XVI
I woke up and sat in bed for awhile. I felt like the boxer who's team of trainers had prepared him to fight, and now was the time to do or die. I took my time getting ready. The clothes that had been brought for me the day before were simple and acceptable servants clothes in 1737, 1824, or 1903. The clothes were dark brown because the rogues appeared in the fall of 1824. I had hoped that I would go to 1824 because that was the next time the rogues would attack and that was when I could save Handy.
I walked tall down to the kitchen; after all I was the last hope to save Handy's life. I sat and ate my morning meal without saying a word to anyone. Then I went into the library to get any last minute information that had come in. About a dozen men were either still at work or arrived early. They had just found out that the dead rogue was found on the road, but seemed dragged and could have died elsewhere. There was some kind of cover-up about it causing a conspiracy that there was some town people involved in moving him. I picked up an information pamphlet that had been prepared for me for easy reference if needed and several books I had requested. No one in the room knew exactly what I was up to, but they knew I was about to risk my life. When I left the room a small chorus of applause could be heard behind me.
My friends were in the kitchen when I returned. I put on the gun holster under my shirt. The two shot derringer was in front on my left side stomach. The shirt I was wearing appeared to have buttons but really had snaps holding it together, that way I could draw the weapon by ripping open my shirt. The information package was put into the dark brown backpack which appeared to be simply a bag of the time. Inside that backpack were several twentieth century items that I thought I could use. I was ready.
Cindy, Hanna, and Jeff agreed to take turns guarding the door to my bedroom with the help of some of the army that was helping us. They all walked me to my room. I entered the room and locked everyone outside. I put on William's dagger with its sheath. I walked to the wall and looked at the dagger that hung there. This was the same dagger /small sword that I was wearing on my side. I wished it could tell me what happened to it since I left this room. I lay on the floor, put the backpack on top of me and prepared to travel.
I no longer found the act of traveling difficult or scary. After all, I had now done it successfully several times. The trip went easily. I awoke on the floor of the room. The bed was unmade and the room was empty of persons. The walls were bare of furnishings. I looked out the window to get a good look at the time of day, it was late morning. There were many well dressed persons loading into carriages outside. I apparently arrived the day after a party, and the guests were now leaving. I noticed the type of clothes the people were wearing and checked it against some drawings in my information package on clothing styles of different times. I concluded that I did make it to 1824, the year Handy will die.
I had just started my covert operation. Next I needed to get out of the mansion and explore the Hidden Six. I put my dagger and sheath in the backpack so not to draw attention to myself. I took a towel out of my backpack and wrapped it around the backpack so I could carry it and not display the backpack itself. I walked out of the room and down the hall. The walls in the hall were plastered and painted. The staircase leading to the third floor existed.
There were several people in the unfurnished entry way. Without hesitation I walked past them as if carrying laundry. They must have assumed that I was one of the guest"s servants. I made my way out a back door. The back garden was completely covered with well trimmed bushes and sitting areas. Once I found a secluded spot, I put my belt with the sheath on and wore the backpack. I went straight to the Hidden Six. First wanting to overlook it from the hill, I lay down out of sight. I took the binoculars out of my backpack and spied on the Hidden Six. The house had been painted since the last time I had seen it. There was a small garden in front that seemed overlooked. I concluded that the house had been used recently, but was not being used at this time. Focusing on the upstairs window I could see movement. Someone was in the house. I relocated so I could get a better view of anyone approaching the house. I did not want to be caught so I was not going to walk up to the house or walk around the fields investigating. I figured that I was in just as much danger from trying to explain myself and belongings to towns' persons as being caught by William's men.
I spotted four men approaching from the side. I kept low to avoid being seen. The men approached, each carrying a sheep. As the filthy men approached, one appeared to be Handy. They tied the sheep up in the front of the house then entered. A moment later they came out with three other men. One large man appeared to be John the Friar. Another man was limping badly. They examined the sheep. John the Friar seemed to give orders as he pointed around. The limping man started to clean the sheep. The four men that included Handy left the way they came. John the Friar and the other men went back into the house.
I followed the four men. They walked for a long time until they found a small farm. They approached it and went straight into the pens and took some chickens. The farmer and a teenage son came out, the farmer holding a crossbow. The men stopped and they all talked loudly but I was too far away to understand. Is this the man who will kill my friend? I sat behind a bush and pulled out my gun and held a steady aim at the farmer. I knew that it was doubtful I could hit the mark from there anyway. Should I try to kill a man that is protecting his property? The farmer convinced the men to put the chickens back.
The men went on their way to other farms where they were more successful in their thefts. Handy seemed as willing as the others. They took their goods back to the house. Other animals and goods were showing up each time we came back seemingly from other groups out on raids. This went on all day and there was not a moment that I could find Handy alone so I could talk to him. I needed a way to get him alone. Once alone, I would have two options either convincing him to return with me or drugging him with some pills the pharmacist had put in my pack. William had said he traveled with a cat on his chest. I had thought I could travel with Handy on mine.
