by B Button
I stood and went to him. I pulled his old bent shoulders to me in a hug. “Thank you, Mr. Bellini.”
“No. Thank you, Kally Bright.”
*****
Just because the necklace was now mine didn’t mean I knew what to do with it. I spent long hours pondering how it worked. Nothing happened no matter what I did – turn the pendant, twist the chain in between my fingers, or even take it off. I stayed in Chigo in 2185.
After six or seven months of waiting for something to happen, both Mom and I decided I was probably home to stay. We went back to living our lives and the memories of my Scottish friends became fainter and fainter.
But, in truth, we’d just ignored the final ingredient. Birthdays aren’t always magical. Sometimes they’re awful and ruined by big Decisions or terrible presents. But with the necklace, birthdays became full of magic – the magic of time travel, although I was about to find out how imperfect that magic could be.
2185
Seventeen
“Breakfast,” Mom called down the hatch.
Seventeen was the best birthday. There were no Big Decisions and no weddings. It was the year before marriage and the last year to enjoy every minute with your family.
“Happy birthday, baby.” Mom scooped some pancakes onto a plate just as I walked into the kitchen.
“Thanks. Yum.”
“Did you finish the clock you were working on?”
“No, I’ll have to work on it after school . . . Mom.” I felt funny but I couldn’t find the words to let her know.
My stomach shifted with my vision and by the time I figured out what was happening, Mom had almost faded completely. As it was, I saw the last bit of her look of surprise mixed with resolution. She knew what was happening before I did. And just when I figured out that I was traveling through time, I think I fainted. Or something.
*****
“Och, up with ye then, lass. Up and move off my land.” The voice was most definitely Scottish. Other than that, it wasn’t recognizable enough for me to want to open my eyes just yet.
But then the person attached to the voice kicked me not so gently in my side.
“Ouch. Okay, I’m awake.” I was woozy, but I tried to focus as I shielded my eyes from the warm sun and pulled myself up to my elbows.
“ Tis better. Now off with ye.” The person signaled as if to shoo me away and then turned and walked toward their house.
Berna’s house. I’d landed by her house this time.
“Berna?”
The old woman stopped moving and turned her hunched figure again. It was Berna, but it looked as if she’d had a rough year. She was so tiny and hunched, she seemed breakable.
“How do ye ken my name?”
“It’s me, Kally. Kally Bright. I was here a year ago.” I tested my balance as I stood slowly. It didn’t feel like I was going to go down again, so I reached forward and put my hand on her arm. “Do you remember me?”
She squinted and put her face closer to mine. Her eyes were dull and somewhat foggy.
“No, I dinna remember ye. Ye are dressed strangely. Are ye some sort of witch or something?
I was in Govment-issued t-shirt and jeans. To celebrate my birthday, I’d put on the sneakers. I was glad I had them on.
“No, I’m the one who found the baby and was taken by all the men on horses.”
“Aye,” she said slowly. “I think I remember, but that was a verra long time ago.”
Yeah, it’d been a rough year for her.
“Here, let me help you back to your house.”
Suspiciously, she let me hold gently to her thin arm as we walked. Before long she was leaning into my hands.
Her house was worse than I remembered; dirtier and smellier, as impossible as that seemed.
“Can I get you something? How about a cup of water?” I asked as I guided her to her bed.
“Aye, that would be lovely.” Berna sat.
I took a cup from the messy table and dipped it in the water bucket on the floor.
It hit me – I was back in Scotland! I knew how to get home and my mom new where I was. I was cautiously excited. I’d been trying to get back for a whole year.
I had so much I wanted to do. I wanted to see Ian and his family. I wanted to officially meet Ivar Lennox and his family. I also wanted to see if I could figure out who’d attacked me the last time I was here. I gave myself one week. If I couldn’t accomplish what I wanted to in that amount of time, I would pull break the chain and go home.
But, I also needed to talk to Berna. She was the one who’d told me I needed to meet Ivar Lennox in the first place. She was the one who told me I was a time sneak.
As I handed her the cup of water, I realized she’d fallen asleep sitting up. Her eyes were closed and she was snoring quietly. I sat the cup down and then moved her shoulders so she was lying down.
As much as I needed to talk to her, waking her seemed both cruel and useless. She hadn’t remembered me. Would she remember anything else? I thought about staying a little longer. I could wait until she woke up and try again, but I was impatient. I'd try to come back later, but I couldn't just sit around and wait to get answers I might not be able to get anyway.
I'd learned the secret of the outside wells the last time I was in Scotland. I filled the water bucket from Berna's well, and then found two potatoes and two apples on a shelf, but nothing more than that. When I came back to see her, I would try to remember to bring food.
Also, the last time I’d been there, she told me to check the loose stone in the fireplace for a message. It took me a second but I found the stone and removed it, finding nothing but a large furry spider.
I crouched down beside her and said, “I’m going Berna. I’ll try to come back and talk to you again, but I’ve got to go.”
The only response was another snore. I left the cabin thinking I should have done more for, but not knowing what it would be.
