David took a deep breath. ‘Doesn’t he care about the future?’
‘I don’t think so. No.’ I stared out at the sea to avoid having to look at the terrified faces in front of me. ‘Because – and I can’t stress this enough –he’s never been there.This is all he knows, this and doing the right thing as he sees it.’
‘Well, we’re buggered, then.’ Mal did not seem interested in the philosophical elements. His fear was audible. Despite his attempt at a comedic tone and a couldn’t-care-less attitude his voice was tight with strain.
‘No, no, we have to think of another approach.’ Lachlan held up a hand. ‘You can talk to him again, Pax. Make him see whathe will lose if he supports James. We’ve got the advantage in that we know what that future looks like; the McKells becoming impoverished.’
‘We’re notthatimpoverished,’ I snapped.
‘Not if you had a pony, no,’ Lachlan agreed. ‘But maybe you can lay it on a bit thick?’
‘I can try.’ I turned away from the sea, which was heaving in an angry way and so wasn’t much of a change from the people in front of me.
‘The Picts were easier.’ David scraped a finger over some of the tumbled stones. ‘They foughteverybody. As long as you held on to what was yours, nothing else mattered.’
‘Yes, well, we’ve moved on a bit in the ensuing thousand years,’ Mal snapped.
‘Could we try Kenna?’ Kaylinn asked. ‘She can sense us, and George… the earl does listen to her.’
‘She can’t hear us.’ Mal was obviously still feeling disgruntled. ‘What were you going to suggest, semaphore?’
‘All right.’ Lachlan held up a hand and everyone went quiet. ‘Kaylinn, you can try to communicate with Kenna. You seem to have the best handle on the women here and their routine – you stand the best chance of getting through.’
Kaylinn glowed with pride. Mal and David jiggled on the spot, clearly impatient to be busy.
‘Mal and David, I want you to infiltrate the office up there.’ Lachlan jerked a thumb towards the castle. ‘Read through the papers, listen in to the conversations. Find out what’s actually being planned, because if we have a timeline to work to, we can at least know that they’re not going to ride out one night and leave us standing. All right?’
‘Wouldn’t Pax be better for that?’ David asked.
‘He can see her, stupid.’ Mal nudged him. ‘She can hardly put a lampshade on her head and pretend to be furniture, can she?’
‘Well, no.’ David thought for a moment. ‘What are you two going to do?’ He looked from Lachlan to me and back as though he expected us to say that we were far too busy wining and dining to be bothered with involving ourselves in matters as petty as getting out of here.
Lachlan and I exchanged a look. There was a strain in his face that I was sure was mirrored on mine. We had to dosomething. With every word George had said, home had seemed to get a little further away. ‘We are going to refine our approach to the earl so that Pax can keep trying,’ Lachlan said. ‘This is all we’ve got, stopping him going into battle, and we’re not going to throw up our hands at the first setback, are we?’
‘I know the women sit in the cottage in the evenings when all the men are in the hall and talk,’ Kaylinn said. ‘Maybe I can try getting through to Kenna then? I can tell her what’s going to happen. She might not be able to hear me with her ears but her second sight might pick something up.’
‘Good plan.’ Lachlan sat back.
‘I suppose we could have a flip through the rooms up there,’ Mal said grudgingly. ‘There might be written plans or some kind of timeline that will give us a guide.’
‘Excellent. Take some food before you go.’
‘I could really do with some fruit, maybe a salad,’ Kaylinn said dubiously. ‘The food here is a bit… British.’
‘Just be glad we’re not on porridge morning, noon and night.’ Mal patted her shoulder. ‘You’ll adapt.’
‘I don’t want to adapt!’ she wailed.
‘We all want to go home, Kay,’ Lachlan said gently. ‘And we’re going to do what we can to make that happen, all right?’
‘I guess.’ Then she straightened her shoulders. ‘I can keep going if I think of all this as one huge Ren Faire and cosplay.’
‘You do that.’ Lachlan slid out of his hole in the wall. ‘There’s no blueprint for survival. We’re all doing what we can.’
‘Yeah.’ She sounded a little less wobbly now. ‘Yeah. We’re gonna get home, you know.’ Saying the words seemed to give her strength. ‘And then those professors aren’t gonna know what’s hit them!’
Everyone seemed to have an immense amount of faith in me and my powers of persuasion. I didn’t want to point that out. It seemed unnecessarily cruel. Besides which, everyone knew. I could see it in their eyes. We were being busy, doing stuff, because it stopped us thinking.
