“You need to find him a new job! He can’t possibly tolerate working in the fields like this!” Sean commanded.
“I will do my best!” Dr. Thorpe snapped at Sean. “Now get out of here all of you and let us work!”
The others all exchanged glances and Sean stared Dr. Thorpe down before he stormed out. Sarah, Kennedy, and Josh followed him. “That young man needs to learn to control his temper or he is going to have a real problem soon when the soldiers return home,” Dr. Thorpe remarked to me after they left.
“I think he means well,” I stated, however his behavior had begun to annoy me. Things were bad enough without having to listen to him complain day after day. None of us wanted to be here, but we had no choice.
After a few minutes Matthew began to relax. His breathing became less labored and by the sounds of it, his air exchange began to improve.
“Evie, I can’t go back to the fields. My allergies and asthma will kill me. I have to get home. I can’t die here! Please help me!” he begged.
“I will talk to Dr. Thorpe. Maybe we can see if there is something else you can do,” I reassured as Samantha and I helped him back over to the cot and assisted him to lie down. She stayed with him while I walked over to the doctor by the hearth. He was hard at work grinding more ephedra for Matthew’s next dose.
“We are going to need to harvest more in the morning, I’m afraid,” he said as I approached. “You will need to know where it grows. We are also short on bugle leaves. Those are helpful for healing stab wounds . . . which I am sure we will see lots of soon. I will show you that as well.”
“Dr. Thorpe, . . . is it possible to find Matthew another job? His allergies seem pretty severe. I think the fields are too much for him.”
“I suppose we can ask the princess if there is something available in the castle.”
“Great, . . . if an opportunity arises I can ask her tomorrow afternoon,” I offered.
“She is summoning you back again tomorrow? Why?” Dr. Thorpe asked curiously looking at me.
“I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with me telling her more about our world. I think she is curious to hear about how women live in our time.”
“How am I ever to train you if she keeps pulling you away?” Dr. Thorpe tossed his hands up lightly in frustration.
Chapter 7
Darkness greeted my eyes for the bells had not yet begun ringing when Dr. Thorpe roused us the next morning. We fumbled around lighting a few candles so that we could dress and make our way downstairs to check on Matthew. To my relief, he slept soundly.
“Leave him be, he will need to rest today. I will speak to the field farmer and let him know what has happened,” Dr. Thorpe said as we collected our baskets and followed him out the back door.
The faintest bit of light had begun to peek over the horizon. I was no stranger to waking and working early. Odd hours were the norm in the nursing profession. Thankfully the summer season kept the morning chill out of the air. Sam and I followed him through the peacefully quiet village, past the blacksmith and then the stables where Sean usually slept. We moved silently further back into the village near the mountain slope. With the increasing elevation I saw past the village and in the distance a silhouette of a narrow, tall stone structure connected to the land with a long bridge surrounded on all sides by water from the great lake.
“Dr. Thorpe, what is that?” I asked pointing in the distance to it.
“That is Ironhaven . . . the prison. That is where they keep the long term prisoners or the ones whose fates are not yet decided. The ones they intend to execute right away are kept in the dungeons of Silverstone.”
“Oh,” was all I could think of to say. I hadn’t realized that dungeons and executions were part of this world. It made me want to think twice about what I would tell the princess about my world. Perhaps the others were right, I should try to keep my distance from the royals and keep my head down until we could get back home.
He took a turn around a bend leading us away from heading up the mountain. “What lies up further on the mountain?” I asked, looking back.
“Huh? . . . Oh, nothing of interest. Some of our medicinal herbs can be found there. But, you should never go up there.” He spoke with a disinterest that was puzzling to me.
“Why not?”
“Anyone who goes up there does so at their own risk, trust me,” was all he said before he pointed to some rocky crags nearby. “There,” he pointed to some greenish spindly looking tufts of foliage. “That is the ephedra that we need.”
“All of these herbs are starting to look the same to me. How will I ever be able to tell them apart?” I mused.
“Try Evie. I have made notes and attempted to draw them in the book back at the clinic. You need to know what we use and where they can be found. I may not be around forever you know,” he said dismissively as he coughed a little bit.
His comment stuck with me for a while as Sam and I used our knives to cut sections of the herb and tuck it into our baskets. He was right. He wasn’t a spring chicken and there was no modern medicine here. After we collected all that we could, leaving the roots intact to allow the herb to grow back, we headed further along down towards the shoreline of the lake in the opposite direction of Ironhaven. The sun was shining brightly by the time we reached the shore and continued down towards the docks where the larger boats and ships came and went. The docks started out smaller but became more massive further inland.
“Bugle leaves are important for healing. We can only gather them in the summer months because the frost kills them,” Dr. Thorpe explained. “We should come here regularly to gather them until the first frost.”
“Where are they?” Sam asked looking around.
“Under the dock. They grow on the support beams beneath.”
“You mean we have to wade in the water to harvest them?” I asked in astonishment. No wonder we were paid for our work from the crown. Who wanted to do this kind of job? But, I suppose it beat cleaning up horse manure in the stables.
