The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,101

and a monitor, and counted, “Fifteen…” but also wondered if I had lost count. I tossed them intae m’bag.

Fraoch leapt from his horse and grabbed another vessel, and another, as men in the pile were beginnin’ tae stir.

Horse hooves comin’ from the direction of Balloch castle. I folded the top of the bag over itself as I began tae run — I stumbled over a metal chest.

I grabbed it then ran tae Sunny. I untied his reins and leapt ontae the saddle, the now heavy sack was slung across m’back, and the metal chest was placed across m’knees.

Fraoch raced tae my side.

Behind us, leading a charge, chased by about ten men, James, yelling, “Oh shit! Go, go, go, go, go!”

Fraoch and I turned and rode toward the woods. James caught up tae us and went right by, “Shit, shit, shit, shit!”

And we fell in behind him.

He was racing without thought where he was going. I yelled, “Veer left!” We turned but there was a band of men gainin’ on us.

Fraoch said, “I am turning back, keep goin’.” He turned his horse while raising his sword. “Hie!” He rode intae battle.

James looked over his shoulder, “We doing this? Hell yeah — we doing this!” He raised his sword, turned his horse, and raced toward the chasing army.

I had tae take a moment tae tie a strap up over the chest, tightenin’ it tae m’legs, then I drew my sword as well. I held it high and charged after James and Fraoch, enterin’ the melee, slashin’ with my blade.

James was more excitement than skill. He was barely able tae keep his horse steady while also brandishing his sword. I rushed tae his side and brought my steel down upon the man he was battlin’.

I sliced my sword through another, cuttin’ intae his side. Bloodied, he slid from his horse. I bellowed, chargin’ at a different man.

James behind me said, “How you like that! You like that, motherfucker?” Then he yelled, “Ow! Fuck!”

Fraoch and I both turned as he clutched his arm, and was flung off balance. He fell from his horse ontae his shoulder.

I turned and charged the man who had injured James swinging my sword. Fraoch charged the other men, fierce and loud and menacing. The men turned their horses and raced away.

My heart was racin’.

James was down, moaning, in pain. Fraoch dropped from his horse. “Are ye injured…?”

James’s voice was weak. “This is,” he looked at his arm, “just a cut, no biggie.” He groaned. “But I’ve seriously hurt my…” He groaned again. “My shoulder. I… ow.”

My sight went dark. I heard Fraoch urgin’ James tae his feet and shovin’ him up tae the back of his horse. “I will lead yer horse, but we must…”

I folded over the chest in m’lap and dropped my sword tae the ground.

Fifty-eight - Kaitlyn

Still on the deck, we had ordered the children lunch and moved to a cushioned couch, with a fire pit warming us. Hayley put her arm around me and I dropped my head to her shoulder. It was easier to talk like this, because I couldn’t see her face.

“Over and over it feels like this is finally the end, because he’s never been supposed to be here, you know? Like his presence is accidental. I keep waiting for the universe or God or whatever to realize it made a mistake and right itself. I know it sounds depressing, but I wait for someone to say, ‘just kidding, that whole life you made with him, well that wasn’t supposed to happen, we changed our mind.’”

“Ah honey, that’s a dreary thought.”

“Yeah, I know it is, he’s always felt borrowed against time.”

I watched two seagulls fighting over the last of a bag of Cheetos they found on the lid of a trash can.

Hayley said, “I kinda know what you mean. Fraoch feels like if I hadn’t known Magnus I would have never met him.”

“It’s more than that, though — when I first married Magnus he told me he was a dead man, nothing but dust, as if his life was supposed to have already happened. He felt like in this time, the present, he wasn’t actually alive anymore. As if he was a ghost. He was dust, while I was living and breathing.”

“Do you feel like that when you’re in his time? Maybe it’s just one of those ‘I feel like a visitor because it’s not my hometown’ kind of things?”

“Not really, when I’m living with him in the past I do feel