The Uncharted Series Omnibus

by Keely Brooke Keith

  Connor noticed that certain places in the Land reminded him of other parts of the world, though differences remained. The forest near Good Springs made him think of southeastern Australia. The country around Riverside with its big sky and mountains rising in the distance resembled the American West. And as they traveled toward Stonehill, Connor thought of the North Atlantic coast in Canada. Still, no matter where he was in the Land, he could not shake the feeling that he was at the end of the earth.

  Outside the village of Stonehill, the wagon meandered atop cliffs near the coast. The road veered high above the ocean—with no guardrails or warning signs—with only a few feet of packed earth between the wagon wheels and the edge of the cliff. Connor scanned the landscape ahead and saw a cabin on the bluffs. It reminded him of Frank Roberts. His concern for Lydia flooded back. She was never far from his thoughts anyway. He had plenty of time to think during the journey, and he spent most of the time thinking of Lydia.

  Connor appreciated how peaceful life was without the constant interruption of technology, but he also found himself wishing for some way to contact Lydia. He hated that they fought the night before he left. He felt anxious to see her again and know they were still friends.

  The road veered away from the cliff and to the village ahead. They passed one house, then another. Connor saw a woman hanging wet clothes on a line strung from the side of her house to the trunk of a thin pine tree. Levi pulled the wagon near her yard, and its wheels sent chickens scurrying in all directions. Levi asked the woman about Overseer Vestal, and she pointed at the parsonage.

  The Vestals were friendly and eager to welcome Levi and Connor into their home. Overseer Vestal insisted they call him Wade. He was the first person in the Land that Connor had considered portly. Mrs. Vestal seemed exuberant to have guests and disappeared into the kitchen. Connor heard her humming while pots and pans clanked.

  Wade ushered Connor and Levi through a narrow hallway and into a formally decorated sitting room. He motioned for them to sit on chairs upholstered with thick, red velvet. Then Wade popped up again and shouted back down the hallway. “Hazel! Send for Phillipa! Tell her we have gentlemen guests!”

  “Right away, dear!” Mrs. Vestal’s response had a singsong quality.

  Wade shifted his ample weight in the chair. “So you have come from Good Springs with news?” His smile held steady.

  Levi handed John’s letter to the overseer. Wade chewed his cheek as he read it, his eyes widening all the while. Then he asked Connor for his report. Wade folded the letter in half and creased it between his thumb and forefinger several times as he listened to Connor. All at once, he seemed to realize he was creasing another man’s paper and handed the letter back to Levi.

  Connor explained about the people from other lands that were scouring the world for resources. He had already given the speech several times before they reached Stonehill and had learned what words to say and what not to say. He explained the Land was currently undetectable to outsiders, but the people of the Land must refrain from certain technologies to help keep it that way.

  Levi asked about the inventor whom Lydia had met years ago. Wade said he knew the man and nodded his head. His plump jowls jiggled rapidly. “Yes, yes. This matter does sound pertinent, gentleman. I’ll gather the elders. And I’ll speak to Jeremiah Cotter—though I doubt he has gotten very far with his inventions. His heart troubles him, and he spends most of his days in bed.” Wade looked at Connor then. “Such is the course for the ailments a man is born with. No amount of gray leaf tea will heal those afflictions.”

  Connor heard the front door of the parsonage open, then footsteps and whispering. Mrs. Vestal appeared in the doorway and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, gentlemen,” she said while wiping her hands on a flower-print dishtowel. “May I present my daughter, Miss Phillipa Vestal.”

  A young woman stepped into the doorway. She looked to be in her late teens and had an attractive figure. Connor’s eyes moved from her ribbon-laced shoes up to her face, and then he had to look away quickly. She had a thick line of dark hair above her upper lip and only one eye that focused directly ahead.

  “I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said. Connor glanced at her and nodded politely. The young woman smiled, revealing a flock of yellow teeth that darted in every direction. She closed her lips but one snaggletooth refused to be concealed. Levi stood and introduced himself. She shook his hand but kept one eye pointed at Connor.

