I tried nae tae dwell on my lack of strength as I embarked across the ocean for a far shore.
I had one thought, only tae work, only tae stay alive.
After a few hours helpin’ prepare the Deptford tae set sail, we left the port, headed for Charleston.
Twas a warm day. I guessed twas near the summer solstice, hot and humid. The coastline looked much the same, low islands, sea grass wavin’, then we left the shoreline for the open sea, and Fraoch and I took our places on deck, sailin’ the vessel alongside the crew.
* * *
I passed Fraoch as I was coilin’ line on the quarter deck. “Fraoch, ye have turned ruddy. You will be crisp as a summer sucklin’ pig roast in a time.”
“Aye, the sun has me on fire, but I would rather the warm sun beatin’ down, than nothing but storm and darkness and us cowerin’ in the holds under the ship.”
“Och,” I said, “daena speak of it.”
“Tis why I am collectin’ the sun. You will thank me later, during the storms, when the wind is howlin’ and ye are prayin’ tae God tae save ye, you will say, ‘Thank the heavens my friend Fraoch has turned a red glow so he can light our way tae the English shore.”
I laughed and continued with my work.
* * *
We had a moment tae rest at the end of the day and found some shade on the forecastle tae eat our provisions — a bit of salt pork cooked in beans, a small loaf of bread, and a shared mug of beer. Then we rested under the darkening sky.
“How do ye ken tae sail, Og Maggy?”
“Growin’ on the shores of Loch Awe, the most beautiful loch in all of the highlands, nestled under Ben Cruachan. Have ye ever seen it?”
“Nae.”
“Tis a majestic day tae fish from a boat in the middle of it. What of ye, Fraoch?”
His eyes glinted. “I sailed the Loch Leven, the best loch, Og Maggy, everyone agrees on it. There are birds and fish there that ye haena ever seen. They winna go south tae see yer loch, they say, ‘we are happiest here, on this grand loch.’”
“The birds say this?” I laughed, “Och, we will have tae disagree on it. Because Loch Awe has a beauty tae it unparalleled in all of Scotland and the New World. There is a place that comes close, tis called Maine. There is a loch by the name of Holden. It has a spectacular beauty tae it as well.”
“I wish I could say I will see it someday but once we have our back tae this world I pray tae never set foot there again.”
I lifted my mug, “Tae the wind at our back.”
“Aye, Og Maggy, we hope for the best of the wind. Strong and sure and straight tae Scotland.”
Twenty-one - Kaitlyn
It was freezing. Really really cold. Quentin said, his voice coming to me through the darkness, “I have to get Beaty somewhere warm, she’s too cold.”
I pulled myself all the way awake and my eyes adjusted to see she was shivering against his chest inside his parka. A shockingly sick sounding cough erupted from her. “God it’s freezing out here — how long has she been coughing like that?”
“Started about an hour ago.” She coughed again.
I sat up and took stock. I didn’t want to leave. I needed to know if Magnus was here or coming here and I wasn’t sure yet. But—”
She coughed again.
“She needs to go back. We could send her with Hayley.”
He said, “Neither of them knows anything about the future, at all, it’s not safe.”
We both thought for a moment. She coughed. I asked, “Does she have a fever?”
“She’s hot and shivering, has been for about half an hour.”
“Okay, take her. Me and Hayley will stay here for another day or two. We have two vessels.” I dug through my pack looking for one.
Hayley mumbled, “Beaty doesn’t sound good.”
“I know, Quentin is going to jump with her, you’re going to stay with me...”
“In this fucking freezing-ass forest? Great, and by that I mean great because you owed me a trip to Scotland and this has been my plan all along.”
He started to adjust Beaty to stand. “No, don’t, just lay there. Quentin, the jump is really long, hold onto her, it’s hard and she doesn’t sound good.” She coughed and my hands shook from fear. How did she go from sweetness and helpfulness to that sick that quickly? “I twisted the vessel. “When you get there, ask for Hammond, get her to a doctor. These are the numbers—” I said them.
