The Amethyst Amulets

by Cillian Burns

  Tears formed in her eyes and slowly ran unchecked down her cheeks. It was almost more than she could bear.

  Nicholas awoke and dragged himself up to his chamber. The room had been cleaned and fresh sheets placed on the bed. A single candle burned on the table.

  He walked across the stone floor and stood at the window. The moon was setting and he watched it sink below the black outline of the western forest.

  Julie. Was it the same day and time in the future? Could she see the same full moon he did? Was she asleep or awake mourning the babe's loss?

  Exhausted, he turned away from the window, climbed into bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

  Julie peered through the glass door of Lily's shop. A light was on in the back so she must be there, even though it was before sunrise. Julie rapped on the door.

  A moment later, Lily opened it. “Come in,” she said with a faint smile. “I've been expecting you."

  "I'm sure you have.” Julie had trouble sounding civil when anger bubbled in her like lava in a volcano. “And I want some real answers, not the vague nothings you usually tell me, such as ‘all in good time.’”

  "My, aren't we feisty today,” Lily murmured, moving through the shop and into the work room. “Tea?” A cosied teapot sat on the counter along with two mugs.

  "You knew exactly when I was coming? Now why doesn't that surprise me?"

  Lily nodded, as she poured tea into the mugs.

  Julie laid her hand on the older woman's arm. “Please, no more evasions. Let's sit down and discuss what's happened."

  Lily settled on one of the work stools and Julie took the other one. “I realize recent events have left you shaken, but you need to have a little faith in me."

  Julie sighed. “How can I with the way things have gone? My life's in tatters, my love lives hundreds of years in the past and my future's bleak.” Pain from the fist squeezing her heart made breathing difficult.

  Lily leaned over and took her hand. “I am so sorry, dear."

  "I can't go back. Julianne is dead and there's no body for me to inhabit. Nicholas is gone forever.” Julie's courage finally deserted her and she burst into tears.

  Lily slid off her stool and put an arm around Julie's shoulders. “Don't cry, dear."

  Julie located a tissue in her pocket and wiped her eyes.

  Lily patted her back. “Julie, please believe me when I say your best interests are also mine."

  "I'm trying, Lily, but oh, I miss him so much. I'd do anything to be with him."

  "Anything is a big promise, Julie. Are you sure about that?"

  "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

  Lily changed the subject. “You have not asked about Nicholas, how he is faring without you. Do you want to know?"

  "Of course, I do,” Julie cried. “Tell me!"

  "He is very lonely and misses you greatly."

  "Can you bring him here? He could use Nick's body and...” She paused. That had been selfish of her. Would she deny Nick a life so she could be with her love? And then there were Nicholas's people. They needed his strong arm to defend them, his quick mind to solve their problems. No, he could not come to her. That was not the answer. She nearly wept again in frustration.

  "Already, you know why that is impossible."

  Julie sighed and hung her head. “I do."

  When Lily spoke again, the subject had again changed. “Have you ever thought why you and Nick don't connect, Julie?"

  Surprised, she glanced up. “Not really."

  "Could it be you wanted someone to look up to, not someone who looked up to you?"

  Julie thought it over, then nodded. “I think you're right. Nicholas and Nick are similar on the outside, but worlds apart within."

  "That was what you needed to learn. And I gave you a year to face adversity together, to grow close, to discover what each of you wanted out of life, to decide what you each would give up in order to be with the other."

  Julie's mouth fell open. “I thought the reason I went back was to help Nicholas guard his son."

  "That was Nicholas's reason, not mine. His need was convenient for me. Tell me. How did you feel about Nicholas's deception?"

  "I was angry. I demanded he send me home."

  "And if I had allowed him to do so?"

  Tears welled up again in Julie's eyes. “I would have lost my chance to find true love. What good was finding it, since I've lost it anyway,” she added with a sniff.

  "Perhaps.” Lily was back to being cryptic. She was silent for a minute. “If you had stayed with Nicholas, what of your life here in the twenty-first century? Your book? Your work for Nick?"

  "I'd be replaced at the university. The book I wanted to write was a substitute for a real life and Nick could hire an accountant to do my job."

  "So you would choose to be with Nicholas over your life here?"

  Julie jumped off the stool and grabbed Lily's hands. “I would give up what little I had here a thousand times over to be with him."

  Lily smiled. “Think carefully, Julie. This time would be forever. There could be no returning to this life."

