I ran forward, scared he was going to leave already. He met me in the middle and caught me in surprise, clutching onto my body as I held him tightly. We took a moment to separate ourselves from each other and when we did Jack looked at me and took a step back with a smile. I grabbed his arm, in one fluid motion he wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me back into him so our lips collided against each other. His lips moved gently against mine and I savoured the feeling of his warm mouth against mine and the feel of his hands on my waist.
It would be the last time we kissed for a good six or seven hundred years. I relished the feeling of his lips on mine - the way the rain fell down both our faces as we kissed with open mouths, drinking the rain and each other’s lips. I memorised the feeling of every curve and dip in his face, the feeling of his facial hair as his lips moved against mine - the warmth his body provided flushed against mine even as we were drenched.
Our noses rubbed against each other as he brought one hand up to cup my cheek. Quietly, I asked. “What do I do once I get back?”
He pulled his head away from mine and held on to my face. “What do you want to do once you get back?”
I contemplated it for a moment, wondering if this is what I really wanted. “I want to help you.”
He watched me with wide brown eyes and soaked black hair attached to his neck and then nodded. “Follow the Raven.” He smiled, quickly kissing my wet forehead. “Keep a close eye on the sky.”
He pulled away sharply and turned to face the well, when he stopped suddenly. I put one foot out to join him on our travels back to the future when I noticed what he was looking at.
A group of Redcoats had surrounded us from either side of the hill, even more at the base of the hill waiting. We were trapped.
“Jump!” I screamed to Jack who was closer to the well than I was but he didn’t. Instead, he drew his sword and turned to the person in charge.
The Redcoats parted to reveal an officer. Tobias.
I didn’t know how and I didn’t care to find out if he’d always been so high up in the ranking or whether he was just playing dress-up. I’d met him as Redcoats were chasing him and now he was suddenly one of them?
“Marion Countess Of Eldermore, and Jack... whatever your name might be, you are sentenced to death for the crime of murder. We have you surrounded so hand over your weapons.”
Dramatic much. I had a strange sense of déja vu that Redcoats had surrounded me before and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised.
Jack stepped forward confidently. “She’s not guilty. It’s me you want.”
Tobias raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. “Fine then, Ms Marion will be hung for witchery.”
“What?” I shrieked, scanning my eyes over the soldiers surrounding us, they looked at one another concerned, muttering amongst themselves and instantly praying.
“And why the hell is that?” Jack shouted, looking between us frustrated. For god’s sake, Jack, just jump in the goddamn well. Stop trying to save the day.
“She bewitched the Count, I saw it with my very eyes, and now you.” He puffed out his chest, clasping his hands together before continuing. “Gentlemen,” he caught the attention of his soldiers. “I believe she was intending to tempt him into the well, sending him to his death for what he did to her husband. Or better yet - she cast a spell on him to kill the Count.”
The hell?
The soldiers adjusted themselves nervously and then looked at me with glares, spitting on the floor and hissing.
They believed this lunatic?
“Do not worry. We will bring her to justice for all her devilry and she will be sent to the depths of a fiery pit.” They let out cheers as Tobias stepped towards me, his hands behind his back thoughtfully.
“Tobias. Please.” I turned to him begging. He cocked his head to the side and spoke to me quietly.
“I must admit Marion, you haven’t changed much. Constantly running away it seems, always into the hands of another man.” His eyes flashed with dark amusement. “You ran away from home to run into me, you ran away from me to end up back where you started, and then you ran away from the Count with him.” He turned his lip up. “Only to end up here... again... with me.”
“Go to hell,” I spat.
He raised his eyebrows. “Well the whole please Tobias didn’t last long.”
I hate you so much right now Ace. You have no idea. I am so going to send you to the ‘fiery pits of hell’, you hopeless good for nothing asshole.
“Arrest them.”
Well if that’s how it was going to go. I faced Jack, much to my relief he already held his pistol. So much for my new start - new me.
