Twas a big boat, with seats across. It did a lazy spin, then the current grabbed ahold and pushed us north. We rose, took our seats and oars, and in the dark moonlight we paddled. Soon enough we found a rhythm tae our rowin’, propelling our boat along with the current, fast, headed up stream.
As it neared dawn we sighted someone on the shore. Fraoch slumped tae the bottom of the boat and I joined him there, keeping a hand on an oar, but hidden within. We let the boat float along followin’ the current until we passed the encampment, then we climbed up tae our seats and continued along.
I daena ken how long we traveled or how far. I thought about how Fraoch would likely never ken the true distance, but I might someday ride along this river in my Mustang and track the length of distance on Kaitlyn’s phone. Then I would ken how much of it I conquered, but until then I only paddled without knowledge of where or how much longer tae go.
This place was foreign: the river overgrown, the trees, live oaks, thick and wet with moss growin’ down. Kaitlyn called it Spanish moss, much like these were Spanish lands with English fightin’ over it, and like Fraoch said, twas nae my fight...
When we had a time tae speak I said, “Remind me what the year is?”
“Tis 1740.”
“Och.” Thirty-seven years in my future, still hundreds of years in her past. I thought about Kaitlyn, in the future in my kingdom, and with the steady row of my oars in the predawn, passin’ the drippin’ trees in the heat of a summer night, I began tae pray that God would watch over her, and if twas in his divine wisdom, tae please help us get back tae each other.
I couldna imagine how though, without a vessel, in a year she wouldna expect me, in a place she wouldna ken.
Thirteen - Kaitlyn
The storm built fast and loud, the trees creaking as it pummeled them and whipped around us.
We scrambled to standing and climbed on our ATVs. Beaty wrapped her arms around Quentin and pressed her face into the back of his coat. I held on around Hayley’s waist. We started them and the sound was so freaking loud, louder than anything in this entire century, and bringing them here now seemed the craziest thing in the world.
I wondered if our sound and not the storm was maybe why the men came from the castle to check at all — did we bring this whole time-travel-thing into play?
We were on a bit of an incline, in thick woods, but the ATVs were nimble and could easily weave through the trees as long as we concentrated and tried not to let it slow us down. We went down, headed toward the clearing where we landed. The coordinates I used to jump must have been very similar to the ones the aliens used, and wasn’t it weird that aliens would use latitude and longitude at all — wasn’t that an earthbound construct?
We wove through the trees, and stopped in a small glen just within the tree line: the sky, the woods, the whole place completely dark, the storm whipping the trees.
Through our headlights we could see there were bodies there — lots of bodies, dark and quiet, unconscious from the jump but oh freaking crap, there in the middle, four men were up, standing, guarding. We quickly turned off our lights.
Quentin whispered, “Did you see Magnus?”
“No.”
One of the men who was up and guarding called, “Who are you? We’re armed,” sounding not at all like a freaking alien, instead sounding totally like an American human.
I asked, under my breath, “Fuck, how is someone up guarding them?”
Quentin whispered, “I don’t know, but we have one-second to decide what to do — I just decided. We have to kill them. Ready?”
I yell-whispered, “Kill them? We aren’t supposed to interfere!”
“Yeah, but they all end up dead anyway, right? We just have to get through them for the vessel. Don't argue, we can’t lose this. You guys get your weapons ready? Hayley, you got this?”
“Yeah, um of course, yeah...” I told Hayley where the buttons were for the ATV’s weapons.
Quentin revved his motor. “Kill the guards, look for Magnus. Don’t stop until one of us has a vessel.”
We drove from the woods, our headlights blaring in their eyes, full speed, our guns firing. They fired back.
Hayley squealed and tried to stay lower than the glass that I hoped was bulletproof. I tried to hide behind her. It was dark, dangerous, loud, and terrifying.
But it was over really quickly and the four guards’s bodies lay dead-still on top of the pile of sleeping, time-traveling aliens.