He repeated them back messing up one halfway.
“Shit Quentin, stop, wait, don’t — fuck, don’t get the numbers wrong, okay? Promise me, she’s counting on you.”
“I know, I just got nervous.”
“Don’t, don’t get nervous.” I turned on my flashlight and dug through my bag for my pen. “Roll up your sleeve.”
He pushed up his sleeve but his arm was too dark. The back of his hand, nothing. I started to write it on the palm of his hand but the stupid fucking ballpoint pen wouldn’t write on his damp palm.
“Beaty, I’m writing something on your skin, bear with me.” I pushed up her sleeve, her arm pale and dry and hot and fragile reminding me of my grandmother’s arm in some weird way, like her body wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do, pale and weak and terrifying. I wrote the numbers in a string down it while she whimpered because I was probably pushing too hard but I was totally freaking out.
“See it?”
Quentin said, “Aye,” lapsing into a Scottish answer.
“Say the numbers just like that. Do you have your weapons?” He nodded.
“Hayley and I are going over there.” I grabbed Hayley by the hand and dragged her far away and we watched through the darkness as Quentin held a flashlight, adjusted Beaty in his arms, and began mumbling the numbers. The storm built. Hayley and I clung to each other against the wind. Visibility went to zero in the storm and we cowered at the edge of the lightning, wind, and fury, until finally it was clear again and Quentin and Beaty were gone.
It was surreal to see the empty spot. I had rarely watched as someone else jumped before.
The storm was brutal. I never wanted to be inside it again.
When it finally ended Hayley and I kept our arms around each other because frankly it was cold as shit out here.
“Do you think she’s going to be okay?”
“I hope so. Lady Mairead was really sick when she first jumped, she turned out okay.”
“She turned out a bitch, hopefully that isn’t a side effect. So it’s just you and me? How long we staying at this swanky hotel?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been in the past by myself without Magnus or another Campbell to show me what to do and this is even farther in the past... Tomorrow we can watch the castle for signs of Magnus or Reyes.”
“What do we do if we see Magnus?” Her voice was low and deep, beginning to go back to sleep.
“I run up and throw my arms around him and — yes, you can sleep. I’ll take first watch.”
Hayley yawned. “What if we see Nick?”
“If we see Nick, without a doubt he’s a dead man.”
“You are such a badass,” she said.
“It doesn’t feel like it most of the time. I spend half my life terrified about what will happen.”
“Well, yeah sweetie, there’s a lot of scary shit going on in your life.” Her breathing slowed.
I asked, “Hayley, what was it Magnus said to you that made you forgive him?”
She opened one eye and looked at me then closed it again. She mumbled, “You can’t let it go, huh?”
“I might never see him again.”
She groaned. “Okay, fine. Remember that night when you were sitting in his kitchen, after you helped him take Lady Mairead to the hospital, right at the very beginning?”
“Of course.”
“He said you were telling him about how to turn the lights off, and he had a feeling come over him — he knew right then you were going to be his wife. He said it was as if he glimpsed his
future, all at once: you were in his arms and you were older and you were smiling up at him, and there were children around you. He said he knew then that the moment was important—”
“He did?”
“If I remember correctly, he said, ‘The moment twas vastly important.’”
“He never told me that. That’s really nice.”
“But it’s not really the part that did it for me. I mean, he says nice things all the time, am I right?”
I nodded in the cold darkness.
She said, “He told me that because the moment was so important, because he knew you were his future, he didn’t know what to do. He said he prayed to God for the chance to prove himself worthy of you. And now that he had been given a chance he would spend his life trying to prove it. He said he failed all the time but he would keep trying to deserve you.”
“Did he tell you he begged me for forgiveness and all of that?”
“Sure, and I knew it, I could see it in his eyes, he was so desperately sorry, but that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that Magnus, that hot hunk of hotness, stood in front of me and told me that he never believed he was worthy of you.”
I smiled at the thought. “He’s delusional.”
