The Royal Hunter

by Donna Kauffman

  It was her mother, there was no doubt about that. Talia felt her knees give a little. She didn’t have a picture of her. As far as she knew there was no one alive who had ever known her mother. If there had been, she wouldn’t have been left to the sisters at St. Evangeline’s when she was six years old.

  Her head began to swim. She looked just like her mother. The powerful punch-in-the-gut connection she’d wanted so badly for so many years had finally been made. Distant memories of her mother swam to the surface of her mind. For years she’d carefully pulled out the few she had, but they were like worn storybooks with pictures faded from too many readings.

  “Eleri, we must talk.”

  It was hearing her mother’s name again that yanked Talia from her nearly trancelike state. She jerked her gaze to the man called Archer. This man had known her mother. “I’m … I’m not—How did you know—?”

  Archer scanned the room behind her. “We need to talk, but not here. Is there somewhere more private?”

  She realized she had to act before he made a scene. She turned toward the residents, pasting a smile on her face even as her mind was reeling. “I’ll be right back,” she said, hoping she sounded reassuring. She sure didn’t feel it at the moment.

  Colonel Rosewall started to stand, obviously ready to put his forty-seven years of military experience to use if she needed his aid. He couldn’t move faster than a snail and had less strength than a puppy, but the gesture warmed her heart. “It’s fine, Colonel. I’ll be right back.”

  But it wasn’t fine. Talia turned to the two men, a million questions filling her mind, but her tongue hopelessly tangled. She started to lead them into the lobby, when all of a sudden Archer froze and yelled, “You!”

  She whirled around just in time to see Jimmy leaping toward her. Before she had time to think, Jimmy grabbed her, and with a strength she hadn’t thought he was capable of, he spun her around and locked his arm around her neck, twisting her other arm behind her back for leverage. Her heart was drumming, her mind spinning, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  “You’re too late. She’s mine, Archer. I got here first.”

  “Too bad you weren’t the last, Dideon.” Archer launched himself over the chair between them.

  Talia instinctively closed her eyes and flinched against the expected impact, but instead Jimmy stumbled back away from Archer, tripping over someone’s walker, sending them all sprawling. His grip relaxed slightly and Talia immediately fought her way free. But Jimmy was already rolling to his feet and racing for the door, shoving through the chairs, knocking several of the residents aside in his haste. Archer was fast on his heels.

  Talia crawled to her feet as the melee erupted in full. Dideon? He’d called Jimmy Dideon. “But Jimmy’s last name is Mason,” she mumbled, to no one in particular. She spied the old man in the flowing robes, who now had the scruffy dog tucked under his arm, being carried out with the crowd, and headed after him.

  It was complete chaos. Canes were waving, there was swearing and shouting, dogs barked, Marble screeched, walkers banged into each other. The scene was topped off by a wheelchair logjam in the doorway as Archer raced out, hot on Jimmy’s heels.

  The whole group spilled into the foyer. Talia managed to shout to the desk manager as she raced by to please help calm everyone down. But those who were mobile were all giving chase—at varying speeds, of course. The entire scene came to a tangled halt just past the courtyard at the edge of the parking lot, when Jimmy made it over the rear wall and disappeared into the wooded area behind the main building.

  Archer was walking back toward her, breathing hard and cursing quietly.

  The mob of residents moved closer, ready to rescue her. If she hadn’t been so dumbfounded by the whole situation, she would have laughed. If they could only see themselves. This was the most animated they’d been since that morning Mr. Lambert had been found dead, with a smile on his face, in Mrs. Zambini’s bed.

  “It’s okay, everyone,” she called to them. Had Jimmy really tried to hurt her? Or had he just been scared and she’d been a convenient target? I found her first. She shivered at the memory of his words, the look in his eyes. But it made no sense. “Show’s over,” she called out, trying to sound confident.

  “He chased that sweet Jimmy,” Miss Helen cried, cat hair sticking straight out all over her sweater. She pounded her cane on the sidewalk and waved her sticky roller in the air. “I say let’s get him!”

