I swung m’gun back tae Fraoch. “Why hae ye been lying?”
Hayley ran up then, from the direction of the storm, shrieking, a guard asked, “Should we let her through?”
Twas too late, she threw herself on Fraoch. “Please Magnus, please don’t kill him, please.”
She was blockin’ m’shot.
“Don’t kill him, he didn’t mean to, we talked about it. He doesn’t know anything.”
“What are ye sayin’ Hayley?”
“He remembers seeing a vessel. His father had one after his mother died. He didn’t know why, he—”
“Did ye ken he was hired tae murder me? Did ye ken it?”
“No — but, wait, what? No, and he wouldn’t. He is family, Mags, family.”
“Why dinna ye tell me about the vessel? How could ye keep it from me?”
“I don’t know!” She was sobbing, spread over Fraoch, shieldin’ him. “I didn’t think it was important, I’m sorry, please don’t!”
A crowd had gathered. Sean came forward, hands out. “Magnus, ye need tae calm yerself. Fraoch has been a friend tae ye, the ground is littered with bodies. Ye hae killed enough, the battle is over, tis done.”
I took a step back and another. It gave me clarity: Lady Mairead surrounded by soldiers, tanks behind her, drones swooping back intae place after havin’ been downed by the winds, Roderick dead in the grass. Fraoch injured, crumpled in a pile. Hayley cowering above him, protecting him—
from who?
From me.
I turned tae see behind me: the tanks facin’ me, now deserted by Delapointe’s soldiers who had fled, the empty command tent, dead men lyin’ over the field — I tossed m’gun tae the ground.
“Och.”
I stepped back and then dropped tae my knees.
Twenty-six - Hayley
(a few moments before)
I was running with Katie just behind, when a woman stepped from the trees, “Hello.”
I slowed, but Katie came to a complete stop. “What the —?” Katie’s face was shocked, confused.
It slammed into me — this was Bella, Archie’s mom.
“I came to talk to you about my son.”
Katie was out of breath, she doubled over to try and catch it and gasped out. “Hell no, no nope nada, I won’t.”
She tried to step around Bella, but Bella grabbed her by the arm. Bella said, “Magnus is giving up the kingdom. You’ll be dead. I’ll have Archie.”
“Fuck you.” Katie tried to pull her arm away, but Bella tightened her grip. Katie struggled and pushed at her hand. “Get off me!”
“You can’t keep him from me, I am his mother. He will always want me over you—”
“Not once he realizes you are a fucking evil bitch.”
“You will never see him again! I would rather he die than live with you.” Bella clawed at Katie’s face and there was a full blown struggle.
I tried to wrestle back Bella’s arms. “Get off her!”
And we were all fighting. Bella reached for her gun. I tried to grab it first, but she was fucking tenacious, pulling my hair, wildly punching.
I got her down and tried to pull my own gun, but then she head-butted me, hard, stars spinning around my head. I fell back on my ass and she leapt up, pulled her gun, and stood over me — Katie plowed into her, screaming, “Don’t you fucking shoot, you bitch!”
The gun fired. Katie shrieked. Bella convulsed — she fell back, her arms dropped away. Katie scrambled off her. A knife jutted out of Bella’s stomach.
Bella clawed at the knife, crying. “I hate you, you deserve to die.”
Katie said, “I never did anything to you.”
Bella made an awful gurgling sound and then stopped clawing at the knife.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no...”
“I think you killed her. Shit Katie, I think you killed her.”
“She almost shot you! She almost killed you! Oh God.” Katie tentatively reached for the knife, but squealed when Bella twitched.
And then there was a rising storm above us, whipping the trees around us, bending and crashing the branches. Katie dove toward a vibration happening in Bella’s pocket, she patted it.
“Don’t touch it! Don’t...!” Lightning struck a tree beside us, the wind rose. “Let go!” I scrambled away.
Katie’s face turned from dismay to shock and fear as the vessel grabbed hold of her and ripped her away. “Katie!! Katie!!” She was gone.
I fought the wind to get to my feet and ran as fast as I could away from the storm, toward the field, to try and reach Fraoch in time.
Twenty-seven - Magnus
Sean took some men to check the enemy camp.
Lady Mairead stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. She said, “I am verra glad tae see ye freed from Roderick, Magnus. Ye gave me a fright.”
“He said he was also attackin’ the castle in the future. That Kaitlyn and Archie were havin’ tae fight. I daena ken, I guess I was already gone?”
“Tis too much information for ye tae hae. If I need tae I will go and find out what is happenin’. Daena think on it.”
I watched as Madame Hayley hovered over Fraoch attending to him. She said, “I think he’s really injured.”
I looked down at m’hands — covered in blood.
General Hammond approached. “King Magnus, I am relieved you are freed.” He appraised the battlefield. “And we barely fought. You did most of it.” He offered me his hand tae pull me to standin’.
“Thank ye for arrivin’ in time. Can ye call the physician over tae attend Fraoch?”
He made a call and soon a medic was checkin’ Fraoch’s wounds, rollin’ him tae his back with a groan.
I asked, “Dost anyone ken where Bella is? She was here as well.”
Lady Mairead turned sharply. “What do you mean, you saw her?”
Hayley said, “Katie killed her, over there by the woods. Oh god, it was awful.”
I said, “She did — what?”
“I asked Katie to come help me and then Bella attacked her and I thought Bella was going to shoot me and Katie killed her and then they time-jumped—”
Lady Mairead said, “What dost ye mean, ‘they time-jumped’? The dead woman time-jumped with Kaitlyn?”
“The vessel was in Bella’s pocket, Kaitlyn grabbed it and they both disappeared. I raced here and this was happening, and...” She asked the medic, “Is he going to be okay?”
The medic began speakin’ tae her on Fraoch’s injuries.
But I couldna listen because Lady Mairead’s eyes were shiftin’ back and forth, as if she were decipherin’.
“Lady Mairead, what are ye doin’?”
“Did Katie hae a vessel? Could it hae been her own vessel?”
“She had one, she will be capable of returnin’ from wherever she has gone.”
“Nae, she canna...” She turned tae Hammond. “Hammond! Did ye activate the vessels as we spoke of?”
“Yes, Lady Mairead, I did, I set them just like we discussed, past the origin.” He looked down at a vessel monitor, like the one I used in m’house in Florida. “Three of the vessels activated and time-jumped, approximately thirty minutes ago.”