I jumped from the back of the ATV. “Keep an eye out for Magnus or the Scots.”
Quentin climbed off his vehicle, and he and I picked our way across around the sleepers, to the dead guards, illuminated in the headlights of our ATVs.
I dug through an alien’s coat: white and clean and looking very much like a human coat. My hand was covered in alien blood, red, not blue, like I might expect. A gurgling sound — he clutched my wrists, looked into my eyes, and tried to speak, as if he had something important to say.
I suppressed my need to scream. He was just a man, a human man, not alien at all, dying because I killed him...
Quentin behind me yelled, “I got a vessel!”
I dropped the man’s coat and shook his hand off my arm and noticed the vessel beside him. “I got one too, just in case!” It was dripping wet with blood.
Quentin said, “These aren’t aliens, this one looks like James’s uncle Mike.”
I nodded, “Yeah, they’re humans.” I wiped the blood on the dead man’s coat and glanced around the wider circle. “We need to get out of here...”
The storm was dissipating; we had already been here too long. The man nearest my foot began to stir. He clutched at my skirts. I yanked them away.
Had we changed the course of history? I was still here, right?
But I wasn’t even a question, the question was: did we just break this scene so now Magnus’s kingdom wouldn’t exist, or Magnus? What if killing one of these men was important to the history of the world? To my world?
They weren’t aliens. They were human time travelers, maybe they were part of the story and — when would I know? Would midnight reset the clock and suddenly Magnus wasn’t alive anymore?
I stood up in the pile of bodies. Hayley was about six feet away with the ATV humming. “Do you see Magnus?”
“No, I don’t see any—”
Beaty called, “I hear horses, they be a’comin’ this way!”
Quentin asked, “What direction?”
Beaty pointed toward the woods on the left.
Quentin yelled, “Leave your vehicle, run!”
I raced toward the right with Hayley’s breathing in my ear as she raced right behind me.
Fourteen - Magnus
I had been thinking through this long night how I could get home tae Kaitlyn. I kent I could go back tae the fortress, but it seemed verra dangerous and once there I might nae have the chance tae escape again.
While considerin’ it though, it came tae me: I could send Kaitlyn a message. I could tell her tae hide a vessel someplace where I could find it. Donnan told me he could set a tracking signal on a vessel, setting a storm above it. Then he could watch for storms tae find it. He also said it was dangerous tae do because once the tracking signal was set anyone through time could find it.
If Kaitlyn hid a vessel and set the tracking signal I could find a vessel. Then I could go home.
And I wouldna have to fight General Reyes tae do it.
This seemed tae be the best course forward. But where?
Amelia Island was close by, but twas far from Kaitlyn. How could I send her a message from there? General Reyes had Amelia Island under his control, I had tae assume he could watch it in any time, the 24th century, the 21st, and the 18th. I needed tae find out how and kill him tae turn it off but until then the island was off limits.
I wondered if I might find the vessels Kaitlyn and I hid in the waters of the spring here in Florida? Twas probably verra close tae this place, but I hadna any ide
a where.
I had memorized the map points tae the dock, but where was a map? I could walk through the swamp looking for it but how? And did it even make sense that they would be there in this time? I thought so, but did I really ken it, enough tae spend months lookin’ for it?
But if I could get across the ocean tae Scotland, I could go tae Balloch castle. The ruins of Balloch were right beside Castle Dom in my kingdom. Kaitlyn was there now.
It made sense tae me that I could get a message tae her that way. She might think tae look there. I could get m’name on a registry of some kind, then she could look up the history of me. I dinna ken how but I kent it was my best chance tae reunite with her.
I said, “The port is ahead.”
“Aye, tis morn and verra early still. If we find safe passage and daena draw attention tae ourselves we might be able tae leave well enough. We must guard against soldiers though, we would be safer with pirates.”
“We will find a ship here tae take us tae Scotland?”
