charged with a crime. Ye waited tae rescue us tae make us suffer, ye did this tae be cruel. What am I tae do, stand for yer cruelty?”
“Son! You think so poorly of me? I came as quickly as was possible.”
“I am nae yer son, I am yer king, and I will think highly on ye, unless I am tested. Dost ye want tae test me? I haena had a proper meal in a year and I am in a foul mood about it. Dost ye want tae test me?”
“Nae.”
She added, “I canna change the laws of time, they are immutable. Ye must ken that tae be true. Ye hae tae follow the rules, ye must go after the work was done tae rescue ye.”
He nodded. “I ken the rules.”
She handed Magnus one of the vessels.
She twisted the ends of her own and we backed away as the storm grew around her, wind and swaying trees and dark clouds and cracking lightning. Her hair wild, her skirts flying, she could barely stay on her feet as she was buffeted by the wind. We moved into the trees to get away and she called after us, “Tis rather poetic though, if ye think on it, Magnus, that though I tried in haste tae rescue ye, twas only possible tae take the full year tae do it!”
Eighty-five - Kaitlyn
She was gone.
Magnus and I were left standing there, vessel in hand, stunned into silence.
Finally I said, “A whole year.”
“I ken.”
“I won’t even recognize her.”
He nodded.
I folded into his arms. Standing in the shadows of a sixteenth century woods, our feet in the leaves and muck of a forest floor.
“I’ve sacrificed so—” I shook my head against his chest. “We have — we have sacrificed.”
“Aye, we hae lost a great deal of time.”
I nodded, and clutched his shoulders, holding him close. “What are we going to do?”
He squeezed me. “We are goin’ tae do our best. We will need tae hug them close and tell them we are sorry tae hae been gone.”
“I promised Archie I would never leave him.”
“Ye will hae tae beg his forgiveness. He has lost his mother, he will need ye even more.”
“I killed her.”
“Aye.”
“He can’t ever know.”
“We canna hide it from him. He is too young but we canna hide it from him. One day he will be a king and a time traveler. He must ken his history. Tis hard enough tae trust when ye hae this much power. We canna lie tae him.”
“True. Yeah, I can see that. But what about Isla? She won’t know me at all.”
“Ye will need tae be ready for that. And ye will need tae be prepared tae fight for her love again.”
“How can I bear it?”
“Ye can, ye are the motherfuckin’ matriarch, ye can do anythin’.” He smoothed back my hair and kissed me.
“Thanks. I would like to add, since this is about to get even more emotional and complicated and there might be moments that are sad and rough and probably a lot of regret, definitely regret — I want you to know that I loved this time with you. As awful as the circumstances were, you and I, we lived through it, and I really like you, still. Even the sixteenth century version of you.”
He chuckled, “I hae nae taken a bath in a verra long time.”
I groaned. “And I am pretty sure there are bugs all up in my hair, I just...” I scratched all my head un-loosening strands from the updo. “God it feels good to scratch.”
“We should go home.”
“Yes.”
He set our vessel to jump.
Eighty-six - Kaitlyn
We woke in the dunes — so freaking bright. Sun shining so hard, brutally hard. I shielded my eyes and peeked to see a ring of faces, Fraoch, Quentin, Hayley, Zach, and above them the two horses. A snuffling right by my ear. I glanced to see Mookie, much bigger, inspecting me with his snout. I glanced over at Magnus’s hand, then at his face. His cheek pressed into the sand. He flipped to his back with a groan and looked up at the faces looking down at him.
“Och, I am in heaven or I am home.”
There was a click-click, a camera above us, Beaty taking photos.
“Boss,” said Quentin. “It’s...” He glanced at his watch. “It’s 3:29 pm, November 24, 2021. You’ve been gone a really long time.”
“I ken. I ken it has been a year, we ken it.”
“Phew. I’m glad, I just wanted you to not be surprised.”