Anvil of Fate (Meridian Series)

by John Schettler

  Rantgar smiled. “Ah, always juggling with the physics, eh Mr. Dorland? Well, not exactly. We haven’t been able to get anyone through at all. Actually, I was ready for a good night’s sleep after matins in Heristal when we got wind of your operation. Really splendid work, if I may say so. Simply outstanding!”

  “What are you saying, man?” said Robert. “You mean to say that—“

  “That I’ve come from the past,” the visitor said quickly. “The year 705, to be precise. As I say, we got wind of your operation—just another of those unlikely Pushpoints in the Meridian I suppose. Someone saw you arrive! Yes, and he was quite terrified, as you might expect.”

  “The footprints!” Robert looked at Paul. “We saw other footprints near our entry point when we returned.”

  “Just a simple peasant returning from the fields,” said Rantgar. “God’s will, he happened along just as you shifted in and cowered in the hedge until you left. Then he ran to the Abbot and told him what he had seen, afraid that there were angels or demons about. Well, the Abbot and I are thick as thieves, as it were. It took some time to calm the man down, but once we convinced him he would have the protection of the Saints, as well as my sturdy javelin, he led us to the place. Then we got him safely away and off to sleep with a jug of mulled wine. Of course we immediately notified the Order, and just after matins we received some rather alarming instructions. A really first order emergency appears to be in the works.”

  “You’ve come from the past?” said Paul. “How is that possible?”

  “Well I shifted in on your retraction scheme!” the visitor replied, clasping his chest with a gloved hand. “At least I think I’m all here. It’s very experimental, you see. We tried several times and failed before we got it right. Yes, Mr. Dorland. Palma has been a real nemesis. In fact, that was its purpose as the Assassins initially conceived it. They had to create such a cataclysm that the penumbra would become impenetrable, and hinder our counter operations into the past. So we decided to try and move someone forward, given the right opportunity. Ms. Lindford’s retraction shift filled the bill nicely.”

  “Then how did you get back to the year 705 in the first place?”

  “I was there before these unfortunate events reversed the outcome of Palma again. We have people posted all over the continuum now you know. The other side has men at large as well. I believe you encountered a few in your last mission to Rosetta. The Time War began the instant your initial operation concluded. Time travel was proved possible, and of course at our point on that Meridian we developed the technology as well. The other side used it to take a swipe at some events during the Crusades, and then both sides went at it in earnest. After you stopped Palma on that initial operation it became possible for both sides to send operatives to all the key crisis points. I’m posted to the early 8th century. In fact I live there, permanently. Though I’m afraid this business you’ve uncovered has complicated things for me a bit. I’ll have to be on temporary leave here for a brief spell, if you don’t mind.”

  Paul had a hundred questions roiling in his mind as he gestured to the elevator. “Well, come up and meet the others,” he said, and they started the journey up to the lab again.

  “What about the Assassins,” Paul asked as they walked. “It’s obvious that they’ve been conducting operations as well. How are they getting through Palma’s Shadow?”

  “I’d love to tell you,” said the visitor. “But we don’t really know. The theory is that they’ve managed to devise some kind of mobile equipment that allowed them to get inside the natural Nexus Point of Palma. It opened the instant those atomics went off on the flank of Cumbre Vieja, but the Shadow doesn’t start forming until the tsunami actually strikes home in the Western hemisphere. That left a void, as it were, between the moment you first breached the continuum and the actual formation of the Shadow. We believe they shifted back in that interval and established an operational Arch somewhere, and that it may be serving as a kind of relay center for them. The instant you shifted back on the first mission, it became possible for them to use it. They can shift people in to that location because the Shadow hasn’t formed yet at those target coordinates in space-time, and then they send them on to destinations further back on the continuum.”

  “Ingenious,” said Nordhausen. “An eye in the storm. They clearly had something like that set up at the Well of Souls we stumbled upon while I was out trying to recover that Ammonite fossil, Paul.”

  “That was on another Meridian,” said Paul. “But it may persist in this one as well.”

  “The Well of Souls?” Rantgar did not understand.

