Magnus stood at the end of the parapet watching east. His hair blew in the breeze. He squinted against the dawn, his shoulders broad, his feet squarely planted, arms crossed, watchful and intent. For a second I might have mistaken him for a present day man. He did look as he would on the boardwalk in Florida, watching out over the ocean. I was never sure what he was watching for: ships or storms? But something — watching the sky, the clouds, the horizon. Then his eyes would sweep up and down the beach: the south, for the storms, the north, for what? Nothing, just watching.
But we weren’t in Florida. We were in Scotland in the eighteenth century. The year was 1705, summer, just past the harvest festival. A time for gathering the crops and working through the long days and into the short nights, preparations for winter — but here we were, not harvesting. We had a castle full of people. They had waited out the recent siege but were still here in case the siege began again.
Magnus broke his gaze, turned to me, and smiled. He lifted an arm so I could give him a good morning hug.
“You were gone when I woke up.”
“Aye, twas m’turn tae watch. I dinna want tae wake ye, since ye were up nursin’ in the night. Where is Isla?”
“Emma took her to the nursery with Ben and Archie. I came to find you.”
We hugged, wrapping my arms up under his. “Tell me what’s happening?”
“The sun is risin’.”
“Yes, I see that. But you are dutifully staring into it, so there must be more.”
A group of four men emerged from the stairwell. Magnus said, “Let me discuss our defenses with them for a moment, mo reul-iuil, and then we will go tae a private spot to speak.”
It was my turn to stare out on the horizon, the misty fields, the deep green of the forest, a clear cloudless sky, and a beautiful sunrise heralding a good day, while Magnus and the men had a conversation that sounded cautious and concerned. Even though I couldn’t hear the words, it was easy to tell they were the words of ‘not knowing.’
Magnus took me by the hand and led me down the winding stone steps, the stairwell cold and unfortunately smelling as if someone had urinated in one of the corners. I held the edge of my tartan over my nose. “We need to have someone come clean that.”
As we walked, we talked quietly of our guests. “Emma is with the bairn in the nursery, Quentin has taken Zach and James to the stables.”
Magnus said, “Aye, I saw them go. They were followin’ Rob Ruadh and pretendin’ nae tae be followin’ him. He is really known in your time?” As we neared the bottom of the steps we passed men going up, our path becoming more and more crowded.
I pressed to the wall to let three men pass, while Magnus kept to the middle of the steps and made them skirt him. “Yes, he’s an outlaw, famous through history, there are movies about him and a drink named after him.”
“Och, truthfully he is a verra uninterestin’ man. He is a thief, then will hae ye pay him tae protect ye from thieves. Ye canna trust him. Sean has warned the Earl tae remain guarded, but the Earl pays Rob Ruadh all the same, so Sean must do the guardin’.”
We gained the ground floor. I said, “Maybe he gets more interesting? We’ll have to watch the movie someday.”
“I will warn Master James and Chef Zach tae be cautious.” He grinned. “Else they land on the wrong side of the law.”
“It would be classic if our chef or our contractor got busted for cattle-rustling in the eighteenth century.”
The courtyard teemed with humanity: noise and bustle and pressing activity. It freaking smelled like pigs baking in the heat of a Scottish day and it hadn’t even grown full day yet. This was a scent I would forget in the future, but once I returned it hit me like a furnace blast. Oh, right — smells terrible.
“Where are we going?”
“Just outside the gates.” We wound through the crowds milling around the courtyard.
“We won’t be gone long?”
“Nae.” We passed through a side door, to the sunny east side of the castle. The smell was much better, the air fresh.
I said, “Phew, that smelled like shit back there.”
“Aye, we need tae return the villagers tae their homes.” He leaned against the stone