  * * *

  After dinner and a long evening of conversation, Mrs. Vestal showed Connor and Levi to the guestroom. Relieved to see two small beds, Connor walked to the bed nearest the window and kicked off his shoes. He lifted the heavy-framed sash window, and fresh air blew through the room. Levi tossed his satchel on the other bed and began to rifle through it.

  As Connor reclined on the bed, he stretched his legs to the end of the mattress and rested his hands behind his head. He wondered what Lydia was doing at that exact moment. He imagined her riding her horse, rushing to someone who needed help. If she were in any modern society, she would probably be an emergency room doctor. He tried to imagine her wearing scrubs and using computerized medical equipment to check vital signs, but the image did not suit her. A thought occurred to him and he sat up. “Hey Levi, what is the custom here when a man is interested in one particular woman?”

  Levi’s eyes shot open and he grinned. “Yes, right, well,” Levi fumbled for words and seemed pleased with Connor for the first time since his arrival. “First, you must go to her father and ask his permission.”

  That sounded a bit serious to Connor. He raised a finger. “What if you aren’t sure you want to marry her yet—you just want to get to know her? What do you call that?”

  “Do you mean courting?”

  “I guess.”

  “You still must ask her father first. Otherwise, your intentions would seem questionable.”

  Connor thought that sounded fair. “All right. Let’s say I talk to the girl’s father and he is fine with it. Then what?”

  “Then you visit her and spend time with her. Go on walks, picnics—that type of thing.”

  “What if I spend some time with her and realize I don’t like her as much as I thought I would—am I obligated to marry her?” Connor doubted that would happen, but he preferred to know all the facts before he got himself into something serious.

  “No. I don’t think so.” Levi looked deep in thought for a moment. “Of course you shouldn’t ask for her hand in marriage unless you are sure.”

  “Right, thanks.” Connor reclined on the bed. He felt confident he could handle their customs and imagined going to John Colburn to ask permission to court his daughter. John was a fair man and seemed to like him, so he guessed his chances of approval were good. As he began to plan exactly what he would say to John, Connor sensed Levi was still looking at him. He glanced at Levi.

  “Well?” Levi asked.

  “Well what?”

  “Are you going to go speak with Wade?”

  “About what?”

  “Phillipa.”

  “Wade’s daughter?”

  “Of course. Isn’t that who you were speaking of?”

  “Seriously?” Connor would have found Levi’s miscalculation humorous if the overseer’s daughter were less pitiful. During dinner Connor had felt something rub his ankle several times, and when he finally looked under the table he saw it was Phillipa’s foot. He had glanced up at her and she tried to give him a seductive look. Connor remembered it and shuddered. “No, not her.”

  Levi pushed his hands through his hair. His friendly smile was gone. He paced a small patch of the guestroom floor and marched to the door. Connor hoped Levi would leave the room without asking any more questions, but Levi turned back around and crossed his arms over his chest. He lowered his voice an octave. “What exactly are your intentions with Lydia?”

  Connor noticed Levi’s posture. He appreciated Levi’s willingness to fight for his sister’s hono
r. He doubted Levi would believe he was willing to fight for it too. “My intentions?” Connor repeated, unsure if he wanted to answer Levi’s question.

  “Yes. I know you have wishes for my sister. What are they?” Levi demanded.

  “I have wishes for Lydia? Yeah, yeah, I do.” Connor sucked in a breath and sat up. “I wish that stalker of hers would spontaneously combust. I wish the village would acknowledge her worth and start calling her Doctor. I wish she owned a pair of jeans. Those are a few of my wishes for Lydia.”

  Levi turned and stormed out. Connor lay back down on the bed. He heard the front door open and close and assumed Levi had gone outside to vent his anger. Connor decided to let Levi deal with the horses and wagon by himself that night. They still had to travel to Southpoint before retracing the road back to Good Springs, and there would not be many occasions for giving each other personal space.

