Our Shared Horizon (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 10)

by Diana Knightley

  She sobbed louder and he smoothed her hair and kissed the back of her head. He told James and Fraoch to go ahead and unload their gear. Then Quentin and James went through the weapons explaining their uses to Fraoch.

  After all this, Quentin asked Fraoch, “Want to learn how to drive one of the ATVs?”

  “Nae.”

  “I won’t try to talk you into it, but I will say this, Magnus is afraid of cars. Everywhere he goes in the future he has to have someone else drive him.”

  “Og Maggy has tae have someone else drive?”

  Quentin said, “Aye.”

  Fraoch chewed his lip then said, “I want tae ask ye one thing, Quentin, tis dark magic?”

  “No, it’s a mechanical invention, energized with batteries. It’s hard to explain, but it’s cool, not witchcraft.”

  Another long pause and then Fraoch said, “Okay, I will drive the vehicle.”

  Forty-four - Hayley

  James stood guard at the front of the house. I stood in the dirt on the other side of the yard and Beaty watched from near the front of the house, while Quentin unlatched one of the trailers and parked it. And drove the ATVs to the front yard. He traded the driving seat with Fraoch and climbed on behind him. “This right here is what you push to stop. Like pulling on the reins of the horse. Or digging your heels into a horse’s side.”

  Fraoch nodded and attempted to push the button.

  “It’s not doing anything because you aren’t moving. This is how you make it go.” Quentin leaned over Fraoch’s arm to show him. Fraoch made the ATV jerk forward without his hands on the handlebar, so Quentin, laughing, reminded him about go, stop, and steer.

  Fraoch drove the ATV a foot, then a few feet more, and then very slowly about twenty feet. Quentin cheered.

  James called, “Now turn and go the other way.”

  Fraoch joked, “I hae tae turn the beast as well? Och.”

  Quentin reminded him how and Fraoch steered the ATV in the biggest most nervous and slowest u-turn ever performed.

  I applauded from very far away to be safe and yelled, “Good job!” Fraoch hit the straight away, cranked it up to five miles per hour, and looked like he was enjoying himself immensely.

  And then we heard a scream from the house.

  James ran. Fraoch jerked the vehicle to a stop. I began running and Quentin leapt from the ATV and sprinted toward the house — Beaty was inside.

  Another shriek and then Jimmy’s slurring voice, “A disgrace tae the family and he daena even want ye. I told ye nae tae bother comin’ back if ye left with the black man—”

  I was last across the yard, my heart racing, especially when I saw Quentin charge into the house bellowing in anger.

  When I got to the door of the tiny hovel, not much more than a barn and disgustingly dirty and dark and so dank, Beaty was cowering on the ground with blood all over her face.

  Quentin had Jimmy by the neck up against the wall, roaring at him, clearly gone from his mind. “I told you not to touch her, don’t fucking touch her!”

  I rushed to Beaty and pulled her head into my lap. He had hit her more than once. Her face badly bruised and cut and bleeding.

  Beaty sobbed, “I’m sorry, father, daena kill me.”

  Quentin shoved Jimmy out the door and I watched through the doorway as Quentin fell on Jimmy, beating him mercilessly. I turned away so I couldn’t see, but I could hear it, the fist blows pummeling him, Jimmy screaming, and Quentin yelling, “I fucking warned you!”

  Beaty clamped her arms around her head tucking into the folds of my skirt—

  I yelled, “James! Go stop him, James, you know how it was — help him!” But James was already racing out the door with Fraoch right behind him as I grasped Beaty tighter. She whimpered in my arms.

  I whispered, “Please forgive him Beaty. Please, Quentin’s trying to protect you. Please don’t be scared” And other things that fell from my heart.

  Outside was struggling and yelling. I glanced: James and Fraoch were holding Quentin down. Quentin yelled, “Let me kill him!”

  He bucked trying to get them off. James said, “No, I’m not fucking letting you go, not until you calm your ass down.”

  Fraoch said, “Ye canna kill him, Quenny, ye are a black man, ye will hang for it.”

