“You sound so calm. Isn’t this terrifying?”
“Nae, if ye look at the patterns ye can calm yer mind about it. See the birds? There in the distance? They are swoopin’ down at that point? I believe tis where the meetin’ with Quentin will be held. I can see a spot there, tis lighter than the surroundings, I believe it tae be the command shelter, constructed for the purpose of tactical operations. I hae been watching that point to see if I can make out the comings and goings.”
I nudged myself up against his shoulder. It was calming to have my husband point out things in the distance, describing them to me in a way, explaining how the world, his world, worked. I just wished there wasn’t so much menace to what he was describing.
“And so you are watching out there trying to see what’s going to happen next?”
“Aye.”
“So like, if you were going to describe how you see time, like the future — you would say you face it? You walk toward it? Like, is it blank, the future, and you’re walking toward it, the blankness, as the story of what you accomplish happens behind you?”
“Aye, daena ye?”
“Not really. I mean I used to until I heard of a different way to see it.”
He said, “How else besides walking tae meet yer future?”
“Grandma Barb told me that in Hebrew tradition they see time unfolding behind them. And the more I think of it... I love it. It’s like this — maybe you are walking backwards, and so you are blind to the future, but since there is nothing there, you might as well be blind, right? You can’t see it, so why look for it?”
I looked up at him. “Instead, you face the other way. You see the story as it lays out behind you, not as it comes, but as it goes. That’s where your focus is. You walk backward towards the future, of course, you aren’t hiding from it, but your focus is behind you on what is important.”
I added, “Ever since I heard about it I’ve been thinking, maybe my focus shouldn’t be on anticipating what’s coming, but on watching our story unfold: you, me, the kids, our family. So I’ve switched my focus.”
He nodded. “Did ye ken I admire ye a great deal?”
“No, really?”
“I do, I think ye are verra wise.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m not sure if it will help, but I hope so.”
Just then the radio squeaked and Quentin’s voice came through, “Boss!”
Magnus tapped the button. “Aye?” as he turned away to concentrate.
I stood nearby to listen, because his whole life depended on it.
Eighteen - Magnus
Quentin’s voice through the phone, said, “They want you to surrender.”
“Twas expected. Who is they?”
“Philip, total douchebag, trying to act as if he’s a malevolent dictator. He tried to pretend like he was the boss but then he let it slide, Roderick is a part of it.”
“Och, I kent it, but tis another thing altaegether tae ken tis true.”
I glanced at Kaitlyn, then asked, “Was Bella a part of it? Did ye see her?”
“They didn’t say and I didn’t see her. When I pressed them about Lady Mairead, Philip asked if I knew where she was.”
“So he daena ken?”
“Yeah, it didn’t sound like she was working with them.”
“That is good. Are ye headed back?”
“No, just like we suspected, they’re going to keep us here until you show up. Our lives for yours.”
“We kent that was how it would happen.”
He loudly said, “Yep, these assholes are nothing if not totally predictable.”
“Tell Philip I said I appreciate the compliment, that I am worth three men — what is their purpose?”
“Roderick wants your kingdom, of course. Philip is going to help him.” His voice went low. “Pretty sure Philip is not going to live to see any real power. He is a weaselly fuck, not at all the kind of man I would want running my kingdom.”
“I hae met him, I ken he is a peevish brat—”
“And Magnus, he wants Archie as well. He told me to tell you that.”
“He canna hae him. He is a bairn. I will kill him for suggestin’ it. I will come alone.”
Quentin’s voice said, “Mag—” but then it sounded like a struggle.
A gruff voice came on the radio. “You have two hours to get your affairs in order. You and young Archie, both.”
“How dost I ken ye will let m’son live? Or my men? What are your assurances ye winna attack the castle?”
There was silence on the radio and then way out in the distance, a drone rose intae the air. Tae Kaitlyn I said, “Go tae the stairs!” We watched as it came closer and closer, swooping down low over the fields and then ascending the walls. As it came up over the edge and hovered just above us, Fraoch and I, and a line of guards trained our guns on it.
Fraoch whispered, “What is it, tis a bird?”
“Tis a drone, it can hear ye. It can see ye. And it is armed against ye.”
“Tis livin’, Og Maggy? Can it be killed?”
The drone’s small camera silently turned, found me, its mark, and aimed on m’face. “Nae, tis nae livin’ but it can be ended all the same.” I raised my voice, “Tis only a cowardly weapon, used by a verra small man, shoot it if it so much as blinks.”
A voice, slithery and so loud it hurt m’ears, erupted from the drone. “If we wanted to kill your family, if we wanted to dismantle your castle, we would have done it already!”
Up close I could see the drone was the 11-EOS Hunter, an older design which gave me a sense of relief. My mother, or Hammond, wouldna be usin’ these outdated machines, not when they had the newer ones in our arsenal.
I attempted tae make m’voice commandin’ though I was speakin’ tae nothing but a flyin’ mechanical-bird. “Tae whom am I spaekin’?”
There was a pause, the booming voice said, “I am Lord Philip Delapointe!”
“Och aye, my step-brother. Dinna I tell ye nae tae bother me again? Dinna we sign a treaty?” I kept m’gun aimed on the camera. “The side of this drone bears the seal of m’crown, from the Kingdom of Riaghalbane, how dost ye hae m’weapons?”
There was another long pause.
“Ye are a thief. Ye are a criminal and ye should be imprisoned. But instead ye are takin’ the side of a usurper in a kingdom ye ken nothin’ about. Ye are in over yer head.”
The voice said, “If you do not come, your men will not survive the night.”
“I want ye tae ken that I warned ye that day that if ye broke the treaty I would kill ye for the trouble. Ye hae tested m’patience, tis done.” The guns on the drone, telescoped out, moved from side tae side, aimin’ at each of us. Twas terrifyin’ tae the men, they cowered. I dinna like tae be on this side of the gun barrel.
I asked, “Did ye turn off the vessels?”
Silence.
“I want ye tae turn the vessels back on. There are women and children who need tae go tae safety. If I come, I come without Archie, I want ye tae release m’men and turn the vessels on so the women and children can leave. Promise me that nae one will be hurt.”