  “Yes, we found just such an operation or outpost, hidden in Wadi Rumm and powered by a natural Oklo reaction,” Paul said to Rantgar. “In fact, they could have used it to shift people back for this Tours operation before we found it. We thought it was a one way ticket to a single location at Castle Masyaf in Syria, the year 1187, but we could be mistaken on that. And if you don’t mind my saying, you’ve been using our complex here in the very same manner.”

  “Big of you,” Rantgar smiled.

  But another question remained unanswered in Paul’s mind. “You said you just shifted from the year 705 on our retraction scheme? That’s not possible. We had no pattern signature on you. The Arch won’t simply grab any matter it finds at the breaching point. It has to be precisely matched to an exact signature. So be frank with me, sir. We’ve cooperated with you closely in these matters, and though I know there are certain facts you cannot divulge, at the very least you owe us some honesty here. ”

  “Correct again,” said Rantgar. “I assure you that I’m being entirely candid with you, Mr. Dorland. You had my signature! We sent the information directly to your computers.” The visitor smiled. “I hope you’ll pardon the intrusion, but this really is somewhat of an emergency. Palma is quite a nuisance where human travel is concerned, but we can get information through, and objects, messages as it were.”

  They were up and through the long corridor now, just outside the heavy security door that opened on the lab. As they went through Maeve and Kelly turned to look, their faces registering obvious surprise.

  Rantgar made a courteous bow. “Mr. Ramer,” he said. “Good to see you are back. Ms. Linford, my humble apologies for that mad dash as you shifted out, but I had to get inside the radius of your retraction. I hope I didn’t cause too much alarm.”

  Kelly and Maeve just looked at one another, clearly bemused. Paul introduced the visitor, sharing some of what he had told them on the way up.

  “It seems we still have a few tricks to learn about Time travel,” he concluded.

  “You sent your pattern signature directly to our computers?” said Kelly. “How?”

  “Actually… We used some of those nifty little programs you designed, Mr. Ramer.”

  “The Golems?” Paul was very surprised.

  “That’s what they call them, yes! We distributed the information in files we were certain the Golems would harvest, and they brought it to you. Nice of them, don’t you think? That base data and one little worm to activate it at the desired moment was all that was necessary.”

  “Worm? You mean you used a virus to collate the data—“ Paul’s eyes narrowed, and he smiled. “Because your associates in the future discovered the exact moment of Maeve’s retraction, and the virus was keyed to assemble your pattern signature and send it to the retraction module at that time. Then you used the energy of our Arch to shift here when we brought Maeve home!” He had suddenly pieced the scheme together.

  “I did say we were getting very clever,” said Rantgar.

  “Clever is a word and a half for it,” said Paul. “This is the second time we’ve had unexpected guests come in through the Arch. The thought that we would find an Assassin there has also crossed our minds. This is maddening! What’s to stop them from shifting in here and killing us all? We thought we were indispensible, but that’s clearly no longer the case.”

  “Oh, I�
��m sure they would love to do just that,” said Rantgar, but they can’t. They based their technology on quantum string theory. We use the singularity that you first developed. So our Arch corona is fully compatible with yours, but their system is…well, on another wavelength, as it were. Think of it like the AM and FM band on your radios. The two wavelengths can’t be tuned in at the same time. They did this deliberately, you know. Otherwise we would have just shifted in commandos and taken out all their Arch complexes when we had the upper hand on them. Now, when they have the advantage, the situation affords us some small measure of protection. So have no fear. Besides that, you can stop an incoming shift at your whim, as you probably know. Though I’m very grateful you allowed me to come through. Things were about to get very complicated for me on my assigned Meridian, and this seemed a safe way to solve the problem.”

  “Well you should have sent commandos to take out all their Arch sites while you could,” said Robert.

  “The trouble, of course, is finding them,” said Rantgar. “Look how long it took your whole American Army to hunt down Bin Ladin, ten years! In like manner, their Arch complexes are deviously hidden, as are ours.”