“No, he’s a smart smart man. Smart and hot and he knows you’re the better one of you both, so that was good enough for me.”
“Thank you, Hayley.”
“You’re welcome. Now let me sleep, I might meet a Campbell man tomorrow, I need to look pretty.”
“Campbell men are dangerous.”
“So you tell me, but modern men are pretty dangerous too. Might as well be wearing a kilt.” She snuggled down into her parka and went to sleep.
Twenty-two - Magnus
After a few days at sea we landed in Charleston. It would take five days to empty the ship of its load and bring in more supplies. I was glad of the chance tae be on land, though the work was brutal and the day the hottest so far.
In the evening Fraoch and I went tae the tavern along with the crew. We were all exhausted from the heat and a frightful smell, and there were some men in our company that were the worst of men and I dinna want tae cross them.
After dinner Fraoch found a bed tae share with one of the women who worked the shipyards. “Do ye want a warm bed and a lass, Og Maggy?”
“Nae, I am nae wantin’ tae spend the money on the bed and the woman daena interest me.”
He laughed. “How can this be? You are healthy enough! Ye have a pump handle like the rest of us, daena ye?”
I chuckled. “I do.”
“Then it makes nae sense tae hear ye say ye daena have the interest.”
“I made a promise tae her.”
Fraoch waved his hands at me. “Daena speak on promises, Og Maggy, a woman kens what a promise is. They canna blame ye for what happens in the New World. Ye could die and never have yer cock properly attended tae.”
“Twill be a risk I have tae take, and will give me a reason nae tae die.”
“I guess twill, I am thinkin’ ye will be a different mind of it when we arrive in London, twill be a verra long time by then.”
“Och, I daena ken how I will do it, but I mean tae keep my promise. I have broken her heart in the past, tis nae in my nature tae do it again.”
Fraoch took his leave and went with a woman up the stairs tae the top floors of the tavern and I stayed down and drank some more and talked with the men about war and ships and the lands of the New World.
I wanted tae save the small pittance I earned for when I arrived in London. The fare tae Scotland would be expensive and I owed Fraoch for his help, so I slept on the main floor of the tavern with all the men who couldna afford tae bed a whore.
I woke up stiff. The sky was dark and by mid-day there was a torrential rain. We worked the full day again and again and again, for four long days.
Then, in the eerie darkness of the fifth day, it was time tae leave. The crew awoke in the tavern, full of good spirits, happy tae have the drudgery of carrying boxes behind us. We clambered aboard the Deptford and got her ready tae sail.
* * *
We had verra good weather. We were used tae our jobs and did them in a routine that exhausted our bodies but kept our minds busy. We needed tae swab the deck and polish brass tae keep our thoughts off our hunger and the relentless rockin’ of the ship.
* * *
The day was bright and warm. The deck was steamin’ as it dried from a three day rain. Men were turnin’ their faces tae the sky for the warmth. We were many of us in good spirits after bein’ soaked through. We could read the sky, the wind was behind us, pushin’ us, there hadna been any big storms yet.
Fraoch walked by draggin’ a bundle of sails.
I joked, “You have tae mend sails? I wish twere fishin’, the only sustenance we’ve had has been the smell of flatulance for three days.”
Fraoch joked, “Och, has been a dank and steaming cloud over our heads. I may never go below deck again.”
I finished up my tasks and joined him on the main deck. I found a rip in the sail at one end and set tae the repair.
He asked, “What was the longest fish ye ever caught, Og Maggy? Mine was a bradan, this long.” He held his hands out tae show me the length of it.
“Och, ye are making me hungry.” He seemed proud of its size though, so I added, “Tis verra wee. I have caught breac that were twice that.”
“You canna be tellin’ the truth, Og Maggy. Ye have lived in London for too long, sharin’ cakes with the king. You are a castle-dweller, always huggin’ yer stomach, retchin’ intae a bucket while the rest of us are tryin’ tae sleep. The Campbells canna fish.”
