“You certainly do. But your ancestors, my dear, come from the past. What would happen to you if history as you know it – although I’m very much afraid you don’t know it at all well – were to change?”
A sudden recollection of all the films involving time travel rushed at me. Marty disappearing from the photo in that film about the DeLorean – I could never remember the name – it had Michael J. Fox in it. Everything I had seen on Doctor Who. If history as we knew it never happened, what would happen to me? And what would happen to my girls? I shook my head. This was getting ridiculous. It was beyond a joke. I could not believe I was sitting here discussing it, and yet…here I was. And this morning, I would have said that was ridiculous too.
“So what is supposed to happen, Abbess? What is our history?”
She looked thoughtfully at us both. “I suppose it can’t hurt to tell you. Sir Giles, if you should breathe a word of this…”
“They would think me deranged. Never fear, Abbess, I shall not be telling tales.”
“Exactly what I was going to say. And Marion, if your girls were to hear about this, how do you think they would react?”
I gawped at her. She had summed them up without even knowing them. It spoke volumes for her knowledge of human nature. Chloe would get to that tree by hook or by crook, and if, by some unlucky chance, she got through, it didn’t bear thinking about.
“And so we three are bound together. We dare not share this with another living soul. Very well, I shall tell you what I remember although,” she said with a grimace, “I must admit it was a very long time ago. Or ahead. Depending on which way you look at it. Now, attend please. Sir Giles, you already believe Richard will not be long lived, as, I’m sure, does John. You are right. In the not too distant future he will die, but before he does, he will have named John as his heir. Yes, Richard will forgive him for his part in certain, um, plots. Eleanor will make sure of that. For you can be sure she will not want England ruled by a French king. She has no love for them.”
She and Giles shared a sidelong glance. I felt rather left out and resolved to study history when…if…I got home.
“And yes, John will rule. Whether or not you will lose your lands, Sir Giles, I cannot say. I am not as well acquainted with history as that. I’m afraid you have no major part in the history books, for which you should be grateful.” She laughed. “It so often seems that people with a large part to play in history meet with untimely deaths. Be glad your fate is largely unknown, mayhap it means you will have a long and happy life. But we can almost say for a surety that, should John be allowed to die, you will lose your lands. The French King will have them off you before you can say, ‘I yield.’ And, Marion, if John does not rule, who is to say you will find your family still as you left them in your time? And so it behoves us to find a way out of this plight. Be still both of you, and let me think.” She walked a little away from us, then knelt, hands clasped before her, head tilted skyward as if in prayer.
I glanced at Giles, a little more at ease after Hildegarde’s good sense had struck home for both of us. “It looks as though we’ll have to work together.”
He smiled back and looked a lot less terrifying. “In truth, I will admit I was not easy in my mind about handing you over to John. The Abbess is in the right of it, I would not want that for any lady of my acquaintance. Oh, he would reward you right well, but it is not a life you would want, I think.”
He could say that again. I’m a one man woman, and I love my Tom. I didn’t care whether this John was a prince or not. I wanted to go home.
“So tell me. Is it much different to our time, where you are from? And how did you come to be here – apart from that wretched tree, I mean.”
“Oh yes.” How could I tell this man about cars, planes, computers? I wouldn’t know where to start. “Very different. We have ways of communication you couldn’t begin to imagine, ways of travel that would blow your mind.” Oops! I was reverting to my own century. But how on earth else could I express myself better?
“Blow my mind?” He gave me a bemused look. “Your speech differs too. I can imagine faces here, should I use that expression. Blow my mind.” He lingered over the words, a tentative smile spreading across his face again, transforming the stern features into something much more amenable, rather attractive in fact. I confess, I quite liked it.
“Well, I think I’d put it out of my mind, if I were you. I can’t imagine it would go unnoticed.”
A sudden handclap distracted us. Hildegarde was sitting bolt upright, hands together, her face lit up. “I have it. We shall use the tree. Marion, if not injected immediately, how long do these devices last?”