How could I get him alone? This was hard to think about. I couldn't walk up and ask him to take a walk. I thought about making some kind of sound that he would recognize as me. But if I did so, everyone may come looking for the sound. And I didn't know if Handy would tell them that I was there or not. If they come looking for me, I didn't want to be making noises that would lead them right to me. What about leaving a message for him, that way I could watch from a distance how he would react. That would work I thought, but what would the message be?
I knew the direction they kept leaving in, when they were at the Hidden Six. I went into the passageway and left the strap of the binocular case in plain view. I then went and hid far out of sight and watched. When they came along, one of the men picked it up without stopping then threw it off to the side as useless. Handy walked over and picked it up. He carried it for a while then stopped suddenly and started to look around with excited movement. When the other men with him noticed, he calmly walked along, still looking from side to side. My idea had worked, you see, the strap was made of plastic. Plastic did not exist in the year 1824. The men with him had no idea when something was invented and may have thought it was fine leather of the day. Handy recognized it for what it was, a clue that I was watching.
After we got back to the Hidden Six again that night, I moved my hiding position away further from the Hidden Six because I could not see in the dark if someone came up behind me. I found a new vantage point that gave me a good view. I watched as the men slaughtered one of the sheep and prepared it for cooking. Handy eventually excused himself for a walk. I watched him as he headed toward the mansion. No one seemed to follow him, so I went quietly off in his direction. I saw him in the bushes behind the mansion. He was there before me. He seemed to be about to enter the house. I could not yell because that would alert the occupants in the house. I reached in my pack and took out my flashlight and flicked a stream of light in his direction. He stopped and
stayed where he was. I went over to meet him.
As we walked toward each other, his mouth was smiling. "You old dog!" he said excitedly to me. We hugged. Despite how bad my friend smelled, that was a beautiful moment in my life. His face looked sun worn as did William's men when I saw them before.
I said to him, "You knew I couldn't just leave you. How have you been?"
"Fine for a one hundred year old man. We have much to talk about, you and I," he said. We found a granite bench near some bushes for seclusion.
We talked for a long time. He told me that William and his men started to get ill after I left. The illness had something to do with having spent so long without aging that time was catching up on them. They realized that they had to return to the Garden of Eden or die. William's plan to overtake the town was discarded. William asked Handy to go back with him so Handy could help with the knowledge of science he had. Handy refused and decided to return home. After every attempt William would make to convince Handy to go with them, Handy was still determined to return home. However, when Handy tried to leave through the gate in my room, he found the gate home closed. He had no choice but to go with William. Once back into the Garden of Eden they found the place the same as they left it, the dead waste land William had already spent ninety-six years in. It seems William and the band had spent so much time there that it was engraved that each time they would return it could only be to the devastated land of 1641. Handy helped remake some simple inventions like water filters and the like, but none worked well nor made much water. John the Friar who had been William's loyal servant to the death for over a hundred years became disenchanted with William's ideas. John the Friar took charge of the band of men through fear. After ten years of John"s dictatorship William and Handy escaped to London. While there, they enjoyed the vacant world and even stayed in an empty Buckingham Palace for a week. During their time away from the town of Hamelton, William apologized and admitted his deception about me. About twenty years passed until two of the Friar's loyal men finally tracked them down and brought them back to Hamelton mansion in chains. John the Friar cut off half of William's foot so he could never walk away again. Then lame, William became the cook and servant.
They would all try to open the gates every five sleeping days. They knew they could not last in the time they would arrive, and must do what they could to make their hellish Garden of Eden more livable. Now that they were back again they were bringing back animals to try to repopulate that hell they live in. Without much clean water to drink themselves, they did not know if they could repopulate their world with animals living on little drinkable water.
When I asked him to return with me to my time, he said he was already feeling the pains of sudden aging. The band of men were going back that night as we spoke, each was taking some livestock with him. He said he must go with them or he would die. I could not argue with that. I asked why they didn't overthrow John the Friar. He told me that the man slept in a locked room and had his guards who were loyal to him.
I gave handy my backpack and said, “There are a lot of modern things in here I had hoped I would not need to use. One is a bottle of sleeping pills I brought to take you back, you could use it to put to sleep John the Friar, or others, and kill them in their sleep.”
Handy smiled and with some pride said,“That would not be hard to do, I killed my first person today over a lamb.”
Pretending my ears had not heard his words I continued, “There are also some books on medicine, how to purify water and other things I thought I would need to know if I had got stuck in the Garden of Eden. Some people wrote in extra footnotes how to use materials available in 1600. Maybe you can turn that Hell into heaven.”
Handy replied, “I had thought about turning the inside of the mansion into an inside garden, but had no idea how to do it with such little water. Thanks. But I will still need to come back one more time to find seed and plants.”
He gave me his bracelet that said "Handy" on it and asked me to say good-bye to his father and mother for him. He said he had better get back to the Hidden Six because it was time to go back to the Garden of Eden. We hugged and both of us had tears in our eyes. As I held him close, I saw the pain in his face as the moon light showed the depth of time in his rough skin.
