TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy)

by Amanda May Bell

  “May your quests be short and your rewards ever long, Livia,” she said briskly, and I wished her the same before I watched her walk briskly away from me towards the Palace.

  “We’re to leave here at set two, Livia,” said my tutor’s voice from behind me, and I turned to her and nodded gratefully before we walked together to the Palace kitchen. We were to be served a midday meal which we could eat slowly before returning to the +2013 marker…….

  When my pendant showed set two on its outside dial, I climbed into a chariot with Evangeline, Jonah and Mirren and we headed back to the border marker. I had changed into clean clothes since my ride and I’d not forgotten to make sure I put my music cartridge back into the bottom of my travelling bag. My mood was quite different now that we were heading away from the Palace, and relief that my home visit was over featured largely in this. Even my restlessness had settled for the moment and, as we approached the setting marker, I breathed in the last Aldiris air I would be breathing for quite a while. I wouldn’t return here until my finals were over. Only once my finals were complete, could I officially join the Quest under the shoulder tap of the Aldiris Royal sword.

  I walked briskly into the centre of the marker and I noticed Mirren looked as eager as I was to be leaving the Kingdom. We set our pendants to Centaurus +2013 set 42º and checked them again before preparing ourselves for the drop back to the twenty first century. It was a quarter turn past set two now and Jonah had informed the marker guard in the park that this would be the exact time of our return.

  Slowly at first, the air around us began to move in circular patterns.

  The mosaic beneath my feet disappeared, the temperature dropped, and the air patterns roared. Before long, I was suspended in deep blue darkness while pain radiated through the centre of my bones. I didn’t love this pain, but I loved what it symbolised and, when the darkness became colours and the park appeared, I raised my face to the pouring rain.

  The circular air patterns slowed down and the trees came into focus around me. The pain faded and the temperature rose, but not as much as it had at home. It was a cold, rainy afternoon in +2013 and I held my woven jacket together at the neck as I hurried after my tutor. We walked briskly out of the park and headed across the street to our house……..

  Life returned to normal, or at least to what was normal for me in this time segment. Over the next few days, Mirren remained as unresponsive and flustered around me as always, and my schedule of classes and study continued. My scheduled morning runs also continued, despite the rain which fell lightly for the next three days. On Monday, I returned the music cartridge to its original state and gave it back to Josh at school. He doubled the number of songs on it for me before returning it to my grateful hands. It was normal in this time segment to have an unhealthily attachment to technical devices of various kinds, so my impatience at the time it took him to attach it to his computer was not viewed as strange by him at all. He did think it was strange, though, when I told him I didn’t have the charger, and he started to ask me how I was managing to keep it fully charged, before he suddenly decided to shake his head instead. He grinned at me and shrugged as he handed me back the cartridge with the head phones still attached. I still hadn’t told him I wouldn’t be returning to school after the holidays, but there was still a week and half until the end of term.

  It was Wednesday afternoon when Evangeline surprised me by informing me she wouldn’t be returning to school…….and she didn’t mean after the holidays; she meant as of that very afternoon.

  “Livia, I’m being dropped into another segment to partner somebody else. You have a new partner arriving this afternoon,” she said, as she walked up beside me on the way out of school. I stared at her in shock and frowned. “Don’t ask me why. I didn’t request it,” Evangeline added, as she frowned too.

  “I didn’t either,” I said, although I’m sure she’d already worked this out after seeing my reaction to her news.

  “Well….I’ll see you this weekend, I guess,” she said, a little awkwardly. We’d still be in the same group for our final challenges and the orientation was in two days’ time.

  “I wish you well with your new partner, Evangeline,” I said slowly, as I continued to frown. Surely it was unusual to be given a new partner this close to the finals? Maybe this was, in itself, a challenge. Questers were supposed to be able to work as a team under any circumstances.

  “I wish you well too, Livia,” said Evangeline, just as slowly, and she nodded before I watched her walk towards her car.

  I walked home deep in thought. This wasn’t good news. Now, I’d have to hope my next partner would be as close mouthed about my friendship with Josh as Evangeline had been. I’d have to work things out with them straight away because I didn’t want to have to avoid Josh, even for a day, when I only had a week and a half left to spend with him. I was still frowning when I keyed the security code into my gate and I looked up as Evangeline walked out of the house next door with Jonah by her side. I raised two fingers to my brow before moving them away from my face, and she gave me the same quester’s signal as she looked at me apologetically and shrugged. Despite our dislike for each other, we’d had a perfectly good working relationship and it was a shame for both of us that it had come to an end so close to the finals. Jonah looked dejected too and he carried Evangeline’s travelling bag for her as they headed across the street.

  For some reason, Evangeline’s sudden departure brought on a fresh bout of my restlessness and, when she was gone, I paced my rooms with my arms folded and a frown on my face. I was supposed to be studying my Synthetic Era languages but I couldn’t sit down, let alone concentrate, and it would have been preferable to have had a combat or weapons class to go to. That way, I wouldn’t have had time to wonder when my new partner would arrive.

