There was no way I could crawl all the way to the stairs, part of the way there wasn’t a wall to hide behind. I didn’t know who was out there and where they were and I couldn’t get to Captain Warren to see if he was hurt or please don’t be — dead.
A bank of clouds built above us, wind whipped my hair and made it impossible to see. It was loud as shit.
All I could do was just hunker down. Zach’s voice a fair distance away, “Katie! Can you crawl here?”
“I can’t it’s too unprotected!”
A giant storm surged directly on top of me whipping and roaring. It made it impossible to hear, to see, to even think.
Forty - Magnus
It was beginnin’ tae get dark. I had been sitting beside my message watchin’ on it but twas just idle. What was I goin’ tae do, wait for 600 years while starin’ at it?
Now that I had done it I dinna ken what came next…
And nothin’ changed while I stared at it.
I dusted off my breeches, stood, climbed down the stairs and returned the chisel tae the area where the men were buildin’ the west walls.
I stopped in at the Great Hall and gratefully took a whisky that was offered. I could use a drink tae keep my mind from waiting. I had tae reconcile myself, now that this task was over, tae the possibility that I might be waitin’ for a verra long time, perhaps forever. I had been told by Donnan that there was a way to set a homing signal on the vessels, that one could be put in a place and found in a different time by someone else, but I dinna ken if Kaitlyn kent this. And I dinna ken how tae explain it tae her. I might need tae add tae the message, directions, but I wasna sure of them myself. I only kent that it could happen, nae the strategy of it.
I joined a rowdy group of men and we drank a great deal. Two men had just returned from visitin’ Stirling and had news from their travels. This was clan business that sounded much the same as always, but with new worries and different names. I listened, enjoyed my drink, and tried tae keep my focus on the room and nae the roof of the castle.
The man Murty had consumed too much drink and was standin’ on a chair tae have the height of the room and was loud-tellin’ a story about one of the young men. The young man had turned beet red from the embarrassment of it and was hidin’ his face from a young woman across the way. Murty kent this and it only made him yell louder.
The young man was tryin’ tae explain his side of it and we were all laughin’ at the part where he woke at dawn in the kitchen garden with his buttocks exposed and a rooster crowin' above him and—
Thunder boomed outside the windows on the east side of the great hall. Then lighting sparked and lit up the room.
The men all turned tae the windows. Murty asked, “Were we expectin’ a storm?”
The beat of my heart sped.
A few of the men rose tae go attend tae the stables.
Someone said, “Murty, continue!”
He waved them away and stumbled down from his chair. “Tis too loud tae continue, I canna hear myself think.” Wind whipped against the windows and there was a howl from it coming through cracks in the walls.
I drained m’whisky, slammed my glass tae the table, and raced from the room.
I took the stairs two at a time. There were men comin’ down, runnin’ for cover, takin’ shelter in the stairwell. I was pushin’ upwards against their downward race.
As I reached the upper floor one of the guards was in under the roof. “Ye daena want tae go in it.”
“Och aye, I daena, but I left somethin’ on the roof, I need tae find it.”
I looked out first.
The bank of clouds above the castle was gigantic and terrible. Lightning arced, focused on the upper east wall. The wind roared around us and twas hard tae imagine keepin’ on my feet through it.
I held tight tae the stone wall and raced, crouchin’ as low as I could, until I got tae the open roof stair. I hunkered down at the bottom and waited for the wind tae switch so it would hold me against the wall, instead of pushin’ me out and off.
The wind switched.
I leaned intae it and fought tae climb the steps, a verra slow one at a time while the wind whipped and yanked, until I made it tae the top and collapsed against the stone. I held ontae the parapet and braced m’self as the wind switched and tried tae gust me flyin’ out over the edge.
I lay down and held on, through the violent wind surge, m’eyes closed, prayin’ that I would find the vessel. That it would be here, that I wasna just out on the high walls of the castle durin’ a storm.
