Elise smiled and said with pride, “Three thousand and fifty one years to be exact!”
Rebekka was shocked, she had guessed she was in the future, but so many years stifled the imagination. She sat quietly for awhile eating a little desert until she was bold enough to ask another question.
“Elise,” Rebekka began, “how is it that you have grown older in just a few days? You do not look fourteen at all, but a woman in her late teens. Surely, you too have noticed?”
Elise did not say anything for a moment then answered, “I do not know how either, but I have changed that is certain.”
Rebekka continued, “Do you have a family physician that can look at you perhaps?”
Elise shot a frowning glance at Rebekka that quieted her for the moment, but then her features softened, “Why are you interested in my health?”
“I do not wish you harm, and I believe you did not wish me harm in bringing me here, am I correct?”
“You are right,” Elise confessed, “I do not want anything to happen to you. I am lonely a lot and you treat me as a normal person, not like the others.”
“What do you mean?” asked Rebekka.
“The others treat me nice because they fear what Layton will do to them if they don’t. You don’t fear Layton like they do, why is that?” Elise asked.
“I do not want to give him that satisfaction,” was all Rebekka said. In fact she did fear Layton Teal, not for what he could do to her, but what he could do to them all if he found the ancients.
“I like you,” Elise said. Then added, “Tomorrow I will see a physician about looking older so quickly.”
They were both tired when they left Jansboqué to head back to where Elise lived. When they arrived Elise led Rebekka to the room that would be her’s and showed her the buzzer to summon someone if she needed anything, and then told her good night. Rebekka lay upon her bed thinking, and aching for those who were separated from her by such a great rift in time. She could not help but concentrate all her thoughts into one desperate cry, “I love you Raven”.
Others who lived in the time that Rebekka had been taken to, and were sensitive to telepathy, heard the cry and wondered, who it was that could echo this cry so strongly in the night.
After a great meal with Andronicus and a lively discussion on what to do and what not to do in their time travel, they all retired for the evening anticipating the next day and their travel in time. Master Fields and Sauron would wait with Andronicus and seemed content with the desire to know more of this wondrous place above Brickens’ Falls. Andrew, Lorriel, Joanna, and Raven would be the ones to travel back in time to meet the ancients. The discussions around the dinner table had basically been what to do when they met their ancestors, and to try and refrain from telling them much about the future.
When Raven began to relax and fall into that place of sleep right before you lose consciousness, he began to dream of Rebekka and of her sacrifice for them all. It was as if he could hear her voice saying, “I love you Raven”. And then he was fast asleep.
The next morning they gathered around the breakfast table Andronicus had prepared. While feasting, they mentally prepared themselves for the journey they would take.
Raven asked Andronicus a question, “Last night as I was falling asleep it seemed I heard Rebekka’s voice calling to me, but faintly. Is that possible if she is in another time?”
Andronicus was greatly surprised at such a far reaching question. “I do not know,” he replied. “I have never heard of such a thing, but Rebekka is a very talented and powerful telepath, she has already done things not known to be possible.”
Raven did not expect an answer to his question but was glad to ask Andronicus anyway. After breakfast they gathered outside on the lawn for their departure. They were taking no weapons with them for there was no need when visiting the ancients.
Andronicus had explained to the best of his knowledge how the stones worked: “The crystals amplify the time shifting waves generated by the time shifter. Everything within the stone’s perimeter will travel in time with the time shifter. For this reason, no less than three stones will work. The five stones give you a rounder field of effect than just three which form a triangle. This is the reason you must hold the stones on the outside of you with your backs to each other. The time shift will only affect that which is inside the perimeter of the stones. Also I do not believe it wise for you to see me so far in the past. I myself do not wish to know too much before it happens, so go to the king’s castle and meet the ancients there. They will let me know that you are not the enemy. Now, I must speak with Lorriel and give her the context and time she needs to travel there.”
Andronicus motioned to Lorriel and they went off a ways for quiet and privacy while the others talked. Raven watched them go and noted with curiosity the sternness in Andronicus’ face. It seemed they were almost arguing over something and Lorriel whirled and started to head back toward them when Andronicus grabbed Lorriel’s arm and swung her around to face him once again. Raven almost went over to see what the problem was when he saw Andronicus nod in almost a sad way and Lorriel came to join them once again.
“Let’s go,” Lorriel said.
“What was that about,” Raven wanted to know, motioning to Andronicus who still stood aloof by himself.
“Nothing,” Lorriel stated, “its just between Andronicus and myself.”
Raven started to pry further, but decided he would wait and ask later what their argument was all about. Joanna handed a blue stone to Raven, a red stone to Andrew, and took a topaz colored one for herself. They put Lorriel in the middle and each put their back up against her and held the stone out on its chain, letting it drape over the outside of their closed fist.
“We are ready,” Raven said.
Lorriel closed her eyes and envisioned the place and time that Andronicus had vividly told her of in the past. At first Raven thought nothing would happen then their surroundings began to shimmer and fade. And he knew at that moment they had begun the journey back to their ancestor’s time.