The first trip to the Duncan castle had taken a quarter of a day on horseback. It would probably take at least a half day to walk there. I set out in the direction we'd gone.
Unfortunately, it got dark much more quickly than I thought it would. Very dark. It was never completely dark at home. There were streetlights, and car lights, and house lights. This darkness was so dark that I lost my bearings. If there were a moon and stars above, they must have been hidden by cloud cover.
Suddenly, I was at a standstill. I was afraid to go forward because I didn’t really know which way was forward. I was afraid to go backwards for the same reason.
Finally, I sat. The night was warm. I didn’t feel unsafe. I felt very on display, but unless the wolves were desperate, I would probably be able to get some sleep. I was almost too tired to care about the wolves anyway. With a short reach to my left I found a large boulder. Its presence made me feel more secure. I snuggled myself up against it, and with my fingers around my necklace, tried to get some rest.
*****
“Wake up,” said the second person in one day.
This time I jumped up to a full-on panicked consciousness. My hand had moved away from my throat or the chain would have snapped.
“What? Who?” I said.
Hot torchlight moved in front of my face.
“What are ye doing out in the night?” said a male voice.
“I … I’m on my way to . . . to the castle. It got dark …” I said, shielding my eyes. “I can’t see you.”
“Castle? Whose?”
“Brian Duncan’s.”
“Why are ye going to the Castle Duncan?”
“To see some old friends.”
“What are ye wearing and why do ye talk so strangely?”
“Long story.”
The torch flamed and blocked the view of my visitor as I assumed he thought about whether or not I was telling the truth. Finally, the fire moved enough that once my eyes quit seeing yellow after-lights from the flame I could somewhat make out the person.
At first I th
ought he might be Brian Duncan. The man, well maybe boy, was tall and muscled on all parts of his body that weren’t covered. His long black hair was braided down his back. And he was wearing a kilt. It was the first time I understood the appeal of kilts. His seemed perfect.
“Well, ye seem harmless enough. I’m on my way to the Castle Duncan myself. Would ye like to come along? I can give ye a ride,” he said cautiously as he pointed the torch toward his horse.
“Uh,” I said eloquently.
“Ye’ve nothing to worry about. I’m not going to harm ye. There are creatures around though who might find ye a tasty dinner.”
“How do you travel at night?” I asked, not sounding much more intelligent than I had before.
“Lass, I’ve spent the entire sixteen years of my life roaming this country. I could travel it not only at night but asleep on my horse. Plus, I’ve got my torch.” He smiled fully this time, and his were teeth straight and white. Had they invented toothpaste while I was gone?
Sixteen. He was tall for sixteen. Actually, he was tall for thirty. He was just tall. And he did remind me of Brian Duncan, but I supposed that dark-headed Scottish men all had a similar look. But I didn’t know him. I didn’t remember him. I was pretty sure I would have remembered this guy.
“I think I’ll wait until morning. I can make it,” I said.
“Oh, I’m sure ye can. Weel, all right then. I’ll be on my way.” He turned but then turned back to face me again. “Are ye sure?”
I wasn’t sure at all. If he was going to the Castle Duncan, it would be faster, though no easier on my body, to take the trip on horse, but I didn’t know him.
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said.
He looked at me and then sighed heavily.
“Then I suppose I’ll just have to camp close by.”
“What?”
“Dinna fash yerself, lass. I’ll put out my bed over here. Tomorrow, I’ll make sure ye get to the castle.”
“That isn’t necessary.”
He smiled and then went to work. Amid my protests, he found wood for a small fire and unrolled something next to it that looked much more comfortable than the bare ground. His camp was about twenty yards from my own, but much more homey than my boulder.
Two dead birds hung from ropes over the back of his horse. With a skill I’d admired in some of the cooks at the castle, he plucked the feathers from one, cut where it needed to be cut, took out the unnecessary parts and then set some meat over the fire on a makeshift spit.
I watched this in silence, fairly certain he was harmless. I didn’t, however, like the way I liked looking at him. Looking at him made me feel funny inside; swirly. I didn't want to not look at him. It was confusing.
“Are ye hungry? Thirsty?” he said from beside his fire.
“I’m fine.”
“Dinna be so obstinate, lass. I’ve plenty of food and water. Ye dinna even have so much as a knife on ye. When’s the last time ye ate?”
“I’m not hungry.” I had my tools in my pocket but they wouldn’t help me hunt many animals.
“I’m not going to hurt ye. Ye’re out in the middle of nowhere with not a thing. Ye need some food and some water. If ye were from around here, ye’d ken who I was and ye’d ken I wasna dangerous. Plus ye wouldna talk so funny,” he said with a grin and a bite into some of the cooked bird.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the son of Laird Duncan.”
“Not possible.”
“Aye? Really?” he said, amused.
“I know the laird’s sons—two of them at least. You’re too old.
He looked perplexed. “I suppose I’m the age I’m supposed to be. I dinna understand how I could be too old.”
“What is your name?”
“Have something to eat, and I’ll tell ye my name.”
I stood and walked to the fire. He made me uncomfortable, but not because I was afraid of him.
“Here.” He handed me a gourd full of water.