Lightning struck a few feet away, sparkin’ the sky and settin’ my teeth on edge. My hair raised and I pressed my fingers tae rough edges of the stone and tried tae keep the wind from rushin’ me away from the castle.
The gust turned. Pushing my shoulders tae the parapet wall, it gave me a moment tae open my eyes—
A vessel.
Layin’ on its own, twas nae twenty feet away. I used my arms tae drag myself across the stone with the wind rollin’ over me. Gusts were pushin’ against me. One threatened tae shove me tae standin’ and throw me over the wall, but I braced my feet, pressed my back tae the stone, and held with all my strength until with another blast the wind switched again.
I took my chance and dove ontae the vessel. I held it against m’chest and held on as the wind slammed against me and though I hadna expected it — I was ripped through time.
Forty-one - Kaitlyn
Lightning crashed against the wall nearby. To call me terribly frightened would be an understatement. Wind shoved me, scraping across the stone, then gusts dragged me back. I tried to hold on to the stone edges but the wind was too powerful. The weight of the vest was the only thing keeping me from being tossed off the wall like a frisbee.
I held onto my helmet, my eyes closed as dirt pummeled my skin, the — I peeled my eyes open to see Captain Warren buffeted across the stone walkway and up against the parapet. He didn’t look good, like he hadn’t survived this, and the air was roaring. I slammed my eyes shut again, holding my gun, braced against the wall, shit, when would this be over? It had to end soon, please, please, please end soon.
When I had found the vessel in Scotland, the homing signal had been set every day for a couple of weeks before I got there. I knew this was just the first moment of a long process. And this was definitely the only time I would do it here on this wall — this was bullshit.
I needed to do it downstairs on the grass where there wasn’t this much — except someone just shot and killed Captain Warren. Someone was down there, the only reason why they weren’t here, right now, was because the storm was keeping them away. And they had to go through Hayley and Zach.
My friends were my armed guards. How was I going to protect them?
How was I going to get us off this wall?
Just then there was a loud shot from near Zach and Hayley. I peered over to see Zach aiming down the wall. He yelled at someone, “Fuck you, don’t you come up. I’ll shoot—” The rest of his words were lost on the wind.
We would have to jump out of here using the other vessel.
Lightning sparked, the air sizzled, chunks of wall exploded. I was going to get killed if I didn’t get us out of here. I had to get to Zach and Hayley at the end of the wall. The wind switched, I shoved my feet against the wall and braced my back against the stone.
“I’m going to try and crawl to you!” I screamed but the words were faint even to my own ears.
Hayley’s voice from far away. “What?”
I started to crawl but the freaking wind switched, gusted, and yanked the helmet from my head spinning it end over end off the wall and careening away. Noonnononononno.
Fuck. I was unprotected. Whoever shot Captain Warren, whoever Zach was shooting at, they could shoot me now too.
Captain Warren had a radio.
I drag-crawled to him. He was lifeless, his two-way radio under him. “Captain Warren? Help me, I don’t know what to do.” I pressed my fingers to the side of his ne
ck. “Captain Warren?” There was no pulse. I checked his wrist. Nothing.
I pushed his body off the radio, braced myself against him, and spoke, “Hello? Hello?”
A voice returned: “Who — — —?” It was all roaring wind and static and barely any sound out of it.
I burst into tears. “This is Queen Kaitlyn, I need to speak to Hammond. I don’t — Captain Warren’s been shot. I don’t know— someone is shooting at us and—”
The radio was static and — I said, “Are you there?”
“— — are you in the ... ?”
“I can’t hear you. Please, I’m at Balloch castle—”
I pressed my ear to the radio and tried to concentrate on what was coming from it, but I couldn’t hear anything.
I looked up and — visibility was low, but — where I had been lying a few moments before — was a foot. Wind whipping and a foot, tights, breeches, a body laying on the wall. “Magnus?”