  “Your ‘sweet Jimmy’ tried to choke our Talia,” the colonel barked. “I say we call the police!”

  “It’s okay, Miss Helen, Colonel. I’ll find out what’s going on. Please, could you all go back inside and help Tom round up the animals for me?”

  Worry for their furry friends all left behind in the stampede immediately filled their faces, as Talia had hoped it would. She knew the desk manager had likely rounded them all up at this point, but they wouldn’t have thought of that. They all shuffled back toward the building. All except for Colonel Rosewall.

  “Young man, I’ll have it from you now.” He rapped Archer smartly on the chest with the handle of his cane, as if he were running inspection and Archer had failed it. Miserably. “Why in blazes did you come in here like the fourth cavalry charging a hill when a simple question or two would have sufficed? I’m certain whatever the situation is with young James, it could have been handled more discreetly.”

  Archer nudged the cane handle aside. “Sorry, Commander, this really doesn’t—”

  “That’s colonel, soldier!” Rosewall straightened his thin shoulders, looking amazingly authoritarian in his navy blue bathrobe. “And if it concerns young Miss Trahaern here, then it most certainly—”

  Talia intervened and placed a gentle hand on the colonel’s arm. “It’s okay, Colonel. I need to have a discussion with Mr. Archer here. Would you do me a favor and go back inside and help the others? I know they look to you for guidance.” She leaned closer. “And if I’m not inside in ten minutes, call the cops, okay?”

  The colonel harrumphed, but finally saluted her, gave Archer a brief once-over that likely would have left his troops trembling but made no obvious impact on Archer, then walked toward the lobby door. “Ten minutes,” he repeated. “Not a second longer.”

  Talia nodded, waiting until he was inside before turning around. “Just what in the hell is going on here? Who are you? Some kind of cop or something?” He didn’t look like a cop. And the old man hardly looked like a cop’s partner. It might not be wise to remain outside alone with him, but he knew something about her mother. She shuddered again and rubbed gently at her neck. “How did you know my mother? And what does that have to do with Jimmy?”

  “Mother?”

  “You said you were looking for Eleri Trahaern.”

  Archer swore. “Where is she?”

  “I—She’s dead.”

  Just then the older man materialized behind her, seemingly out of nowhere. Archer took the dog from its happy perch in the old man’s arms. “You didn’t take us far enough back. This is her daughter. We need Eleri.”

  “We are precisely where we need to be,” he said calmly. “Eleri was pregnant with young Talia here, you see. That is why she left.”

  “Now you tell me?”

  “Now is when it matters,” he said simply. “Going back to her lifetime would have yielded us nothing. We wouldn’t have convinced her to return with a young child.”

  Talia’s attention flickered between them. She had no idea what they were talking about. “My mother died when I was six.”

  Pain flickered over Baleweg’s smooth face. “I know, my dear, and you have my deepest condolences. I tried to help, but she was a stubborn one. However, now your time has come. Only you can help us.”

  Talia felt as if she’d been dropped into Oz. “Help you with what? Wait a minute, you knew my mother?”

  He nodded and smiled gently. “I did. And I’m sorry to barge in on you like this.” He sent a baleful look toward Arch
er, then turned his sublime countenance back to her. “What we have to tell you, Miss Trahaern, will seem fantastical, but I’m asking that you open both your mind and your young heart and hear us out. Lives are at stake.”

  He took her hand and what felt like a mild electrical current smoothed up and down her arm. She would have pulled away, but the sensation felt so incredibly good she didn’t seem to have the willpower to end the contact. His eyes were so blue, she realized absently, you could stare at them forever.

  She shook her head then and blinked a couple of times, frowning as she pulled her arm free. The pleasurable sensations lingered, however. “I don’t know how I can be of any help to you. I remember very little about my mother.”

  “What do you remember?” the old man asked.

  For all that Talia was enthralled with the idea that she had finally met someone with clues to her past, this was just too strange. She folded her arms. “I think perhaps you should explain yourself first.”

  Archer sighed in disgust, drawing her attention back to him.

  “What is your problem?” The tension finally snapped her control. “And why were you after Jimmy? What did he mean, ‘I found her first’?”