“Evie, since you are seeing Princess Emeley later today, Sam and I will wade out to get them. I’m sure she won’t welcome you if you smell like the lake,” he said half-joking. Sam didn’t look too thrilled to be selected to go.
“Is it safe? I mean, there is nothing that is going to attack us in that lake water is there?” Sam asked skeptically.
“Of course not. I have done this dozens of times and have never seen anything other than an occasional fish,” Dr. Thorpe snorted.
I watched them wade out, holding their baskets. Although I was not with them, I could see what they were doing and what leaves they were cutting off. Fortunately they were plentiful and they did not need to wade more than thigh deep in the fishy lake water to get what we needed before coming back.
Full baskets in hand, the three of us made it back well before noon to the clinic to administer another vaporized ephedra dose to poor Matthew. Sam and I helped Dr. Thorpe organize and hang the herbs in pre-measured dose bundles to dry so that they would be ready when needed. Once dry, we would place them in labeled glass bottles for preservation and protection. In the early afternoon Matthew was feeling well enough to go back to his work, with a note from Dr. Thorpe to take it easy. Surprisingly the lead farm hand could read. Samantha went with Drew to gather water from the well for the garden outside as I helped to clean up.
“Evie, be cautious what you tell the princess about your former life,” Dr. Thorpe urged once Sam was gone. “Remember that the freedom you are accustomed to does not exist here.”
“I understand.”
“We as wayfarers appear exotic to the people and the royals here. We are the zebras as opposed to the horses; so to speak. We have knowledge of technology and a whole other world that they do not. Sometimes I think that it scares them.”
“They why do they even tolerate us? Why don’t they just execute us on sight?” I wondered out loud.
“Because wayfarers are viewed differently in this wor
ld. Some kingdoms fear us and some revere us for our differences and knowledge.”
“Where does this kingdom stand on the matter?”
“Somewhere in between I think,” he said thoughtfully as he sat in the chair by the hearth, wiping his brow with his handkerchief. Shortly thereafter a servant entered and offered to escort me to meet with the princess.
I seemed to remember the common areas of the castle a little better each time I traveled through them. I’ve stopped being self-conscious from all of the nobles that would pause what they were doing to stare at me. They probably wondered what the princess wanted with me. Even though I dressed like a servant, my height, my American accent, and my modern shoes gave me away to anyone who didn’t know. Dr. Thorpe said that after the next payday he would take Sam and I to the cobbler to have custom leather boots made. With only a month left of summer, we would need them.
My guide left me at an ornate dark wooden door towards the back of the castle that overlooked the gardens and the mountain beyond. I knocked then pushed the door open after I heard her voice granting permission to enter. I could hardly hide my surprise to see her dressed in dark brown leather leggings and a long belted tan tunic. Her hair had been pulled back and braided warrior style. She looked positively bad ass; so unlike the demure princess I had seen twice. It was the first time I had seen any woman wear anything other than a dress in weeks. I curtsied and she greeted me. I also could not help but notice she was alone, save for the guards standing by outside in the hallway. I wondered where the sourpuss Lady Bluteau and her other usual companions were.
“Have you dined yet, Miss Evelyn?” she asked in her light pleasant voice.
“No, Your Highness,” I answered honestly.
“I have just come from practice and dinner is about to be served. You may join me if you like.” She gestured out to a small balcony where a few servants were setting up a table.
“Thank you, that is very kind of you, Your Highness,” I commented as I followed her outside. I wondered about her behavior. Was it normal for a princess to be so generous and welcoming with a servant? I waited for her to be seated before I gingerly sat on the edge of the seat opposite to her. I don’t think I’d ever had such good posture in my life; it was a reflection of my nervousness. I waited for her to begin eating before I felt it was safe to take a bite myself. The food tasted much better than what we got at the East Wing Cookhouse. But as long as I didn’t starve to death, I would never complain. At least she allowed my companions and I to eat for free. The table held fresh bread, butter, fruit, and some kind of hearty soup. Thankfully blood wasn’t on the menu. I tried not to focus on her teeth when I looked at her.
“Dr. Thorpe tells me you are a nurse in your world,” she commented as she ate.
“Yes, I am.”
“Do you find you are able to apply your skills and knowledge on my people?”
“To the best of my ability, Your Highness. Dr. Thorpe is a wonderful teacher.”
“It is apparent by your table manners, your way of speech, and your intelligence that you are an educated woman. Can you read and write as well?”
“Yes, of course . . . in English.” So this is a test, I thought as I sliced the top off of a strawberry before piercing it with my fork.
“Do you have museums in your world, Miss Evelyn?”
I nodded, wondering where this was going.
“I ride on most days and sometimes find things that I believe are not of my world. Things that have most likely have traveled here through a portal. In fact, I have a few of them in that chest in there,” she said, pointing back inside the room. “Perhaps you would be good enough to have a look at them with me?”
“Of course,” I said after I swallowed the last bite of lunch. She definitely had my attention now. Then portals do open and close here sporadically, I thought as I tucked that tiny bit of knowledge in my mind. I rose from my chair after she did and followed her inside towards the chest.
She paused before opening it and said, “whatever we see and discuss here shall remain between us.”
