by E L Russell
When a gentle breeze stirred the leaves, one of the branches morphed into a mocking smile, but just as quickly, the smile vanished to be replaced by an expression of agony. A body fell from the tree directly toward her and she rolled and half stood with her dagger drawn ready to strike. There was no need. A lance pierced the enemy’s heart.
Yasmin’s quiet chuckle warmed her.
Removing the weapon from the dead body, Finna handed it to her friend.
* * *
Leeth continued to challenge them with difficult situations, which Finna and her cohorts, Yasmin and Jamal, continued to meet. He was quick to tell Brother Braylus they functioned as a fighting unit that had been together for years.
When he took them into the forest for actual combat, they worked the watching hole to perfection, detecting all intrusion before it was a problem. When it came time to face the actual enemy, Jamal avoided the sleeping potions and there was no need for Leeth to save him. Finna didn’t have to charge in, to save Leeth and therefore didn’t break her leg. Finna and Yasmin, with the well-organized help of Jamal and minimal aid from Leeth, overpowered the enemy troop of six in hand-to-hand combat.
* * *
Bone tired, Finna could barely pick up her feet as she shuffled behind Yasmin into the common area. They’d met the enemy and emerged victorious.
With no casualties.
She met Leeth’s smile across the room with one of her own.
God’s Bones.
She liked the man. When had that changed? She had begun to worry about his safety as much as she did Yasmin’s. She headed for the fresh bread and fruit on the table and fell into a chair.
“Tired?”
She laughed into his eyes, relishing the moment. “Are you?”
Not fooled, he said, “As weary as you.” Leeth handed her a mug of cool water. “But winning is worth it.”
Finna knew she sat there with a sappy grin on her face and somehow that seemed to tickle the man across the table from her. When he laughed, she felt heat in her cheeks and she looked around for something to distract him. “Yasmin, aren’t you hungry?”
“Too tired to eat. We kicked ass today and I’m done for. I haven’t taken to his heavy gravity as fast as you.”
Finna remembered the struggle all too well. “I hear you.” So much of what they had done lately seemed familiar and sometimes she noticed Leeth looking at her with a puzzled look on his face. She reached for two pieces of fruit that looked apple-like and tossed one to her comrade. “You need sustenance.”
Yasmin caught it and nodded her thanks. “Where’s Jamal?”
“In the courtyard practicing his takedowns. He was disgusted that it took him two tries to level an opponent a hundred pounds heavier then him.” Leeth shook his head in wonder. “You have one gutsy son. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
“That’s for sure,” Finna said with the same maternal pride Yasmin had. She lowered her head to her arms for a moment when a voice from her past surprised her.
“How’s the tea, Finna?”
She stood, unsure who spoke, and drew her blade. “Knosh? Are you with us?”
“I would have it no other way, except it is you who are with us.”
She extended her forearm expecting to shake his as warriors do, but he surprised her with a quick hug then held her shoulders at arm’s length.
“So, you are the replacements.”
She squirmed at his welcome. True, they had been comrades in arms for a short period, but she didn’t know him that well.
“Who did you bring to complete the team?” Leeth asked.
“Two people from my village. Did you meet Miri when you first arrived here? The other you know for sure. Tood.”
“I don’t recall—” She narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t. Surly not the short bastard who stuck his sword in my back during training?”
A voice hiding behind Knosh mocked her words. “Someone snuck in a bastard? Where is he? And where are the new women? I hear they’re easy. Let’s see them.”
She stepped to one side to see the man. “Sarding hell. It is you. Do I need to cut off the other one, too?”
Tood held up both hands in protest. “My dear woman, must you always hold that sharp thing in your hand?”
She twirled the knife around her index finger before hiding it away, she lowered her chin and gave him a persuasive warning. “Stay clear of me.”
He bowed. “You have my word on it.”
Leeth snorted. “Now that you two are all caught up, where’s Miri?”
Knosh pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “She sleeps, a victim of your arduous training.”
Leeth looked past Knosh’s shoulder into a small adjoining room. “Ah, I see.” He raised his voice. “Miri. Come meet your teammates.”
The wiry, well-muscled, young woman with flaming red hair strode barefoot into the commons area. She wore nothing beyond her shorten braies and thin cloth shirt. Unconcerned with her lack of dress, she stretched and without speaking or acknowledging anyone, flopped in a chair and poured a full mug of tea.
Yasmin blanched at the sight and Finna knew she was thinking of Jamal. Yes, she’d met the woman before in the presence of Vald. She had assumed she was a good guy. Now, she wasn’t so sure.
The woman noisily sipped her tea, face expressionless, until her emerald eyes, darted around and fell on Knosh. Then she smiled and returned to her slurping her tea.
Finna, sitting across from her rolled her eyes at Leeth. “What’s her specialty?”
Tood started to speak, but Finna cut him off. “We know what you are good at.”
Knosh laid a hand on his friend’s arm. “The fighting stick. She’s one of the best.”
Finna nodded. “Good, I look forward to training with her.”
Leeth shifted to the chair next to Finna and spoke directly to her, making sure she caught the full meaning of what he said. “They just finished three days training with me. I ran them though the same exercises I gave you and Jamal.” He tapped the table in front of Miri. “Get dressed, we fight in the woods today.”
Miri emptied her mug and stood. As they sauntered from the room, she patted Knosh’s butt.
“Isn’t your room in the other direction?” Finna asked.
Miri, speaking for the first time, replied, “Wrong. That’s Knosh’s room, mine’s over here.”
* * *
They assembled on the highest rampart, weapons in hand. Finna and Yasmin tapped their fighting sticks in greeting, but no one spoke.