I aimed the only pistol I had at the man closest to me and instantly guns were raised. “I’ll shoot him,” I threatened, watching Tobias carefully.
He looked at the soldier and then me. “Go for it. I don’t know him.”
The soldier whimpered and the men looked at each other carefully not doing anything. Tobias may not have known him but these men were clearly all friends.
Jack angled one of his pistols in one fluid motion to face Tobias and suddenly guns were redirected. Tobias had one gun facing me, I had one facing the soldier.
“Alright lads,” Jack sighed, and then pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
All confused, we began pulling the triggers, the men began clicking their guns and staring in dismay at the wet gunpowder.
“For fu-” Jack started to say but a grumble of thunder covered his words. The man I was aiming at released a cry as he brought out a sword and raised it above his head
I grasped the sword from my belt, swivelling to stab him instantly. Then I turned to the two men who were running for me and jumped onto the shoulder of the one who dropped to his knees. I flew through the air and pierced the sword through the man who had snuck up behind him.
Jack and I fought side by side, using our swords and each other to turn and kill like we were a part of a dance routine - trading positions by going through each other’s arms.
We were fast, trained fighters from the future with the huge advantage of poor weather. The Redcoats were better at shooting than sword fighting apparently; clearly the storm troopers to the grand finale except they no longer had their guns.
Who didn’t love a good fight?
At some point, Jack and I were forced apart and we turned to each other panicked but determined.
As I rolled away from fighting one soldier I saw another charge at me with his sword poking out like a needle. I simply sidestepped and watched as the man slipped and plunged his sword into his comrade. When he stared shocked I kicked him and pushed my own sword into his stomach.
A man who’d somehow lost his fancy hat stormed forward and knocked the sword from my hand. It skidded a little away from where Jack was fighting with a soldier. I glared at the man and swung my arm out. He caught it with perfect timing a millimetre away from his face and used his other hand to catch me in my stomach. I gasped as all the air was forced out of my lungs, and brought my knee up, forcing his head with my hands to clash with my knee. He groaned, falling to the floor unconscious.
“Nova!” Jack called turning away from the few standing soldiers and threw me my sword.
I grinned at him, taking his hand as we turned into one another, letting go as we defended each other’s backs. I clashed my sword against one man whose face I didn’t see but ended up forcing to the ground. I didn’t manage to kill him before someone came from behind me, slashing my wrist. I dropped the sword in pain and turned to face whoever had cut me, another red coat that smiled triumphantly.
I kicked his knees sending him to the floor and grabbed his head forcing my thumb into his eyes and listening to his screams. I grinned as blood splattered to my face. I guess you couldn’t get rid of bad habits too easily.
Karma soon caught up with me when I felt the cool metal of a blade rest on my throat and the barrel of a gun tipped my hood back.
&n
bsp; My arms were forced to my side and when someone squeezed the gushing wound on my wrist I screamed in response.
Jack halted and turned in my direction. By his feet were a group of wounded or dead Redcoats and Tobias who stepped out from behind him.
“Jack!” I warned him, but Jack had already moved to turn to face Tobias who clashed their swords together. I watched intently, seeing Jack handle the sword, perfectly slicing it through the air to clash against Tobias’, but his feet were getting sloppy. Their swords met in the middle and they pushed against each other teeth bared and growling.
“Its her or you Jack!” Tobias screamed over the wind and a surge of rain pelted us from the side. Jack was weakened and I watched him fall against the well. I willed him to fall in, to just tip over instead of slumping onto the floor. He panted, trying to pull himself up with the rubble of stones surrounding him. When his hand reached out for the sword Tobias stepped on his fingers, crushing them with his boot.
Jack’s face contorted in pain and he turned his head towards me, I struggled from the two men behind me, flicking wet hair from my eyes as I watched him only a few metres away. The blade was pushed further against my throat, drawing blood. I whimpered.