I nodded in agreement, anxious to see what kinds of things she had found. She gently lifted the lid and pulled out a small fabric pouch. Loosening the ties and opening it, she pulled out a small silver disc I knew only too well.
“What is this . . . some kind of currency?” she asked holding it out to me.
“It is a CD, Your Highness.”
“A CD?”
“It stands for compact disc. They usually have music on them.” I held out my hand and she handed it to me. I turned it over and read the label. “This is a Lady Gaga album,” I announced, feeling a little homesick.
“Where is the music? And who is Lady Gaga?”
“The music is imprinted on the shiny side back here,” I turned it back over to show her. “Lady Gaga is just a stage name for the artist. She isn’t really a noble lady.”
“Interesting. But how do you hear the music?”
“Unfortunately we can’t. We would need a CD player and electricity. Neither exists here,” I explained, hoping I wouldn’t have to go into the whole electricity explanation right now. I handed the CD to her and she put it back in the pouch and set it down.
“What about this?” she asked as she held up a heavy black revolver as casually as if she had lifted a hair brush.
“Whoa!” I exclaimed as I instinctively stepped back glancing from her to the gun and back as she watched me. I don’t think she would shoot me even if she knew how, but I felt certain she did not know about firearm safety.
“Well?” she asked again.
“Your Highness, please put that down . . . that is dangerous!” I pleaded with her, holding up my hand, palm towards her as if to convey my concern.
“What is it?” she persisted in a little more impatient tone.
I looked at her almost like she was nuts before I realized that she truly did not know. “Your Highness, that is a gun, . . . a weapon. It could be loaded. You could accidentally shoot someone or yourself. Please put it down.”
“Oh, is that all?” she said in a bored tone. I just continued to stare at her. Much to my relief she lowered it and put it back into the trunk. “Have you ever used one?”
“No . . . I’ve never handled a weapon in my life,” I replied honestly. “I’ve never needed one.”
“However, you know how it works,” she pointed out.
“I know how a lot of things work, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve actually applied and performed that knowledge,” I stated plainly.
She smiled at me. “I will put it with the others.”
“The others?” I practically gasped in astonishment.
“This looks similar to what I already have.”
“Where are they?” I could not help but ask.
“Perhaps you should see my collection sometime . . . I have many questions.”
“You have a collection?” I wondered out loud.
“I have been collecting a long time, Miss Evelyn,” she said looking directly at me with those half human blue-green eyes. I began to wonder exactly how old she was. “I have seen all there is to see in my world. That is why I find these objects so intriguing. Knowledge is power. And, now I have you to share your knowledge with me.”
I gave her a polite smile. I began to wonder about Dr. Thorpe’s comment about wayfarers in general. Maybe this princess does see me as something more valuable than a servant if I can help her try to understand technology and different ways of life.
∞
It was nearly a week before I received another summons from Princess Emeley. The clinic had been busy with all sorts of injuries and ailments. When I wasn’t assisting Dr. Thorpe, Sam and I would gather and prepare herbs for drying. My other companions continued to stew about our situation and look for clues about how we could try to open a portal home.
This time I recognized the terrace where I met the princess the very first time. I occupied myself by taking in the view as I waited for her
to arrive. I turned as I heard soft footsteps behind me and curtsied out of habit before I realized it was not the princess who greeted me. Instead I had to conceal my shock as I came face to face with Lady Bluteau. I remained silent, waiting for her to speak first.
“Princess Emeley will be delayed for a while. She requests that you wait here.”
“Thank you, my lady,” I replied politely. There really wasn’t anything else I could say. I hoped that would be it and she would go.
She turned as if she would start to walk away and then stopped and turned back. She gave me a saccharine smile and said, “I really do not know what she wants with you anyway. You are nothing but trouble . . . the whole lot of you . . . wayfarers. Who cares about what your world is like anyway?” Her voice reflected her pure distaste of me.
Apparently the princess does, I thought. I simply stared at her, saying nothing, remembering Dr. Thorpe’s and Paul’s advice. If I talked back to her like I wanted to nothing good would come of it. I wondered how this little teenage brat could pass for good breeding and nobility here. I felt relieved when she turned on her heel and marched off the way that she came, head held high. I turned back to my view and leaned on the ledge looking out. Lady Bluteau’s comments had upset me a little. I let my mind wander back to my world. I missed my sister and my father. They must be so worried about me. I comforted myself by thinking that things could have been worse . . . at least I was still alive. My thoughts went back to poor Hannah and how her family will never see her again. I took a deep breath. I wish I could have saved her life. If only there was something I could have done for her. My poor father. He would search the ends of the earth for me. People just don’t disappear, especially in large groups. But we did, and now we are here . . . in this brutal world.
“Miss Evelyn?” a light, soft voice called to me, interrupting my thoughts. I hadn’t heard her approach and immediately stood back up and turned to greet the princess. This time she was back in a dress, and although it was beautiful, it was more practical than some of the other dresses I had seen her in. I wore my usual peasant ensemble, a black chemise with burgundy overskirt and gray leather bodice with my black scarf wrapped over the front of my forehead like a bandana, the ends trailing down my back.
The Twilight Star Page 7