  “You mean Dideon? I’m guessing he was sent here to kill you.” He said this as smoothly as if he’d been discussing the weather. “I thought you’d appreciate me stopping him.” He turned to Baleweg. “I get no gratitude.”

  Talia’s mouth dropped open. So he was a cop. But their accents … they were both Brits. That made a strange sort of sense, as her mother had been Welsh. So what kind of cops could they be? Some sort of secret agents? Like James Bond or something? This was all too surreal. Maybe he wasn’t a secret agent, just deranged. They’d both escaped from some mental institution and they’d just thought they’d known Jimmy. Except … Jimmy had definitely recognized Archer. And they both knew Eleri. They had her picture. A headache of mammoth proportions spang to life inside her head.

  Baleweg sighed the sigh of the eternally weary and folded his hands together. “If you’d allow me to conduct this in the manner in which we’d agreed—”

  “No, mate, you instructed, I never agreed.”

  “And they wonder why I don’t get involved in the affairs of the court,” Baleweg muttered.

  The court? “Is Jimmy in some kind of legal trouble? What did he do?” She knew something was weird about that guy. But how in the hell it involved her mother … Her head throbbed.

  Baleweg turned to them both, his serene countenance now shored up with a goodly amount of steel. “Miss Trahaern, I apologize for the manner in which this situation has been brought to your attention. However, I cannot reverse what has been done.” He looked at Archer. “Much as I would like to. Once a life is entered, I can only go forward in it.” He gestured behind them. “I see there is a gazebo down near the gardens. Why don’t we head there and I will endeavor to answer all your questions.”

  A life entered? Again, she had no idea what he was talking about. She did know that the gazebo was another hundred yards father away from the Lodge. Not a good idea. “We’ll have our little talk right here.” She eyed first Archer, then Baleweg. “You’ll answer my questions, then I’ll decide what, if anything, I’ll do to help you.”

  Archer stared at the woman who was worth a queen’s ransom to him. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a dead-or-alive mission. He turned to Baleweg. “Catriona wants Eleri Trahaern. How do you know her daughter will be able to help?”

  Baleweg didn’t look away from Talia. “The gift is passed from mother to daughter.”

  If Archer had shifted his gaze to Talia’s even a moment later, he would have missed the split-second flash of … what had it been? Fear? Understanding?

  It was the latter that propelled him forward. If she was a healer like her mother, then she would do. “What do you remember about your mother?”

  “I believe I said I would ask the questions.” There was heat in her voice. Her eyes had edged away from the wildness he’d seen earlier. Perhaps she was made of stronger stuff than her willowy frame and fine halo of dark hair would lead one to believe. But it was those ethereal gray eyes that held his attention. “How do you know my mother?” She looked to them both.

  “I never knew her,” Archer replied. “But I knew of her. She held a rather prominent position in court.”

  “Court? I don’t remember her ever mentioning she was involved in the legal system.”

  “The House of Dalwyn.”

  Baleweg stepped between them both. “He is speaking of the royal court.”

  Talia looked confused. “Royal? But isn’t Queen Elizabeth a Windsor or something?”

  “The House of Dalwyn comes after the Windsors. Much after, in fact.” Baleweg reached out a hand. “This is confusing, but I assure you we can explain everything.”

  Talia backed away from his touch. “Just tell me how you know my mother and how you tracked me down.” She left Jimmy’s role out of it for now. She glanced at her watch, then darted a look to the lobby door.

  Archer knew their time was growing short. Baleweg was handling this all wrong. Looking into her eyes, Archer realized what it was he’d seen earlier, beyond the fear, the understanding. Curiosity. She was terrified, but she still wanted to know. She’d been six when Eleri died and apparently knew nothing about her mother’s role in a future kingdom. He could change that.

  “We come from a future time. As did your mother.” He gauged her reaction. Stunned confusion. She didn’t know anything about this. Archer swore under his breath. Nothing was ever easy. “Our ruler, Queen Catriona Dalwyn, is very ill. Your mother served her father, King Cynan.” A flicker of recognition. He leaped on it. “You recognize the name?”