“Och! I daena need a boat tae find the fish. I could throw the net from the window of my Kilchurn nursery and the fish would leap intae my hands.”
He laughed. “I will come see ye do that someday, Og Maggy, but I wouldna want ye tae exert yerself. I will ask ye tae sit there idle and let a MacDonald feed ye.”
I chuckled. “Did ye ken that I have eaten from a MacDonald many a day?”
“Really? Where?”
“In the New World. In my village there was a tavern run by a MacDonald. My wife liked tae eat there. Twas the MacDonald food that caused me tae fall in love with her.”
“She liked the Macdonald food did she?” His eyes twinkled mischievously.
“Careful,” I said.
“I winna tease ye on it since ye haena had her in a long time, ye are probably grown ornery. I reckon though the MacDonalds were nae aware ye were a Campbell when they fed ye.”
“Probably nae, I kept m’family name quiet.”
“For the best I would think.”
“We are unlikely friends are we nae?”
“Aye.”
He dragged the linen thread through the gash in the sail and pulled it tight tae close it.
I said, “I winna want my son tae do work like this.”
He looked at me askance. “Do ye have a son, Og Maggy? I haena heard ye speak on him afore.”
“Aye, he was born afore I left. Twas nae much bigger than...” I held my arms tae show the size of him.
“So wee for ye tae be out on a ship in the middle of a vast sea. When ye see him he winna remember ye are his father.”
“He is still verra young.”
“And your wife — what was her name?”
“Madame Kaitlyn Campbell.”
“Madame Kaitlyn, you are fortunate she came through the birth a’right…”
“My Kaitlyn is nae the mother of my son…”
“Och, ye have broken a vow, now I ken the promise ye made.”
“Aye…” We were quiet for a moment. Then I added, “My Kaitlyn has shewn a kindness tae my son, motherin’ him as if he were her own. Tis a marvel she can love and forgive me as much as she does, so I have made a promise tae her and I winna break it, nae again.”
“I see the truth of it now, Og Maggy.”
“Dost ye have a bairn, Fr
aoch? I am surprised we haena spoken of it yet.”
“Nae, my bonny lass died of the fever and the bairn went with her. Twas a son.”
“Och, I am sorry.”
“I lost my wife, my son, and my father in the same winter.”
“Tis why ye went tae the New World.”
“Aye, twas a terrible loss, I have been a verra broken soul for a time.”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “And now ye are headed home.”
“I canna imagine never seein’ it again, the loch, hearin’ the rowdy insults and mockery of my family—”
I laughed. “Nae one can insult like a blood relative.”
“Aye.” He smiled, “Tis tae toughen us for when the enemies attack.”
I tossed out my line. “Like a Campbell.”
He asked, “I have been meanin’ tae ask ye, did ye take arms against the Donalds, Og Maggy?”
“Nae, I was scoutin’ once, and found m’self and m’brother in a skirmish with three Donald men, just outside of Inverness. Twas a vicious fight, but we dinna finish anyone. We promised tae meet them on a field another day.”
I stitched for a moment. “I lived for many years in London, so I dinna spend as much time fightin’…” I stared out at the still horizon for a few moments, then added, “but my brother Sean has fought and killed many a Donald. I daena hold it against him. If ye faulted him for it, Fraoch, I would protect him against ye. He has done what he needed tae do tae protect his family, and he is my brother.”
“I would expect it of ye, tis right tae defend yer family.”
“Have ye raised arms against the Campbells?”
“Aye, I have killed many Campbell men in defense of my family.”
“Och,” I said and then we sat in companionable silence, the unlikeliest of friends.
* * *
We had grown verra sick and tired of the relentless nature of the sea and had been at sea too long — then a storm rose on the thirty-sixth day. Twas a ferocious storm and it turned the sea an angry mood. Waves rocked us dangerously, salt water swept over the prow, the ship was climbin’, then plunging down, hour after hour, the ship careened in the sea.
Under the Same Sky Page 8