  "I would never regret choosing Nicholas over a life without him,” Julie vowed.

  Thunder rumbled outside the shop. Lightning flashed through the room and the smell of ozone grew overpowering. Julie dropped Lily's hands and stepped back open-mouthed as Lily's form began to change. In a moment, a tall, beautiful woman wearing a shimmering golden gown stood before her. She appeared young, but Julie knew better. This was not the old healer in Barstow Village, nor a twenty-first century designer of exquisite jewelry, but a priestess as old as time and even more powerful than the greatest of wizards. Bewildered, Julie dropped to her knees.

  A shiver of fear trickled down her spine, but she forced herself to say, “Oh, Lily, I suspected you were some kind of a sorceress, but never one so grand."

  Lily gave a dismissive wave of her hand and sat down on a stool. “Appearances are sometimes deceiving.” She reached over and placed her hand on Julie's arm. “I asked the Earth Mother for permission to send you back to Nicholas's time in your own body, and she agreed. Just remember to think carefully before deciding."

  "I don't have to think about it. My family is dead, so there's nothing at all here for me. Everything I want is in Nicholas's time, even if I should die young as people did then, a week, a month, a year with him is better than sixty years here alone. Answer this one question. Will Nicholas want me as Julie? Before, his whole purpose in taking me back was to fill in for his wife. Maybe he would prefer to marry someone else.” Julie swallowed a sob.

  "Should I ask him?"

  "Yes, but I'll simply die if he says no."

  Nicholas stared at the parchment sheets where he had been tallying the castle's remaining foodstuffs. He was relieved it was spring. Soon, fresh grains would fill the bins and make the cooks, as well as the castle folk, happy. It had been seven days since he buried Julianne. His son was doing well, guarded day and night. Eleanor and his nephews would have to be spirited out of Norville Keep, and Miles would still have to be dealt with even though he'd already defeated him twice. But that had been in another reality.

  "May I come in, my lord?"

  He glanced up. Lily stood in the doorway. Although he knew she had been helping with Edward's care, he had not seen her since the burial.

  "Aye, come in and shut the door."

  She closed the heavy, metal-banded oak door and came to stand across from him.

  "How fares my son?"

  "He does well, my lord, but he needs a mother."

  "What?” Nicholas leaped to his feet. He glared at Lily. Every time this witch arrived, something bad happened, and he had no reason to believe today would be any different. “You do not wish me to espouse myself to someone else, do you?” he ground out between clenched teeth.

  "Please, my lord, calm yourself. I was referring to Julie."

  "You speak in riddles,” he muttered, circling the table.
>
  "However,” she continued as though he had not spoken, “Julie is far in the future."

  "I am well aware of that, woman,” he snapped, irritated by her composure.

  She paused, then said, “I have some news you might like to hear."

  His heart began to hammer. Julie? Did the witch know how she fared? He stared at her almost afraid to ask for fear her words would not be what he wanted to hear.

  Finally, he prodded, “Which is...?"

  "Julie is well, but..."

  Nicholas dropped to his knees in front of Lily and clasped her hands in his. That he was humbling himself before what appeared to be a serf, no longer bothered him. He had begun to realize her true station soared far above his. “But what?"

  "Do you miss her?"

  "Every moment of every day. If only..."

  Lily interrupted. “Did you truly love her?"

  "I still do, with every measure of my being.” Why was she twisting a knife in the wound of Julie's loss?

  "And what of Julianne?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Did you love them both equally?

  His first wife's essence had been missing for so long he scarce remembered much except her sweetness and bidability. “Did I love her? Aye, but with a chivalrous love. I mourned her death, but in Julie I found a deeper, more mature love. I miss everything about her."

  "She is also lonely."

  A sliver of hope crept into his heart. “So you will bring her back to me?"

  "There is no body for her to occupy."

  The hope crashed to the bottom of his chest to be replaced by the familiar ache. “Then, what can I do?"

  She smiled, more broadly this time. “Would you go forward, Nicholas?"

  Eyes cast down, he shook his head regretfully. “I wish I could, great Druid priestess, but my life is not my own. My purpose here is to care for my people and raise my son and heir to someday do the same.” But sorrow nearly overwhelmed him.

  Suddenly, the smell of the air after a summer storm filled Nicholas's nostrils. A gust of wind sent the papers on his table flying even though the window was closed.