  She shook her head, but she was lying.

  “Your mother, what did she tell you about him?” he insisted.

  “Nothing. It was … it was a bedtime story. A fairy tale.” Real fear flickered in her eyes.

  “It’s no fairy tale, Talia. Your mother was telling you where she was from. That was her home. Now the queen needs your help.”

  Talia’s expression clearly said that she felt as if she were placating the insane. Archer sympathized. He was beginning to think this whole mission was insane. How in the hell was he going to convince her they spoke the truth?

  He turned to Baleweg for help, but the older man merely motioned for him to continue. Thanks, mate. “Your mother was born into service for the House of Dalwyn. She was the royal healer. But there was trouble, an attempt was made on her life, and she escaped. She found a doorway … to the past.” He motioned to Baleweg. “He helped her to come here.”

  Talia simply stared at him, looking mostly numb now.

  “Baleweg says your mother passed her skills to you.” He noticed she glanced immediately at Ringer, then back at him. He wasn’t sure what that signaled, but apparently Baleweg did.

  The old man stepped forward. “Ah, you’re an empath, aren’t you, my dear?”

  The wild edge immediately returned to her eyes.

  “It is fairly common in our time. And certainly among your kind.”

  “My kind?” she whispered. Her face was losing color, except for two bright pink splotches high in her cheeks.

  “You are a healer, as well, Talia,” Baleweg said kindly. “Your mother came here, to this time, to protect you, but it seems as though she was taken from you before she could explain your destiny. She said nothing at all to you?”

  Talia’s mouth opened, then shut again. She blinked a few times, as if seeing something inside her mind, then shook her head. “No. No, she didn’t.”

  “You’re lying again.” Archer knew it, just as he knew they’d run out of time.

  Her eyes flew to him, the bright spots in her cheeks heightening further, her eyes growing glassy. “No! I don’t know anything about what you’re telling me.”

  “You recalled something, just now. What?” He took her arm. “Tell me.”

  “They were just a bunc
h of fairy tales! They didn’t mean anything.”

  Baleweg shook his head and smoothly relieved her arm from Archer’s grasp. “Archer, really. Not all things can be solved with your bullying ways. And here I had heard stories of your prowess with the fairer sex. Propaganda I’m beginning to disbelieve.”

  Archer tossed him a look. “This isn’t a seduction, old man.”

  “I should hope not. You’d be going about it all wrong.”

  “This is why I always work alone,” he muttered.

  Baleweg turned his gaze to Talia. “I don’t know about the bedtime tales your mother told you, but I imagine a goodly part of them were based on her life in court. Perhaps she’d have explained that in time. We’ll never know. But that can’t be helped. The queen needs your help. It is time for you to return and take your rightful place.”

  “I’m not a … I can’t—this is crazy.” Her voice was a strangled whisper.

  “Yes, you can,” Archer said firmly. “I will pay you very well. Riches beyond your imagination. And as soon as you help the queen, I’ll make sure you’re brought back to this very spot.” He carefully averted his gaze from Baleweg. He had no idea if Catriona would let her leave, but that wasn’t his problem at the moment. “Do we have a deal?”

  Her gaze bounced almost frantically between Archer and Baleweg. Her throat worked, but she said nothing.

  “Really, Archer,” Baleweg implored, “money is not the solution here—”

  “Money is always the solution,” he shot back.

  Whatever Talia might have said was drowned by the sudden wail of sirens. Two vehicles spun into the side lot. Men in blue uniforms poured out of the doors before the rolling vehicles had come to a complete stop, all of them shouting commands.

  “Come, Archer,” Baleweg commanded. “Our time is up for now.” He closed his eyes and Archer saw the triangle begin to open behind him amid the hedgerow.

  Archer pulled Talia around to face him. Her dazed gray eyes finally locked on his. “You will help us, Talia Trahaern. We will be back.”

  With great reluctance, he released her. Just as the first man in blue planted himself and pulled what must have been some kind of weapon, Archer turned and stepped into the bushes and through the triangle after Baleweg and Ringer.