“It’s hard to give you a definite time. I’ve had some that have barely lasted a year.”
“I see. Very well, let me consider.”
She sat for a moment, lost in thought, then brightened and turned to me again.
“Then, might I ask you to help Sir Giles keep his lands? And maybe save his life? John can be vengeful, and in helping him, you would help yourself. For if history unfolds as it should in our history books, all will be well with your family too.”
Yes, I could see that. Besides, I didn’t want to put Giles in danger. I was beginning to see the man beneath. There was more to him under that hard exterior than met the eye. I wished him no ill. If I could help him, I would. Besides, Hildegarde was right. Who knew how my life might be affected? If history changed, what would I return home to find? But how? How could I help him?
Hildegarde read the question in my eyes. “Marion, can you get more of these devices? Say, one a year?”
“Possibly.” I couldn’t get them on prescription, that was a certainty. I would have to try to get them over the internet. They reckon you can get most medications online; hopefully, it wouldn’t be considered illegal. It was pretty common knowledge people got all sorts of stuff which could usually only be bought with prescriptions. I could probably do it. I hoped so.
She raised her eyebrows. “Possibly? No guarantees?”
“It would be difficult. Listen, Abbess, you trained to be a doctor. How would you treat someone who kept claiming to have lost their child’s medication? Or who kept claiming she had been stung?”
“Hmm, I do see the problem.”
“But we do have more access to meds than in your day. I might be able to get them online.” The eyebrows went higher. “Too difficult to explain, and I couldn’t vouch for their efficacy. Online goods are not always genuine, but it’s the best I can do.”
“Then, we shall have to be content with that. There is always the possibility John will not be stung again.” She grinned mischievously. “Indeed, I do not recall history recording any such incident. It may be that your contribution to the archives will never be told, that the secret will be kept.” She looked at me soberly now. “And do you think you would be prepared to approach the tree again? For I know of no other way for you to reach us.”
I stiffened. No way did I ever want to go near that tree again – not in my lifetime. She watched my reaction and touched my arm. “Don’t be afraid. I would not ask you to put yourself at risk. I may be wrong, but I do not believe it is necessary for you to come though into our time again. Look, see?” She pointed to a hollow half hidden in the roots of the tree. I leaned forward. Giles grabbed my arm again and leaned over me, craning his neck to see what she was pointing at. “When you started to return to your own time, half of you was still visible in our time. Is that not so?” She looked questioningly at Giles.
He grinned at me, white teeth showing against his tanned skin. “I’ve never seen aught like it. I thought you were a demon. It was only instinct made me reach for you. Had I time to think, I would not have touched you.”
“Exactly. Now Giles, you will need to trust me. Let go of Marion, if you please. And Marion, do I have your word that you won’t go through that tree until I have finished explaining?” I nodded, rubbing my bruised arm. “Then, give me your hand. Come.”
She took my hand and drew me closer to the tree. “Bend down here.” She knelt, and I followed suit. Tugging at me a little, she moved my hand close to the roots. “Now, I will hold your arm, and you place your hand in this hole here. Let us see what will happen. Hark?” She held her hand up. “Can you hear it?” A faint hum was coming from inside the tree. Fainter than before.
Nervously, I placed my hand where she had suggested. Giles was close behind us, I could feel his breath in the nape of my neck. As my hand went into the hollow, my fingers started to disappear. I pushed in further. Now my hand was missing up to the wrist. It went through my mind that this was my chance to escape, but I knew I daren’t. Who knew what I would find on the other side? If it was true that I was here for a purpose, what would happen if that purpose was never accomplished?
Hildegarde pulled me away, and my hand came back into view. I flexed my fingers. Turning, I saw that Giles’ face was white again. He bit his lip.
“Now,” Hildegarde said as calmly as if I had not started to disappear before her eyes, “it may be that your job has already been done. That in saving John’s life this one time, you have secured history. But if not…if he were to be stung again…”
She was right. We couldn’t be sure.
