The man growled. “Daena speak ill of the king.”
I said, “He is notmyking. In Alba I am the only king, Mag Mòr.”
The man glared.
I raised my chin and glared back, then said, “Ye can go, tell Eddie I will be there on the morrow.”
He turned on his heels and I watched him leave.
Cailean sent a guard tae take the second cousin down to the dungeon.
Fraoch took some of the guards to follow the messenger away from the castle.
I took Sean tae the fields in King’s Park tae wait for Colonel Quentin and Lochinvar. We waited all day. Then Sean returned tae the castle for guard duty and Fraoch and Chef Zach met me in the fields for more waiting.
But Colonel Quentin and Lochinvar and m’cache of weapons never arrived.
PART II
CHAPTER 35 - ASH
???? - ????
Islowly woke up to Lochinvar sitting above me again. Finny the horse beside him.
I watched him for a moment, his strong back stretching his shirt, the deep draw of inhale and exhale. I put my arm across his lap, my face against his kilt.
I could go back to sleep. Then I noticed his head swivel left and right.
He whispered, “Ye awake, Ash?”
I mumbled, “Yeah, starting to be.”
“Good, because I daena ken where we are.”
My heart sank. I scrambled up to sit by him. “What on earth do you mean?”
“It daena look like the clearing and Quentin and James arna here, they ought tae be arrivin’, but listen... there is nothing.” He stood and peered around in all directions. “And I daena fully recognize the bens on the horizon, we are somewhere odd — did ye feel it?”
“What, the searing pain? Yes.”
“There was a tug, it hit me about halfway through, twas like changin’ direction.”
“I don’t know, I just felt like it hurt and kept hurting.”
He scanned the horizon and picked up the vessel. “I think we might need tae jump again. I daena ken how we ended up with the wrong location.” He held the vessel close to his eyes.
“Is this a thing that can happen?”
“I think so, but I ken I had it set right, ye ken that Magnus looked at it as well, we all knew the vessel was set correctly for Balloch, yet here we are...” He looked all around again. “Och nae, we are in the wrong place.”
“I don’t want to do it again, let’s just live here.”
“Here, in this forest, in the middle of naewhere?”
“Sure, this looks great, I love camping.”
He grimaced. “Ye love campin’? A tent in the woods — dost ye like campin’ when there is a cooler of food? Some drinks? Because we dinna bring anythin’, only some bread and a horse we just met.”
