Blair leaned down and softly kissed her lips. "Do not die, Charlet."
She softly mumbled, "Bridget."
*
Blair was frantic. He left the trees and rode his horse hard across clearings and up and down hillsides with Bridget practically lifeless in his arms. It was more than two hours before he finally saw what he was looking for and raced across a meadow toward a loch. As soon as he got close enough, he pulled the horse to a stop, put Bridget over his shoulder, and slid down. He took her to the shore, softly laid her down and then pulled off all her clothing. She was awake, he knew, but she was totally limp and didn't resist. Next, he stripped himself down, lifted her back into his arms and hurried into the icy cold water.
It was a shock to his body and he shivered, but she didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't looking at him and he wasn't sure she was looking at anything at all. He waited for a full minute and then put his cheek to hers. She was still hot, so he kept her in the water longer, let her hair get wet up to her scalp and then put his cheek to hers again. She seemed to be cooling down a little. He noticed that her wound was bright red and swollen above the bandage, so he lowered her body deeper into the water so her arm would cool. When he let the water come up to her lower lip, she opened her mouth a little and drank. At least she could do that.
Blair dared not leave her in much longer, so he carried her back out. As quickly as he could, he tightly wrapped her in both her clothing and the dry, spare plaid. He wrapped his plaid around his waist, stretched out beside her, pulled her as close to him as he could and began to rub some warmth back into her cold skin. Then he rested and waited. Her cheek was against his bare chest and her skin felt almost normal for a while, but then she got hot again.
Twice more he took her into the water and submerged most of her body. Twice more he wrapped her up, pulled her close to him and rubbed her. Her eyes were still open, she never said a word and he prayed her brain was not addled. Then he noticed her arm was bleeding. He heard once that the English thought bleeding was a good thing. He had no idea if they were right, but just in case, he removed the binding and let it bleed.