“And so what I am suggesting is this. We need to renew the device once a year, is that correct?” She looked at me, and I nodded. “Yes, it is as I understood it then. And so we depend on you being able to get a device every year. It may be that you will be unable to do so. If such is the case, then nothing can be done, but…” She held up her hand as Giles opened his mouth to speak. “No, hear me out. So you will do your best, Marion. And once a year, let us say on Whit Monday, you will come to the tree and try to put the device there.” She indicated the hole in the base again. “We cannot guarantee this will work, but it is all we have. Are you agreed?” I nodded. My part could be done. “And you, Giles. You will also be here on Whit Monday each year. You will pass back the old device.” She laughed. “For we cannot have plastic cluttering up our forests in this day and age. Whatever next!” Giles looked at her, plainly baffled. “Yes, I know you don’t understand, but you agree it would be problematic if anyone but you and John saw it, yes? Do you agree to do this?”
“What choice have I? But what of this year? I need to present John with that device now.” He turned back to me. “How quickly can you get one? For me, the case is urgent. Your world may be as normal when you go back, but if I can neither produce you nor it, my life is like to be short and unpleasant.”
I could understand his point of view. And so grateful was I that I wouldn’t be presented to John in place of the epinephrine, I would do my best to help. Besides, I didn’t want Giles on my conscience. John sounded like a most unpleasant prince.
I considered. How long might I need? I had to find a source and then get it delivered but I couldn’t be sure how long that would take me. “Could you let me have a week to find out? I could put a note through to let you know. Or, wait. Could you tell John that I have to obtain a new device? That this one can’t be used again? Tell him you will be able to fetch it at Whitsuntide if you like. Will that sound magical enough for him?” That was about three weeks from now. Surely, I could get one by then.
He looked mutinous. “Mayhap I should go through that tree with you.”
I recoiled in horror. I could barely imagine how well he would fit into the 21st century! He’d probably get himself arrested within a week, and how on earth would I explain him to Tom and the girls?
Again, Hildegarde intervened with calm good sense. “Why not wait until Whit Monday? If Marion fails us, then the decision is yours.” She gave him a steely look. “However, I would not recommend it. You cannot begin to understand how things will have changed. Likely, you would find yourself in even more serious trouble there. Here, if the worst happens, you can always flee to France.”
He stood there, indecision clear on his face, brow furrowed in concentration. I felt sorry for him. The poor man was in a horrible position. Moving to him, I placed my hand on his arm. He looked at me helplessly, lost.
“I will honestly try my best.” I tried to sound reassuring. “If it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, I will help you.”
He took my hand from his arm and held it between his own large ones as if trying to convey his anxiety to me. The sunlight glinted on a heavy ring set with a garnet, red as wine, on the little finger of his left hand. This time, I felt no fear of him; his touch was almost tender.
“I thank you, Marion. And I am sorry. The Abbess is in the right of it. I’d not want a woman of my family surrendered to John. I see now, I couldn’t have done it. But I do most earnestly implore you not to fail me, for if you do, you condemn me to poverty and I know not what else. John is unpredictable and dangerous when thwarted.” He leant forward and touched his forehead to my own. “Marion, don’t let me down.”
Silence hung in the air, and I was almost painfully aware of the bond this stranger-than-fiction experience had forged between us. Not love, well, not on my side anyway, but I suppose you could call it a kind of kinship. Not friendship, something more meaningful. At any rate, we had touched each other’s lives and hearts in some way across aeons of time. I moved my head and looked into his eyes; he held my gaze. “I won’t. If it can be done, I promise you, I’ll do it.”
Hildegarde came to us, and the spell that bound us was broken. “Come now. The longer we tarry, the more danger there is of our being discovered.”
