Page 91 of After 5
“Jen, there’s soldiers camped throughout these woods. I willnae be able to find her withoot being shot, or captured, and there’s no time.” He placed a hand on my arm. “If ye interact wit’ the young me, it could change things.” His eyes held steady with mine. “But I’ll be keepin’ my memories of us as they stand.” He pulled me in, and I breathed in the heady scent of earth and the familiar pinch of cinnamon. He lowered his lips and kissed me.
With my anger at him forgotten, I clung to him, unable to remove my arms. A tear spilled down my cheek.
He chuckled. “You’re mustache tickles. I’ve never been hugged by a man in such a way. If the Rebels find us like this, weel…it wouldnae be good.”
Releasing him, I stepped back. There had to be another solution. “You damaged the sword in Purley. What did it say?”
He turned toward me. The sun low on the horizon silhouetted his solid frame. My pocket watch ticked. Minutes, an hour at the most.
“When I was younger, and not working for the WTF, I found the sword at the museum. I saw the message and knew it was from Boon. ’Twas code to meet him. Ye see, the seer, she’s a bit of a crusader. Often finds herself into wee troubles.” A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “When I saw the markings on the sword, I traveled back to the original owner to find out how he came aboot it. Next moon cycle, I came here. Dinnae realize until I was at the Raney house that I was the one who put it in the museum.”
The loop made my head spin.
“If ye wait oot the moon cycle, Ace can come get ye next cycle.”
I nodded and brushed away the tears.
“That’s if Mortas doesn’t find us first.”
“Mortas?”
“Yeah, he’s the reason we jumped here. Pickles saw him on the travel screen. Mortas and Toches. Two brigands in one place, General Potts ordered Jake to send us.”
“I wasnae sure, but this is it.”
“This is what?”
“Toches takes the seer back to our time. I wasnae sure which time he was from, but it makes sense.”
It didn’t make sense to me.
“You need to find the seer, warn her Mortas is here. She must leave this place.”
“You said the seer doesn’t have a key.”
“She doesnae have one, naugh exactly.” His voice ratcheted up a notch.
When I looked confused, he drug his hand through his hair at an agitated rate.
“I don’t have much time to explain the details. I arrive there by the giant oak at sundown. After I discover Boon, follow me. I weel locate her.”
Could this be happening? I refused to believe it. Caiyan moved toward the edge of the woods, looked out over the field of dead and wounded.
My brain worked overtime trying to figure out a safe way home, for all of us. I tried to summon my outhouse. Again, a futile attempt and the ground only rumbled with the madness beyond the woods.
“I can’t leave you,” I said and gathered my things. I reapplied the beard and tucked my hair under the wig. Good enough. I slung the medical bag on my shoulder and looped the haversack over my head. Plopping my medical corps hat on my head, I walked over and stood behind him. “Let’s go soldier, we have a mission.”
He turned toward me, and his eyes widened. “You’re the doc—”
A gunshot sounded behind Caiyan and he jerked forward. I caught him as he stumbled, and we fell to the ground, his body on top of mine.
“What—” I lifted my head and saw the boy I had saved from the fence. He had hobbled to the edge of the battlefield, swayed from his injury, but stood proudly as he lowered his musket.
“I got him. I killed a damn Yankee!” As the words left his mouth, a bullet pierced the side of his head, and he fell to the ground. The boy lay still fifty feet from me. His mother would get the letter after all.
A bullet tore bark off a nearby tree, and I flinched. A division of Union sharpshooters were stationed on the small hill above the battlefield and were steadily picking off any stray Confederates that dared leave the open field.
My pack and Caiyan’s weight pinned me to the ground, but he was breathing. Good.