As he walked away to where we both knew he had to go he turned to face me just before he vanished in the distance and said, "I swear on our friendship that I wish I had believed you."
I sat back down and thought how sad it was to lose Handy like this. How odd and rough he seemed. Then I realized I had forgotten what I had come here for, to save Handy's life! I had not changed anything yet. Handy would return to the Hidden Six and die instead of going back to the Garden of Eden. I jumped to my feet and looked down the path. Coming out of the bushes was John the Friar. I was stunned. He took two large steps and was upon me.
His gruff voice said, "So the little men think they can kill me with sleep."
The realization that he had been in the bushes during part of my talk with Handy terrified me. Suddenly, the back of his left hand hit me without notice. I fell back into the walkway. I had no time to arm myself and his big body came after me too fast. I got up and ran as fast as I could dropping Handy's bracelet. He reached down and grabbed the bracelet. I could hear his big footsteps right behind me. The sound of his deep breaths kept me motivated to move as fast as I could. I jumped over a bench which gave me a little more distance. I ran toward the mansion. I saw the kitchen doors and I ran into them as fast as I could, turning as I hit them so my shoulder would break open the doors. My body rolled onto the kitchen floor as the lock gave away on the door and the door shattered because of my attack. I saw John the Friar coming in behind me with his sword drawn. From the floor I grabbed the bottom of the door and flung it closed on him while I scrambled to my feet. I ran into the dark main dining room with the sword-wielding Friar right behind me. I ran on one side of the table then jumped onto and slid over the table so it was now separating us. I pulled out my derringer and held it in front of me and fired it with haste. I hit the wall behind the Friar.
John the Friar, amused, said, "The little man carries a little cannon." He started to slice his sword from side to side trying to reach me across the table. I fired the second shot which hit him in his upper arm. His body merely stopped its advance for a second, and then he climbed onto the table and put his sword above his head in the same manner he was going to finish off the unarmed man in the road. Stuffing my empty gun into my shirt I came back with my dagger. We both stopped and looked into each other"s faces. I realized that attempting to fight this monster with a dagger was stupid. The corners of his lips curled up obviously thinking the same thing. There was a noise at the door of the room. Some of the servants were there with candles demanding to know who was in the room. John glanced at them which gave me the chance to run toward the door. The Friar ran down the long table after me kicking everything in his way off. I burst through the group of maids and headed for the foyer. I could hear the noise of him knocking his way past the maids. I ran up the stairs. He entered the entryway, ran and slid the point of his sword between the banister and the stairs in an attempt to maim me. I jumped over his sword and headed up the stairs. Looking back I could see his body climbing over the banister. I ran down the hall and entered what would someday be Jeff's room. As I closed the door I could see his body coming down the hall. I locked the door. I had not long to think. The extra bullets were in the backpack with Handy.
The secret lover's passage way behind the bookshelf that I had seen Cindy slip through maybe it"s still here. I heard the pounding of John's body on the door. I broke the window then went through the secret door. The crashing sound of the door frame being ripped off the wall was unmistakable. I leaned against the other side of the passage way hoping he did not know of it.
I heard him yell out the window, "You saved yourself, can you save your friend?"
I heard his large footed body run down the hall. Reli
ef came to me that I was saved. There were several voices in the hall. I thought if I went out there just then I would find myself under arrest. I was confused for a few minutes, and then thinking that the Friar was probably attacking Handy made me realize what I had to do. I burst open the door and ran down the hall yelling. The people in the hall moved out of my way as I held my dagger in front of me. I ran down the stairs and out the front door. Putting my dagger on my side I ran straight toward the Hidden Six as fast as the adrenaline in my body could take me. Once on the pathway, the shadows of the bushes as reflected by the moon gave an eerie perception of speed. I had the thought that the Friar may be hiding behind a bush and just waiting for me to run past so he could decapitate me. Although I started to look farther ahead as I ran, I knew that a trap of the Friar was an unavoidable possibility if I was to get to Handy in time.
Handy was to die this year, and would not have died if I had not come back and tipped off John the Friar.
When I reached the Hidden Six the place was quiet. The rogues must have left with their stolen livestock by now. I drew my dagger as I ran into the house. As I was going up the stairs I could see a flashing emanating from the large room. At the top of the stairs I looked into the large room and saw John the Friar sitting in the lotus position. His body was fading. I held my dagger above my head with both hands and lunged at him.
The blade entered with a cracking sound as his chest cavity shattered. My body landed on his as he fell backward. The blade slid through his body and I could feel the 'thud' as the point of the blade imbedded itself into the wood floor under him. I didn't move when I realized that his quivering body soon was still. I sat up and looked at the man. The dagger was protruding out of his chest. I started to slide myself away from him. Looking at my dagger, I reached to retrieve my weapon. I stopped to look at the dead man's motionless face, then withdrew my hand from my dagger not wanting to know what it would feel like to pull medal out of flesh. I stood and left the room leaving John the Friar and my dagger.
Hamelton (Dr. Paul) Page 12