Her words brought me back to my senses. Giles let go of me but as he did so, Hildegard seemed to look strangely at his hands. Did she disapprove? She didn’t seem the disapproving type. She seemed, to me, to have an understanding of human nature I had never encountered before. Maybe it was her faith, maybe just her experience of life. She must have seen more than most.
She hesitated as if lost in thought and put her hand to her neck, pulling a string out from beneath her scapular, fiddling with it, removing something. Then, reaching for my hand, she opened my fingers, placed something which felt like a pebble in my palm and closed my fingers around it. “Don’t open your hand yet,” she said quietly, as though she didn’t wish Giles to hear her, “but take this to remember me by. It doesn’t belong here in this time; take it back to its rightful place for me. Wear it sometimes and think of me, dear Marion, for you somehow feel like kin to me.”
She kissed me lightly on my forehead and murmured a benediction. Then, “Are you ready?” I nodded.
Giles, who had moved away, suddenly swung back towards me, seized me and kissed me soundly on the lips. I’m ashamed to say, for a moment, I felt myself starting to respond – maybe it was the unexpectedness of it – before he whispered, “Marion, again I ask you, don’t fail me. Fare you well, and may God be with you.” He stepped back and stood alone a little apart from Hildegarde, his expression sombre.
Hildegarde handed me the basket containing my bag and walked with me to the tree. The buzzing had started again. I began to feel the same pull as last time and leaned towards it, straining to see through the mist which lay before me. Then, I turned back for one last glimpse of Hildegarde and Giles and watched them shimmer and fade before my eyes as I moved out of their world and back into my own.
The buzzing eased; the mist cleared, and the car park started to appear before me. I stepped through the tree and saw the Abbey once again in ruins. I looked behind and saw nothing but the huge trunk of the ancient beech. Giles, Hildegarde, everything from that time was gone. It even felt as though it was fading from my mind. Had it all been a dream?
I stepped away from the tree, caught my foot in my dress and toppled towards the ground. As I put out my hands to break my fall, a small object fell from my fingers. Landing heavily, I lay there winded for a few moments, watching the object roll away from me before reaching out to grasp it. It glimmered brightly in my hand; a gold ring set with a garnet which looked vaguely familiar to me for some reason. As I slid it onto my index finger,
I realised it truly had been no dream, no fantasy. It really had happened, and now I was committed to keep a promise for years and years to someone I would never see again. It was a strange, eerie feeling.
As I sat up, the tree vibrated again. I watched as a hand came through the trunk and placed my sandals neatly beside it. The hand hovered for a second and withdrew. I had wondered what had become of them. They must have fallen off when I first fell through into the past. Looking ruefully at my dirty feet, I shrugged; there wasn’t much I could do about them now.
As I slipped my sandals back on, a shout of, “Mum!” made me look up. Chloe was sprinting across the field towards me, Shannon hard on her heels.
“Did you fall over?”
“Are you okay?”
“We wondered where you were.”
“We thought you’d got lost.”
“Didn’t you have your phone switched on? We rang and rang.”
They panted out the words, butting in on each other in their anxiety. I put my arms out to draw them close, so relieved to be back with them. The other place was magical, fascinating, but this was where I belonged, with my family. Now I was finally safe, their hugs melted the last of the fear from my heart, and we turned and walked back towards the ruins, away from the old beech tree.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Giles sat on the grass a few feet from the beech tree, watching as Marion disappeared and resisting a powerful urge to step forward into the mist which surrounded her. He suppressed a shudder; it was unsettling to watch someone fade into nothing before his eyes. The Abbess may have assured him it was not witchcraft, but it still felt dark and dangerous to him. He stilled a superstitious dread that maybe she had been a witch after all.
No! No witch, she. I would have known it of a surety when I kissed her, he told himself. I’ve kissed enough women to know. He admitted to feeling a flash of desire for her, but it was no more than that, brought on, he supposed, by the strangeness of the bond they now shared. That, and the fact she was like no other woman he had ever met.
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