  There were more sounds of struggle. Quentin’s voice, “He fucking hit her!” More struggle. “Let me go!”

  James said, “I know man, I know, it’s just like when you were growing up. I get it. But you can’t get justice here, you gotta calm your ass down.”

  Quentin said, “Fuck!”

  Slowly the struggle quieted.

  I told Beaty, “Hold on, let me get the first aid kit.”

  I gently lowered her head to the ground and went out to the front yard.

  Quentin was sprawled in the dirt with James holding him in a headlock. Fraoch had Jimmy up on his feet and was shoving him to the back of the house.

  I asked, “Where are you taking him?”

  “He will pass the night in the stables, so we winna kill him.”

  I dug through my bags until I found the kit and returned to the house.

  Forty-five - Hayley

  I cleaned her up. There was a laceration on the top of her forehead and a bruised and swollen eye, a nose that looked tweaked, and freaking blood everywhere. As I cleaned her up I found there was a fat lip too. I said, “Your sweet pretty face.” But when her sobbing grew louder I reminded myself to soothe her. “We are going to fix you right up.”

  But she was so injured, my stomach hurt for everyone involved. When I wasn’t soothing her, I was worrying over Quentin, it had been so violent and primal. Quentin had scared the crap out of me, going to some freaking dark place, beating that man like that. The man deserved it, but still. “Please forgive him, he loves you and just wants—”

  Quentin came to the door. He stood there, his shadow over us, his face drawn, like he had broken in two. “I’m sorry, Beaty, I’m so sorry I brought you here. I knew he was a monster. I promised you. I said you weren’t gonna be in danger, I’m so sorry.”

  She sobbed, and reached for him. “Are ye okay Quenny? Did he hurt ye?”

  He sat down in the dirt beside her and took her in his arms. “Nae, he didn’t hurt me...”

  “I am so scared of him.”

  “I know, ever since you were a bairn, I know. I’m sorry I brought you. Please forgive me, Beaty, I’m so sorry.”

  I stood to leave them alone. “I’m right outside if you need me.” I made it to the porch and collapsed into Fraoch’s arms.

  He held me for a long time. “Is she goin’ tae be a’right?”

  I nodded against his chest.

  James leaned against the wall of the house beside us. “Fuck, that was intense.”

  I pulled away from Fraoch. “Thank God you were here.”

  “He would have killed him. I thought he was going to kill me to get to him.”

  Fraoch said, “And he would hae hung for it. He is a black man, he would hae gone tae the gallows even though the man deserved it.”

  James said, “Some things never change.” He asked me, “Did you see his eyes?”

  “I did, it was just like with his father.”

  James said, “Yep. He was right back there, eleven years old trying to protect his mama.” James scuffed his shoe through the dirt. “Sucks.”

  It began to rain, so all the duffle bags were dragged into the house, but Fraoch, holding a big ass gun, and James, holding his big ass compound bow, stood outside guarding. The rain made it difficult to hear and we didn’t want to be surprised, plus our nerves were jangled by the violence.

  Beaty fell asleep. Quentin transferred her head to my lap but as he stood to leave I asked, “How are you?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know — I feel numb.”

  I said, “I wish Katie was here, she would know what to say.”

  “Yeah, she would...” He smiled a little.

  “She ge
ts that from her grandmother, I think. Because the rest of her is plumb crazy. But me, I only really know how to say, ‘here’s some whisky.’ I can ask if you’re okay. I can try and be like Katie if you need me to.”

  “I’m okay,” he pulled a flask from his jacket and unscrewed the lid. He passed it to me. “We go to a meeting when we get back, right?”

  “Definitely.” I took a swig and passed it back.

  He said, “I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself. I don’t know why I do this—”

  “What do you do?”

  “It’s like I don’t listen. I’m just trying to get things done, working toward my goal. Beaty told me not to bring her here. Well, I did anyway, and now she’s been beaten and you don’t know how many times she’s been beaten — her whole life. She was beaten so much she thought I was going to beat her. She thought it was normal. Why did I bring her here?”

