“Oh, hell, anyway, I’m sure someone is going to fix this, we just need to wait. Do you have more food? James and I don’t have any, but we will have so many guns when our shipment is found.”
“Aye, I will find somethin’ tae eat.” We followed him from the riverbank, speaking in facial expressions to each other —what the hell are we going to do?
James asked me, under his breath, “Where’s a vessel?”
I whispered, “Nearest one is under a tree near Balloch, I think.”
“How many days walk?”
“A couple of days at least.”
James said, “And honestly, without a gun, I am not going to be able to hunt for us, probably.”
“Where’s Quentin? Why isn’t he here?” I was calculating — without food we would die. I felt sure that Magnus was trying to figure out how to rescue us, but until then I had to stay alive. This dude, could it betheWilliam Wallace? Would he be willing to keep us alive? He seemed like a hothead willing to fight anything that moved.
But he was our only choice, and actually, as far as I could tell, he was the only person living within a distance.
He had a horse. He untied it and led us past the clearing — the bare clearing, then farther along in the woods, where there was trampled down grass, footprints, some disarray. There was a recently used fire-pit.
James asked, “Was there a camp here?”
Wallace said, “Aye, now there is nothing.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed at me with his dirk blade. “Because she is a witch.”
“What would make you think I’m a witch? And no, to beveryclear, I’m not a witch. But why?”
“Because ye are all that is left and there is a magic afoot.”
“You’re left too, James is left. It's not just me. Maybe you’re the witch.”
He scoffed. “I’m no’the witch, daena lie.”
“Well, I’m not a witch, either. James and I are stuck here, same as you, not sure what’s going on.” I appraised the area, noticing a square place of heavy indention in the grass. I pointed it out to James, because it could have been made by one of Quentin’s crates. “This looks the size and shape of our boxes.”
James nodded. “William Wallace, did you see a black man here? About this tall?” He gestured Quentin’s height about the same as his own.
William Wallace looked shocked. “Aye, was he the witch?”
I shook my head. “No, he was a friend.”
James said, “He has the crates of weapons I was telling you about, did you happen to see which way he went?”
“Nae, I daena ken. He trained me tae fight. He had a battle plan for takin’ the castle, yet when he stormed the castle he passed intae oblivion with everythin’ else.”
There was a leather sack hanging from a tree branch. He opened it, fished out a hunk of bread, and passed us bits, tearing off some for himself too.
I said, “So Quentin was trying to rescue me and James, right?”
“Aye he trained me tae use his weapons.”
“Why did you need weapons, why were you helping him?”
“I was attackin’ the castle, because I am goin’ tae rid the lands of Alba from the barbaric warring pig-men, Ormr and Domnall.”
“Oh.” I sat down in the middle of the clearing and chewed the bread.
James asked, “But what about your revenge on England? You have um… a vendetta against the king of England, unless that’s later on...”
“I am nae fightin’ the English crown, I am fightin’ the scab-encrusted, vile bawbags, Ormr and Domnall.”
