they would all say, ‘Och, look at the cock on him.’ Then they would bow and get out of my way.”
“I suppose you wouldn’t need to carry a sword, that would be nice.”
“Nae sword, nae sword at all. I would just stand with m’fists on m’hips and allow m’cock tae threaten everyone intae obedience.”
“That is a fine thought. I would be on the side of the room with all the women and they would say, ‘who is that man with the giant cock?’ And I would say, in m’scottish accent, just for the occasion, ’Tis m’husband, daena let the enormity of his cock fool ye, he is verra kind and considerate in the bedroom,’ and they would all swoon at the idea of you, but you would come home to me every night. Do you know why?”
“Och, yer accent is liable tae bring m’cock tae attention right now.”
“You sir, are easy.”
“And I ken why I would come home tae ye, but perhaps ye should tell me...”
“Because ye would need me to rub your temples, because you’d have a nasty headache from all that carrying on, and so I would rub your temples and say to you, ‘Master Magnus of the Big Cock, you are so much more than that, please don’t forget, and I love all of you, even your soft side.’ That’s why you would come home.”
“Tis true. I would come home just tae hae ye say that tae me.”
A while later, our horses descended into a protected gorge along a river.
He said, “This is where we’ll stay the night, from the looks of the sky it will be snowing on the morrow.”
“Great.”
Forty-one - Kaitlyn
Magnus taught me how to pitch the tent, so I would know how to take it down in an emergency. He thought the snow would slow down anyone following us, but it would also slow us down. And it would slow down Lady Mairead too.
We set up our camp. Water from the creek. A small fire in front of the tent. I got out two of the food pouches from a box he had brought, carried them to the fire and tossed one to him. “This says Chili with Beans, sound good?”
“Aye, I could eat a horse.” He was crouched by the fire and looked up at me with a smile.
I pretended it was the first day we met. “Well sir, what did you say your name was again?”
“Magnus, yer future husband.”
“Well I don’t know about that, but I do know that McDonald’s doesn’t serve horse.” I ripped open the top of the pouch and looked through the contents. “The main course, they have Mexican Style Corn... what are these, oh, crackers and jam. And this is the whole reason for choosing this one: dairy shake, chocolate, really just chocolate milk. Wonder if we could add snow?” I shook my head. “Nah, too cold, I’ll stick with coffee.”
We ate our military rations and actually enjoyed the quiet. The sounds of the creek gurgling. It was warmer by degrees, warm enough to be outside wrapped in blankets. Warm enough to pee without risking frostbite, but cool enough for some puffs from our mouth and for the coffee to taste wonderful.
He set up the RF-tracker.
I asked, “So there’s one at the clearing?”
“In the tree. They will ken we are here in this time. I hae one on m’belt as well. Hammie will make sure Lady Mairead has the RF-tracker tae find these transmitters and we will turn them on every time we stop tae camp.
“And we’ll be moving?”
“Aye. So they will hae tae look for us.”
I said, “Do you have a pen I can borrow?”
His eyes crinkled with a broad smile, he dug a hand inside his sporran and drew out at least eight.
“I did not know this was a thing with you.”
“Tis new, I daena ken, I just started puttin’ them in m’pocket. Ye ken tis difficult for me tae write. I daena want tae be without one if I need it.”
“I saw a notebook in the bag with the equipment.” I jumped up to go get it. Then I sat across from him, the fire warming me a little with the blankets wrapped around my shoulders.
“I know we’re going to go home soon, but I thought I’d keep a little journal of what we did, things we saw, so we can show Archie and Isla when they’re grown up. Because this is an adventure.” I opened to a clean page. “What day did we arrive?”