  Chapter Ten

  Frank Roberts went to the schoolyard several days in a row and watched the young men during their lunch breaks and after school. Once certain he had figured out which boys were likely to be up for his adventure, he positioned himself in their path. He piqued their curiosity by displaying the flashlight he had stolen from Connor—without telling them where it came from. The gadget no longer produced the piercing beam of light that it did when Frank had first acquired it, and he did not know why. Still, he pushed the button on the flashlight and the boys stared in wonder. They asked about the device’s origin and purpose, and Frank lured them to his cabin with the promise of more inventions from afar.

  Inside his cabin, the hinge on the wooden trunk screeched as Frank opened it. He dug beneath the rolled-up cloth for the other treasures while he listened to the chatter of the two adolescent boys who waited on his front steps. Frank heard one boy say they should not be there, but the other boy was too curious to leave.

  After removing the purloined helmet and knife from the wooden trunk, Frank closed the lid and walked back outside. “Take a look at this.” Frank put the helmet on his head and pushed a button on the side. The helmet’s face shield instantly disappeared. The smaller of the two young men jumped back, startled. Frank pushed the button again and the face shield reappeared.

  Frank removed the helmet, looked at the smaller boy, and smiled. “Would you like to try it on, Luke?”

  Luke Owens shook his head violently in response. Frank was irritated with them already, but he needed someone to help him row the boat if his plan were going to work. He struggled to appear patient. “How about you, Walter?” The older boy accepted his offer, and after putting on the helmet, reached for a stick and challenged Luke to a mock sword fight in front of Frank’s cabin. Frank followed the boys into the overgrown yard. While he watched them, he plucked a leaf from a gray leaf tree. After folding the leaf into a tiny square, Frank put it into his mouth and began to chew.

  The boys play-fought for a while, and when they walked back to the cabin, Luke was wearing the helmet. “Looks good on you,” Frank commented. He was eager to make his plan a reality. Frank had thought long and hard about how he could get Lydia’s attention and he had concluded that if he rowed far enough out to sea, he could fly back to shore with the magic cloth—just like the stranger had. Frank had already built a boat and fashioned paddles. All he needed were two young men—old enough to row, but young enough to follow him into the treacherous ocean.

  Frank looked at Walter and Luke. They would need to trust him first, so he planned to be the best friend they had ever had. They would need to be persuaded to do something risky, so he would promise them a wealth of new treasures waited beyond the horizon. They would need a reason to side with him if anyone tried to stop them, so he would convince them that the adults of Good Springs only wanted to hold them back from adventure.

  The boys sat on the steps outside the cabin. Frank listened while Walter complained about his parents. Covertly shifting the gray leaf in his mouth with his tongue, Frank did his best to convey sympathy. As the boys began to tell Frank about their families and dreams and fears, Frank began to feel confident his plan would work.

  Frank pulled Connor’s knife out of his pocket and unfolded one of the knife’s many shiny blades, then he picked up a stick and started to shave the bark off of it.

  “Wow! Where did you get that?” Luke reached for the knife.

  Frank liked Luke’s eagerness. He held the knife out of the boy’s reach and grinned. “I don’t think your mother would like you handling a knife like this, young man.”

  Luke did not answer. While he stared blankly at the knife, Walter stepped closer. “Well, my mother isn’t here, is she?”

  Frank closed the blade on the knife and handed it to Walter. “Spoken like a real man.” Luke watched closely as Walter examined all the blades and tools hidden within the shiny red handle. Soon, Luke was holding the knife. He scraped bark from a stick just as Frank had done. Frank leaned back against a tree trunk and watched the boys. Satisfaction coursed through his veins. Frank felt certain that after a few weeks with these boys, they would row to the end of the earth for him.

