The Guardian by Diana Knightley

Fifty - Kaitlyn

Ugh.

I was face down in leaves, damp, chilled leaves. I groaned and forced myself onto my side. I ached everywhere.

I needed some electrolytes.

I sighed and looked at my arm, splattered in dried blood.

I looked like a zombie, or some other terrifying remnant of a horror story gone wrong.

What had I done? I killed Sir Padraig. Like, totally dead.

Shit, my Dead Count was staggering considering I was some YouTuber from Florida.

It was practically serial.

And what had I done — had I stopped his plan? What if he was later life Sir Padraig? What if he already took over the kingdom, traumatized a grown Isla, killed a grown Archie?

But also, he had called Magnus a king, he wouldn’t have called him that if he had overthrown him.

I had to believe he hadn’t gotten past the first part of his plan to overthrow Magnus.

Unless...

I flipped onto my back and stared up at the sky, a bright blue, a chilly air.

I listened with everything I had, for any sound, any fighting. Nothing.

He had looked at his watch and said, ‘It’s begun.’ Had he meant a battle?

Maybe not, but if not, why wasn’t anyone here to meet me?

I sat straight up.

Why wasn’t anyone here?

Shit shit shit.I lumbered to my feet and stretched and groaned from the pain of the jump. It felt like every square inch was aflame, but also, the air smelt like smoke.

My heart dropped.

I began to stagger in the direction of the castle.

There were people there, but I didn’t see anyone important and I knew that sounded a shite thing to think but it was true. There were no guards up on the walls. A big plume of black smoke rose into the air, carts and horses were standing on the grass along the shore of Loch Awe, and there was a pile of discarded furniture and other things laying all over the grass.

I went to the edge of the loch and washed my arms and face in ice cold water, scrubbing off the blood and trying to get presentable, but I was in a dress from the wrong century. A Chanel design that was black, sequined, and smaller than a shift.

A woman rushed up with a wrap. “Och! Queen Kaitlyn! Ye are nae covered!”

“I know, thank you.” I wrapped the tartan around my shoulders and tucked the edges in to keep it around. “Have you seen King Magnus?”

“I daena ken, Queen Kaitlyn, there was a terrible fightin’, a battle, there was a storm and then a fire.” She wiped her face with her apron. “I canna believe we survived.”

“Did everyone survive? Where are my bairns? Archie and Isla?” She shook her head, no help at all.

I saw Eamag up in the grass, unloading cloth from a cart. I raced over and asked,“Chef Zach? Where is he?”

“I daena ken, Queen Kaitlyn, I daena ken where anyone has gone.”

I rushed up the causeway toward the smoldering castle, a long hike, especially when I was in pain all over, and walked across the courtyard, calling, “Quentin? James! Zach!”

I knew Magnus wasn’t here. He would have been on a horse in the clearing when I returned, or up on the walls watching for me, in lieu of that, he would have been... on the mountain?

I looked in on the armory, the guns were gone, all that was left were empty shelves. I would have gone upstairs but there was smoke billowing out of windows on the second and third floors. I couldn’t risk it though the fire seemed to have done its worst. There were black streaks up the wall, and over windows. A part of the roof over the kitchen was gone.

Zach must be bummed wherever he was.

I left the castle and walked back down the causeway to the outer stables and called inside, “I need a horse!”

Timmy emerged from the back.

I asked, “Where’s Magnus? His horse, Cynric, is here, you haven’t seen him?”

“Nae, daena ken.”

“Anyone? Fraoch? Master James or Master Quentin? ”

He shook his head.

“Okay then, well, I still need a horse.” He brought me one of the gentle mares and tried to talk me into letting him accompany me.

He didn’t need to. I thought I had been proving over and over again — I was plenty capable of whatever anyone needed me to do. I didn’t need help, I had killed a man. I could do this alone.

I rode from the stable to the trail that led up to the cave on the side of Ben Cruachan.

