Fraoch let Jimmy out of the stable and untied him and, while Quentin glowered menacingly, gave him some food. We needed to leave some of our bags and the trailers behind. So Fraoch threatened Jimmy in a bellowing Gaelic until he seemed assured that our belongings would be safe.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I told him that I am nae a black man, so I daena need tae be cautious. I will kill him just for lookin’ at me the wrong way. He winna touch our things.”
As we packed and prepared and discussed our plans, the torrential downpour slowed to a light summer rain. The kind that people could go out in. That men would be able to fight in. We figured men who were camped around the castle walls would be up and about, and if the chaos came they wouldn’t shelter in place, they would, as James said, “Run, like the motherfucking devil is chasing them.”
And as Quentin said, “Hell yeah, through mud.”
Fraoch grinned, “As m’friend Quenny would say, ‘let us go tae make the chaos.’”
Quentin laughed. He pulled out a piece of paper, scrawled across it: Boss, We have gone to kick some ass, see you soon. Signed: Colonel Quentin.
“All right, let’s get to it.”
James said, “This is a ton of skirt you girls have got here.” My skirt was bundled up to drive, Beaty was pressed against my back, so he had to shove all our skirts forward to make enough room on the very back of the seat. We drove slowly from Beaty’s family farm out a long winding trail not much more than a footpath to the main village path which was a little more like a road and then at a designated point descended from the path and down through trees to stop at the tree line. Quentin pulled his ATV up about twenty feet away, Fraoch sitting on the back, the two of them discussing the equipment they had around them. We were at the edge of a wide grassy plain with the castle in the distance. The rain was a sprinkle now and the sun was a second from beginning to climb into the sky.
Why was it always so much darker right before the dawn and why the hell did I sound like an inspirational poster in my brain?
I stretched out my hands. I had been gripping the steering handle like a fraidy-cat. I needed to get control of myself. I rolled out my neck, trying to calm down.
James stood and began to place his weapons within reach.
“Remind me again what—” I felt panic rising.
James leaned over and pointed, “This right here, this is your gun, if anyone gets close shoot him.”
Quentin called from the other ATV, “What are you saying?”
James said, “Explaining where the guns are again.”
Quentin looked stern, “Can you do this, Hayley? Can you? We don’t have room for someone who can’t do it.”
“I can do it.”
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, can you do this?”
I looked across the space at Quentin. “Yeah, I can do this.”
“Yeah, or fuck yeah?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“You’re going to sweep the field of all these fucking losers, right?”
“Yeah, zigzags.”
“What the fuck is a zigzag?”
“You know, right and left, zigzag, you call it what you want, I’ll call it zigzagging.”
“All right. Fine. Beaty-love, you have your vessel?”
“Aye, Quennny.” She looked right at him like a good soldier.
“Come here.”
She climbed off our ATV and walked across to his. They put their arms around each other and hugged.
He asked, “You took your go-go potion?”
She nodded.
“Good. I love you Beaty, safe travels. I’ll see you soon.”
“I love ye, Quenny.”
Quentin said, “Stand here, hold onto me, we’ll take you over to there.” He pointed into the middle of the dark field. We couldn’t see men in the field but we would have to be quick, build a storm, drive in, drop her off, drive away, without getting anyone shot or killed — definitely without getting killed.
“Ready?” We started our ATVs and I followed Quentin, driving down from the woods. Ahead of me, Beaty was standing on the platform, holding onto Quentin’s arm as he drove the ATV bouncing across the dips and rises in the field. Fraoch stood behind him, his hair blowing in the breeze, holding a gun, a bag of the flash grenades in front of him.
I was going to watch him as he rode into battle.
Also, I was right behind him.
Forty-seven - Hayley
Beaty looked all alone in the middle of the field. She activated the vessel, drew forth the storm, and disappeared into it. And then, though I couldn’t see anything at all, I knew my orders were to drive to the castle, fast.