“Thanks.”
He smiled.
I drank lots of the water and ate some of the meat.
“See, I told ye, ye were hungry,” he said.
“Yeah. Thanks again.”
“Ye’re welcome.”
“I’ve eaten. Now, tell me your name. Please.”
“Ah, my name is MacCauley McCandlass Duncan . Yers?”
“Say that again.”
He did, slowly just in case I had a learning or hearing disability.
“That’s not possible.”
“That mustna mean the same thing were ye come from as where I come from. It is most definitely possible.”
“Holy . . .” I said. “What year is it?”
“The year of our lord, seventeen hundred and sixty-six.”
“Holy . . ..”
“And that’s somethin’ else I dinna understand. What are ye being religious about?”
Sixteen years had passed since my last visit. So time travel was similar to dog years. For the one of mine that had gone by, there had been sixteen here.
“Crap.” I looked at his right forearm. Even with the shallow light from the fire, I could see the scars from the bite marks.
“Lass, are ye all right?”
I nodded and looked at Mac. He was sixteen, almost a man and now only a year younger than me.
“Tell me, how is everyone?”
“Who?”
“Your father, how is he?”
“Fine, I’ve not been home in a few days, but he was fine when I left.”
“No, I mean …” But how did I ask what I wanted to know. I wanted an accounting of what had happened over the last sixteen years. “Oh. Well, how’s your brother, Ian?”
“He’s fine too. So ye ken my family?”
“Yes, I do. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them.”
“How long?” he asked as though he thought he should remember me.
“A long time. Corc, Una?”
“Ye do ken them. All fine, I believe. Tell me, what is yer name?”
“Kally Bright. Nice to meet you Mac Duncan.” Again.
Mac’s eyes widened and he threw down his food. “That’s not funny, lass. Not funny at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Who are ye?”
“I just told you.”
“No lass, ye just lied. Kally Bright was real and she would be older than ye. Are ye some sort of fairy witch then or just a liar?”
“No, I …” Before I could say another word, Mac lifted me up by my arms and pulled my hands behind my back. He didn’t hurt me, but he moved so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to reach for the pendant or my tools.
“Kally Bright saved my life, lass, and was one night carried away by the wolves. We dinna imitate her. Ever,” Mac said in my ear as he tied my hands together. “Ye’ll not make light of her, ye hear me?”
I wasn’t scared in the least. Actually, I wanted to laugh. He hadn’t hurt me and now I knew what they’d thought had happened. I was kind of honored that I’d turned into some sort memory of respect, however small it was.
He sat me back on the ground, and proceeded to clean up the camp. He mumbled to himself and I remained quiet, watching him move. He’d stop every once and a while and look at me with distaste and disbelief.
“Ungrateful,” I mumbled quietly.
“What?”
“What if I am Kally Bright?”
“Ye’re not.”
“You wouldn’t remember me anyway. You were just a baby.”
“Ye’d be much, much older. Close to the age of my brother, Ian. Ye’re not that old.”
“Maybe I look younger than I am.”
He glared at me again. I didn’t look anywhere near thirty or the thirty-two I should logically be. I held my chin as proudly as I could manage with my hands behind my back and hoped his mind would play a trick on him.
“No, not possible,” he said.
“What if I told you the story of what happen
ed that day, how and where I found you and what happened after that?”
He laughed. “’Tis legend enough throughout the land. Ye could have heard the story this morning.”
I liked hearing I was a legend again, but it was pretty unimportant at the moment.
“Fine. Then just take me to your father’s castle.”
“I plan on taking ye to the castle all right,” he began. He continued on in Gaelic. Now I wished I’d spent some time studying more of the basic words, but that had been the problem. Nothing about Gaelic seemed basic. It was all complicated and such an old language that it was difficult to find much information about it in my century.
After the entire camp was packed, Mac lifted me off the ground and swung me over the horse. I’m sure I was still taller than most of the women he knew so my body probably didn’t move as agilely as he was accustomed to. I hoped I made it awkward for him, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Ooch, aye,” he said, mesmerized at my footwear.
“You heard about the shoes, didn’t you?” I asked.
He tore his eyes away from my feet and looked in my eyes.
“See, I told you. I’m Kally Bright.”
Mac climbed aboard the horse, placing himself behind me.
“Ye’d better hope ye are,” he said in my ear before he kicked the horse forward.
*****
Riding horses had not become more comfortable over the last year or sixteen, whichever. By the time we reached the castle, the sun was rising and my body was in pain. Though Mac’s arms mostly held me on the horse, without the use of my hands, my leg muscles had to work a lot harder than before.
Even from a distance, I recognized Una, carrying a basket of bread across the grounds and toward the drawbridge. The sight of her thin, energetic body and long stringy hair made me want to yell hello, but I didn’t.
“That’s Una,” I said.
“Aye.”
“See, I know people.”
“Right, lass. We’ll see.”
“Stop being such a jerk. You kidnapped me. I was okay by my boulder. If you’d just left me alone, I would have been fine.” My entire body hurt and the anger I should have felt earlier about being taken and tied was making its way out of my mouth.