I hoped Rannald was dead, but dinna ken. He had vanished into the shadows — all that was left of the battle was an eery calm. The drones were silent. The music had died. Only the moans of the dying and the crackle of burnin’ thatch remained.
We carried Max tae the extraction point outside the walls.
I took one last look at Dunstaffnage burnin’ under a fourteenth-century sun, our soldiers runnin’ tae catch up.
I yelled, “Did anyone kill Rannald?”
“No — got away — couldn’t...” The soldier was folded over, breathing heavily.
“Then I will stay, I will kill him!”
Ryan said, “You need a hospital, we have to get everyone to a hospital. Besides Rannald is already gone!”
He gestured taeward a storm on the other side of the castle.
Och nae.
I had Max’s blood hot on my hands and the taste of gunpowder and smoke in my mouth. Max groaned from his place on the ground. He turned his head and spit blood. Charlie fumbled with a pack. “Someone get out the first aid kit! My arm isn’t working!”
Blood dripped down his fingers pooling on the ground.
Aenghus dug through the bag. Charlie tellin’ him tae get a tourniquet. I crouched beside Max and held his hand, “Ye are nae dyin’, m’laird, nae at all. I swear it.”
Max barely breathed.
Charlie groaned, and asked, “Is he?—?”
I said, “Daena say it, Charlie, he’s alive.”
I saw the vessel in Ryan’s hand and warned Max, “We are about tae jump, m’laird, hold on!”
Ryan said, “Everyone hold on!” We all clamped a hand down on the man beside us, making a chain. Ryan twisted the vessel.
The pain filled m’body, tearin’ through me.
Twas good though, it reminded me that I wasna dead.
I was only shattered.
And furious.
22
ALEXANDRIA
SEPTEMBER 17, 2185 - THE MED BAY
Isat in the chair, looking out at the night, my mind muddled, circling around all the moments that I needed to understand:
As a child I had time traveled…
To North Carolina, but then what?
How had I been adopted? Who chose my parents and how did my mom and dad decide to take me in as their own?
Had they known I was a princess?
I was pretty sure they did, because of what they never said.