“Ready? Hold on!” I pulled my ear protection on. Quentin released two drones, headed low across the field and right over the encampment, and we drove, like maniacs, following right behind them.
The field was funky: holes, rocks, hills. We were bouncing and slamming as we careened toward the castle. Quentin slid in the mud beside us, spraying mud behind him. “You good?”
“Great!” I gave him a thumbs up. They pulled away to the right and we went to the left. The storm whipping behind us, ahead of us, now, men were running — away.
James yelled, “One o’clock!” He threw a grenade ahead of us and a little to the right. The sight of it, straight and true and so far and fast—
“Nice!” I yelled.
The men ran and we were in chase. But men were peeling off to the left, they might come from behind—
James said, “Nine o’clock!” And a grenade raced from his hand straight out landing in front of the fleeing men. They scrambled in the other direction, just like we wanted. Above us on the walls of the castle, the Campbell men, shooting down at the fleeing army, kept them off the walls. We forced them forward.
I drove, keeping the walls to my right. James yelled, “One o’clock!” again and another flash far away ahead of us. And then faster than I thought possible, “Nine o’clock!” And like a missile the canister streamed to the spot — bang!
Men were terrorized now, outrunning our ATV. I whipped the steering back and forth, turning the vehicle side to side, chasing, making sure there weren’t any stragglers. It was all furiously fast, but also slow motion: James behind me, digging through the bag and then out of the corner of my eye, his arm straight and true. That arm that I had cheered for in all those games in high school.
Into my radio I called, “We’re at the corner!”
Quentin said, “One minute. Hang tight.”
My instructions were to drive in a serpentine fashion, forcing the men to bottleneck at the south wall. Quentin would be coming from the opposite direction, the only way out was to go south, through the ravine between the hills. Men were already headed that way — but there were so many men. It was indeed chaos as men tried to turn around and run the other direction, so I had to maneuver to not run over anyone and men were grabbing at me, too many men—
A flaming bundle of reeds landed on me. I shrieked, swerved, and James lost his footing and flew from the ATV. A mob of men descended on him. I swatted and patted at my hair to put out the fire. A crowd blocked my path. I sped up but it’s one thing to drive toward someone, another thing to run a human down, this was not what I wanted to do.
I swerved and men were everywhere. James was being dragged away, in a mob, oh god, I lost James. I caught a glimpse of Quentin’s ATV plowing toward us.
Then Fraoch jumped off.
His feet thudded across the earth as he ran into the mob, shooting a man, then another, but then men descended on him and there was a huge giant melee. Quentin was surrounded, there was a shot — I ducked because that seemed like the best idea, until a man tried to pull me from the ATV, yanking my arm, pulling my hair.
Quentin yelled, “Hayley! Drive or shoot!”
As I was being dragged off the seat, I groped for the gun in my belt, then fired a bullet into the men around me. They let go and I got my wits back. Hands
shaking, I turned my ATV toward the melee.
Quentin was spinning his ATV shooting, fighting. James was being dragged, pushed and pulled through the crowd, and then carried off. Fraoch was chasing on foot.
I was too far behind as Fraoch grasped the reins of a horse, leapt on its back, and with a look over his shoulder, followed the departing men.
Quentin pulled his ATV to mine. “Injured?”
“No, just scared,”
“I need you to drive, Hayley. Serpentine, like a snake, remember? Do it!”
He threw a flash grenade to my left and then another one to the right as he spun a big arc through the mud and resumed sweeping back and forth where he was supposed to be driving. Tears were pouring down my face, I could barely see as I began my zigzags again.
Quentin threw another grenade.
I had grenades too. With my foot I dragged the bag closer and reached in and grabbed one. I slowed the ATV, figured out how to pull the pin on the can, and then threw it. “Yeah, motherfucker, did you see that, I just threw a grenade!”