  “Rantgar…” Maeve suddenly remembered the significance of this man’s name. “That’s the name of Grimwald’s assassin! Are you saying that you are the man responsible for his death?”

  “Forgive me, but yes. I am Rantgar of Frisia, the ‘impious wretch’ spoken of in the continuation of the Chronicles of Fredegar. I was sent back to assure the death of Grimwald in the year 714, though my post starts much earlier. I arrive in the year 700, you see. It does take some time to worm one’s way into the thick of the weave in any given milieu. So I lived out my time there until things started to change. We got word that Lambert’s martyrdom had somehow been prevented by the other side. The ramifications were severe, as you undoubtedly know, because it affected my mission assignment considerably. So the Order was establishing an alternative scenario concerning the elimination of Grimwald, when, well, someone took a shot at me with a poisoned tipped arrow while I was out hunting one day! It seems the Assassins are keen on eliminating me from the picture. But at that very moment I had stooped to tighten a strap on my leggings, and the arrow whizzed harmlessly by. Needless to say, I have been told to be on guard.”

  “The Assassins were trying to kill you?” said Paul. “Then I guess the gloves are coming off in this difference of opinion. When I fell through the Well of Souls I was treated with the utmost respect and deference by my captors.”

  “Things have changed,” said Rantgar. “I’m afraid they are not so polite now. This is war, ladies and gentlemen, and I’m afraid you’ll have to pick a side. We know your actions to date have been in the interest of preserving your own view of things, the history that you have stored here in your computers, but I’m afraid you’ll have to make some hard choices in the days and years ahead.”

  “Then you were sent here for your own personal safety?” asked Maeve.

  “Precisely,” said Rantgar. “Once warned that all operatives were now considered at risk, I tried to keep a very low profile. You’ll see that the history has very little to say about this man, Rantgar. He appears at a critical moment, slays Grimwald, and then just seems to vanish. No mention of him in any other narrative on the period. He disappears, you see, because I’m the man who ends up killing Pippin’s legitimate son, and then, immediately afterwards, I’m scheduled to shift safely away to my home Meridian.”

  “To the future,” said Paul.

  “Yes, but I can’t get back there now. No one can. Palma’s Shadow is simply too intense. So when the Order discovered that you good people were running an intervention they bent all their remaining resources to assisting its successful completion. We saw the continuum open at the dates presumed for the Battle of Tours, and at first we wondered what you were about there, because we knew the real problem started much earlier, with the Bishop Lambert. But it seems you are as resourceful as we had hoped, and you managed to identify the crucial Nexus Points in play here. Bravo! Our heartfelt congratulations.”

  He nodded his head with a smile, then sighed heavily. “But I’m afraid they’re trying to kill me now that you’ve reassured Lambert’s death. At first I received instructions to head east and get as far away from Gaul as possible. But one leaves a subtle impression on history, in spite of every effort to remain anonymous and unseen. So the only real way to assure my safety was to remove me from the Meridian entirely. When research determined the most likely hour and place for Ms. Lindford’s retraction, an opportunity arose to try and move me forward. And so here I am. On ice, as it were.”

  “Rantgar….” Nordhausen turned the name over in his mind, trying to remember source material he had uncovered in the research. “Yes, he was a Frisian, the son of Belial, a pagan of the house of Ratbod of Frisia, who remained unconverted and at odds with Pippin when he came to power. The two reached an accommodation when Ratbod betrothed one of his daughters to Pippin’s son Grimwald. Our history seems to think Rantgar assassinated Grimwald because of some conflict surrounding this daughter. Yes, the heathen Rantgar, or so he was called. One of history’s rogues, I suppose.”

  “Well they can’t very well know the real reason we had to kill Grimwald, eh?”

  “You’re murdering Primes?” said Maeve, with just a hint of derision in her voice.