“Nae, we need a ship tae take us north tae Savannah, there we will find a ship tae passage us tae England.”
The river opened ontae a large port. Docks lay tae the left of us, the mouth of the river tae our right, and the ocean beyond. We aimed our skiff for the dock and tied it off near a few others. A man walking the boards asked Fraoch, “What has become of the siege?”
Fraoch said, “Tis goin’ verra well. I was sent ahead tae arrange for a message tae be taken north tae Savannah. Is there a ship goin’ there this morn?”
The man pointed down dock toward a ship. It was teeming with men as if twas about tae set sail. Fraoch waited until the man left and asked me, “Dost ye have any gold on ye, Og Maggy?”
“Nae, I was robbed when I was held prisoner. Dost ye?”
“I do, I daena have much.”
While we walked in the direction of the ship, I bargained with Fraoch, “If ye will pay my passage, I will repay ye when we get tae Scotland. If I daena make it, I have family who will repay ye for yer trouble.”
“Do ye? Even if the help has come from a MacDonald? If our fortunes were reversed, my family might shoot ye for askin’.”
“Och, tis true,” I laughed. “You must be a monster even if ye helped me tae cross the world. But my sister Lizbeth, or her children, would believe my life was worth more than our grudge. I am promisin’ tae repay ye and I will. I am a man of my word.”
He shrugged. “A Campbell who is a man of his word, I daena ken if such a thing has happened afore, but here we are a Donald and a Campbell travelin’ taegether. I will trust ye tae follow through, besides I could use the company on the trip across. I am a deserter, ye art an escaped criminal, we may need each other for protection. Twill be a long two months.”
“Och,” I shook my head, “Tis a verra long time.”
Fifteen - Kaitlyn
When we got to the woods we kept running until we were sure we couldn’t be seen. Then we crept back to the edge of the trees and crouched at the bottom of a tall pine, with a long view of the events unfolding.
Quentin pulled out his gun, the one he had picked from Hammond’s arsenal, the one that would be best for shooting from a distance, a sniper's rifle to use on Reyes.
He checked the loading, then dropped to the ground, stretched out on his stomach, adjusted the weapon and looked for his target through the sights. He was as still as a part of the forest floor, focused, ready to fire. He just had to spot Reyes and the man was as good as dead.
The Scots rode into the scene and then it was a bare minute before they rode their horses in a circle around it, yelling in Gaelic, freaking out. The ATVs were there of course, their lights on, all those sleeping men and their futuristic gear, dead guards on top of the pile.
I supposed the Scots couldn’t see very well either, probably blinded by the lights that were illuminating the morbid, frightening scene. The Scots yelled some more, their horses rearing, their voices panicked, and when the men lying on the ground began to stir the Scots drew their swords and began to kill.
I had been calling it a battle scene but it was definitely a massacre. Yelling, blades stabbing, horses circling, the men on the ground barely fought, and were killed as they were waking. It was horrific to watch, but I tried to rationalize my horror: Magnus and Tyler did this once, killing time jumpers before they awoke.
But I had slept through that one: this one I couldn’t unsee, or un-hear: men screaming, horses whinnying, men waking up only to die. It was a frenzy of death. It also lasted for a lot longer than any of us could take — then there was General Reyes.
He was accompanied by two other men and they rode apart from the rest: darker, dressed differently, keeping to themselves, but watching intently. Their horses jostled and reared as they paced at the far end of the murder-pile.
I said under my breath, “Quentin.”
He said, his eye on the sight, “I see him.”
“Can you…?”
“Men in the way. Shhhhh.”
So I quieted and watched and when that got too difficult, I stared at the ground and tried to think happy thoughts: Magnus, holding me in his arms, rocking me, telling me everything would be okay, while I waited for Quentin to kill the man who had taken Magnus away from—
Quentin fired.
