by E L Russell
“Let me get to the important part of the story. When you return the chalices, the leaders of Antioch and Aleppo will no longer view Queen Eleanor as a person under a dark cloud in the eyes of the Pope. With her renewed status, they will support her in battle, which in turn will lead to unexpected victories for the French farther south near Ephesus.
“Do you see? Your success on her quest allows her to take her rightful place in history.”
“You are talking about the future? You can’t know that. Why did you make that up?” God’s Bones. The man was a lackwit. Why did it continue to surprise her? She bit her tongue and made no further comment.
Leeth pointed to an entry on the journal. “This is where it says you found Yasmin, one of the many wives of Prince Zafir of Aleppo. After you helped her escape from Aleppo, you fought together and became close friends.”
Finna stood and gazed off into space. “Yeah, and now she is dead.” She walked to the view between the nearest battlements, picked up several small stones, and angrily threw them into the low trees beyond the courtyard. She gawked as each fell short of her intended mark. Even the fact she’d been ill wouldn’t account for such a variance of distance. It wasn’t as if she was aiming for the moon or anything equally distant. She picked up two more stones and pitched them. They, too, dropped nearby.
“You can’t ignore what I am telling you, Finna.”
She turned her attention back to Leeth. “You couldn’t know of those things unless you followed me everywhere like a hunter. You stalked me. Don’t you think that’s kind of strange?”
He shook the book in his hand. “This is important. I didn’t write these words. These are the notes taken by a trusted friend of mine. Brother Braylus wrote them in conjunction with his position as a Time Overlord. He wrote all of this while he lived in Earth’s 21st century.”
35
Finna Doubts
Timelines and Death
That grabbed Finna’s attention, a 21st century journal about her 11th century life.
“Your brain is lacking if you think his claim is true. Furthermore, I did not die at sea.”
He slapped the journal with the back of his hand. “Earth’s written history says your initial attempts to escape the pirates ended in failure. You all died. Oh, sure, you beat off the bad guys a couple of times, but Yasmin died and not much later, you were captured. When you jumped ship to get away, you and Jamal perished during that escape.
“After that, you ceased to exist on Earth. That is why you are here on Torg. You are no longer in Earth’s timeline.” He snapped the journal closed. “Had I not intervened with your redemption, that would have been your future. Death in the cold sea. Is that what you want?”
Finna stared at the journal, her breathing making shallow panting noises. “That book . . . it records our deaths?” A sensation flashed in her brain. Cold. She remembered being in the sea, but not how she got there. Swallowing salt water. She’d swallowed a great deal of it and couldn’t catch her breath. Someone pulled her arm, then darkness, nothing. “I am not dead,” she said with a small gasp. “I am live. I live to serve my queen.”
With a great deal of ceremony, Leeth reopened the book and turned a page. “Time Overlords, the ones overseeing my actions, know only that someone returns the chalices to the Abby. There is no record of who does it or exactly how it is done. Nevertheless, in my history, in a future you were not destined to be part of, the woman we know as Eleanor of Aquitaine, becomes the Queen of England when she marries Henry II in 1152.”
Finna shook her head and stepped away. “You are mad. What is your purpose to say these things?” She beat her chest with a fist. “The fact is Jamal and I are alive.” Removing her knife, she assumed a fighter’s stance. “I demand to know who you are. Tell me how you captured us, or by God’s Holy bones, one of us will die this day.”
He waved a hand in dismissal, totally unimpressed “Like you, I once had to die to live.”
She kicked a pebble on the stone floor. “You sound like a priest speaking of redemption. That is God’s work, not yours.”
Returning the journal to his pouch, Leeth said, “I, like your father, am a former Knights Templar. In 1099, I fought in the first crusade, the one to regain Christian control of Jerusalem.”
Dammit.
At the word Templar, she was hooked in spite of herself. She lowered her weapon, wanting to hear his tale.
Leeth settled his back against the wall, folded his arms and crossed his ankles. “Our first attempt at the city wall failed. During the second effort I, Leeth Letholdus, became the first Christian to scale the wall and it was I who led the charge into Jerusalem to sack the city.” He lowered his head and spoke to the floor. “Many died that day. I am shamed by their deaths.” For a moment, he said no more and Finna waited impatiently to hear more.
“I know you can do the arithmetic. All that I just said about me took place 107 years ago.”
She tilted her head. “Are you speaking to me as a dead man, Sir Seeker?” She raised an eyebrow as though daring him to admit his lied.
He snorted a half laugh. “No, I can assure you I’m as much alive as you are.”
“I’m glad to hear you admit I am alive. Then—”
His voice rose. “As your father chose to forgo the sword and re-build his world, I chose to leave the Templars and re-build my world, my adopted world. Remember, the Templars were once monks whose orders existed solely to provide safety to pilgrims on their passage to the Holy Lands. I’m sure your father was drawn to their original calling. That was before the monks became the Knights Templar, before they fought for gain, for gold, for political power.”
She nodded.