  Startled, he looked up and nearly fainted. For a moment, black spots danced before his eyes. The woman staring down at him was tall, dressed in golden garments and lovely beyond description. He would have thought her young, but he knew better. She obviously wished him to see that she was not the old crone of the miserable hut in Barstow Village, or even Julie's friend in the future, but a priestess as old as time and even more powerful than a God-appointed monarch. He did not rise, but remained on his knees, humbled before her splendor.

  Although his mouth had gone dry, he finally managed to mumble, “Please, wise woman, forgive my unkind words in the past. They were spoken in ignorance."

  "Perhaps you should keep in mind, Nicholas, that appearances can be deceiving."

  "I promise to do so in the future, my lady,” he said respectfully, thankful she had not cast a thunderbolt in his direction.

  "Now, Nicholas, how much do you wish Julie to return?"

  "With all my heart."

  "You desire her for her wisdom or for her beauty?

  "For both."

  "You will gain no wealth or political connections from her hand in marriage."

  "I have enough wealth and connections now.” He smiled sadly.

  "Ah, my son, you have acquired wisdom this last year.” Lily's radiance grew until he could hardly bear to look upon her countenance. “You have exceeded my expectations."

  Nicholas felt the wild joy of true happiness building in his chest. “Then you will send Julie to me soon?"

  "She may not choose to leave her life, her home, her time."

  "I will say many prayers for your success,” he vowed, bowing his head. When he raised his eyes, the priestess had vanished.

  Shaken, Nicholas decided prayers were best said in the chapel. Though he had renounced God after Julianne's death, with the dawn of hope came the rebirth of his faith. Could God have been answering his prayers of a year ago through Lily? It seemed a distinct possibility now. He was ashamed at having failed the test of his faith. He had been a fair weather Christian. It was time to make his peace with God.

  Grimly, he strode across the upper bailey, passing beneath the archway to the lower bailey. Ahead on his left, the chapel seemed to beckon him. Lily might be a powerful sorceress, but Nicholas's God was more powerful yet. It was to Him he should bend his knee in supplication.

  He entered the little church and had to blink until his eyes became accustomed to the cool dimness. As he walked down the center aisle, he noticed he was not alone. A woman knelt near the front, her head bowed in prayer.

  He paused before the altar, crossed himself and knelt. His murmured prayer was the same each time: “Oh, God, forgive my fall from grace, and please grant that Julie chooses to live with me, in my time. I promise to love, cherish and take care of her for the rest of my life."

  He was on about the twentieth repetition of his oath, when something alerted him to a movement behind him. Mayhap the woman had finished her prayers and was leaving.

  A soft footfall to his left said she had not left. Surely, she would not interrupt his prayers. A hand touched his shoulder, and the woman sank to her knees beside him.

  A soft voice whispered in his ear, “Nicholas, it is me."

  Turning, he looked into Julie's violet eyes. Her hand sought his.

  "Dearling?” Please, God, let her be here to stay.

  "Of course, my love."

  With a half-hearted apology to God for interrupting his prayers, Nicholas turned and gathered her into his arms.

  "You gave up the wonderful future for me?” He could hardly believe it.

  "Nothing is wonderful without you.” Julie's lips found his.

  Nicholas returned the kiss, then pulled back. “You will not regret this?"

  "Never. I'm where I belong.” Julie found his lips again and Nicholas's arms wrapped her in the warm cocoon of his love.

  The amethyst amulets lay winking on the floor where Julie had dropped them. Then gradually their outlines blurred until they vanished, returning to the dark pool in the ancient forest where they belonged.

  Their work was done.

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  A word from the author...

  I can't remember a time when I couldn't read, and I've been writing nearly as long. For years, I just did it for fun. Then I got serious. But I had to fit writing in with teaching high school English and selling real estate. I used to write during the summers off from school but I'd just gotten started when it was time to go back to students’ papers.

  Eventually, I stopped working, for pay that is, and concentrated on getting my first book finished. The Selkie and the Siren was my fourth novel. I have written three others since then, all medieval romances.

  I'm originally from upstate New York, but find Florida's winters more to my liking. I live with my husband and mother just outside Orlando—no animals, just a pool.

  Our son and daughter are grown and gone, though our son lives nearby and we see a lot of him. My daughter is the author of a long string of Regency novels, so you see I take after her. :)

  Visit Cillian at www.cillianburns.com

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