Time passed; minutes or hours or days, I couldn’t tell. I woke occasionally, pulled up the edge of the cloak to check. Magnus was sitting like a sentry in front of me, holding his sword, awake. Until finally after a great deal of time and after the waves of pain subsided leaving me weak and ill, I pried the edge of the cloak away, and he was gone. I was on a forest floor, surrounded by cold damp leaves. The sounds of a dark night, animals hooting and rustling, were magnified around me. I found myself somewhere in time and space, but where? It could be America of course — perhaps a seagull grabbed me by a strand of hair and carried me to Minnesota or some other freezing place. But the pain all over my body? It could only be explained by Somewhere Else.

And now I was alone.

And Magnus was pissed.

I tucked my head to my knees in a tight circle and tried to go completely quiet.

Later, I heard a rustling — and then without warning the cloak was pulled away. Magnus appeared in my still foggy vision. Everything was dark and faint, plus nighttime. He put a finger to his lips to silence me, then held out a hand to help me up. I swayed from the sudden change of position and collapsed against his chest.

He led me to the horse. I was freezing and my head was spinning. Vertigo — I thought I might faint. He wordlessly placed my hands on the side of the horse, shoved my face to the fur, and hefted me on his shoulder up and over. I ended slung over the back of the horse completely stuck. Like a sack of something. My short little sundress and tiny panties on view to the whole entire world. Because it had been a warm day in Florida for September and I had wanted the last thing Magnus to see to be my bare legs. And now he was seeing my bare legs in freaking Scotland, where he expressly, undeniably, irrefutably told me not to come.

And it was so cold. Now that I wasn’t in pain anymore, I clenched tight shivering. I wanted to move to sitting but if I went off balance I would fall on my head. If I fell back, it would be on top of Magnus, and then he’d have to heave me back up. So like a sack of potatoes, I lay there doing nothing helpful at all.

Magnus retrieved the cloak and deftly climbed behind me. He shoved an arm under my waist lifting and turning me, so I ended astride the horse. Then he wrapped the cloak around me and tucked it in around my legs. He urged the horse forward into a walk.

Magnus remained perfectly quiet. His arms were around me, pressed to me, arms tight, holding. I knew he was cold without his cloak, but there wasn’t any way I could survive without it. The horse picked its way along the roots and rock, the uneven terrain, around trees and fallen trunks. We went slowly in the half-light of predawn. Our Not Speaking continued for a really long time until finally he said, “Are ye cold?”

I shivered a bit, but said, “I’m okay, it’s cold, but I’ll be okay.”

“I canna make a fire. We must put a distance between us and Talsworth. We will arrive at Balloch in about six hours.” He turned the horse around a tree jutting into our path.

“How did you get the horse?”

“I have beaten a man for it.”

I bit my lip to hold back my tears. What had I been thinking? I had wanted Magnus to be able to trust me to do the right thing. But I had screwed it all up. I was so sure I needed to stop him from going, I went with him. Now I was a burden.

As if he could read my thoughts he said, “I canna risk sendin’ ye back now. It would attract attention and I daena know if ye can make the trip.”

“I don’t want to, it hurts.”

“I know. But ye canna stay here. Tis nae safe for you.”

I nodded sullenly. I had believed he went back and forth because he liked adventure. There was no way he did that for any reason beyond duty.

He asked, “What do ye have inside your bag?”

I recited from memory. “My wallet, my Burt’s Bees lip balm, my phone. Oh, and a protein bar.”

“We should eat that. I am verra hungry.”

I dug out the bar, ripped open the wrapper, and took a bite. I passed him the rest. I was famished, but he generally ate three times as much as me. I got out my lip balm and smeared it on my lips.

I asked, “What happened with the second vessel?”

“We landed outside the castle walls. Twas dark and the horse was wild. The man fell, injured, but guards were comin’. I dinna have time tae get the vessel. I picked ye up over my shoulder and ran tae the forest.”

“While you were in this much pain?”

“Aye. When we get ye tae Balloch we shall decide what tae do with ye.”

I went silent and for the next few hours we rode in silence.