I elbow crawled toward —
Magnus.
“Magnus, are you...?” He was still and completely out, the wind subsiding, the howl gone, the gusts — over.
The roiling clouds were blooming above us and rolling in the other direction, like a wave pulling from the shore.
I threw my back across Magnus’s body. Holding the gun in one hand, the radio in the other, I stared at the sky.
I had Magnus.
— I raised my head, thirty feet away, the far end, Zach and Hayley were hugging each other, happy, but also trapped there, I was trapped here.
There was someone shooting at us, if that person was coming up the stairwell they might hurt Zach and Hayley, but from the sound of it — helicopters were on the way.
I breathed and thought it through,
Magnus... I had rescued Magnus.
The soldier protecting us was gone.
Helicopters were coming.
But then it dawned, I didn’t know if the helicopter was friend or foe.
I scrambled to my hands and knees. I put the gun in my belt. Please please please wake up, please. The weight of the bullet proof vest weighed me down. I shook him, but he was totally still. It sucked.
He needed to wake up so I could get him out of here.
The helicopter sounded closer.
Hayley and Zach were waving their arms at it.
I yelled, “I need you guys to come out here! We have to jump.”
I watched as they scramble-crawled to me, Zach way too tall to be this exposed.
Another gun shot, Zach and Hayley dropped to the stone, their hands on their helmets. please please please please let them get here, safe, please. Please oh please.
The helicopter drew closer, there was no way to tell if it was on my side or not, and it was headed straight for us.
“Hurry! I don’t think it’s on our side!”
I twisted the ends of the vessel, lying across my husband, trying to protect his wide chest with my protective bullet-proof shield. Zach reached me, he leaned across Magnus’s head, Hayley lay across his stomach and I said the numbers watching the helicopter in the sky as it gained on us.
The helicopter started shooting the walls of the ruins of Balloch castle — Blasts bashing the stone, beginning low but climbing up, rubble and rock breaking apart, stone spraying, the castle wall being ruined even more.
One thing I knew: Magnus’s kingdom was gone.
There was no way Hammond was in control anymore.
Roderick would be king.
And that was fine, we could forget the future, ignore it, who gave a shit anyway…?
Except Archie was out in it.
The time jump ripped us from the year 2382.
Forty-two - Kaitlyn
I was super sick and tired of landing in these freaking bushes. I would guess the people here at the Botanical Gardens would be sick and tired of these storms by now too.
I looked around me. No one else was awake yet.
Just me. I tried to sit, but it was like climbing against gravity, and I didn’t have the energy.
But then I remembered I was wearing a bulletproof vest. I unstrapped the Velcro on the sides, wiggled it off over my head, and sat up. Magnus was beside me, still, completely quiet. Hayley was curled on her side, moaning. Zach threw an arm over his face.
They were waking up, we just needed Magnus. I pulled his hand up, pushed back his coat sleeve, and took his pulse at his wrist. It was there, faint but there.
I wrapped my hand around his and then held his hand with both of mine and concentrated on it.
Magnus.
I had his hand. He was home.
A tear slid down my face. That had been so scary.
I kissed his fingers and rubbed my tear-stained face on his hand and then I just rested there, my face on his very fancily embroidered coat trying to breathe.
* * *
Zach got up, “You cool, Katie?”
“Yeah.”
His voice was low and deferential since Hayley and Magnus were still sleeping. “We got him back, huh? I mean, that was some scary shit. I killed one of the men, he was coming up the stairs and I shot him, I can’t believe I did that—”
“I’m sorry you had to. Was he in uniform? Could you tell?”
“I couldn’t tell, it was all so, awful.” He shook his head. “The important part is we got him back.”
Hayley moaned, looked around, and clamped her eyes shut. Then she squiggled her head over and put it against Magnus’s shoulder and wrapped around his arm. She smiled up at me and whispered, “Katie, you got your man back.”
