The Guardian by Diana Knightley
Forty-nine - Magnus
Iopened my eyes to see Quentin crouched over me, yelling over his shoulder, “Get the kids! Everyone out to the field!”
Over his head the billowin’ smoke of our castle, our home on fire, but nothing else. Nae explosions or wind or gunfire, just silence except for the sounds of men shouting from one tae the other instructions for the fire, or getting tae safety.
I grasped Quentin’s shirt. “Are we under attack?”
“Nah, Boss, it stopped, out of nowhere, it just freaking stopped.”
I tried tae sit up, but he pushed me back. “Lay your ass down, Boss, you are in no condition.”
“I can, I can move.” I tried tae move, but stopped as pain shot down my arms and everything grew dark.
* * *
I rose out of blackness tae hear the voices, one of them, General Hammond, m’eyes fluttered open, trying tae see, “Tis Hammie?”
His face swam intae focus. “Yes, King Magnus, I have been looking for you for a while, found you now, near dead on a castle wall that’s about to burn to the ground.”
“I thought ye were dead.”
“Yep, nearly, we were hunkered down, a military onslaught that was impossible to live through, then it just ended. I lived to see another year, this one is when...?”
Quentin said, “1707.”
“Great, really a great year, looks to be a ruin already.”
Smoke drifted across overhead. I managed tae say, “Twas a lovely castle just hours ago. Has anyone seen Kaitlyn?”
Quentin shook his head, “Not back yet, and we got to get you out of here, you need a doctor.” He stood, talking to someone on his radio.
“Where are the bairns?”
Hayley’s face swam intae view. “Safe, ready to jump.”
Quentin asked, “What year are we going to? I have Fraoch on the radio I need to let him know.”
Hammond said, “You should bring Magnus to the kingdom, the physician can see him there.”
“It’s not rubble?”
“The palace is still standing, the infirmary is in operation. The attack ended, we don’t know how or why. Luckily they weren’t around long enough to do much damage.”
Hayley asked, “How long have we been gone?”
“About two weeks.”
Quentin groaned, “This time shit is crazy.”
James rushed up, doubled over, out of breath. “They took Sophie! She’s gone! Someone grabbed her and they disappeared in the storm!”
Quentin leapt tae his feet, “From here on the walls?”
James nodded.
Quentin said, “We need a headcount of everyone here, make sure no one else is missing.”
He squeezed James’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”
James asked, “Where’s Fraoch?”
Quentin said, “I just spoke to him by radio, he went tae guard the caves. He said he’d stay behind. I’ll come back for him once we know how safe it is.”
I managed tae say, weakly, “I daena want tae leave without...”
The last thing I heard was Hayley asking, “Is it okay to move him so far?” Before I went under again.