I grabbed another one and threw it at an approximation of nine o’clock. Not nearly as straight or far as James had thrown, but my adrenaline was through the roof and to see the can leave my hand, hurl through the air, and then land with a bang…? It was fucking fantastic.
“Hell yeah! Don’t slow down motherfucker, I’m right behind you. Think I’m weak? Here’s a bang-can for you!” I tossed another one and then began driving my zigzags again.
The men weren’t even questioning where they should go anymore, they just ran as fast as they could, piling over each other. Their horses were long gone — rearing and trampling and bolting away. The men scrambled on foot through the ravine.
The mud was substantial, getting a grip on the hillside was difficult, so the men raced through the pass until we were looking at the tail end of the army. Quentin and I forced the last of the stragglers to go.
The men on the walls of Balloch cheered.
Quentin pulled up beside me. “You okay?”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Where’d they go?”
“Not far, Hayley, Fraoch is going to get James and bring him right back, it’s Fraoch right? He’ll be back really soon.”
“I’m sorry I’m so sorry, I didn’t... I was turning and there was fire in my hair and—”
Quentin stood up on the ATV using binoculars to see down the ravine.
“You don’t have to apologize, that was crazy, it was James’s ass that flew out of the ATV.” He passed me the binoculars, I tried to see, but there was nothing but dust from the people stampede.
Quentin tried to call James on the radio. “James? You there man? James?”
Nothing.
I passed him back the binoculars. “Should we go get them?”
He used the binoculars to look in every direction, then said, “No, if we go down that pass they could close in behind us, we’d be trapped. Or worse, we could get lost, I don’t know the area well enough.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know the area either.”
“We just have to wait for Fraoch to get him.”
I clamped my eyes shut at the memory of James disappearing in the crowd, Fraoch leaping onto a horse and chasing after him.
Quentin shook out his arms and legs. “James’s life passed before my eyes. He’s too pretty to die in an eighteenth century brawl.”
I did that weird laugh-sob thing that was a lot like choking.
The morning had risen, the rain slowed to a sprinkle. The dawn light gave all the grass and the woods a glowing green hue. And there was quiet. I had forgotten how quiet it was, the invading army had been so insistently noisy for so long.
Quentin said, “That was a fucking peak experience, huh?”
“I’m so scared, what if they don’t make it?”
Quentin looked left and right at the field we had cleared: the tents and weapons and cooking implements, the debris of the fleeing force. It all lay, wet and useless, in the grass, forgotten in the trampling escape. He exhaled slowly. “We gotta hope they come home is all. Fraoch knows the area. He can talk to anyone, and he’s determined to get him. We just have to wait. That’s all we got to do.”
I didn’t like the way he was talking, like he didn’t believe a word he was saying, like it was a locker room pep talk and the game was already over.
I patted the back of my hair, wadded up and frizzled from being burned.
“Ugh.”
He looked at my hair. “You were on fire.”
The Campbells opened the gates and men on horses came to join us.
Sean asked, “Where’s Fraoch?”
“He went after our man.” Quentin pointed, “James Cook was grabbed by the mob and carried that way.”
“Park the vehicles in the gates. Madame Hayley, Lizbeth is waitin’ for ye inside. We will go after them.”
And Sean and the men thundered away through the ravine.
Forty-eight - Kaitlyn
We were all sitting around the dining room table playing Cards Against Humanity. Little Isla was in a sling, sleeping, sometimes nursing. My husband, being hilarious, didn’t understand half of what the cards meant, but somehow managed to put them together in a way that made sense and was even funnier because he did it by accident or by some weird eighteenth century logic that we couldn’t fathom. He used a weird play on words that was practically Shakespearean, a reference we made that caused him to shrug. “I hae seen one of his plays, ye ken of them?”
“Absolutely, his plays have probably been performed hundreds of thousands of times and made into movies and...”