“I did, he’s back. Thank you guys, I couldn’t have done any of that alone. Thank you so much.”
Magnus groaned and began to move and shift.
“Hey honey, it’s me, Katie. I got you back.”
He chuckled and opened an eye and scrutinized my face. “Why are ye cryin’ then, mo ghradh?”
I wailed, “I’m just so freakin’ happy.”
“And who is this?” He raised his head to look down at Hayley. “Och, Madame Hayley, ye have survived the time-jumps and the murderous Reyes?”
She nodded.
He pushed the hair from her forehead and said, “Ye have a scratch there I think.”
“Yeah, I do.”
He joked, “But ye can cover it perhaps with a big bow, or one of those hats, what are those hats called, Chef Zach, the ones with the front gate that James likes tae wear?”
“A baseball cap.”
“Aye, ye can wear a baseball cap, Hayley, and nae one will ken ye have the scar.”
She giggled against his coat.
“And how are ye, Chef Zach, ye are here, where is your family?”
“They jumped earlier. They should be headed to Amelia Island already, or there now, Beaty needed to be taken to the hospital.”
“Beaty?” He looked at me.
I nodded. “She has a really bad cough. Quentin and Emma brought her here to get her medical care.”
“But Ben is okay?”
Zach nodded, sitting in the grass in Savannah, a cool breezy day. “Ben is good. He’s probably going to be pissed about the jump again, but he’s good.”
“And where is Archie?”
“He’s in the future,” I shook my head. “There’s a whole lot to tell you about…”
His hand went up to my cheek. “Your eyes are sad, mo reul-iuil, but you have survived it? You have rescued me again?”
I nodded, unable to speak without ugly-crying.
He dragged himself up to sitting. “Och, I am nae in the future, tis the gardens of the city of Savannah I think.” He rubbed his hand through his hair. “We must be near the barrel of crackers where this whole thing started.”
I curled up under his arm. Hayley leaned on his shoulder. I said, “I can’t believe you’re back.”
“I canna either. We are safe here?”
“You tell me. Is Reyes dead?”
“Nae, not yet.”
“Okay, then, well,
Lady Mairead told me we could drive in as long as we didn’t jump in to Florida.”
“Och, we should have asked her from the beginnin’.”
“As you know she isn’t always easy to find.”
Zach said, “And what’s up with your costume, Magnus. It looks like you’re going to sign the Declaration of Independence after a stop-over at your Ren-faire-themed prom.”
Magnus chuckled. “I haena any idea what ye are speakin’ on, but these are the clothes of a English gentleman in the year 1740.”
A man stalked toward us from the gazebo at the gardens. He looked red-faced and irritated. “I’m sick and tired of you hippies sleeping in the bushes back here, move along, this is private property, get out.”
We all stood as quickly as we could considering we were not ready to get up yet, dusted ourselves off, and allowed him to shoo us away from the gardens.
A few moments later, after helping to smooth down each other’s wind-pummeled hair, and dusting our clothes for real, and spit-wiping smudges off each other’s faces, we were walking along the familiar road headed in the direction of the hotels and restaurants.
* * *
Magnus and I sat on a bench outside the rental car company while tourists and locals gaped at his outfit. This was even more fanciful than the former kilt, this was bows and laces and clearly historical. If he had been wearing this the first time I met him surely I would have known something was up.
I was glad the rest of us were in a more casual kind of clothes. It helped lend to his ‘costumed’ effect. But passersby still stared like crazy.
Twenty minutes later Hayley walked out holding a car key. Zach had a phone to his ear. He said, “They’re at the hospital, Beaty is checked in. We should head straight there.”
Forty-three - Kaitlyn
Hayley rented a Lincoln Navigator. She said we deserved it after what we had been through and it was Mags’s money anyway. Zach wanted to drive because it was nicer than any car he had ever driven in his life, so we let him.
Under the Same Sky Page 14
