“Tis nae too bad.” He rolled his arm around in the socket.
Max said, “Alexandria, dost ye see what I hae tae deal with with this man? He is always a trial, never a help tae me?—”
“Och! I am about tae save yer life for the tenth time in a month.”
Max continued, “…and ye married him, Alexandria, what are ye about? Are ye certain ye hae thought this through? He will be always arguing with ye.”
I said, “He has a big heart?—”
“The biggest.”
“And he’s selfless.”
“Aye, he is a good man, while also bein’ a burr in m’saddle, a proper plague upon the hind parts o’ man and king.”
I smiled, “I rather like him though, I think he’s great, and we are really lucky to have him on our side.”
“Och, tis true. So what dost ye need, Torin of the Arse-Burr?”
“I am going tae meet ye a day ago, and I will tell ye that ye need tae listen tae me, and do what I say. And since reason slidesoff ye like water off hot iron, I was thinkin’ ye could write yerself a message that I could deliver.”
I said, “Or I could record you!”
They both looked at me blankly.
“I could record your voice, Max, and when I play it back you would hear it and know it was you!”
Max grimaced, “Nae, I can think of three ways that could be false, it ought tae be a written message or I will never trust it.”
I bit my lips, “Okay, sure, a written message.”
“What dost ye need me tae say?”
Torin instructed,I wrote, and Max signed.
After,as Torin tucked the letter into an inside chest pocket, he said, “I will see ye on the other side, m’laird.”
Max said, “Aye, Torin, God Speed. Alexandria, I will see ye when ye return, Torin, take care of her.”
I kissed him on the cheek. “See you soon, brother.”
We leftdown the hall to the waiting room and found Ryan and Aenghus with Claray, right where I had left them.
I sat down beside Claray and held her hand. “Any news of Charlie?”
“Nae, not yet, niece, we are verra worried.”
Ryan leveled his eyes on Torin. “We’re going around again, you know what you’re doing?”
“Aye, I will leave now.”
Ryan said, “I’ve written down the dates, locations, and markings, if you abide by them, that should do it.” He passed Torin a piece of paper with writing jotted on it.
Aenghus said, “If we daena meet ye in the clearing, ye will hae tae get tae the encampment without us, ye remember the way?”
Torin said, “Aye, and I will hae m’horses this time. I need my horse, Cathbarr, for the battle.”
Ryan said, “You’re going to bring your horse to that battle? You saw what it was like, it’s chaos and bedlam, it’s…” His voice trailed off.
