“Oh,” she clutched Quentin’s hand. “You aren’t supposed to leave me. This is not fair. You’re supposed to be staying alive to take care of me. What about your promise to Magnus? You’re supposed to be here.”
The machines beeped and then the doctor asked, “Your Majesty, do you want me to take him off the machines?”
She sobbed and folded down over Quentin. Isla put a hand on Kaitlyn’s shoulder and nodded at the doctor.
The doctor waited for Kaitlyn to finish crying, then said, “Time of death, 3:29 pm, November 24.”
Kaitlyn looked up at me and then Isla. “What time?”
I said, “3:29 pm.”
She said, “Isn’t that unsettling?”
Isla nodded. “Yes, it’s the same time as Da...”
We all stood quietly for a moment, then Kaitlyn asked, “Did he say anything before he died, anything at all?”
The doctor shook his head.
I asked, “Like what?”
“I don’t know, a reason for today, for this time. Something like instructions, something important, a fucking guide of some kind, an instruction on how to live without him or Magnus?”
Isla said, “No mom, but it’s okay, he would’ve with more time.”
“Yeah, fucking perfect, we have to figure this shit out all by ourselves.”
The doctor asked, “Is there a next of kin?”
“No, only me.”
She gently lay down Quentin’s hand, smoothed her clothes, and stood. She bowed over Quentin and whispered something in his ear, kissed his cheek and then straightened, tears streaming down her face.
Isla offered to remain in the hospital to make arrangements, so wordlessly I led Kaitlyn, flanked always by guards, to her office.
She sat heavily at her desk.
“How am I to carry on?”
“I’m not sure.” I sat in the chair on the other side of the desk. “You’ll figure it out, this is a day for grieving...”
“Except there is a war...”
“There’s always a war.”
“Magnus has the fucking worst relatives.”
“Except for you of course.”
She said, “And you. I love you, Archie, I know I have said it before, but at this moment, when we are losing the people we love, I might need to tell you again. You have been one of the greatest loves of my life.”
“I could have been the worst thing that ever happened to you.”
“No way, I mean, yeah, maybe, but from that first moment I met you, I knew that loving you would be so much better than not.” She smiled a little. “And I have never been wrong.”
“You’ve been the best Kay-be I ever had.”
“Thank you for that.”
“There is something else I need to tell you.”
Her eyes went wide. “Be careful. This is the day that two of the greatest men I have ever known died, and you have that look on your face you get when you need to tell me something awful is happening. You’ve had that look ever since you were three, telling me you just bonked Ben on the head.”
“I miss him.”
She sighed.
I said, “Lord Philip’s—”
“You mean Piece of Shit’s.” She rolled her hand to tell me to keep going.
“Piece of Shit’s tanks are at Dunkeld.”
“That’s mere miles.”
“They drove in last night. We have eyes on them, but they drove in through the woods, and are parked in the perimeter. They’re hiding in the trees, facing this way.”
“How many?”
“Five.”
Her brow furrowed. “That sounds familiar.”
“It is, it’s straight up from Da’s guidance.”
“No, I was thinking more... that we’ve been here before, some time...”
“We should let Grandma know.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Seventeen - Kaitlyn
I asked, “Hayley, what day is it?”
“It’s August 11, I think.”
“You need a calendar, you don’t want to end up like Fraoch.”
“I am buying that man a watch, first thing. But we should all wear watches with calendars on them, we should always know what day it is.”
“This is true.” I shook my head. “I do know what this day’s date means though, it’s August 11th, Magnus’s coronation... Isn’t it weird that all of this is going down on the same day?”
“Maybe that’s exactly why it is today.”
“Yeah. It’s filling me with dread. What if something goes down? What if someone dies?”
“Nobody’s going to die, Katie, I have a gun.”
“Like in the history of the world has that ever been true?”
“Rarely, but it’s worth noting, that none of us will go without taking some bad guys with us. We’ve watched a lot of movies. I mean, you might say that’s our whole advantage. James has watched every western, every shoot out, every Fast and Furious, this is not going to go south.”
“Should you go down and check the vessels?”
“Yep, it’s probably been twenty minutes,” she clambered to her feet.
As she left, I called after her, “Don’t touch them!”
“I know, I know, they might grab me, but they are completely dead, they have been all day.”
“Just don’t touch them, number one rule, check them, don’t touch them.”
She left the room.
Magnus called me to the walls, so I left Isla and Archie downstairs with Emma and Beaty, promising to report back as soon as I knew anything.
At the walls, a guard told me to crouch low, so I crouch-walked, with difficulty, to where Magnus stood at the far corner of the parapet.
He kissed me. “Thank ye for comin’. I daena want tae leave. Quentin is there now. He radioed tae say he was tae hae a meetin’ in a moment. We are waitin’ now for word on what transpired.”
“Waiting sucks, so much of this drama would be fixed if we only had phones.”
“Och, tis a slower time, but remember with quicker communication we also are quicker tae the draw. If this army said, ‘Surrender or die,’ we would be finished with the fight a’ready. We arna armed well enough. I am relieved that we hae some time, even if tis tae say goodbye.”
“That’s depressing.”
