Chapter 39 Alexandria
ALEXANDRIA
Ishook with fear.
Also my stomach hurt because of stress. I was a wreck and then my eyes settled on Torin, stoic, staring at the wall.
I went and sat down on the bench beside him. “Sorry to interrupt. I’m just needing to be close. No talking. Promise.”
He looked me in the face while I spoke and then nodded.
I had been seeing him do this, instead of listening he was watching people when they spoke. It was unsettling, it proved his hearing was worse than even the occasional ‘what?’
I was very concerned but had just that moment promised not to talk.
So I couldn’t say anything, instead I just breathed, the edge of my shoulder against his, the energy between us a hum. Behind us the other men in the room, talking discussing planning. We just sat.
I often talked too much when I was nervous, and I was desperately afraid, but instead, thankfully, I was chill: quiet, still.
We sat there for a long time. Then finally Ryan said, “Torin, we need you here for some last details before we go.”
He nodded quietly, then leaned over and pressed his forehead to my cheek and kissed my shoulder, a long press of his lips there. “Thank ye.”
I said, “You’re welcome.”
He stood up, put his hand on my shoulder, squeezed, and then went to speak to everyone else.
I was left wondering what the hell I was supposed to do. I refused to stay, I demanded I go, and with good reason, but… honestly why? How would I help?
Charlie called me over. “I’m going to be running the drones, I want you to be my spotter.” He passed me a pair of binoculars and pointed at the castle. “This is East Tower, this is West Tower—”
Torin said, “He will be below the East Tower.”
Charlie said, “Good, that’s good to know, so, Alexandria—”
“Call me Lexi, only um… Max and Torin call me Alexandria.”
He chuckled. “I think I have to call you the full name, it’s kind of tradition…” He continued pointing at the castle and telling me their names. “I’ll have a screen on the drone, but you’ll be watching for trouble…”
Finally, it was time to go.
I hugged Aunt Claray goodbye and climbed on board an ATV to ride to the jumping place. Torin rode his horse, “For good fortune,” he said.
We needed a lot more than simple good fortune, I thought, we were screwing around with time, looping in and out of known physics. I kinda thought we needed divine intervention.
Out of nowhere, in the cool darkness, Torin rode up beside me on his horse, and said quietly, “When we get there, tis goin’ tae go fast, we winna hae much time tae speak.”
He was up above me, high in his saddle.
“It’s okay, we said goodbye, if we find a moment it will be good, if we don’t that’s fine.”
“Twas enough?”
“I don’t really want to say I’ve had enough, but it’s been good, Torin, I love you.”
“I love ye too.” He urged his horse forward and went to the head of our train of vehicles to ride alongside Ryan.
We landed in the cold dawn mist on the rocky ground between Loch Etive and the Firth of Lorn.
The sharp smell of salt and seaweed filled the air.
Somewhere in the distance I could hear the crash of waves against an unseen shore.
As we prepared for the attack and the mist began to clear, the castle emerged from the fog, crouched on its rock above the sea, exactly as Torin had described it — grey, ancient, Rannald’s villainous banners snapping in the wind.
I gulped, trying to keep my stomach calm. This was real, not some kind of movie. I was in an ATV about to be a soldier in a battle and I was untrained and untested. It was a reset for most of these men, but this was my first time.
One thing I hadn’t really thought about while trying to be all badass, is how sometimes… I folded under pressure — hard.
Hell, a nightmare gave me panic attacks.
Torin, had seen me at some pretty weak moments already, but hadn’t been expecting me to do much more than be a weak-ass Princess.
But I didn’t want to let down Max. I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the Uncles, even though my feelings for them were complicated by the fact that they had been screwing around with my life for a while, apparently.
I wanted to be useful, brave, courageous and necessary, to spite them in a way.
Though I forgave them and all that. But still.
Complicated.
I had to keep my shit together.
Uncle Charlie handed me the binoculars and a radio for my ear. “Okay, Alexandria, you’re my eyes. Call anything that moves on the walls. Clear voice, no panic.”
I nodded, with a dry throat and said, “Got it,” pressing the radio into my ear. “You heard about my panics?”
“Yep, was mentioned, we’ll have none of that, just call out the location. Me and you are going to be calm.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.” I picked up the binoculars and pressed them to my eyes.
Ahead of us the strike force roared across the heather on ATVs, with Torin behind them, his horse galloping across the moor, dust billowing behind him.
God, please keep him safe. Please. Drones rose overhead — the music Thunderstruck playing so loud it was shocking, even from a distance, even though I had been to a concert before.
Guitars screaming and wailing, incongruous as all hell.