  I paced towards the window again, just in time to see my tutor leaving the house. I pressed my face against the window and watched her head towards the park. I hadn’t seen Jonah return at all, so it was possible he was expecting his student at any moment. I waited for a while at the window but neither Jonah, nor Mirren, reappeared and I was too restless to stand still. I sat down at my desk to try to study and I moved my chair so I could just see the street through the bottom of the window pane. I laid out a parchment and weighted it down at the corners to stop it from rolling up on itself.

  Our parchments were thicker than the paper of this time segment. They were made of compacted vegetation and they were a mottled shade of beige. The parchments could be written on with a soft, writing stick made of ink soaked vegetation which had been wrapped in a hardened piece of thin, flexible wood. Our ink was made from the flower of a particular plant and it was a deep, purple colour. The ink could be rinsed off under water so a parchment could be used again, or it could be sealed with a layer of clear seal if the information on the parchment was to be kept. The clear seal was made from crushed, heated crystals which were then mixed with a particular kind of insect wax. A sealed parchment shone slightly when it was placed under a light.

  I picked up my pendant from where it lay against my chest. It was set to the park marker so its crystal needle pointed directly towards the park. Fortunately, I looked up just in time to see the trio step up onto the footpath from the edge of the road. They paused, and Mirren spoke to Jonah briefly before she left him with his new student. As my tutor walked towards our house though, Jonah called out to her and they spoke again briefly while I stood up quickly to get a better view of my new partner.

  The boy stood still on the footpath next to Jonah and he looked up at his house. I leant against the window frame and stood very still myself while I watched him hoist his leather satchel further up on his shoulder. Like Jonah, he was wearing Aldirite clothes and I could just see the top of his leather boots. His dark brown hair was cut short and it only just brushed the collar of his thick, woven jacket. At his neck, I could see the edge of his light, woollen shirt where his jacket was pulled back under the leather str
ap of his travelling bag. He would have arrived here through the marker in the park, of course, and most of us travelled in the comfort of our home clothes if we could. It depended on the location of the marker we were travelling to, and the dress code of the locals at the time segment too, but it was considered acceptable here to wear our own clothes to and from the park.

  I watched Jonah speak to the boy and, as usual, Jonah accompanied his words with animated, dramatic hand gestures. Even though I couldn’t hear him, I could imagine Jonah’s flowery speech. Unfortunately, he must have been talking about me because he pointed to my house suddenly and the boy glanced up. I took a quick, guilty step backwards and I bit my lip while I hoped he hadn’t seen me move. When I peered cautiously out the window again, the boy was walking through his front gate and he didn’t glance at my house at all as I watched him walk with Jonah towards his door.

  I sat at my desk again when he disappeared into his house. I told myself I had more study to do, but I moved my chair so I had a clear view of next door’s front gate, and I glanced up regularly from my language parchment just in case the boy appeared again.

  He didn’t…….and my restlessness returned.

  I fidgeted with the leather ties around my wrist. For some reason, the leather was warmer than usual and it felt like my wrist itself was slightly warmer too, which was strange. I’d never had a warm feeling in my wrist before. The warmth felt like it originated from the blemish under the leather binds and I frowned slightly. I stood up restlessly and wandered aimlessly through to my bedroom at the back of the house, but it was only when I sat down on the end of my bed that I heard the rhythmical sound. Cautiously, I knelt at my bedroom window and, because my rooms were on the second story, I could see straight over the fence into the back garden of the house next door.

  The boy was throwing a ball against the back wall of his house. It was hitting the solid brick wall and making a hollow sound before it bounced back towards him. I watched him catch the ball on the full before he threw it at the wall again. This game was a popular pastime in the Aldiris community. Many times, I’d heard this same sound from my window at home, and I’d watched children and young adults throwing the small fibrous balls against walls around the community squares. The game was usually played in pairs and it was usually watched by many. At home, triple concentric circles were marked on the walls first with either white or red chalk. I presumed there was some kind of scoring. Although I’d never played the game myself, I’d heard a lot of laughter and good natured arguing from my windows, and this told me there was probably a winner and a loser involved.

  I watched the boy change the hand he used to catch and throw the ball numerous times without faltering, and then he threw the ball even faster and harder at the wall. He’d removed his jacket and pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and, as I tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear, I hoped the glare from the autumn sun was reflecting against my window pane. I didn’t want him to see me.

  I don’t know how long I knelt at my window, but I didn’t move until I heard Jonah’s voice faintly. The boy threw the ball a couple more times before he caught it, and with obvious reluctance, he took it with him when he disappeared into his house. I ran through my own house then and flew into the study so I could see if a car waited in the street. I knew I was behaving very strangely, but I didn’t care, and when I pressed my face against the window glass, I was pleased to see a sleek, black car pull up in front of the boy’s house. I stood very still against the side of my window frame while I waited patiently to catch a glimpse of him again.

