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