“Her or you Jack?” Tobias repeated, I shook my head don’t you dare you goddamn idiot. They wouldn’t kill me here and you knew it but they would kill you, so tell them to kill me. Pick your goddamn self back up and throw yourself into the well.
Tobias pressed the sword to Jack’s heart waiting. Jack faced me breathing deeply. The rain had soaked him through and he shivered slightly. I struggled against them and managed to rip my arms free from my cloak. I was out of their grasp. I skidded towards Jack but halted when Jack grabbed the blade of the sword and plunged it into his own chest.
I skidded to a halt as a gush of air left my lungs. There was a sword protruding out of his heart like a flag.
There was a sword in Jack’s heart.
I let out a strangled scream and watched as Tobias clenched the hilt of the sword and twisted the blade further into Jack’s chest. Jack’s body shuddered and he gasped for air. A splatter of blood erupted from his mouth and I screamed, tearing my way through soldiers and falling next to his body.
I brought my shaky hands in front of me, clasping for his face moving dark strands of hair away from his cheeks and gasping for air.
Looking back on it I noticed details I wished I’d relished more. I wished I could draw the memory because there was something so eerily beautiful in the way he had died. The way his features looked so dark - so perfectly rugged and boyish all the same.
“No!” I shrieked, my hands fumbling over his chest as blood started to seep through his shirt. He looked up at me blankly. His eyes started to fade and I clenched his hand in mine. “Stay with me, Jack.” I stroked his face wiping the rain from his eyes. “Stay with me,” I repeated and a sob caught in my throat - I made an inhuman sound. Something had snapped inside of me: an emotion of pure horror.
“Help!” I screamed, turning away from his face and at the soldiers who stood around blankly. More had arrived and injured or dead were being carried away. No one would help me. I turned back to Jack where his eyes watched me.
With his lips stained red and trickle of the dark blood at the side of his mouth, he smiled in a grimace sort of way and lifted his arm, his fingers lightly brushed beneath my eyes. Tears mixed with the blood on his hand and for a moment we just stared at each other - trapped in time. Time.
I closed my eyes, willing him to do it, to take us there where our minds were at peace and we’d be nowhere for once - trapped between space and time but together. Nothing happened, the persistent rain fell on top of us like bullets and the wind ripped my hair from its braid until it flapped around my face, wet and bloodied.
When I opened my eyes, I stared into his; a void of all the adventure and determination there had been before.
“Jack,” I breathed, shaking his face gently. His fingers that had wiped my tears away now lay limp on my lap. “Jack!” I cried and my entire body shook with sobs and shuddered as I grasped for his face.
Arms came around my shoulders and tried to pull me up but I dragged my knees against the ground tearing the trousers as I tried to scramble my way toward him. I screamed, tearing my chest right down the middle as I let loose crying and calling his name until I was physically lifted into the air.
“I won’t leave you!” I let out a blood-curdling scream as I kicked and tried to fight my way off of the two men. “Let go of me!” I yelled whilst thrashing.
A sob rose to my throat but I smothered it with another scream as I was passed from one man to the other. I clawed my way over the shoulder of the soldier towards Jack. Tobias stood over his body looking down at the swaggering sword in the wind before finally taking it out. I groaned trying to break free from them but we were already walking down the hill and now the well was out of sight.
The men were quiet, they didn’t cheer out of triumph and victory. They skidded down the hill and avoided eye contact with me and once we got to the bottom they sat me on the back of a carriage with a thick door with bars and chained my hands together. One of them pushed me further into the carriage, prodding me with his gun and then two more jumped in.
They climbed past me and sat awkwardly in the back watching me cautiously, ready to defend themselves if I made a move because surely - I would... surely I would fight back - to get revenge. But only a dark emptiness suffocated me - left me thoughtless and cold.
Jack was dead.
CHAPTER 35
Time: 22nd September 1661
Location: At the base of the hill
Dead. Jack was dead.
