Prologue II

Since we left off in Time is a Wheel a while back, here is a wee bit about where we left the family.

The rolling aspects of time had threatened to flatten them, people were missing, not just from their lives but from their memories. Even children. But Magnus and Kaitlyn used the Bridge and fixed the timeline.

Their children, Archie (8), Isla (4), and Jack (not yet 1) are with them.

Quentin and Beaty have Noah (almost 1).

Zach and Emma have Ben (7) and Zoe (3).

Fraoch is reunited with Hayley.

Lochinvar is there, growing lonely.

They have solved everything.

Peace reigns. They are in Florida.

Magnus's mother, Lady Mairead, is overseeing his kingdom of Riaghalbane in the year 2391. They believe they have almost all the machines.

These include:

Most of the twenty-six vessels (small handheld devices) for traveling through time. When the vessel is used it causes a storm. It is very painful to jump. They can go to the future indefinitely. Or they can go back in time to November 1, 1557. If a vessel attempts to go past November 1, 1557, it disappears and strands the person in the past.

There are two Trailblazers. (There might be more.) Magnus has one, Lady Mairead has hidden the other. The Trailblazer blazes a trail further into the past than 1557, so the vessels can be used there. It is very very painful to operate. The downside of the Trailblazer is the farther back one can travel, the more of history there is to deal with —shifts are more likely to occur. It raises the likelihood that history will be changed.

There is one Bridge. If the timeline gets screwy, our time travelers can use the Bridge. One of the descendants of the kings of Riaghalbane is needed to operate it. The Bridge must be taken to the time where the screwiness started (usually time shifts or overwrites or history ruining uh-ohs or oopsies). A thumb is pressed into the obsidian stone contained within a carefully made small box.

The timeline returns to the way it was before. If the screwiness involved a trail that the Trailblazer blazed, it would be sealed shut. The end of time travel would once again be Nov. 1, 1557. (We think, through trial and error.)

For slightly less painful time traveling, there are golden threads that can be fastened to the nape of the head, reducing the physical torment of using the vessels. There are only a few threads so they are saved for the children to use.

As of the beginning of this story, Magnus believes that he has all the machines, and that time has been sealed up, the shifts have been fixed. He believes the vessels can only be used back to the year 1557.

He believes the moment in November 1290, when he was crowned king at Scone, has been overwritten and it is like it never happened.

**At the end of Time is a Wheel, Magnus gave the auld warrior's horse to Archie and Ben, and one last thing was left undone, they needed to name him. They chose the name Mario.

Months have passed since that moment to this new story. There has been peace; life has been normal. It is now May, the two new bairns, Noah and Jack, are nearing their one-year birthdays. Magnus and the other men have taken the bigger kids to the Ichetucknee River to go tubing.