He said, “See? Ye are better off keepin’ the title of Princess.”
“I suppose I am.”
We rode a little farther along,then I asked, “Can you tell me again about what happened to Max? I don’t think I understand.”
“He has a kingdom in a far away land, and he is the heir tae the throne.”
I thought about that for a moment, the motion of the horse rocking me gently left and right. We weren’t moving fast, just steady and I assumed it was fast enough to get us to shelter before the rain. But how would Torin know? He had no clock, no map, no forecast at his fingertips.
It was a marvel he even knew where to go. Still we stayed on the wide path, broad enough for drovers and cattle herds, though now it felt like it belonged to us alone, with the whole wide world stretched out on every side.
He continued, “Then his throne fell, the kingdom was lost tae a… a cousin, if I remember well. Max and his sister were sent intae the past tae live in safety, while his father fought for their throne.”
“I remember that part, you said he was brought up in the castle alongside you. His sister was given to a family nearby.”
“Aye, and Max lost contact with everyone in his family over time. He dinna ken what happened tae his sister, his father, his mother, or the kingdom. He was told that his father died in battle, but he dinna trust the person who told him, he daena ken if tis true.”
I exhaled. “That must be really hard.”
“Tis. He feared they were all gone…”
“I wish there was some way for me to believe you. This doesn’t make sense. I have lived a full life growing up with my parents. I’ve never known anything else. I just… I don’t get it.”
“Yet it remains true.”
I stayed quiet.
Finally we reached the bottom,and the path leveled out. Torin held me still, scanning up and down the path, then nudged us forward.
As soon as we stepped out onto it the bugs descended on us. The first sign was the sound — a faint whine, like a mosquito with a personal grudge. I swiped the back of my neck, expecting a rogue bug, but then another landed on my cheek. Then my eyebrow. Then the side of my neck. And another. And another. Within seconds my face was crawling.
I brushed them away, but more came. Tiny, grayish-black specks — hundreds of them, too small to squish, too many to ignore.
I squealed. “What is this?!” I smacked my face.
One went up my nose.
I flailed both hands frantically, trying to also hold on. Ferrari tossed his head, ears flicking furiously, tail lashing.
Torin turned slightly in the saddle ahead, his expression entirely unsurprised. “Midges, ye ken, ye haena met midges yet?”
“Torin! You’ve been everywhere with me, have we met midges yet? We haven’t!” I waved my arms.
They wereeverywhere. In my hair, my eyes, all over my legs. “The air is thick with them! They’re in my mouth! What are we going to do?”
Torin pulled a piece of cloth from his bag and wrapped it around his head and mouth, like a bandit. His voice came muffled. “We hae tae cover our skin, else we will be eaten alive.”
I pulled the cloak up over the back of my head, so that I was peeking out of the neck opening, keeping it as small as I could get it. It helped—barely.
“They’re going in my ears!” I spat, gagged slightly, then nearly fell off the saddle trying to swat at my elbow. The midges didn’t sting like bees. Theyitched, immediately, ferociously, like poison ivy with wings.
“Are we going to die here?”
“Nae, ye canna die by midges, I promise. They are just tae remind ye that the Scots prefer terrible weather. An hour of this and we will beprayin’for rain.”
I slapped my calf.
“If ye hold on we can move again. We can out-walk them, but ye need tae hold on.”