  We were driven to weapons and combat classes in this time segment. Evangeline had also chosen to be driven to school. This boy must have been scheduled to attend a class, despite having only just arrived here from another time segment. That didn’t surprise me. Quest training was a constant schedule of study and classes that left little time in between for anything more than meals and sleep. I watched the front door open as I wondered whether this boy would choose to be driven to school too. He followed Jonah through the front gate and he was wearing his jacket again. Jonah was fussing. I could tell by the way he gestured dramatically for the boy to hurry, but the boy didn’t change his pace at all, and I saw him speak to Jonah before he opened the front door of the car himself. I saw him turn around and he spoke to Jonah again before he sat in the front, passenger seat of the car.

  In the six or so weeks I’d been living next door to him, I don’t think I’d ever seen Jonah speechless but, by the way he stood very still and stared at the front door of the car as it closed, I guessed whatever the boy had said to Jonah had either shocked him or put him into some kind of trance. It must have been the former though because Jonah moved suddenly and climbed into the back seat of the car by himself. A moment later, the car pulled out into the street and I watched it until it disappeared into the afternoon traffic.

  I sat down again and looked at my pendant. Weapons classes usually lasted a whole clock turn, and I knew it took almost a half clock turn to drive there, and another half clock turn to drive back. That meant the boy would be back just before the evening meal……..

  CHAPTER 4:

  The next day, it was only force of habit and an ingrained attitude to the importance of meals that made it possible for me to eat. I was impatient to be on my way to school, and as I ate another small bite and chewed slowly, I wondered for the hundredth time how the boy next door would choose to get to school. I wondered if he knew there was a choice to walk, and I wondered if Jonah had told him I walked. Maybe Jonah had told him that, seeing as we were partners, it might be desirable for him to walk also. Last night, I’d seen him return to his house and I’d watched him from my window again. He’d smiled at Jonah and spoken with him as they’d walked together into the house. I’d thought, for a second, that the boy had looked up at my house but, if he had, it had been only the quickest of glances. There was something about this boy that had put me under some kind of spell and I’d pressed my face against the window pane shamelessly so I could watch him until he’d disappeared.

  This morning, during my run, I’d looked for him in the park too, despite the fact that Evangeline had always run in the late afternoons. When I didn’t see him, I’d had to face the fact that he’d probably taken over Evangeline’s schedule as well as her house. On the way back across the street, I’d glanced at his house hopefully, but there’d been no sign of movement and I’d told myself he would surely have no choice but to attend my school. School was compulsory for questers training in this particular time segment.

  I took another bite of my breakfast and a sip of my creamy cocoa before I tucked a stray wisp of my hair behind my ear. I’d spent extra time this morning combing and styling it…….

  The boy next door did walk to school.

  I left my house at the usual time, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye when he closed his gate at the same time as I closed mine. I caught a glimpse of a school blazer the same as my own as well. Jonah would have already organised his enrolment at school and he would probably have collected the boy’s uniforms days ago, unbeknown to Evangeline. Our tutors were always organised when it came to papers and identification for use in Synthetic Era time segments and, for security reasons, students were usually only told of changes at the very last minute, after everything had already been arranged. I listened to the boy’s footsteps on the path behind me and I glanced back at him under the pretence of moving my school bag to the other shoulder. He was keeping his distance and I slowed my pace a little in the hope he’d catch up to me, but he slowed his pace too. I sped up, and he sped up too. I frowned and turned around.

  “Are you following me?” I asked him curiously. I spoke to him in the local language and he looked surprised for a moment before he hid his surprise quickly.

  “Why would I be following you?” he asked me innocently, and he spoke in the local language too as he walked towards me.

  “I don’t know. That’s why I asked you,” I said
mildly, and he was level with me now.

  “Maybe, I was just walking in the same direction as you,” the boy said, and he grinned as he passed me. I watched him for a moment before I narrowed my eyes at his back and started walking again.

  “See, now it’s you who’s following me,” the boy said, as he turned to look back at me over his shoulder. I smiled before I could stop myself, and he waited for me to catch up to him.

  “We’re going to the same place so we may as well walk together,” he said, and he spoke in the old language this time.

  “Why didn’t you identify yourself in the manner of our people?” I asked him curiously. It was considered good manners to introduce ourselves with the Aldiris blessing whenever we met others of our race for the first time.

  “Why didn’t you?” he asked me straight away. I frowned a little.

  “Do you always answer a question with a question?” I asked him, and he grinned again.

  “I didn’t have to identify myself because you watched me from your windows yesterday, and your tutor’s been speaking to mine, so I’m sure you already know who I am,” he said simply. He glanced at me sideways, but I was so flustered, I wasn’t sure what to say, and I felt him watching me as I bit my lip and looked away.

  “Fair enough, I guess,” I muttered, as I tried to hide my embarrassment. I glanced at the boy, but he looked surprised again, although he was trying to hide it. “I don’t know your name. My tutor didn’t mention it,” I said.

  “I know yours,” the boy said immediately. I sighed.

  “I guess that’s to be expected,” I said wryly.

  “I’m sorry, your Highness, for replacing your friend Evangeline,” the boy said carefully, and I looked at him and frowned.

  “You’re not sorry so don’t pretend to be, and Evangeline was not my friend, nor is your Highness my name,” I said firmly, and this time, the boy didn’t try to hide his surprise as he stared at me for a moment.