“I come from your future, Finna, and we need you and Jamal, and Yasmin to help us win a new crusade, one in which we fight people from another world, on a planet like the ones your father spoke of while sitting with you against the wall you helped him build.” He waited for her to take that in.
She replaced her knife, and, with arms folded, stood in front of him blinking against a rage of tears. “You do remember that Yasmin is dead.” She brought her fist to her mouth and mumbled through it. “You are either insane or a sorcerer.”
Leeth came to his feet and dusted off his robes. “I know this is upsetting. Although there is no magic in what I can do, and what you are learning to do, it is a good description of our powers.” He extended his arm to her and when she didn’t retreat, he gently placed his palm against her right temple. “The magic you speak of resides here, in your mind, just as it does in mine. Soon, it will also reside in Jamal’s, and for that matter, in Yasmin’s.”
His hand comforted her and Finna felt her anger drain away. His smile spread warmth through her being and a strange warmth filled her. She returned a foolish grin.
Leeth’s voice took on a tone of admiration. “You are becoming something truly unique. You and I, we, are a new kind of human. You have seen how I can travel from place to place in an instant. That’s how I appeared in the cave when you fell in Germany. It is a skill I have in my brain. Because of your association with me, you and Jamal will mature the same way. It is like a contagious illness, but a good one. You catch the ability to have these powers from me.”
Every time she let down her guard, the man said something fantastical. He spoke nonsense with a straight face better than Bromwell, who was the biggest liar she knew. God’s Bones. Then she would start to believe him. She needed to get a better grip on herself.
“Catch an ability? I have caught nothing but bad luck with you. How did you get to the doorway in Patmos?” Every time she felt safe with him, he set her on her ear with doubt and confusion. “Is that why you kidnapped me . . . us? For our minds?”
“Without my redemption, your life, your very brave life, I would add, would be over. You would have died at the hands of the thugs of a little known petty prince in a remote part of Earth’s history. Believe me when I say I’m only sorry I had to wait to remove you from a
ll that until your natural death was imminent. We Seekers are forbidden to alter history. Consequently, there are few opportunities to remove someone without inducing a timeline alterations.” He paused. “Ah, you are curious now? You want to know more?”
She had seen little proof of his words. Nevertheless, there were parts of the story that were persuasive and Finna needed to learn more. “You may tell me more if you wish.”
Leeth raised an eyebrow at her that gave him the look one of the pirates she had been trying to avoid. His dark eyes and smooth swarthy skin mesmerized her and she forced herself to look away.
“Jamal needs this information as well, but first, you need to understand where we are. Had you noticed?” He lifted a finger and pointed upwards where a white crescent, much larger than Earth’s moon, floated high overhead. To its left, and low on the horizon, a smaller moon glowed red, as if sharing Finna’s frequent bouts of anger.
36
A Gift
Repositioning
Finna’s jaw dropped. “Is that another moon? There are two moons?” She leaned her face toward the sky as if to see better. What was happening? Her heartbeat thundered in her ears and her mouth went dry. She knew people who spoke of Doomsday. Was this how it began?
Leeth rubbed his chin and considered. Copernicus hadn’t been born yet so Finna didn’t even know Earth revolved around the sun. He scratched his head. She was from a time before clocks and printing presses, before telescopes, for god’s sake. Hell, the concept of a flying buttress was only just about to be conceived. How could she possibly imagine space travel? An inadvertent smile tugged at his lips.
Wouldn’t she love elevators?
“Hmm.” He played for time and hoped the dream training had opened her mind to what he would tell her. “We are in a place far away. Although it is not a place you know, it is a place where you and Jamal are safe.”
The Time Overlords’ directive was absolute. By forbidding him to alter Earth’s timeline, they’d left him no alternative. He took Finna and Jamal off Earth. The problem now was convincing her of the validity of her new reality without telling her about Earth’s future and her part in it. All this was complicated by the development of her brain with its imminent Awakening. He couldn’t risk telling her too much until her mind matured. So, he hedged. “Our actual location is not important.”
He watched her expression go from troubled, to confused, to anger. “Tell me, Seeker. Two moons are normal?”
Her glare drilled him and he felt her energy. “You’re feeling better. Wonderful. And please, call me Leeth. How does your head feel, Finna?”
“How I feel has nothing to do with two moons, Seeker. Stop ignoring my question.”
If she were from his time, she would know the two celestial bodies were a clue, but being of the eleventh century, they brought only fear of the unknown. He extended his hand. “For now, accept my word. The moons are not a danger. Come. Let us take a walk in the woods and talk more.” When she hesitated, he enticed her. “We’ll use one of your new powers.”
He watched her process the words and consider alternatives. It was a moment before she reluctantly took his hand. “What am I going to do?”
“Remember how you learned to speak to my mind? What you had to do to make that skill happen? You first thought of me, right. You will essentially do the same thing to reposition.” He pointed to a small clearing by the river of below. “See that place? You must imagine that in your mind as your destination. Close your eyes and think you are in that small clearing. Now open them.”
Finna’s mouth fell open. They stood in the exact spot they had viewed from the rampart.