“Nae,” he grinned a half-grin, “Dost ye ken what would hae been depressin’?”
“If we hadn’t had sex last night.”
“Exactly.” He chuckled. “Ye are a verra good wife. Dost ye ken I love ye?”
“I do. I’ve always known it, but never more than now. Having a child together has complicated us — finding time together is so hard, but it also strengthened us. When I see you hold Isla I know how much you love me. It’s hard to describe, maybe.”
“I ken it, I feel the same way.”
He raised the binoculars and directed them at the tree line.
“Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“Nae, I am lost. Dost ye hae any advice?”
I sighed. “Not really.”
I looked out past the tree line: shadowing. Over the tanks: menacing. Past the forest that was obscuring what was laying in wait. I looked back at him, watching it all, slowly sweeping the binoculars back and forth, cataloguing the details.
I could only take in the big generalities — to me it was a wide green field, a dark green forest, under a wide gray sky.
“What do you see when you look out there?”
He lowered the binoculars. “I can see the tanks, laying in wait.” He pointed, “There, there, there, and there, the fifth one is there, I canna see it even with the binoculars, but I ken it is tae the left, closer tae the riverbank, because I can see the trees there hae been felled. See the darkness along that line?”
“You sound so calm. Isn’t this terrifying?”
“Nae, if ye look at the patterns ye can calm yer mind about it. See the birds? There in the distance? They are swoopin�
�� down at that point? I believe tis where the meetin’ with Quentin will be held. I can see a spot there, tis lighter than the surroundings, I believe it tae be the command shelter, constructed for the purpose of tactical operations. I hae been watching that point to see if I can make out the comings and goings.”
I nudged myself up against his shoulder. It was calming to have my husband point out things in the distance, describing them to me in a way, explaining how the world, his world, worked. I just wished there wasn’t so much menace to what he was describing.
“And so you are watching out there trying to see what’s going to happen next?”
“Aye.”
“So like, if you were going to describe how you see time, like the future — you would say you face it? You walk toward it? Like, is it blank, the future, and you’re walking toward it, the blankness, as the story of what you accomplish happens behind you?”
“Aye, daena ye?”
“Not really. I mean I used to until I heard of a different way to see it.”
He said, “How else besides walking tae meet yer future?”
“Grandma Barb told me that in Hebrew tradition they see time unfolding behind them. And the more I think of it... I love it. It’s like this — maybe you are walking backwards, and so you are blind to the future, but since there is nothing there, you might as well be blind, right? You can’t see it, so why look for it?”
I looked up at him. “Instead, you face the other way. You see the story as it lays out behind you, not as it comes, but as it goes. That’s where your focus is. You walk backward towards the future, of course, you aren’t hiding from it, but your focus is behind you on what is important.”
I added, “Ever since I heard about it I’ve been thinking, maybe my focus shouldn’t be on anticipating what’s coming, but on watching our story unfold: you, me, the kids, our family. So I’ve switched my focus.”
He nodded. “Did ye ken I admire ye a great deal?”
“No, really?”
“I do, I think ye are verra wise.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m not sure if it will help, but I hope so.”
Just then the radio squeaked and Quentin’s voice came through, “Boss!”
Magnus tapped the button. “Aye?” as he turned away to concentrate.
I stood nearby to listen, because his whole life depended on it.
Eighteen - Magnus
Quentin’s voice through the phone, said, “They want you to surrender.”
“Twas expected. Who is they?”
“Philip, total douchebag, trying to act as if he’s a malevolent dictator. He tried to pretend like he was the boss but then he let it slide, Roderick is a part of it.”
“Och, I kent it, but tis another thing altaegether tae ken tis true.”
I glanced at Kaitlyn, then asked, “Was Bella a part of it? Did ye see her?”
“They didn’t say and I didn’t see her. When I pressed them about Lady Mairead, Philip asked if I knew where she was.”
“So he daena ken?”
“Yeah, it didn’t sound like she was working with them.”
“That is good. Are ye headed back?”
“No, just like we suspected, they’re going to keep us here until you show up. Our lives for yours.”
“We kent that was how it would happen.”
He loudly said, “Yep, these assholes are nothing if not totally predictable.”
“Tell Philip I said I appreciate the compliment, that I am worth three men — what is their purpose?”
“Roderick wants your kingdom, of course. Philip is going to help him.” His voice went low. “Pretty sure Philip is not going to live to see any real power. He is a weaselly fuck, not at all the kind of man I would want running my kingdom.”
“I hae met him, I ken he is a peevish brat—”
“And Magnus, he wants Archie as well. He told me to tell you that.”
“He canna hae him. He is a bairn. I will kill him for suggestin’ it. I will come alone.”
Quentin’s voice said, “Mag—” but then it sounded like a struggle.
A gruff voice came on the radio. “You have two hours to get your affairs in order. You and young Archie, both.”
“How dost I ken ye will let m’son live? Or my men? What are your assurances ye winna attack the castle?”
There was silence on the radio and then way out in the distance, a drone rose intae the air. Tae Kaitlyn I said, “Go tae the stairs!” We watched as it came closer and closer, swooping down low over the fields and then ascending the walls. As it came up over the edge and hovered just above us, Fraoch and I, and a line of guards trained our guns on it.