  “I don’t know. I think you were doing the best you could, but this is a shitstorm. And it’s not even your shitstorm. It’s Magnus’s. You’re trying to fight for all these people—”

  He squinted his eyes. “You know I think of Magnus as my family, so I don’t really see this as not my fight.” He shook his head. “Damn! I can’t believe I beat her dad like that. I almost fucking killed him.”

  “You were protecting Beaty.”

  “Yeah...” He stared into space. “I’ve always been like this. Remember the year mama died? I was going to school and working so hard on football, every afternoon, all weekend, whenever I could. I was practicing and then she was in the hospital and I hadn’t noticed that it was my last days with her.”

  “Hayley thinks you need more whisky, clearly.”

  He took another swig.

  “But I think Katie would want me to tell you that you are a ‘get it done’ kind of guy. That’s one of your most admirable qualities, but guess what, most of those guys with that quality are also real assholes, they don’t care about anyone. You aren’t like that. You’re caring. You should probably seek balance and live a life trying to control those two sides of yourself, but maybe instead you should just be cool with that. Some people struggle with being stupid, or being an asshole. For you, the struggle is between getting it done, and taking care of the people around you. I think you’re great — really really great. Your mama would be proud of you.”

  “Maybe not for beating him.”

  “Yeah, she would not want you to use your fists like that. You need to work on that.”

  He said, “I am. I will.”

  “But if she met Beaty and if she got past the whole ‘white girl’ thing, which she would, especially once she met those little dimples, and if she knew that this sweet girl, your wife, was abused by that horrible man her whole life… Your mama would know that you were trying to protect that sweet girl. She would tell you that she was proud of you for the trying.”

  “I couldn’t protect mama.”

  “I know. But you were little and it sucked you had to try to protect her. She loved you so much.”

  Quentin nodded. “You did good.”

  “Thanks. More whisky?”

  “Heck no, we have a war to wage tomorrow, and so much planning to do.”

  After that he went to the door and then he and James and Fraoch took turns watching out through the rain and then coming in to crouch and talk. I listened, from a few feet away with Beaty’s head in my lap as she slept. I hoped she didn’t have a concussion, but guessed that sleep was the best idea for her.

  Forty-six - Hayley

  Rab Ruadh rode up to the farm in the middle of a summer night. It was barely dark, but pouring down rain — I was pretty sick and tired of the rain.

  When he entered the hovel, he nodded in my direction. Beaty kept her face turned away knowing her wounds were liable to cause discussion. We didn’t need any discussion except the task at hand: planning the battle.

  Rab Ruadh brought a message from Sean: “We will be ready at dawn.”

  The men all agreed that the rain would be an excellent cover for sneaking up on the army. James called it ‘chaos making’. He said, “When we played football in the rain, if you could keep your head about you, keep on your feet, you could win it.”

  “Last man standing,” Quentin agreed. “And chaos is exactly what I’m going for.”

  Rab Ruadh said, “We have the landscape, the hills here, the river this way, twill be high, harder tae cross after the rains last week and now this night. I think if we come from here...” While Rab Ruadh talked, Quentin marked the castle and the river to the north and the hills to the south in the dirt with a stick. “Then we can force the soldiers tae flee”

  James said, “In terror — create chaos.”

  “Aye.”

  Quentin said, “They will flee down through here, passing between these two hills. We’ll push them this way. Chaos as they go. The hills will be wet, difficult to climb, so they won’t have an option.”

  Rab Ruadh added, “Aye, and I will have men on the top of this hill,” he pointed at a spot on the dirt, “and this hill. We will block them from takin’ the high ground.”

  “Your men will help?”

  “Aye, we hae been promised payment for drivin’ the coos, and I canna get through the army tae receive m’gold without bein’ threatened. Tis time for them tae go.”

  The men continued planning for a long time, while the rain outside poured. Then it grew dark. Fraoch and Quentin joined me and Beaty leaning against the wall.

  Quentin said, “We have about two hours to sleep before the battle begins.”

  “What will I do, Quenny?”

  “I need ye tae go home.”

  Beaty said, “I daena want tae leave ye.”

