The crew worked in long shifts and returned tae the hold tae cower and try tae sleep. Our hammocks swung frightfully and men were moanin’ from sickness. Twas verra hard tae keep your food down with the ship lurchin’ us back and forth and risin’ and descendin’.
Whenever a man wretched intae the bucket it would cause other men wretchin’. The stench under decks was terrible.
We couldna go above deck for fear the waves would wash us intae the swill.
We dinna speak, except in mumbled prayers to God. I begged his mercy for many long hours.
We barely moved except when drawn intae requirement then we tried tae finish the work needed tae return tae our hammock and moan and pray some more. I was thankful when I could sleep.
The storm lasted for three long days. Then there was a half day break and then another storm descended upon us for another five days.
Twenty- three - Kaitlyn
Magnus. Under me. We were face to face. I brushed my fingers down his cheek and looked into his eyes, up close, his pupils dilating, twinkling with pleasure as I adjusted my hips, straddling him.
He breathed deep, in and out.
I smiled. And brushed the edge of my lips against his. Pressing against his cheek, I breathed in the scent of him, woodsy, like a Scottish forest, fresh like a night sky. I love you, Magnus.
I love ye too, mo reul-iuil. His hands tightened on my ass, pulling me closer. His eyes closed, he whispered, I dinna mean tae leave ye, but I have gone…
Wha—?
There was nothing under me —just air and dirt and leaves and I patted frantically around for him — Magnus, Magnus? Where are you? Tell me, please, Magnus, please, where did you go?
“Kaitlyn?”
“Huh?”
Hayley groggily said from inside her zipped up parka. “You’re having a nightmare, sweetie.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.” I thought back through it, it had been real and intense and like he was really there. I could hear his voice reverberating right inside my head, not like it came through my ears but like it came through my skin — I have gone…
Was it him?
My heart raced and I kept thinking about it, his hands had felt like pressure, his skin — it all felt so real. Had it been him telling me something? Was that a message?
—I have gone.
What did it mean?
I pulled the parka around me and zipped it even higher and tucked down into it. “Man, it’s cold as shit out here.”
But Hayley was already asleep…
Twenty-four - Magnus
Twas a verra bleak time after this. We had some long days of the doldrums, nae wind tae push us, and many of the men were fallin’ ill. The food was runnin’ dangerously low. I was verra hungry. It pulled at my stomach and made me weak and angry.
Many fights broke out. We pulled the men apart, but sometimes we let them fight and watched for somethin’ tae think on besides our growin’ desperation.
Fraoch and I kent we would fight in defense of each other, but there were days when I hated the sight of him. We just sat beside each other mendin’ sails and ropes, trying nae tae be noticed, tryin’ nae tae argue, tryin’ nae tae die in a fight on a ship deck.
I verra much wanted some spice on what little food I had left.
* * *
One night two men fought so hard they brought each other close tae death and the captain was so furious he sent them over the side to their end.
We were quiet as we watched them over the side and for a moment we could hear them still, beggin’ tae return, but then the Captain stalked around the deck, bellowin’ about how he could neither cure them nor keep them, and that he did it tae give the rest of us fair warnin’. He would drown us all if we were nae careful.
One thing was certain, as the days dragged on there was more work tae do, and fewer men tae do it.
By now we had lost twelve men.
That night Fraoch, in his hammock, in the dark, his voice low, asked, “How long do ye think we have left, Og Maggy?”
“I think two weeks yet.”
“Och, If I get sick, would ye make sure he daena… I want tae see Scotland. I daena want tae go intae the sea.”
“If ye get sick I winna let that happen.”
“Thank ye, Og Maggy, I will do the same for ye.” When I thought he had fallen asleep he said, “Ye talk tae her much when ye sleep.”
“Och, I do?”
“Aye, ye say her name and tis like ye are tellin’ her where ye are.”
“Perhaps I am. I often dream on her; tis like she is verra close tae me some nights. I pray she is listenin’.”
“Aye, I pray she is too, Og Maggy. I like tae think yer story will have a good endin’.”
* * *
The next day the back side of the storm slammed intae our ship and we rode the waves and wind for five more days, past the point of bein’ able tae work. Many of the men remained below decks, moanin’ in their hammocks. Water sloshed around and the rats were in our hammocks with us, but the worst part was that men were dead and we couldna get them out and over the side; we were too exhausted from the daily battle with the winds and the sails. They remained in the hold rotting alongside us.
* * *
The final day of the storm Fraoch couldna help on deck.
I was verra worried for him as I battled the storms against the sideways rain, the surging ocean, and my relentless hunger.
Twenty-five - Kaitlyn
I was grateful for the fog of dawn because it felt like it warmed by a couple of degrees. It was still cold as shit out here though. Birds were chirping like fucking little mad-men telling us and everyone else in the woods to wake up and Hayley and I were stiff and ornery. She did a lot of muttering about there not being any coffee.
We ate protein bars and then moved back to a location, up high, with a binocular view of the front gate of Balloch castle.