Still holding onto her hand, Leeth shook it. “Well done. I only held your hand for support. You didn’t use much of my energy. With some practice, you’ll be able to do this on your own. What do you think? Have you, too, become a magician?”
Finna looked up at the rampart then all around where they stood. The stream babbled by in proof to what she had done. “I don’t know what to think, Seeker. It feels like magic. Until I can do it on my own and I am satisfied that it is a real thing, I don’t know.”
That removed any doubts about the pigheaded part of her brain. Lord, she was a tough nut to crack. “That’s fair, I suppose. I’m patient and will await your enlightenment. For now, we walk. Watch your step as we ascend. Some of the stones are loose and uneven.”
Finna put her fists on her hips and dug her heels in. “I have learned you do little that serves no purpose. What is the purpose of this walk?”
“Think of it as training. After we leave this field of rocks, we will walk fast and it will help restore your strength. I also have a gift for you hidden a little farther along.”
That caught her attention and she paid more attention to the details of the journey. What once served the modest castle as a courtyard, now held only piles of stones. Compulsively, she inspected the cuts on the loose ones, evaluating the skill of the craftsmen. Remarkable. When they stopped at what appeared to have been the main entrance to the castle, the expanse beyond opened, giving them a long view to the sea.
“Although the steep slope ends by the beach, we’ll enter the forest path halfway down to your left. A large boulder marks the trail.”
“You mentioned a gift?”
He detected a slight flush of red that she’d let her curiosity get the better of her.
“Just a few steps ahead.”
She laughed and quickened her pace, turning into the forest trail, where she disappeared from view.
Leeth ducked under the limb of a small tree and called after her. “Careful, you don’t want to step on it.”
Seconds later, the sudden swish and thud of an arrow hit the tree very close to his left ear.”
“You found it,” he said, after a gasp of surprise. “I see you remember how it works.” He jogged around the sharp curve in the path and found Finna examining one of the arrows he’d given her with the bow. “Do you find them satisfactory?”
“I do, Leeth. Thank you.” Her right hand held at least six arrows and the bow. She placed another three in her left hand. “These arrows have good metal tips with little barb, deadly yet good for fast retrieval. What do we shoot today?”
“I see that you are breathing hard. How do you feel?”
“Stop asking me that. I told you, I’m fine. Of course, I’m a bit winded. You kept me in bed too long.”
“Some wounds take more time than others to heal and I need to know you are strong enough to meet and survive any possible action.” After his meeting with Seth, the ancient man at the oasis, he’d vowed to increase her training slowly. Today it would begin.
37
A Test
Into the Forest
Finna almost stomped her foot. “I can take care of myself.”
“So I see.” Leeth handed Finna the arrow he’d pulled from the tree. “That was a bold demonstration of close-range shooting. If you want to practice on a moving target at a greater distance, perhaps you could take Jamal out hunting. Not, however, until we’ve done what we came to do.”
Raised brows replaced the pleasure on her face. “And what is that?”
The crux of his mission needed more training time. “Assume the native residents of this kingdom are savages who live in these woods, and at night, they could enter our keep and slaughter us.”
“No one has done that and we’ve been here for many days. Haven’t you made peace with these people?”
“After a fashion, let’s say we’ve established a truce, but you and Jamal are new to this kingdom and represent an unknown threat to them. Let us assume their culture does not respect strangers until they prove their value as worthy adversaries.”
“So this is a test.”
“Yes, your test.”
Her brows fell so hard into a frown they pushed her chin to her chest. “And you would leave me alone with them? What is the point of this mission? Why would I wish to impress savages?”
; “It is something simple, but profound for our long term relationship. We continually need to win their support, not as vassals or serfs, but so we can live together in peace as equals.”
Although not pleased with her distrust, Leeth was satisfied she showed no fear and he dropped an empty water bag at her feet. “Take this to the river.” He pointed to the dirt path. “Go down this path until you cross a small footbridge. Then follow the left path for two leagues. There, you can fill this container with fresh water at a place before the river meets the intrusion of the sea. Return with it to the keep.”
“This isn’t about getting water, is it? And where did you get my water bag? I didn’t see you carry it.”
“I guess you weren’t looking carefully.” The concept of repositioning distant objects would have to be one of her next lessons. “Do you accept the challenge?” He delighted in the spark in her eyes and the energy of anticipation thrumming from her body. Yes, she loved such challenges. He hoped he’d not overestimated her recovery.
Finna hung the bag over her shoulder and nocked an arrow to her new bow. “I need your word you won’t let Jamal follow me.”
“You have it and I need your word you’ll not use your new repositioning skill.” Briefly wondering what she would make of his abrupt departure, he vanished as soon she nodded, leaving her to complete her mission.
* * *
As unnerving as Leeth’s disappearing act was, Finna had more misgivings about being alone in the forest than she cared to admit. Little noises began to gain ominous overtones. With all the low scrubby trees, visibility was poor and she didn’t know what to expect. Although she’d told Leeth she felt fine, she actually felt sluggish, not yet her warrior-honed self. Still, she set off down the trail.