* * *

About a mile up the trail I wondered why the hell I was out here all by myself. That had been a whole lot of stuff happening back there, a battle, and... I probably ought to have had a chaperone. Why hadn’t I brought that gun?

I continued to ride, I was exhausted but running on fumes. There was brown caked blood on my legs. The wrap didn’t cover enough of me. It was too cold for what I was wearing and there was a catch-22: if I was in the sun the breeze was ice cold, if I was out of the wind the tree shade chilled me down.

I huddled on the horse and let it lead me up the trail.

Close to the cave, Fraoch waved from where he was sitting on a log, a small fire burning in front of him. “Och, ye are found!”

I neared and dropped down from my horse. “Oh my god! Thank God, Fraoch! I thought I had lost everyone again and I kinda thought I should stay put... but no one was here and it was eerie as hell — what happened, where are my kids, where’s Magnus?” I shivered.

“Here, I hae a wrap for ye, ye look cold.” He passed me up a blanket. “Why is there blood on ye?”

I looked down at my legs. “Um... apparently I murdered Sir Padraig. He totally had it coming though, so yeah...”

He squinted up at me. “Ye killed him? Is that why the battle ended so abruptly?”

“It abruptly ended, really?”

He nodded. “Aye, there was a battle, then it just ended.”

“But then where is Magnus?”

“Och, he is nae well, Kaitlyn. Quentin told me on the radio. They hae taken him tae the kingdom tae see a physician. Tis the last thing I heard.”

My heart sank. “What the hell is going on Fraoch? Everyone is alive, right? Everyone?”

“Aye, all are alive and accounted for, even General Hammond.”

My head reeled as I tied my horse to a tree beside his.

“Hammond is alive? I think you need to explain this all to me like I’m a child.”

Fraoch launched into the story — there had been a huge attack, a multi-storm attack, on the castle and this cave, and then the castle had caught fire and in the melee Magnus had fallen unconscious.

I was so scared for him, but also a little pissed off. “I knew it, I knew he was still weak and I was right. He should have gone to the doctor, a doctor would have fixed him...” I sat down on the rock on the other side of the fire.

“What doctor would ye hae taken him tae? One in Florida? I daena think it would hae been smart, he is a king—”

“I guess that’s true... but I can’t believe he was so sick and—”

“And so ye killed Sir Padraig and then twas safe for Og Maggy tae go tae see the physician. If ye think on it, ye are both right.”

I chuckled. “Where did you learn to do that ‘you’re both right’ nonsense?”

“M’fine wife taught me tae agree tae us both being right, else she will always win.”

“Sounds like her.” I looked down at a spot of blood on the back of my hand and tried to wipe it with the edge of my wrap. “I’m the one who solved all of it, by shooting Sir Padraig?”

“I daena ken, but it sounds as if twas the cause. General Hammond shewed up soon after, I think, I daena ken for sure — Sadly, my walkie-talkie has nae juice anymore, but then there’s nae one left tae talk tae.”

“So that’s a good question, where is Hayley?” The blanket he had given me to wrap around myself smelled like horse and dust.

“I offered tae stay here tae guard the cave, so she evacuated with the rest.” I noticed a small puddle of something beside him.

I gestured with my head toward the boulder. “And everything is inside, it’s all there, safe?”

He turned to look over his shoulder. I noticed a bit of a wince as he did. “I daena ken, I canna push the boulder by m’self. I am guardin’ it in faith.”

“So what’s that — are you bleeding, Fraoch? Are you wounded?”

He glanced down. “Och nae, I ken, tis naething.” He opened the blanket and showed me a wound on his side. It was bleeding pretty good.

“That’s not good, Fraoch, you need a doctor too, like now.”

“Nae, this will heal well enough.”

My eyes went wide. “First, Magnus, now you. You need a stitch, an antibiotic. I might have a kit back in the castle, but it might have caught on fire. Shit.”

