Page 124 of Only a Breath Away

We all said, “No.”

I said, “Lochinvar, you can’t go back to the bar—”

“But why Queen Kaitlyn? Twas an amusement!”

Quentin said, “He’s not wrong.”

Magnus said, “Aye.”

Lochinvar said, “We had a pilgrimage tae the pub for some spirits, tae bring us good spirits, and…” He began to sing. “Twas the spirits of the fae — who-o-o-o led me on that day... tae the braw pub by the light of the mo-o-on.” He grinned. “Do ye like the song? I just made it up.” He hiccuped and the boys all laughed. He pulled his face down in a frown. “I like ye all so verra much, ye canna understand. In the castle Dunscaith, twas verra brutal and ye daena ken what it is like.”

Magnus said, “I think we do, some of us, we lived a tough life.”

“Nae, mine was verra hard. Twas the life of an animal until they wanted a man tae fight while they trained. Hae ye seen m’scars?”

He raised his shirt and pointed, “This one, and this one and… so many.” His stomach and sides were covered in scars, some long and ugly, one all the way around to his back.

Magnus said, “My back is much the same, Lochinvar, I was whipped.”

Lochinvar said, “They liked tae beat me, verra regularly, and stick a blade in me fer practice.”

Lochinvar said to Archie. “Ye daena worry about it, Archie, yer da is a good man — he winna beat ye. He kens what tis like. A man who is beaten and wears the scars on his back will ken nae tae beat his sons. Yer da wouldna.”

Magnus nodded at Archie with a smile. “He kens I wouldna.”

“Good… did I show ye this one?” He showed us a scar on his upper thigh.

Emma said, “I’m surprised that one didn’t kill you.”

“I had tae go tae the hospital for that one.”

“What hospital?”

Magnus asked, “Hae ye always been in the time of the 1580s?”

“Aye, except for the one…” His eyes narrowed as he scrunched up his face comically. “I canna remember it, nae really, I… the hospital was verra white and I was… I canna remember it, nae fully.”

Fraoch said, “Great, there’s more tae the boy than we kent afore.”

Magnus shrugged. “We kent he was the son of a time traveler, tis nae that far-fetched that he has traveled tae the future when he was injured. The question is, who brought him there? Donnan?”

Magnus asked Lochinvar, “Did you ever meet Donnan?”

“Nae, I mean…” He hiccuped. “I think I did but I was verra young.”

Fraoch said, “There is a lot goin’ on here with Og Lochie that we dinna ken.”

Magnus said, “Aye, drunk Lochinvar has confessed a great deal, ask him anything, perhaps we can learn more.”

“What do ye want tae ken? I will tell ye anything. Ye’re m’family. Og Lochie is verra lucky.” His face brightened. “Tis better than ‘fearsome’ ye can call me lucky now.”

Fraoch asked, “Okay, Og Lochie the Lucky, besides Domnall and Ormr, who else did ye ken? Did ye ken Agnie MacLeod? She was m’mum.”

“Aye, I kent her, she would visit Domnall and Ormr and was verra mean tae the rest of us in the castle. Auld Arthuretta, who worked in the kitchen, said that someday Donnan would come tae get me, but he never did.”

“Donnan is long dead.”

He giggled. “That explains why he dinna come tae get me.”

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