Chapter 5
The King’s Ancestors
“Doest thou have abilities beyond the common man? Wilt thou horde them for thyself til thou goest the way of all the earth and turnest to dust? Or wilt thou give God the glory and helpest thy fellow man with thy gift?”
--Chronicles of the Ancients
The surroundings of the beautiful garden at the top of Brickens’ Falls faded away and a feeling of weightlessness came over the time travelers. But before they could react or fear what was happening to them new surroundings began to twist and form before their eyes. In the next instant they found themselves a short distance from the king’s castle.
It had to be the king’s castle, Raven thought, but it was different as well. Then he realized the greatest difference was that it looked so new, like the stone was even polished.
Raven gathered his wits and spoke to his group, “Put away the stones so they can not be seen by anyone just yet. I am sure our appearance here will be quite a surprise to our ancestors.”
The group turned and headed toward the king’s castle, a glittering reproduction of the castle in their day. As they approached the main gate that led to the courtyard, they could see several people up on the wall looking down at them through the crenels. As they started to enter the gates the faces disappeared in a rush. Then they were inside the courtyard where they stopped and waited. Soon a group of people warily assembled at the opposite end of the courtyard from Raven’s group.
After a moments stare down, a man stepped forward and demanded; “Who are you and what do you want? And don’t give me any old story for we know that you time shifted to this place. Are you from the enemy?”
Raven spoke quickly trying to diffuse the situation before it escalated further; “We are here from the future because of the enemy, Layton Teal”... was all he was able to say before he was interrupted.
He wanted t
o add much more but the man was speaking again, “Your speech is strange, what a brilliant ploy of Layton, you are his spies.”
Raven started to answer but saw a swift motion of the man’s hand. The next thing Raven knew a knife had appeared and was sailing toward him. It was a hard fast throw, but Raven had handled weapons thrown at him before, so simply timed it and caught the knife short of his chest. The man was clearly surprised to see the reflexes Raven exhibited. As Raven tossed the knife aside the man came at him in a flash. This almost unnerved Raven, for he had never seen such quickness in anyone other than Andronicus. If he had not been in the habit of sparing with Andronicus this would have been his undoing, but now he waited with a controlled tenseness that came with his abilities.
Uriah was troubled when the visitors arrived. Andronicus had informed them there had been a time shift just outside of the castle. “Funny,” Uriah thought, that the time shift would occur when all of them were gathered here in one place and not dispersed to the other castles. He had a terrible feeling that this would be the end for them all. He decided right then and there that he would not go peacefully. After all, what awaited him back in his own time was a sentence of death. He would rather fight to the death than be taken back, tortured, and killed at Layton’s pleasure. Why had they destroyed their weapons so soon after they had finished the castles? As good as he was he did not think he could defeat a force armed with lasers or other high-tech weapons. Uriah hurried to the top of the wall to view their approaching trouble. Daniel was there as well, along with Samuel. When he looked over the wall he was surprised to see only four people, two women and two men coming toward the castle. This was not an assault force, it merely had to be reconnaissance from Layton. If he killed them all no word would get back and perhaps Layton would just figure something went wrong.
Uriah motioned to the others and headed to the courtyard without saying a word. When they arrived the small group had stopped and waited for them to come. He had to do something before they disappeared. If that happened all would be lost in their efforts to carve a new life here for themselves. Uriah surveyed the situation and after asking them their business heard the strange speech of the visitors.
“How clever,” thought Uriah, he was sure the enemy did not know they could detect time shifts so he had sent spies with a strange tongue to mask their identity. He had to keep them off balance so he could incapacitate them before they could escape so he called them spies. He could see this shocked them and in that instant he drew a knife and threw it at the man in front of him. When the man caught the knife that was thrown at him, Uriah was shaken to his very core. It had been one of his swifter throws and no one he knew could have stopped it from its purpose.
“Well,” Uriah thought, “Layton has engineered another warrior for himself, lets see how good you really are.” With that he leaped at the man to finish him off.
Raven saw that the man coming was incredibly swift, and in that instant he realized this was Uriah Kallestor his own ancestor. He had no time to explain for the man was in front of him and had already started to deliver several crushing blows that would have killed him had he not been quick enough to block them. They separated and circled each other like two cats surveying their prey. Every time Raven started to say something Uriah would attack and it would take all of his concentration to block the attack.
Uriah meanwhile was thinking, “This new genetic warrior is quite impressive,” and he now began to worry. He had blocked everything Uriah had thrown at him and several times he could have picked an opening and delivered some blows but had not. Uriah knew that the warrior was only toying with him, prolonging this conflict, for he had not attacked at all. He also knew that if he did not finish this battle soon he probably would lose.
To the others gathered in the courtyard, the confrontation and attack came so quickly that they were all stunned. One minute Raven was trying to explain who they were, the next he was fighting hand to hand with this man.