“I daena need a physician, and I need tae stay here, by the cave, tae make sure tis safe. Og Maggy would be guarding it if he could, tis up tae me.”

I took a deep breath. “So I need to jump to the kingdom, the kids are there, too, right?”

“Aye, everyone went taegether, General Hammond said twas safe enough for them.”

“Good, because last we saw it was a shitshow, am I right?”

“Aye, twas a steamin’ pile of shite on a rocky shore of a polluted river.”

“So modern of you to be an environmentalist.”

“Now I hae seen different centuries, I am more cautious in how I would use something.” He poked a stick in the fire. “Warm your hands and hae a drink with me. Ye are in nae condition tae jump yet, ye need tae rest first.”

I warmed my hands over the fire.

He asked, “Hae ye ever thought about how ye, Kaitlyn, might take a shite, here in this castle and bury it under a tree, and then in another century ye might dig it up and say, that there is m’shite from hundreds of years ago?”

I grinned. “I think it would have been long decomposed by then, turned into something else.”

“Like what?”

“Well, like nutrients for the tree, so like it’s carbon, right? All living matter is made up of carbon, and so once shitted, or shat, or shited, however you say it, into the hole, it decomposes into dirt and nutrients. Then the tree drinks it up to grow. Therefore the carbon from inside of you turns to shite and then becomes part of the tree.”

He passed me a hunk of bannock and I realized I was famished. I stuffed some of it in my mouth and while chewing said, “Here’s something else. So say the tree is an apple tree, you pluck an apple off, you eat it, seeds and all—”

“Of course, the middle is the best part.”

“You think? I’m not so sure...”

“Aye, the rest of the apple is just sweet and soft, if ye eat the middle there are different flavors and textures. Tis better when ye hae both.”

“I never thought of it that way, you are probably right. And once you’ve eaten the whole apple, then you poop it out, seeds and all, and then your poop grows the tree and feeds the tree and you get more apples.”

“Och,” He looked up at the tree and joked, “That tree, right there, is m’child.”

I laughed. “That is definitely one way to look at it. And that is called the circle of life.”

“Aye, like the song in the lion movie. The bairns shewed me.”

“Exactly like that.” He pushed the stick around in the fire.

“I said, you’re cool with not having kids right? I know Hayley is hardline about it, but... she loves you a lot, and—”

“I am all right on it, Kaitlyn, I ken her reasons and I share them. We are content tae be Aunt Hayley and Uncle Fraoch. Tis somethin’ that suits us, and we would do anythin’ for Archie and Isla, and for Ben and Zoe as well.”

“I am so grateful for that, thank you.” I took another bite of bread. “One thing I need to say, and this is awkward, but I met your mom.”

He scowled. “Who, the lady by the name of Agnie Macleod, who sometimes goes by the name Jeanne Smith? Seems tae be all anyone can talk about these days.”

“Yeah, she was with Sir Padraig, and... she was kind of a bitch. She lived through the encounter.”

He snarled, “Och, I daena like tae ken I am the son of terrible person.”

“Magnus too, you can commiserate with him. And the good thing is, you’re not terrible, you turned out great.”

He chuckled, “I turned out ‘great’ despite the fact I had terrible parents, because I am a great person, ask anyone.” He grinned.

“True, everyone agrees. You’ve saved all our lives more than once.” I finished off my bread. “So you should come with me, right?”

“Nae, I should guard, ye go on, tell Quentin tae come, bring some strong backs for the boulder, a small man for the dark cave. We might need tae move the vessels, I daena ken.”

I stood. “I think you’re right about the rest, but I’m too desperate to see Magnus and make sure he’s okay. I’ll tell Quentin you’re here — tomorrow morning so that there’s no looping, sound good?”

He nodded.

“I hate to leave you.”

“Och, I am a Scottish man on the side of a ben. Ye canna worry on leavin’ me here, tis m’natural habitat.