Emma yawned very loudly. “I’m exhausted. Ben and Archie forgot to nap today.” We looked over at the monitor. They had both crashed a half hour before bedtime. “If they wake up I’m going to freak out, so while I hate to ruin all this fun, I’m headed to bed.”
Zach put down his hand of cards. “Fine, I couldn’t figure out how to play this ‘Justin Bieber’ card anyway. Might as well quit while I was ahead.”
Magnus asked, “Who is Justin Bieber?” and we all laughed.
Emma said, “Wouldn’t it be lovely to know nothing about current events and pop culture? Like wouldn’t that be so grand?”
Zach said, “Okay, I declare Katie the winner.”
I grinned, “I do have all the cards. I am the winner.”
Zach returned the cards to the box. Emma carried our dishes to the kitchen.
“I’d help but...” I joked.
“You don’t have to help. All you have to do is sit there and nurse that baby.”
“Dear God, still?” I feigned a swoon. “She nurses all day and then still wants to nurse more.”
“Yep. G’night!” She left down the hallway.
Zach said, “Need anything, Mags, before I retire?”
“Nae.” Magnus’s voice had gone deep, tired, his bedtime voice, full of longing and possibility, and long stares at me. “Are ye ready for bed, mo reul-iuil?”
In answer I got up from my chair, adjusted Isla in the sling, and padded down the hallway towards our room. I was wearing wool socks, giant underpants with a pad still, and my thickest sweatpants on my bottom half for warmth and comfort. On my top half I was wearing a tank top to cool my ass down. I was sweaty plus cold plus exhausted, plus couldn’t be bothered.
In the bathroom I peed and then Magnus peed and then we met at the sink to brush our teeth side by side. Usually these moments were full of glimpses and glances at each other in the mirror, but now we looked down at Isla, sleeping sweetly in the sling, tucked beside my chest. “God, don’t you love her so much? My heart is so full with her. And she’s so wee.”
“I do love her verra much. I wish we could hae spent more time with Archie when he was a wee bairn like this.”
“That is so true. I’m very glad I met him, that I got to hold him, I’m grateful for that.”
“I am as well. And I love ye as well, mo ghradh.”
“O
h yeah, well that’s a given. I love you too, the mostest, the biggest, you are the best husband in the world, my perfect man, but she is... it’s hard to describe, I think she might be... I don’t know how to describe it.”
“Ye deana hae tae, I can see it in yer eyes.”
With my toothbrush jutting from my mouth I stroked my fingers down his cheek looking into his eyes, then I spit in the sink and he spit into the sink. We both mopped our mouths with a towel. Then we went to our bed. I lowered Isla down to the mattress, and climbed in under the covers. “I did it, she didn’t wake up, I’m getting practically professional at this.”
My husband closed the blinds, and adjusted the lights and the fan, and then leaned over to turn off the bedside lamp. Practically professional at his tasks by now too.
“Watching you batten the hatches I’m starting to almost get hot for you again.”
“We still hae two weeks tae go.” He put his elbow over his face.
I sighed, more for the idea of it than for the actual disappointment. I was hot for him, but also, I was a milky mommy kind of mess. I had just given birth a few weeks ago, but still. “I’m sorry you have to go so long without sex. Every now and then I think, ‘tonight I’ll give him an extra treat with some mouth action’, but then by the time I get to bed I’m so exhausted and out of the mood that I... the point is, I intend to, someday, actually be kind and give you some fun without needing it in return. I promise.”
“Tis okay, I can wait. I can handle my own business, as ye say.”
“Thank you.”
I put my arm up to nestle in to his chest and got a whiff of my underarms. “Ugh, I didn’t shower today. That is gross. Sorry.”
He peeled his arm off his face and grinned. “Och, ye are covered in the scent of motherhood.”
“Double ugh.”
He flipped to his side, grasped my arm up and sniffed exaggeratedly. “Och, tis verra strongly smelling of Kaitlyn with a mix of....”
Our Shared Horizon (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 10) Page 22