  “I know you don’t want to go, but I can’t take you into the middle of a war, and I can’t leave you here.”

  “Will Madame Hayley be stayin’?”

  “Aye, I need her driving one of the ATVs.”

  “Och, so tis only me that has tae go home?”

  Quentin said, “Only you, but I need you to tell Magnus what’s going on. To tell him to come, the date, so he’ll be here during the fight. You have a mission, Beaty, and it’s an important one.”

  “I will return with him.”

  Quentin said, “No, you should stay there.”

  “I canna Quentin, I ken ye are tae tell me what tae do, but I winna ken if ye are well. I will be too afraid. Please let me return with King Magnus.”

  Quentin groaned. “Beaty, it’s not like that—”

  She gave him the saddest look and so he said, “Fine, yes, come back with Magnus.”

  “Thank ye, Quenny.” She sat up, groaning. “Och it feels as if a mighty stone has fallen upon m’head.”

  I scrambled through the bags for an Ibuprofen for her.

  She said, “So I should go now, Quenny?”

  “Nae, I want you to wait. At dawn I’ll drive you to the edge of the battlefield, you’ll bring down a mighty storm and the chaos will begin.”

  “So I am tae be the first of the chaos? I will begin it all?”

  “Yep, you’re the beginning of it.”

  “Och, I wish I had m’pipes, twould be a good time tae play the song I was learnin’.”

  I said, “I do love that song Beaty, U2 is awesome. I wish you had your bagpipes, too.”

  We all quieted. Rab Ruadh was sleeping a bit away, fully snoring.

  James was sleeping too, but with his earbuds in, listening to music, having told us that it was the only way to sleep before a big game.

  Fraoch, holding me in his arms, whispered, “Would ye go home when Beaty returns? Twould be safer for ye.”

  I shook my head. “No, I won’t. That’s not my home. Besides you need me. The whole mission needs me. I’m the fourth.” I snuggled in. “What did you think of driving the ATV?”

  “Twas good, I liked it.”

  I pulled away and looked at Fraoch’s barely lit face. “Really?”

  “Really, twas f
un tae go that fast.”

  I teased him, “Someday, we’ll get Katie to bring a sports car for you to try.”

  “What is this?”

  “A sports car is bigger, faster — you will love it. You know how fast a horse goes?”

  “Aye.”

  “Some sports cars have an engine that goes so fast and strong that it would be like having seven hundred horses pulling you.”

  “Seven hundred?”

  “Yes.”

  “Och, twould be verra difficult to have seven hundred horses tae do anythin’ at one time.”

  “Well yeah, I mean, that would be hard, but imagine a vehicle that had six horses pulling it, imagine that fast, and then imagine the sports car goes even faster.” He thought for a moment. “How dost ye nae tip over on the turns?”

  “Sports cars are low and wide I suppose, so they don’t tip. Not easily.”

  “What of boulders and rocks, if the sport car is verra low, ye would hit things as ye go? Sounds verra uncomfortable—”

  “Someday, you’ll just have to see it, is what I’m saying, someday.”

  His arm rubbed up and down my own. “Will ye be verra careful on the morrow? Promise me ye will live through it?”

  “I promise. Will you promise me?”

  “Aye, I will be on the back of Quenny’s magic horse and I will be lobbin’ the rocks.”

  “The flash grenades.”

  “Aye, and ye will be drivin’ the other magic horse.”

  “I will, while James throws the rocks. And James has an excellent throwing arm.”

  “Aye, Jamie and Quenny are good men, we will win the day.”

  “Yes, we will.”

  We slowly fell asleep, and then way too soon there was a noise in the darkness, and Quentin was whispering to Rab Ruadh as he left to go meet his men. He had to get the men and the cattle to the top of the hills. In the rain.

  There was so much that could go wrong.

  After Rab Ruadh left we turned on all the flashlights and repacked our bags. We put on our rain gear, but it wasn’t really helping while we loaded the ATVs. It kept my top dry but my skirts were soaked through and getting more soaked, wicking water up and pouring water down.