Andrew did not know what to do, and was wishing at this moment that he had brought his sword when Joanna ran into the fray to try and stop the battle. They all realized how serious this was, for the man was not playing, he was trying to kill Raven.
As Joanna reached the battle between Uriah and Raven, Uriah feigned at Raven and then swung with his leg and caught Joanna sending her flying and landing in a heap near by. Lorriel ran to her mother and Andrew could stand it no longer. He yelled and began to head toward the battle, his anger flowing for what this man had done to Joanna when strong arms grabbed him and began to pull him down. He had been so intent on the battle that he had not seen the others rushing toward them.
As Andrew hit the ground in the castle courtyard, he tried to rise but the next instant a fist came crashing squarely into his face and everything went black.
Meanwhile Raven seeing what was happening and his mother laying on the ground as well now became angry. Ancestors or not he would not stand by and let them harm any of them, and he was especially angry with Uriah for what he had done to his mother. Now Raven swung into action and struck several blows to Uriah. He could see the man was visibly shaken but not terribly dissuaded from the battle. Even though Raven was angry and no longer was fooling around, he did not want to injure or kill Uriah, for then he would be no different than the enemy. He would not do the enemies work for him but he needed to finish this battle somehow soon.
Uriah noticed the difference right away and knew that he had been right with the estimation of this enemy spy. He no longer was toying around and the blows he had given him hurt immensely. But still the spy held back, for one particular blow if followed through would have broken his collarbone. He had better end this quick or they all would be finished. Uriah went full force, it was now or never.
Raven was no longer relaxed and flowing, he had shifted into battle mode which he had not wanted to do. But some things you cannot control when life preservation kicks in during an emergency. Raven at that moment realized he could be a killing machine and simply kill this man and be done with it, but almost instantly he gained control of his instincts and did not deliver any blows that would kill Uriah. Then it happened, Uriah made a sweep with his leg so quickly that Raven could not get out of the way by dodging back or sideways so he did the only thing he could, he went up and over the head of Uriah while the momentum of his leg swing circled catching only the air where Raven had stood.
This is familiar, Raven thought, I have been in this position before. When he landed behind Uriah he did not give him a blow to the neck but simply grabbed him from behind and whispered in his ear quickly, grandfather, I am your descendant.
Uriah spun around like lightning to face Raven but he was not there, what had he said about being his descendant, grandfather? Uriah spun just as quickly back the other way and there was Raven standing there, but before he could do anything the spy’s arm shot forward with his palm open and smacked him in the forehead with such force that Uriah fell backwards landing hard on the ground almost knocking him unconscious. Uriah was dazed and knew the battle was over, he would be finished any moment.
I am sorry, Merry, I am sorry for failing you and everyone, he thought. But the blow did not come, the man was calling his name, and saying something. His mind was fuzzy and it began to sink in, he was saying he was his descendant, he was calling him grandfather. Uriah shook his head to clear the cobwebs and stars that had been placed there by Raven’s blow.
“What?” Uriah said. “You are not from the enemy, Layton Teal?”
“No, we are not,” Raven shouted. “We mean you no harm, please listen!”
Uriah looked about and assessed the situation instantly and saw that Andrew was in danger from the others and shouted to them to stop before they killed him. The others stopped and backed away from Andrew's motionless form.
Lorriel was torn seeing Andrew there lying still and holding and cradling her mother as she lay unconscious in her arms. Raven seeing her plea rushed to A
ndrew and began to minister to him as he was coming around.
Lorriel on the other hand just screamed at the crowd of people, “What is wrong with you, we have come to help and you try to kill us?”
The people now began to settle down as they realized the battle was over and Lorriel’s harsh words began to sink in. Uriah came over and stood looking down at Raven and the awakening Andrew. Joanna was also starting to stir in Lorriel’s arms. Andrew sat up on his own strength and so Raven stood and faced Uriah.
“If you were not my ancestor I would have killed you for hitting my mother the way you did!”
Uriah looked shocked, “She was your mother? Are you really my grandson?”
Raven settled down a little and simply said, “Yes, a great, great, great, way down the line grandson of yours, I am your descendant Raven Kallestor.”
“This,” he motioned to Andrew, “is Andrew Crestlaw, my sister Lorriel, and my mother Joanna.”
Someone from the back of the crowd yelled, “A Crestlaw?” And Samuel Crestlaw pushed his way to the front and knelt beside Andrew to assist him.
Suddenly a man who had been silent now spoke. Raven knew immediately that he was a leader that the others respected.
“I am Daniel Brickens, if you have not been sent by the enemy, Layton Teal, then why are you here?”
Raven now began again. “I was about to explain that before I was attacked,” he said scowling at Uriah. “Layton Teal has appeared in our time a thousand years in the future. He has taken my wife hostage and expects us to tell him when and where to find you in three days for the exchange of my wife’s safe return.”
Everyone was silent as they all looked at Raven until Daniel spoke, “How do you know about Layton Teal?”
Then at almost the same time in unison they answered, “Andronicus!”
The King's Ancestors Page 15
