Page 88 of Only a Breath Away

Fraoch’s brow was drawn down. “Andwhoare ye again?”

He had a drip of chocolate on his ginger beard. “I am Lochinvar the Fearsome, second tae King Magnus in the arena during the slaying of Domnall and Ormr, I am a son of Donnan, and brother of Magnus. And ye are?” He took another big bite of ice cream and grinned.

Fraoch flustered. “I am a brother tae Magnus as well, and… ye ken, I rescued him once from a swamp in Florida.”

James said, “Lady Mairead took Lochinvar from the castle in exchange for help in releasing Sophie, who, as you see, is home with us, so Lochinvar is welcome, right Fraoch?”

“Aye,” Fraoch raised a glass of ice water to Lochinvar. “Tae Og Lochie, for yer help in vanquishing my enemies and deliverin’ Sophie home tae our family.”

“Ye’re welcome, twas naethin’, really, I had trained tae fight with Domnall and Ormr. I kent their weaknesses. I saw Magnus was wounded and asked if I could join the fight, and if I did, could I kill them — Lady Mairead said, ‘Aye, ye can join,’ and I did.” He acted out this part, waving his spoon with wild movements. “I sliced Domnall, like this...! Then I fought Ormr, like this!” His spoon plug a bit of chocolate across the table. “And Magnus dealt the death blow through Ormr’s stomach as I stabbed m’sword through from the other side, like this! And Ormr died writhin’ in the dirt like the mucag he was—”

Beaty said, “Och nae!” She looked at her pig. “Daena listen tae him, Mookie, ye are a noble animal.”

Fraoch’s brow drew down even more, he muttered, “I dinna get a chance tae kill Ormr or I would hae, I dinna ken twas an option.”

We all laughed. Hayley hugged him.

I said to Sophie, “I am very glad you made it home.”

She tucked into James’s shoulder. “I am verra thrilled tae be home, we hae had a worrisome day with what I learned is too much candy and sweets, I hae a stomach ache, but I am verra much looking forward tae the morrow and exploring this land.” She yawned, hiding it behind her hand. “James has said we will get a telescope on the morrow. Did ye ken, we can get a telescope here, if we want one, we only hae tae ask?”

“I did know that, it’s a magical shopping world. Where is your other telescope?”

“I daena remember, James and I wondered on it, tis likely… twas left in Dunscaith, but I…” She shrugged. “I am truly nae worried about it, I daena want anyone tae risk their lives for it. Twas nae important compared tae all of ye.”

I said, “In the looping it turned up a few times, maybe it will turn up again. Is this the first time you remember being in the modern day?”

She nodded. “Aye, tis verra loud, is it always this loud and bright?”

“Yes, yes it is, but you’ll grow used to it.” I patted the back of her hand.

Beaty yawned. “I am up verra much later than usual and the bairns will hae me up early, but King Magnus, ye dinna bring what I hae been promised. Ye said you would bring a dog, where is the dog?”

Magnus sighed. “I ken, Madame Beaty, when the time travel shifted Haggis was lost and—”

Beaty’s eyes went wide. “But we must go get him, King Magnus! We ought tae put it on yer list as theverrafirst thing.”

“I daena ken if it is possible.”

James said, “I’m not sure that going to the thirteenth century to find a dog is the first thing we need to do. That’s got to be farther down on the list.”

She said, “Maybe naefirstthing, but verra close after.”

“Och, we canna go back for the dog, that would be foolish, I ken, I canna even think on it...” Magnus shook his head. “And we daena even ken if tis safe tae time travel on this newly stitched timeline. We need a discovery mission tae figure out how far back we can go.”

James said, “I volunteer. I’ve been thinking about it: I looped and Sophie is out of time. I need to go back and make sure it’s all stable. It was my doing, it ought to be me.”

Hayley joked, “To be fair you basically broke the world, so yeah, seems like it ought to be you.”

“But... is it me all by myself?”

Magnus joked, “Ye canna guilt me, James, I hae an injury and I was many long months in the thirteenth century.”

Quentin kissed Beaty’s cheek. “I can’t go with you, James, I promised Beaty that I would take a vacation, just relax and do nothing.”

James sighed. “Without Quennie? I have to go all by myself to test the timeline, without Quennie?”

James looked at Fraoch and batted his eyes.

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