This was the royal we, it was Fraoch and Lochinvar who would blaze the trail.
The following day we had stormy weather, big dark waves, howling wind, spraying sand, we waited, it was nerve wracking, and they didn’t return.
The next morning at dawn, Fraoch and Lochinvar left to go rescue them with a vessel and the Trailblazer, headed to the first of the agreed upon dates.
I felt awful for them when they left, because the Trailblazer was notoriously awful to use. Fraoch said, “Maybe they will be there on the first date we check, maybe we winna hae tae use the agony machine.”
Lochinvar said, “Twill be nothing.”
I expected that I would feel the Trailblazer at work, a splitting headache and the electric feeling, but no, nothing.
It was another night of worry, but at dawn we heard Zach, “They’re back!”
I got up, bleary-eyed, and pulled on a robe, following Magnus downstairs.
Magnus grabbed his keys and went to go pick them up from the beach.
All us adults were up, waiting. Zach made coffee. While he dumped spoonfuls of coffee into the maker, he said, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we hope it’s zipped up. I can deal with the eighteenth century, a bit of the seventeenth, I’m not a fan of the sixteenth, but fine, we can deal, but I don’t like having the middle ages to contend with.”
They returned a while later, wet and cold. We met them in the foyer, and wrapped them in beach towels. Quentin said, “Well, the timeline shifted back, we can’t go past November 1, 1557.”
James said, “It was an easy test, we went to October 29, and got stuck, first jump. We camped for three nights, woke up the morning of November 1, 1557 and Fraoch and Lochie were there.”
Lochie said, “We dinna even hae tae use the Trailblazer, tis too bad, I was lookin’ forward tae it.”
Fraoch said, “Och nae, ye werna lookin’ forward tae it. I ought tae hae let ye use it for a try, let ye see how God-awful tis.”
Magnus dropped his keys into the bowl on the table by the door. “Except using the Trailblazer would open up the timeline again, nae we are glad tis closed.”
James said, “November 1, 1557 is the end of time for our purposes.”
Magnus said, “This is good news. There are centuries we daena hae tae think on, we are not responsible for them, we canna shift them or change them. We hae our timeline settled, our enemies vanquished, we are in a time of peace. Tis all good.”
Quentin joked, “Nowwe can retire.”
Magnus laughed. “Did I mention I ought tae go check in with Lady Mairead at my kingdom?
We all groaned.
PROLOGUE II
Since we left off in Time is a Wheel a while back, here is a wee bit about where we left the family.
The rolling aspects of time had threatened to flatten them, people were missing, not just from their lives but from their memories. Even children. But Magnus and Kaitlyn used the Bridge and fixed the timeline.
Their children, Archie (8), Isla (4), and Jack (not yet 1) are with them.
Quentin and Beaty have Noah (almost 1).
Zach and Emma have Ben (7) and Zoe (3).
Fraoch is reunited with Hayley.
Lochinvar is there, growing lonely.
They have solved everything.
Peace reigns. They are in Florida.