Fraoch whispered, “What is it, tis a bird?”
“Tis a drone, it can hear ye. It can see ye. And it is armed against ye.”
“Tis livin’, Og Maggy? Can it be killed?”
The drone’s small camera silently turned, found me, its mark, and aimed on m’face. “Nae, tis nae livin’ but it can be ended all the same.” I raised my voice, “Tis only a cowardly weapon, used by a verra small man, shoot it if it so much as blinks.”
A voice, slithery and so loud it hurt m’ears, erupted from the drone. “If we wanted to kill your family, if we wanted to dismantle your castle, we would have done it already!”
Up close I could see the drone was the 11-EOS Hunter, an older design which gave me a sense of relief. My mother, or Hammond, wouldna be usin’ these outdated machines, not when they had the newer ones in our arsenal.
I attempted tae make m’voice commandin’ though I was speakin’ tae nothing but a flyin’ mechanical-bird. “Tae whom am I spaekin’?”
There was a pause, the booming voice said, “I am Lord Philip Delapointe!”
“Och aye, my step-brother. Dinna I tell ye nae tae bother me again? Dinna we sign a treaty?” I kept m’gun aimed on the camera. “The side of this drone bears the seal of m’crown, from the Kingdom of Riaghalbane, how dost ye hae m’weapons?”
There was another long pause.
“Ye are a thief. Ye are a criminal and ye should be imprisoned. But instead ye are takin’ the side of a usurper in a kingdom ye ken nothin’ about. Ye are in over yer head.”
The voice said, “If you do not come, your men will not survive the night.”
“I want ye tae ken that I warned ye that day that if ye broke the treaty I would kill ye for the trouble. Ye hae tested m’patience, tis done.” The guns on the drone, telescoped out, moved from side tae side, aimin’ at each of us. Twas terrifyin’ tae the men, they cowered. I dinna like tae be on this side of the gun barrel.
I asked, “Did ye turn off the vessels?”
Silence.
“I want ye tae turn the vessels back on. There are women and children who need tae go tae safety. If I come, I come without Archie, I want ye tae release m’men and turn the vessels on so the women and children can leave. Promise me that nae one will be hurt.”
“Archie is required or your men will die.”
“If ye kill m’men how will ye require me tae come?”
“You know we will begin shooting at the castle.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Kaitlyn at the top of the stairs.
“Archie is a bairn, he is nae necessary tae the discussion. This is between me and Roderick.”
“Roderick is demanding him.”
“I am Roderick’s king, he daena get tae demand an audience with m’son, a bairn. Roderick is a coward to ask it. I will be there, alone, in two hours.”
Silence.
“You tell Roderick he better be there when I get there, because he will answer for this.”
I kept the gun leveled on the drone as the camera withdrew. The drone retreated down the wall and flew across the field to the forest.
Kaitlyn rushed tae me from the stairwell and threw herself in my arms.
I said, “I never liked that man, and now he has aligned himself with Roderick, I like him even less.”
“
I don’t see how we get out of this. Do you?”
“Nae, but rarely do I see m’way out of anythin’, yet here I still stand.” I held her face in my hands. “I need ye tae continue checkin’ the vessels, we need tae ken as soon as they are working. Ye need tae get Archie tae a safe place as soon as they are turned on — ye need tae go.”
“Where?”
“Go tae Maine, just after we left, we have the lake house, hide, I will come there.”
“Yeah, I could do that.”
“Hire security.”
“I will. You’ll come?”
“As soon as I can.”
“I don’t see how, it’s never seemed so bleak.”
“Never? Ye hae seen me marched away between guards. Ye hae seen me with a gun tae m’head.”
“True...”
“This time I am goin’ of m’own volition.” I smiled at her. “Tis almost as if I hae the upper hand.”
She sighed. “It barely seems like it. And usually our vessels work.”
“Aye, except that time in the snowy forest, dost ye remember the day, Kaitlyn? Ye were tryin’ tae kill me by nae listening to me.”
She smoothed the hair back from m’brow. “You sir, were trying to kill me by conspiring to leave me.” She huffed. “That was your mom that time. I don’t even know how that works, do you?”
“Nae.”
“Do you think Philip knows? Roderick? I mean, I doubt it, right? Probably your mom turned the vessels off.”
I kissed her forehead. “Probably.”
“Again, as usual we know so little. Every time we get smarter, they throw some other crazy shit at us. Are you going to say good bye to the kids?”
I stared off at the horizon, west, tryin’ tae imagine it. “Nae.” I shook my head. “I winna be able tae go if I do.”
I pulled her hand tae m’chest. “My will is in the safe in Riaghalbane. I haena added Isla tae it. I want her tae be provided for....”
“Well, you’ll just have to make sure you don’t die then. Don’t you do it. She is a tiny baby and she needs to grow up with her Da.” Tears rose in her eyes and she wiped them away. “I don’t want to talk about it — you’re coming home, you promised me you would, and it’s for sure happening again. I understand about you not wanting to say goodbye, we had a very big morning with them.”
Son and Throne (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 11) Page 8