Page 114
I was here to see Max.
It took some effort but I climbed to my feet and wiped my hands down the front of my skirts. I glanced down. Och, I was filthy.
I looked at Torin, standing in front of the guards. There was a half minute when I wondered where the uncles were, but then I saw Ryan coming from the doors. “Hello! Welcome, well done, Artair!”
“Told ye I would deliver them.”
“Yes, you did.” Ryan shook his head. “Thank you, it’s a relief to have them home.”
He gave me a big smile. “I am really glad to see you, but time is of the essence.” Then he added, “Welcome home, Princess. Is it how you remembered?”
My eyes swept the rooftop. Our horses were in a group looking confused to be on a rooftop landing pad. “Thank you, but no, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”
“Oh, of course, sure, you were very young when you left.”
A soldier whispered a question to him and he answered, then said, “We still have a lot to do to fix the place up, but we have a good apartment for you.” He looked us over. “I want to take you to see him, but you need to wash up first. How are you — injured?”
Torin pulled down the neck of his shirt, to show the stitches.
Ryan nodded. “I’m going to ignore that those look like medieval stitches: antibiotics?”
I said, “Yeah, he’s been on a course. Thankfully someone forgot a first aid kit.”
“Good, I’m sending you to the showers. I see Dude made it through, we all wondered where he went!” He crouched down and petted the cat. “I am very glad to see you, Dude, this is some of the best news we’ve had, Claray will be thrilled.”
There was a soldier wrangling the horses to the ramp. Torin said, “Ryan, they are goin’ tae the stables?”
“Yes, they’ll be fed and watered.”
Torin exhaled. “Good, they hae deserved it after that long ride we just put them through.”
Ryan said, “After you clean up, we’ll meet in the infirmary, you can see Max, and we’ll ask the doctor to look you both over.” He walked away, shouting orders at the men.
I glanced at Artair, he smiled. “I got ye home, as promised.”
I nodded. “Yes you did, and this is it, the castle?”
His brow drew down. “Aye, tis the castle, Princess Alexandria, yer parents built it, ye truly daena remember it?”
I shook my head. Beyond the helicopter landing were vast lawns and gardens with tanks and tents, with military men encamped, as if the troops had been brought here after the war.
I had an oblique view of the castle front, a palace that belonged in the past with jarring modern accents. It had a long pale Neoclassical front, ranks of windows, stone carved details, columns and pediments. A flag snapped on the highest line. It looked like something out of London or Paris, an ancient palace from the time of kings, but it was taller than it should have been, and the old stone broke, here and there, into large glass windows. Whole panels of it, clear as water, showing galleries and light moving inside.
Artair said, “Tis a fine castle, we hae made improvements but yer father built it well, it looks much the same in my time.”
“So this is what we lost?”
“Aye, and this is what Torin won.”
I nodded and pulled my eyes away from the castle walls to ask, “And where will you be while we’re seeing Max?”
“Daena worry on me.”
“Don’t leave though, we need to say goodbye.”
He nodded.
44