I realised the two men who sat with me in the carriage were the ones who had been arguing with each other whilst Jack and I stole the horse and they watched me carefully, disturbed as I sat uncomfortably silent. I was rocking back and forth with the carriage whilst I cried softly, clinging to the bars of the door and rattling my chains. I looked up at the hill and jumped when a flash of lightning hit the tree, a rumble of thunder shortly followed and soon we’d turned a corner and the hill was out of sight. I hunched over my bent knees and shook quietly, running a shaky hand through my hair.
Dead. Jack was dead.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how he should have had last words that I could cling onto and repeat in my head, haunting myself with his voice. But there were none. He hadn’t had any last words to say to me - he’d simply touched my cheek and was gone.
Dead.
Already that lingering ghostly touch was absent from my cheek - I could no longer feel the warmth of his hand and wet of his blood. I could feel nothing, hear nothing.
After a long moment of silence and nothing I suddenly came a little further down to the earth. I could see it again, like a tiny dot beneath me as I hurtled to the ground. But I could hear and see again.
The two men were whispering under their breaths at each other angrily before the slightly smaller one turned to me. “I- uh. You won’t feed our souls to the devil if we give you something warmer to wear?”
I turned my head to the side and glared. “I am not a witch,” I spat, my voice hoarse.
“But uh- say yous was. You wouldn’t hate us if we gave it to you?”
“Why even risk looking at me if you thought I was a witch?” I croaked. “I’d be able to curse you easier.”
The small man pulled away, folding the cloak and leaning to his friend. “Is that true?”
“I don’t know.” He turned to me. “Is that true?”
Were they serious? I looked through my wet strands of hair and watched their knees bounce up and down as they shuffled back and forth nervously in their seats. The man snatched the material from the smaller man’s hands and pushed it across the bench towards me. “Just in case,” he whispered to the man and then they forced their eyes to the ground.
I pressed the palms of my hands to my eyes and took a deep breath. I’d be able to k
ill them, quite easily. But what was the point now? And so I took the material from them and placed it numbly around my shoulders, once I caught a glimpse of the embroidery of the coat my fingers froze and I examined it closely. It was Jacks - the tattered maroon cloak I’d told him to leave under a tree on our way up to the hill. I clenched it tightly, closing my eyes and breathing it in.
Moisture squeezed past my tightly clenched eyes and trickled down my cheeks. I told myself it was blood - not tears and quickly wiped it away with the cloak. If I gave into crying now I would never stop. I had nine whole years of tears building in the back of my throat.
We rode through the night and then through the day, only taking brief minute stops before continuing. I didn’t sleep much throughout the journey. I just looked at my hands and twisted the ring uncomfortably.
He was gone. We were so goddamn close to being home, he could be back in his body now, hugging his sister telling the Rebellion of this nightmare adventure he’d had. However he wasn’t, instead, his body was cold and lifeless because I’d stopped him from leaving - because I was too selfish.
Finally, we arrived at a fortress. Where that was I had no idea but I didn’t care. There was no point left in anything. It felt like all the life had been sucked out of me. I gave up. I was tired and I was ready to accept whatever would happen to me. I was done with being alive, done with being recycled like a piece of plastic.
I wanted peace. I wanted Jack.
I was led to a cell. Usually, I would have looked at my surroundings, found some kind of way to escape but this time I didn’t. I sat in a cell, cold and shivering, crying and feeling sorry for myself. There was no need to hold in the tears now - not when death was so close I could almost touch it with my fingertips.
I was as close to death as I had been to home. It had been a grasp away. We should have climbed the hill as soon as we got there - not sat down for a tea party.
Jack’s cloak had been ripped away from me despite my screaming and crying for it - but a torn part of the fabric was clenched tightly in the ball of my hand. I stroked the dark maroon material, holding it to my lips as I lay curled on the floor of my cell.
NOVA: The Time Bender Series Book 1 Page 25