My eyes jerked up and I watched as Reyes clutched his chest and fell backwards from his horse, but then something like ten men turned their horses in our direction and charged on us, their hooves thundering over the ground, fast.
I shoved Hayley and Beaty into a scrambled run, down a wooded hill in the dark, slipping and sliding, my skirts catching on brambles and branches down a slope. I shoved them into some low bushes and dove onto them through the scratching branches and lay across them, my arms out, my black parka covering us, acting like the shadow I hoped would hide them.
Hayley, under me, was breathing heavy, her heartbeat pounding. She was big and equal to me in size, but Beaty was diminutive, curled under my chest, as if she was used to going completely quiet until the bad shit went away.
I was mama bird, I held onto them, over them, stilled my body and prayed in my head that no one could hear us or see us in the darkened woods.
And we waited for a long long time, as hooves shifted leaves near us and men’s voices called to each other as they searched for us.
I listened for Quentin, for sounds of the men finding Quentin, but it was just men on horses looking around and then they slowly moved on by and went somewhere else. As quiet as it got, we continued to lie there for a long time more.
My body began to ache from the tense stillness and Beaty was beginning to shift uncomfortably underneath me.
Hayley whispered, “Are they gone?”
“I think so.” I crawled off them, sat up, and looked around. It was pitch black but the sky above was lightening with the very early thought of dawn, throwing the base of the trees into a deep dark by comparison. I listened for anything. I didn’t hear any men, any horses, any sounds at all, but then again, it was the past, it was darker than it should be. All sounds were muffled.
Hayley and Beaty slowly got up, groaning and stretching from their sore muscles, the fear, the tension, the weight of me covering them. Beaty whispered, “Where is Quenny?”
We crawled up the slope moving cautiously, we crept to where we had been sitting before. Quentin wasn’t there. I looked at the field where bodies were strewn across the ground. The ATVs were still there, their lights blaring, but as the sun rose the headlights weakened by comparison. A bright new day always wins, as my grandma liked to say.
There were a few men left picking through the dead men’s clothes, searching for valuables. A man on the ground moved, struggling to get up. One of the Scots shoved him back to the ground.
A Scot was trying to touch the ATV but kept jumping away in fear.
I couldn’t see Reyes anymore, but he had been on the far side of the circle, there wasn’t a body there now, where he might have fallen.
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And still no sign of Magnus.
“Pssst.” A rustling in the pine tree above and Quentin dropped deftly to the ground beside me. He lowered down to his stomach and whispered, “Didn’t see him.”
Beaty crawled up. “I thought ye were gone.”
“Nope, but I have never climbed a tree that fast in my life.”
Hayley crawled beside me. “What about Nick, did you kill him?”
“I don’t know, he was severely injured. If he stays here in the dark ages, I don’t see how he survives it, but he’s not dead yet.”
“Shit, that sucks. Could we follow him, pretend to be a doctor and kill him again to make sure?”
“Nah, I think there are too many variables in that, too many things could go wrong…”
“I was kind of joking.”
“As we like to say, in a shit storm this big there are no dumb ideas, just another idea that might be better.”
“What’s better?”
“I don’t know. I know our main goal is ‘get Magnus’. We should maybe focus on that and move to a better hiding place.”
Fog rolled in and covered us. We were hidden, but also had no visibility. Occasionally Quentin crept closer to watch but couldn’t tell us what was happening because our voices would travel. We had to sit, completely still and wait and hope no one tripped over us, but probably the Scots had to hunker down because of the fog, too.
The Scots were scrounging around the space, searching, I supposed they were trying to make sense of what they were finding. There wasn’t much, the time-jumpers had traveled lightly. Quentin wondered if they were an advance party for reconnaissance which seemed plausible enough. They definitely weren’t there to make war, they weren’t carrying enough weapons.
Soon more Scots arrived and they loaded up what little plunder they found and left in the direction of Balloch castle.
Under the Same Sky (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 7) Page 6
