from her.
    Nicoletta bent to kiss her. "I must go now. To Lissandra, ill in childbirth. Follow as quickly as you are able. I cannot wait; it sounds too urgent." She wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, caught up her satchel of medicaments, and rushed from the hut, her bare feet silently slapping the ground.
    Thoughts and fears of witchcraft and the don were shoved aside as she prayed all the way to the farm.
    Lissandra was young yet to be a mother. Not yet sixteen, she had married a man much older than she.
    Nicoletta and Lissandra were friends, and Nicoletta was terrified of losing her. Already she had seen far too many women lose their lives in the birthing process.
    The farm was some distance away, and Nicoletta lost track of the times she begged the Madonna to lend wings to her feet. Maria Pia would take well over an hour to make the trek. Whatever had to be done would be done by Nicoletta alone. She almost wished she did have magic at her fingertips to aid her. Every step was uphill and steep. Her injured calf was burning by the time she saw the torches lit around the farmhouse where Lissandra resided with her husband, Aljandro.
    He flung open the door, having obviously been watching for her, his huge bulk filling the frame, his face twisted with guilt. "Hurry, Nicoletta. I fear you are too late."
    Nicoletta pushed aside his terror along with her own and reached deep inside her for calm. It was there, the reserve she could always count on, draw on, and she entered the dwelling as a confident, assured healer. Lissandra's sister, Laurena, leapt to her feet with a cry of relieved greeting.
    The house was already filled with black-shawled women, mourners congregating to wail for the dead.
    Nicoletta's dark eyes flashed fire. "Is she gone then?" She hissed the question at them, and they all cringed at her evident displeasure. Immediately they ceased their incessant wailing. Not one dared defy her or point out that she was barely past being a child herself. Nicoletta was a powerful healer, and they were very superstitious. If Nicoletta could heal, she might very well be able to harm them as well.
    "Laurena, remove these women to another room, where they will be able to pray to the Madonna in peace," Nicoletta ordered prudently. "I will need water boiled and clean cloth." She approached Lissandra with more confidence than she felt. The girl was whimpering, her stomach swollen and hard, her body worn from labor.
    Nicoletta looked past Laurena to Aljandro, straight into his eyes. "Why was I not summoned the instant she went into labor?" Her gaze glittered with hot accusation.
    He looked away from her immediately. They both knew why Aljandro had not wanted to call her. He Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    was still angry because Nicoletta had spurned his attentions before he had turned his eye to Lissandra.
    He had wanted sons, workers for his farm, and, had chosen a young bride to supply him. He had not called the healer because he had intended to keep his earnings to himself, in hopes of becoming wealthier.
    He had not thought of the consequences to so young and small a "brood mare," and at that moment he was mortified at his own behavior.
    Nicoletta pressed her lips together to keep from lashing out at the ignorant man and immediately set about inspecting Lissandra. Her young friend was well advanced in her labor, the babe very large.
    Nicoletta had seen this too many times. Lissandra was small, the babe large; everything was wrong. The outcome was usually grim: both mother and child died. She looked at Laurena, and for a moment their eyes said it all, a knowing exchange between women about a hopeless situation that need not have occurred.
    "Lissandra," she said quietly, "I am going to try to help. The babe is