  * * *

  Lydia heard a wagon on the road in front of the Colburn property. She stepped to the kitchen window to look out. The wagon passed the house and continued driving toward the village. Lydia shuffled back to the kitchen sink and began peeling potatoes.

  John walked out of the pantry holding a handful of green beans. “Who was that?”

  Lydia glanced at him. “William McIntosh, I believe.” She stopped what she was doing, took a ceramic bowl from the cabinet, and placed it on the kitchen table in front of Isabella. Then she returned to peeling potatoes at the sink.

  John laid the green beans in a pile on the table in front of Isabella. She reached to the pile and began snapping the beans. As she dropped the pieces into the bowl, her lips twitched. “Shouldn’t the boys be back by now?”

  Lydia looked at her father and waited for his reassuring response. John filled a large pot with water and set it on the stove. “It depends on how long it takes them to meet with the elders in each village. I expected them to be away for at least three weeks.”

  “It has been nearly four, has it not?” Isabella asked.

  “Tomorrow.” Lydia peeled the last potato and set it aside with the rest. “Four weeks tomorrow.”

  “Now ladies, worry accomplishes nothing.” John gathered the potatoes and carried them to the stove. “Rest assured, they will be back any day—”

  Another wagon rolled down the road, and it turned toward the Colburn house. Lydia looked out the window, then she pulled her apron off and rushed outside to meet the wagon.

  “Mr. Cotter. Mrs. Cotter.” Lydia saw the couple on the front seat of the wagon and thought something was wrong. “Where is the baby?”

  “He is home—we have a neighbor girl looking after him,” Mark Cotter said as he climbed down from the wagon. He walked around to the other side. “It’s Doris who needs to see you.” He held his hand up to his wife and she took it as she carefully stepped down to the ground. “I will wait out here,” he told Doris.

  Lydia studied Mark’s expression; his cheeks were flushed and he wore half a grin. Lydia thought he appeared to be more embarrassed than upset. She looked at his wife. “Yes, Doris. Do come in.” Lydia led the woman into the medical cottage and closed the door behind them.

  While Lydia was attending to her patient, she thought she heard another wagon outside and realized how anxious she was for Levi and Connor to return. She felt as though her contentment hinged on their return. The notion alarmed her. Perhaps it was her argument with Connor or Doctor Ashton’s death or simply that she missed them, but everything seemed a bit dreary lately. And the dreariness was interspersed with apprehension because of Connor’s warning about Frank. Though she truly believed Frank would not do anything to harm her physically, Connor’s caution echoed in her mind every time she stepped outside or heard a knock at her door. She hoped Levi and Connor’s return would renew her sense of
security and lift her spirit.

  While her patient dressed, Lydia sat at her desk and made notes. She turned the pages in her calendar to check a date and made another note. Doris’s baby had been born on the morning of the autumn equinox in March—the same day Connor had arrived in the Land. Lydia heard the faint murmur of men’s voices outside the cottage and wondered if it could be Levi and Connor, but she decided it was probably her father and Mark.

  Doris buttoned her dress as she walked to Lydia’s desk. “Thank you, Lydia.” Doris smiled then her chin began to quiver and tears came to her eyes. “I’m happy about this, really I am. I don’t know why I am crying.”

  Lydia inclined her head as she touched her patient’s arm. “There now, Doris, your husband will be pleased when you tell him the news.”

  “It’s just that little James is not yet three months old.” Doris drew a hand-stitched kerchief from her sleeve and dabbed at her tears. “Neither Mark nor I thought this could happen quite so soon.”

  “James and his new brother or sister will probably grow up to be good friends. My brother is just ten months younger than I, and we have always been very fond of each other.” Lydia gently touched Doris’s shoulder and opened the door. “You have a lot to look forward to.”

  Lydia followed Doris outside. She saw Mark’s wagon, and behind it was her father’s wagon. The men stood near the back door of the main house. Bethany was hugging Levi, and John was shaking Connor’s hand while Mark watched the welcome party.