Through the binoculars I could see the guards on the battlements clutching their ears.
I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.
If it hadn’t been so terrifying.
And then the drones began firing on the castle — bombs rained down on the main gate and the southwest tower.
My gaze kept returning to Torin.
He rode alone, just Cathbarr thundering beneath him, his claymore across his back, the navy coat snapping like a war banner.
He was heading straight for the gate, turned to rubble, exactly as he’d planned. A brave, beautiful, courageous idiot.
I loved him, needed to watch him to keep him alive, but I had to stop watching him. I had work to do, to keep him safe.
Ryan’s voice in my ear, “Second wave, go!”
Our ATV tore down the slope, to my left, Ryan and Max in one, to my right, more soldiers in another. I clutched the binoculars, and the bottom of my skirts in my lap, as we bounced over heather and rocks. Charlie said, “Ask Ryan if we’re still going to the southwest tower.”
I had to click the button twice to speak. “Ryan, still the southwest—?”
“Affirmative, we’re headed to gate, you’re headed to southwest tower. Clear sight on the courtyard.”
I gripped the safety hold on the ATV as dust and wind whipped my face.
Ahead of us, Torin was already dismounting at the shattered entrance gate, his sword drawn, walking into the courtyard like he owned the place.
A ruined tower came into view — a crumbling stone stump just beyond the outer wall, half-swallowed by ivy. The soldier skidded our ATV to a stop beside it. Charlie jumped from the vehicle, yelling, “Up!”
I scrambled to keep up, carrying some of the lighter gear, trying to competently hurdle the stone wall, dragging my skirts over behind me, and then climb the broken steps that spiraled inside.
My heart hammered by the time we made it to the tower’s top, on a jagged platform maybe fifteen feet up, open to the sky.
From here the courtyard spread below us like the map. Charlie dropped to one knee, drone controller in hand. He spoke into the radio: “Got eyes again. View of sally port — no Rannald, shadows thick. Torin’s pushing in.”
The courtyard was filled with smoke, muzzle flashes strobed, men were running and falling along the walls.
Charlie said, “Need you, Alexandria.”
I pulled my gaze away and into the binoculars, taking a second to focus. Regretting that I hadn’t done this first.
Ryan’s voice on the radio: “Max and I are in the courtyard, in position.”
I found Torin and reported, “Torin’s at the—”
Charlie interrupted, “Check the tower.”
I swept the binoculars and yelled, “East tower — two archers!”
I heard two cracks from a faraway rifle, and in short succession, Ryan’s voice: “Got two,” as men tumbled from the wall.
I turned the glasses to Torin. His blade flashed as he fought. “He’s engaging, near the steps.”
“Alexandria,” Charlie interrupted my report again, “what’s going on — south parapet — crossbowmen?”
I swept the glasses. “Four — no, five. Reloading.”
Charlie relayed it calmly. Drones swooped above the castle walls, magnesium flares burst white inside the courtyard.
Screams rose.
But Torin…
He was a dark figure moving through fire, smoke, and mist. He cut a deliberate path toward the sally port mouth, yawning dark on the far wall.
My heart tried to climb up from my chest to follow —
Charlie interrupted, “Lexi! East wall!”
I swept the binoculars over. “Movement... um...”
“At the sally port, what do you see?”
“There’s a guy, I think… there’s men. Lots of men.”
Ryan’s voice from the radio: “Rannald’s men.”
Charlie was concentrating on his screen. “I can’t see him.”
Ryan’s voice: “You got him?”
Aenghus’s voice: “He’s behind the wall, ye see him? I’m blind.”
Charlie said, “Dammit, can’t…”
Torin’s voice came rumbling through my radio: “Nae trouble, he’s mine.”
Ryan’s voice, low: “Okay then, Torin, go for it, but everyone keep watching, look for your shot. Save Torin the trouble he says isn’t trouble. Aenghus, get that crossbow.”
Torin reached the bottom of the steps.
I said, “Hold on… hold on, and… there he is!”
But of course, everyone else could see him too.
Rannald, his black cloak swirling, was looking down on Torin. But as quickly as he was exposed, he stepped behind an arch.
Someone on the radio said: “Dammit.”
I put down the binoculars to try to see, but Torin looked really small as he planted his feet, and raised his claymore.
I forgot to breathe.
My radio crackled: “Got a shot?”
Charlie said, “Lexi, talk to me.”
But I was frozen, I couldn’t look away.
I heard Torin’s voice through the radio, calm and deadly: “Come down, Rannald. Or I’ll come up and fetch ye.”
The duel began.