The trouble was there wasn’t much going on. No one special went in or out except for the usual barbarians, most of them were heading through the woods in the direction of the massacre, to the east at Inchaiden.
I wanted to go there and see what they were doing.
I also didn’t want to leave this spot in the woods and take my eyes off the gate. What if Magnus came through it, in or out, or what if I missed him? Hayley and I discussed the possibility of me going in there, but she couldn’t stay out here by herself. And I had never gone into a castle without someone there to protect me. And I had seen some bad shit happen behind those walls.
But I was starting to get really cranky and irritated because why the fuck isn’t anything easy with me? Why was this so hard?
I needed to go in there—
Hayley finally said, “He’s not here. I know you think he is, that he might be, but he’s not. I feel like you would know. He would have been there at the massacre, or near-by, he would’ve seen your ATVs. He would have heard about them. Or Beaty, he would have heard her or seen her or heard her name. He would be scouring the grounds, the woods, the everything, looking for you.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Or maybe he is in there, he’s dealing with shit, he’s got young Nick, probably dying from a gunshot wound. He might have older Nick, forcing him to do things. He’s got all these barbarians to deal with, a massacre, and trying to get home to you. Maybe he doesn’t know you’re here and he can’t think about it right now.”
“That could be true too.”
“So that’s two things that could be happening. Both of them mean you and I shouldn’t be here in these woods anymore. I haven’t even been introduced to the Loch Ness monster yet and you know what the worst part is?” She smiled sadly. “The very worst part of all of this?”
I shook my head.
She said, “I didn’t download any songs to my Spotify. I was going to, before I left the Island with Nickwad, oooooh, that’s a good name for him, Nickwad. I had a whole plan, all the romantic music I was going to play on our
trip to Atlanta, but I didn’t get to it and now this, a bleak forest, and no music.” She added, “This whole thing,” she waved her hand around, “really needs some Mumford and Sons, or maybe some Harry Styles, you know, the new stuff?”
“Yeah, I know the new stuff. It would sound really good right now. And it’s impossible to be here without imagining Mumford and Sons playing.” I took a deep breath. “Did you buy new clothes for your trip, too?”
“And a new suitcase. I really thought he was great. I was trying to impress him, a murderer. This might be a new low.”
We were sitting at the base of a tree in the muck and mire of a medieval forest. “I’m so sorry about it, Hayley. I wish he had been great, you deserve it so much.”
She threw her hands out to the side and dug her fingers into the dirt and wiped a little mud on both her cheeks. “I mean look at me,” she crossed her eyes. “I’m finally getting my act together, why can’t anyone love me?”
“Does it help to say that I love you? I have since we were five going to dance classes together.”
“It does help, thank you, sweetie.”
We both stared across the vast green forest toward the castle.
“And you’re right. I can’t go in there, I can’t sit here forever and this is pretty damn dangerous. I wasn’t kidding when I said you have to watch out for the Campbell men, they do have a propensity for violence…”
“Except Magnus.”
“You haven’t seen him kill someone.”
She hugged me around my shoulders. “So we going back?”
“Yeah, we’ll go back, but the more I think about it the more I think I need to get the ATVs first.”
* * *
We crept to the edge of the clearing. Flies were swarming the bodies, the ATVS were parked, their lights still on. That had to be good right, it meant they had power? We watched the clearing for about ten minutes to be sure no one was there.
“Okay, we’re going to run, straight for the pile of men.”
“It’s so freaking dark, like I’m partially blind.”
“Yeah, I learned to stop struggling against it and just accept it, easier that way. I bring lots of flashlights. So we’re going to check to see if there’s anything in the pile we want. Check if someone is still alive and I don’t know, just check. Fast. Then we go straight to the ATVs and drive them back here, don’t head off in any crazy directions, stay close to me.”
I pulled the vessel from my bag and checked the dials on it for placement. “I have the vessel at the ready, we’ll twist it and fly if we see any danger. Got me?”
A voice right behind us yelled something loud which I guess was Gaelic for ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’
“Shit!” I glanced over my shoulder, there was a man there on a horse. We scrambled up and ran stumbling over our feet and some logs. The man on the horse had to skirt some trees giving us a split-second lead.
I yelled, “To the ATVs!”
The horse was bounding over a log and bearing down on us, I leap-frogged onto the seat of one and Hayley jumped to the next. We both started the engines and with a jerk I set mine into motion and heard Hayley’s pull in behind.
The man on the horse was swinging his sword and Hayley ducked as it went past. She pulled her ATV to my side and we sped away. My choice was flee into the woods, but he would probably be faster there and he was fast behind us. I whipped the ATV around in a tight circle, aiming right for his horse, causing it to rear and twist and lose its footing. The horse screamed, the man yelled, the ATVs were insanely loud.
I forced us into another loop as the man was still trying to control his horse. I pulled my ATV to a stop. Hayley did another loop around me, menacing toward the man on the horse, while I got the vessel out and twisted the ends.