“Because of the extra gravity and denser air, you all need additional training to compensate and acclimatize.” Leeth looked each member of his team in the eye. “We’ve found that a short ride through the woods is a great way to warm up.”
“Rides?” Jamal eyes grew wide in hope. “No one mentioned rides.”
Tood grinned. “Horses, boy, big ones.”
“Yes,” He said, enthusiasm pouring from him. He sobered and faced the man from Torg. “I can handle a horse and do not call me boy.”
Leeth intervened. It had become his part time job since the arrival of the rest of the team. The dynamics of the group had changed, yet unity was crucial. It was one more thing they had to work on, to like, or at least respect, each other enough to have each other’s backs. “Jamal’s people are excellent with warhorses. But I must warn you, Jamal, the desert horse is bred for speed on the sand. These horses grew up here in the heavy gravity mucking through deep mud. They’re much larger in girth than you are used to. They will challenge your ability to use your legs to hang on.”
Knosh whooped “Let’s go.”
The group, not yet a team, took off at a run toward the woods.
60
Revelations
Second Awakening
Finna woke from a d
eep sleep with crippling leg cramps. After coaxing the pain from them with hardy rubbing and soft swearing and stretching, she was too wound up to sleep. Her mind drifted to the previous evening where the conversation had focused on her skill with the bow while riding.
She could shoot the eyes out of rodents at fifty yards. Big deal. She’d practiced it for years. Still, satisfaction rippled through her from the praise. In fairness to the others, she’d deflected the praise and spoken of Jamal’s ability to put his fighting stick into the center of every target, including some slow rabbits and large birds, and Yasmin’s strength at welding a sword with such force as to sever limbs and slice torsos in half. Hmm. In fact, with the exception of Miri, everyone seemed to have had a great day.
She was a strange one. Finna’s initial hostile feelings shamed her and for the sake of the group, she promised herself to try harder to like the woman. Her thoughts drifted to the pat on the tail, she wondered if Knosh rubbed Miri’s sore muscles.
Imagining everyone else was as sore as she was, she hobbled to the common area in search of hot tea and company. Leeth, alone, sat at the table.
“How are you feeling this morning, Finna?”
“It’s barely morning.” She sat with a chair between them. “Some leg cramps and some sunburn. Nothing to speak of.”
Picking up the empty tea pitcher, she swore. “Sard it. I’ve been dreaming of hot tea. How do we get more?”
Leeth poured from the second pitcher on the table. “Drink this instead. The mead is better for you. With the added fruit and spices, it’s blended to thwart cramps.”
“You are saying I should drink this for breakfast?” She ducked her face low in front of him. “You look unusually tired. How are you feeling?”
He snorted in response, but moved on to another topic. “I’ve decided you’re ready to hear more of my story.”
Now he had her attention. To learn more about this mysterious man was more than she could have asked for. “Why now?”
“You would look a gift horse in the mouth?” He lifted a hand. “You may find parts of it interesting . . . or even useful. And if nothing else, you will have valuable practice in listening to me and maybe understanding what I’m trying to explain to you.”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and poured another mead. “This is good stuff.” She jerked her chin at him. “Go on.”
“I wasn’t born in 1066.”
“What?” What was he saying? Every time she thought she learned something about him it wasn’t so.
“I was born in 1936.”
She choked on a swallow of mead.
Leeth thumped her back, almost knocking her off the chair.
She raised her hands, “s’awright. Um all right.”
1936?
“What are you talking about? You said you were Leeth Letholdus, the Knights Templar of the First Crusade and all that.” She waved her hand in the air and dropped her jaw open in confusion. “Are you telling me you could scale the walls of Jerusalem in the first crusade as someone from the future, in the body of another man, this Leeth Letholdus, and you did nothing, as in nothing, to alter the precious timeline?”
“Umph. Yes, well, that’s exactly how I got in trouble. When I first learned that it would be possible to viz the past, I was all in. Until, that is, I learned how disappointingly limited gleaning is.”
“Gleaning? What’s that? Is it related to time travel?”
He tapped a finger to his temple telling her to use private mind-to-mind speak. “Why? Aren't we in a safe place?”
Lord, yes.
When she heaved a heavy sigh, he lifted his brows in question and gave her a lazy smile. Damn. She sat up straight and put a frown on her face. Humph. There was no way she would tell him she liked him. She wondered what her expression had given away.
She waved the back of her hand dismissively. And what was a prickly pear? Nothing good, she would guess.
Leeth ducked his head and coughed, a poor effort to disguise a chuckle.
“How do I do that?”
She snorted derisively. She actually thought he was going to give her real information. Instead he was spouting the same hocus-pocus he always did. She revised her thinking. She didn’t like him any better now than she did originally. She pulled her chin back, knowing she had given him a blank stare. She didn’t like the idea that maybe she was the lackwit.
She gave him her best frown and nodded.
He paused to let that information sink in.
It was Leeth’s turn to frown and he surpassed himself with a thunderous look that drew his brows together and lowered them half way down his nose.
He preened a bit and Finna snorted.
61
Gleaning
Point of View
Finna scoffed.
Leeth glared at her as only he could.
Finna considered the information.
She tried to put some distance between her and an argument.
Finna scrunched up her face. "Eeew. Inside someone's body, seeing everything. That's disturbing."
Leeth tapped his temple.
Yasmin joined them with Jamal close behind.
Jamal had heard enough to ignite his curiosity.
Anticipating an explanation gave Finna a certain feeling of relief. She would enjoy dissecting Leeth’s words later with Yasmin. Every time she thought she had absorbed an inconceivable concept the man gave her, he came out with another outrageous concept. Born in 1936? That was almost a thousand years in the future.