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I popped the trunk. Magnus strapped his scabbard and sword across his back and then we made a trip carrying our supplies. I had a leather backpack that looked antique. We had a couple of wool blankets. I had some protein shake mix in a ceramic jar with a cork lid and some protein bars wrapped in waxed cloth. We had a water filter. I had a small leather kit for medical emergencies, and it included a midwifery kit along with pages of directions and a small book called Emergency Childbirth. I had a bag of antibiotics and other medicines all wrapped in parchment paper and sealed with tape, plus the herbs and homeopathic remedies that Emma sent. I of course had my period stuff too, a menstrual cup and period panties. This time I was on top of the situation though: the PMS symptoms were mostly gone anyway. We also had a small stocked tool box.

“Well this is a fine load of stuff.” I stood appraising it in two small stacks. I joked, “If you can’t bring the eighteenth century into the modern age bring the modern age to the eighteenth century. The only thing we are missing is the cart and the horse.”

Magnus said, “I am missin’ the horse. We could go back for Sunny?”

“You don’t want to accidentally leave Sunny in the 1700s. Keep reminding yourself, ‘Sunny will be waiting for us when we get home.’

The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. “And when we get home, I will teach ye tae ride. We will get a partner for Sunny and name her Osna.”

“Remind me, what does that mean?”

“Tis the sound ye make when ye are happy in my arms.”

“I make a sound when I am happy?”

He grinned. “Aye, when I have bed ye well, ye sigh.”

“I do, I really do, I really like it when you get me there. And you have a deal. I’ll have a horse named Osna.” I checked through the pile. “The guns are still in their box in the trunk. Can you get them?”

Magnus returned up the grassy slope to the car. I checked the front buckle on my backpacks for the fifth time when suddenly from the dirt road came the sound of a car engine. “Crap.”

A silver Toyota pickup spun into the space and pulled onto the grass dividing me from the Mustang and Magnus. The truck’s headlights were shining at me so I was momentarily blinded. A dark figure stepped from the car. “Katie?”

I shielded my eyes. “Tyler? What are you⁠—”

He slammed his truck door shut. Then opened the door and turned off his headlights. “Michael asked me to come check on his Uncle’s property, because of the bizarro storms — why are you here?”

“Um, because, um.” I gestured at Magnus. Tyler turned to see him. Magnus had his hand on the door of our car: frozen, calculating, watching. I waved my hand like it helped me to think. “We came to see the land too. I used to come here all the—” I had no idea what I was talking about. I was dressed like I was headed to a Ren Faire. I had a small pile of blankets and first aid supplies like I was headed on a Doctors Without Borders trip or something. Plus I was trespassing.

Tyler said, “The storms are really big and they’re happening at regular times.” He checked his watch. “About an hour from now…” He looked me up and down. “You really shouldn’t be fooling around out here. And have you guys seen or heard the horses?” He looked around the space. “I heard horses.”

Magnus’s hand moved to his sword hilt over his shoulder. “Horses?” He began walking our way.

And that’s when I heard them thundering through the underbrush. Horses. Men making that, “Haw!” sound. Right then, horses, ridden by soldiers, barged through the underbrush, over the bushes, through the dark trees, and down the slope. They descended on Magnus, trampling all around.

“Get behind me, Katie.” Tyler dragged me behind his truck.

He craned around the truck to see. “Who are they?”

“I don’t know.” They weren’t from the future, but they also didn’t look like they were from Magnus’s time period either. The horses had an armor on them and the men were in unfamiliar costumes, they were yelling like crazy without any familiar words. “How many are there?” I could hear the clanging and crashing of sword blades and I didn’t want to look.

“Three.”

I had to look. Magnus was fighting blade to blade against three.

“Shit shit shit, oh my god, they’ve surrounded⁠—”

Tyler said, “I see it.” He opened his truck, dove across the seats, slammed open his glove compartment and pulled a gun.

I said, “Hurry, please hurry, they’re going to kill Magnus. Please help.”

He put his hand on my shoulder, keeping me down. “Hold on, I don’t have a clear shot and I can’t leave you⁠—”

“Help him!”

I shoved his hand off and stood to look over the hood of the truck. Magnus’s sword arced down but a soldier behind him was swinging toward him. “Shoot them. Go run over there and shoot them. My husband is fighting for his life⁠—”

I scrambled back up to see what was happening. One of the men dismounted. He prowled around Magnus in a circle. The two other men circled him up on their horses, their blades held high looking for an opening. And then, another man on horseback galloped from the woods.