I reached out my feet, keeping my butt on the ATV, my hands on the vessel, “Hayley!” The storm began to rise above us, wind whipping the space, and from the edge of the clearing more men on horses riding through the trees headed toward us.
She revved her engine, causing the horse to turn and run the other way. Then she did a 360, revving, building a cloud of dust behind her wheels, and crashed her ATV right up to the side of mine, she slung her body across my seat, her feet on her own, and grabbed hold of my arm. “I’m here!”
I said all the numbers, fast, in the right order and headed us with a slam and terrible mind-scalding pain through eight centuries.
Twenty-six - Magnus
Fraoch dinna rise the next day. I talked tae him of it, “Fraoch, I have yer rations,” and placed the biscuit intae his sweaty hand, but he hadna the strength tae bite intae it.
He winced. “Hurts m’teeth.”
“I ken, ye daena look like ye have the strength tae chew. Ye are a fright, Fraoch.”
“Daena look on me if ye are goin’ tae act a bairn about it.”
I gave him some ale and then I went on deck tae do the work of two men.
I dinna ken how long I could work for us both, I was verra tired and this passage dinna look tae end with a shore.
That night Fraoch whimpered and moaned so much I had tae cover my ears tae get some sleep.
And then the followin’ morn a man in the nest yelled, “Land!”
A great cheer went up from the crew. We rushed tae the rail and caught the most glorious sight — I dropped tae my knees, folded my hands, and thanked God for his divine goodness in bringin’ us across the ocean and tae the shores of England, so close tae our home. I prayed he would keep Fraoch full of breaths for the next few hours so I could get him tae shore.
* * *
With land in sight the final day at sea was verra long.
The sky was covered in grey clouds, promisin’ rain, but the wind was gustin’, pushin’ us closer and closer still. We worked at the sails and lines and all the while I kept up a steady prayer, keep Fraoch safe tae land, and thank ye, God, for seein’ us safely home.
Twenty-seven - Magnus
The ship pulled tae a dock at the end of the day and the men swarmed from the ship. I fought the crowd the opposite direction headed down intae the dark hold, where seven men remained in hammocks, either gone from this earthly realm or nearin’ it.
Fraoch said weakly, “We are at dock?”
“Aye, tis time tae rise, Fraoch. I am taking ye tae shore.”
“I canna…”
“Och, ye can and ye will, tis too close for ye tae die in the hold of the ship. If ye are dyin’ this day it has tae be on land.”
He groaned.
I tried tae pull his shoulders up from the hammock but he was too big a burden. My same size afore, he was wastin’ away in front of me, but I was grown small and weak as well. The hammock shifted against me and I couldna get ahold of him.
“Let me die here, Og Maggy.”
“Nae, I winna.” I yanked him hard and pushed the hammock away. I used my knife tae cut the hammock from the lumber and dumped him down with a splash intae the ankle-deep muck water below.
He yelped in pain.
I cut again at the hammock until I had a length tae tie in a long loop, and slung it across my shoulder. I pulled him up by the arm and got his shoulder across mine and lifted him tae my back.
His head lolled. “How ye goin’…”
“I am goin’ tae carry ye, hold on if ye can, and keep yer cryin’ down. I am tryin’ tae concentrate.” I pulled the loop around his side and pulled it tight tae mine so that much of his weight was carried with the rope. His feet dragged through the water as I hefted him tae the ladder.
I took three deep breaths. I was goin’ tae get him up from this hold. He had saved m’life. I wasna goin’ tae let him die alone down here and I wasna ready tae die with him.
One, two three, I adjusted him higher on my shoulder and with all my strength I put one foot in front of the other and climbed the ladder.
I crossed the deck and carried him down the gangplank tae the docks below.
* * *
On the
shore of the Thames was a busy market just under the Westminster Bridge. There were some food sellers and beggars and a very crowded city street beyond. I asked a woman sellin’ bread, “Mistress, dost ye ken a local physician?”
She shoved bread forward, “Half a penny.”
I dug with my free hand in my leather purse and paid her for a hunk of bread. I tore off a bit and shoved it in my mouth. It was softer than the hard biscuits on the voyage but still I feared too hard for Fraoch tae chew. “I need a physician. Dost ye ken where one is, Mistress?”
She shrugged and began hagglin’ with another sailor. I dragged Fraoch farther along the dock tae where a man was sellin’ oysters from big barrels at a small table. Beside him stood a half-empty cart. “Mister, couldst ye spare yer cart?”
He grumbled and ignored me.
“I will pay ye for yer oysters and the cart. I need it tae travel my friend tae the hospital.” We haggled over a fair price as a drizzling rain began tae fall.
I opened my purse and paid him six shillings for the cart and then I struggled Fraoch intae it. I asked the oyster seller, “Dost ye ken a physician?”
The man waved his hand in the direction of the main street and tae the right side.
The cart was terrible, poorly crafted and ill-used. It needed all my strength tae keep it righted and more strength than I had tae push it on the cobblestones. Fraoch looked near lifeless, wit a gaunt expression that was ghost-like and frightenin’.
Under the Same Sky Page 9
