Page 49
Just an hour before I begged him to see me as a team member, but I had no idea what to do — I shrugged.
Torin said, “Aye, Laird Niall, ye are right in it.”
Niall’s voice dropped even lower. “I was certain and am verra pleased tae hae been correct in it. Ye are a time traveler?”
Torin nodded.
“Where are ye from?”
“I am from Clackmannanshire, a castle called Castle Glume, it haena been built yet?”
Niall shook his head. “Nae, and it explains why I dinna recognize ye though I hae cousins in Clackmannanshire… What year are ye from?”
“I was born in the year of our Lord, fifteen thirty-four.”
Niall asked me, “Where are ye from, Lady Alexandria?”
“A place called North Carolina, you were right, it’s near Florida. I’m from the year two thousand and four.”
“So ye ken Archibald and his father, Mag Mòr?”
I shook my head, then under my breath I asked Torin, “Can I tell him?”
“Aye, he has met a prince, he ought tae ken.”
I raised my chin. “I don’t know him, but I am a princess—”
Niall’s eyes went wide. “From yer lands?”
“A kingdom called Riaghalbane.”
“Tis the same kingdom, ye must be related!”
I shook my head, “It seems likely, but I don’t know him, honestly.”
Torin said, “This is why our situation is so difficult… Princess Alexandria is a royal from another kingdom in Alba without the king’s permission.”
Niall said, “King Robert ought tae be glad tae hae ye as an ally, but he will likely see ye as a threat.”
He glanced again toward the door. “I daena want tae upset ye, but I daena think ye will find yer vessel.”
Torin’s eyes went wide. “Why nae?”
“Archibald told us this was too far back for them. He had one, but then one day twas gone. He said twas a relief, because he had been tormented by it — his life was solitary and he missed his home, but once the vessel was gone he knew he could never return.”
“How did it disappear, what happened to it?”
“He told me that time had been bridged, and all was right. He would live out his life in the past as twas meant tae be.”
Torin looked at me.
I asked, “What are we going to do?”
Niall said, “Ye dinna ken this would happen tae yer vessel?”
“Nae, we are new tae Time Travel.” Torin added, “Yet, maybe ye are mistaken, maybe ours is different. How does it work at first and then disappear?”
“When he was drunk twas easy tae get him tae talk on it, he told me one night that the time travel road cut through an ancient forest. And that the forest would overtake the road if ye dinna cut yer way through again. It dinna make a lot of sense, but ye hae seen that, Laird Torin, a path that has become overgrown?”
