A question barely heard. A black shape stepped from the gloom, a sentry.
“Where is Lord Alberto?” she whispered.
He gestured to his right. “There. A sentry stands guard over him.”
She nodded and moved off, picking her way past sleeping men, seeing him at last. His sentry came forward, blocking her path, then bowed and moved to the side when he recognized her.
Gwen glanced from the sentry to Alberto’s sleeping form. What was she doing? She couldn’t go to him. Not here.
“I’ll stay here,” she whispered and leaned against the nearest tree as the sentry resumed his position. For the moment, she was content to watch Alberto, but could not easily reconcile her contentment with the stark realities of this place and time. Destiny had surely brought them together to save Queen Adelaide.
Gwen still missed her world, her family, and would miss them until the day she died, but Alberto had changed everything. If it hadn’t been for traveling through time, she would never have met him. They were meant to be together. He was the only man for her.
She smiled, then turned and imagined she could see past the forest to a dark cliff, to looming evil. Love would sustain them in the coming struggle. Yes. She knew that now.
The power of their love would prevail.
*
Queen Adelaide sat in her cell, mulling over what had happened the day before. When Brother Godwyn hugged her, she’d felt breasts. Her heart had been too troubled to react, but she had not imagined it.
She prayed silently. This monk who is not a monk saved my daughter. This monk who is not a monk is here to rescue me as well. I know that to be true. Thank you, O Lord.
“Forgive me for doubting You in my darkest hour,” she whispered. “My faith shall never waver again.”
Her heart filled with joy, an abiding love for her Lord, her Savior.
Adelaide got down on her knees and clasped her hands, gazing up, the darkness of her cell no longer a barrier to a vision of heaven’s golden clouds, to hopefulness.
How long had been the night, how very long, but now there was light.
Victory was at hand.
Authors’ Note
The life story of Adelaide of Burgundy, Queen of Northern Italy and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, is little known beyond her former realms, but it deserves a wider audience, replete as it is with all the passion and high drama found in more famous sagas. Who can resist the tale of a young and beautiful queen, kidnapped by the evil schemers responsible for her husband’s murder, and then taken to a dark and nefarious castle-keep? The story is grounded in actual historical events, recorded for posterity by Adelaide’s contemporaries and friends.
St. Odilo of Cluny knew her well and wrote a full accounting of her life, while other tenth century works shed light on her relationship with King Otto. These include the Historia Ottonis by Liutprand of Cremora (our Liutprand of Pavia, who became bishop of Cremora several years after our tale ends), and the Gesta Ottonis, a history of the Ottonian houses from 919 to 965, written by the nun Hroswitha of Gandersheim, a celebrated dramatist and poet and one of medieval Europe’s most prolific female writers. While it is unusual to have so many contemporary chronicles available from such a distant and tumultuous age, Adelaide was considered the most important woman of her time and therefore was written about extensively.
Even so, not every aspect of her life is known. We have found it necessary to mingle the well documented incidences and old folktales with our own dramatic inventions. Historians agree Berengar of Ivrea probably poisoned King Lothaire. Berengar did indeed capture the widowed Adelaide with the intention of marrying her to his son, Adalbert, thereby guaranteeing his family’s hold on power in Italy. In our novel, Berengar’s wife Willa of Tuscany is his partner-in-crime, although in reality she probably had little to do with the king’s murder. While a historical figure, Willa’s role as witch and instigator of our time travel mayhem is of course purely fictional, although Liutprand and others tell of her mistreatment of Queen Adelaide. Additionally, Willa and Berengar had more children besides Adalbert, but we have ignored them for our story’s sake and ask the reader’s forbearance in this regard.
Many additional incidences in our novel, passed down from generation to generation in the places where they occurred, also bear the ring of truth and so have been woven into our tale. On the way to Berengar’s castle-keep on Lake Garda, Queen Adelaide is said to have escaped, only to be recaptured by Berengar’s soldiers in a wheat field, the men thrusting their spears into the standing wheat as they searched. Once at Garda, the queen did spurn Adalbert, an act which resulted in the cutting of her hair, probably at Willa’s instigation.
It is here our Italian noble, Alberto Uzzo (also known as Adalberto Azzo), enters history. Alberto was the scion of a family of Italian upstarts, who gained nobility and land because of an audacious and talented ancestor. He was an ally of King Lothaire and therefore bound to protect Queen Adelaide. Alberto actually had a wife named Hildegarde and a daughter called Prangilda (or Prangarda), and several sons, but we have chosen to ignore the sons for the purposes of our story.
Meanwhile, at Queen Adelaide’s behest, the aforementioned Liutprand did set out to find King Otto. The sequel to The Other Side of Heaven, titled Time Enough for Love, continues this true story, as well as that of our fictional heroine, Gwendolyn Godwyn, as she strives to find her place in this memorable era.
About the Authors
Two authors writing as one, Cary Morgan Frates and Deborah O’Neill Cordes specialize in recreating pivotal moments in history, epic adventure, and romance – with a time travel twist. The Other Side of Heaven is the first novel in their medieval Italian time travel series. The second novel in the series is titled Time Enough for Love. They are also the authors of an epic Elizabethan time travel series, to be published by Entangled Publishing, LLC. The first novel in the series, The Thornless Rose, will debut in November of 2014.
Please visit Morgan O’Neill at:
http://www.morganoneill.com/
Copyright © 2013 and 2014 by Deborah O’Neill Cordes
and Cary Morgan Frates
e-book ISBN: 978-0-9912932-2-3
print ISBN: 978-0-9912932-3-0
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Cover by Steven Novak
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