  “When we must,” said the visitor. “Grimwald isn’t really a Prime, however. Unlike the good Bishop Lambert…” He let that dangle a moment. “No one is going to build a shrine to Grimwald, or a chapel that becomes a city in future days, as with Lambert. But when our enemies act to preserve the life of a man fated to die, then we must have no scruples in setting that history right again. It may be very uncomfortable, but there it is. I only just learned that your intervention in the case of the Bishop Lambert was successful. I’m sure it wasn’t the most pleasant experience for you, but your screen there clearly shows the awful consequences were this man allowed to live out his life. So we have hardened ourselves with the understanding that we must sometimes do some very despicable things to preserve the lives of countless billions, and the culture and history we hold dear.”

  “You keep saying you were warned about these events,” said Paul. “That you received instructions; that you already knew Maeve’s intervention was successful.”

  “As I said,” the man continued, “we can get information through Palma’s Shadow. The other side can as well.”

  Paul was suddenly very curious. “How?” he asked. “Have you mastered quantum entanglement across Space-Time?”

  “Well, wouldn’t that be nice!” said Rantgar. “No, I’m afraid we just do things in a fairly straightforward manner. We shift back messages. Dull but effective. The other sided uses rubbings from their hidden touchstone, in a language we’ve been unable to decipher, the ancient Hieroglyphics of Egypt.”

  “You haven’t been able to decipher them?” said Robert. “Well I can read them.”

  “Indeed? How useful. I must make a note of that. We use a similar method to send messages, though I’m afraid we rely on the King’s English more often than not, or just use the language native to the milieu we are targeting. The destination is usually fairly secure—the temporal and spatial coordinates of certain archives, libraries, monasteries and abbeys all serve to be fairly long-lived in their respective continuums. Alas, that isn’t always the case—the Library of Alexandria being a perfect example. But when we do find a stable and safe place that we are certain we can control in a milieu, we shift in messages, information, written instructions to operatives and Agents in Place. And Agents posted to the past have a way of sending us messages as well.”

  “Notes in apples,” said Paul.

  “I beg your pardon?” Rantgar did not understand.

  “We first thought the Death of Lambert was prevented by an engineered mishap involving an Arabian horse he was to have secured while en-route to the murder scene.”

  �
��Oh? I was not aware of that,” said Rantgar. “Or at least there was no mention of it in the messages I received.”

  “When that intervention failed to impact events as we anticipated, we had to… improvise,” said Paul. He told him of the apple and the note to Maeve.

  “I see,” said Rantgar. “Then your exploits are even more remarkable, Madame,” he said to Maeve.

  “She’s a resourceful lady,” said Kelly.

  “You all are,” said Rantgar. “You have been instrumental, essential to all our efforts thus far, and believe me, we are deeply grateful—Time and History are deeply in your debt as well…. But speaking of that. I was told not to linger here, as it seems you have a fuel problem.”

  Kelly looked at the power station readouts. “We’ve got about ninety minutes in the tank,” he said. “After that we’ll have to shut down to secure fuel on whatever Meridian we find ourselves—assuming we survive the effects of Paradox.”

  “Exactly,” said Rantgar. “So… If you would be so kind as to send me back, I have an appointment with Grimwald I would dearly like to keep.” His hand moved to rest on the hilt of his sword as he finished.

  “But our Golem reports indicate Grimwald lives,” said Kelly. “Your mission fails.”

  “Now, now…they would have to show that at the moment, wouldn’t they? Because I’m here! But I assure you. I’ll get the job done. You’ll see. The target has changed since Ms. Linford’s intervention, but it’s only a small variation in the spatial coordinates. The temporal data is perfectly sound. I believe if you will allow me to activate another of our worms, the information has already been fetched by your Golems and can be assembled forthwith and sent to your breaching module.”

  “You’re going back to kill Grimwald?” said Robert.

  “Indeed,” said Rantgar. “You gentle people have done your part. I’m afraid this bit is on my shoulders. It’s what I’ve trained for, and why I was sent. And given that I vanished from the Meridian in the year 705 and that you will be shifting me back in the year 714, our adversaries have undoubtedly spent themselves in a fruitless search to locate me in all those years in between, and they have failed. By now they are undoubtedly planning some other way to preserve the life of Grimwald, but if you can get me to the Arch and on my way again, I’ll finish the job and make an end of that, God willing. What comes after will be up to you.”