TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy)

by Amanda May Bell

  I gathered my own parchments together slowly before I stood up from my desk and looked out the window. My rooms were on the second story of this house and the year outside my window was +2013. Here, they called it 2013AD. This narrow terrace residence was close to the centre of a thriving city and my window faced the street. I could see the headlights and tail lights of fuel driven motor cars as they drove along the street outside our gate, and over the top of the front hedge, I could see the dark outline of the treetops in the park across the street.

  I glanced at the pendant around my own neck just as my tutor had done, and I turned it idly towards me as my fingers touched the cool, brass dials. This particular pendant had been presented to me when I was just twelve turns of a marker and I’d worn it constantly since. It felt like it was part of me and I traced my fingertips lovingly across the finely etched numbers and star patterns on the dials. Three thin brass discs were stacked on top of each other. The outside dial used the sun’s constant energy to mark time and I could see it was only a quarter turn until ‘set ten’. In +2013, the locals called this time 9:45pm but we called the times between midday and midnight ‘set’ because the sun was setting from its highest point in the middle of the day. We called the times between midnight and midday ‘rise’ because the sun was rising then, from its lowest point in the middle of the night.

  I smoothed my fingers over the next dial. It was marked with tiny constellation patterns which had been named by the inventors who’d first crafted our pendants many thousands of turns ago. Somehow, these names had spread throughout the earth and great civilisations since had also used them to refer to these star patterns too. Orion, Andromeda, Vela, Scorpius, Centaurus, Delphinius, and Pegasus were all etched into the brass, and they pointed us to our markers when we travelled through time. The next dial was marked with the degrees of a mathematical circle and my pendant itself hung from a leather cord looped through a small brass ring. In the centre of the dials was a tiny compass set under glass, and this compass had a black needle to point north and a blue crystal needle to point to our markers. When I turned my pendant over, similar dials on the back could be set to the year. I smiled a little. Despite their ability to harness energy and their perfect mathematical accuracy, our pendants were also beautiful examples of stunning craftsmanship. Each one was cut by sound and assembled by hand before it was tested for optimal energy and presented to those children from the Royal House who were beginning their quest training.

  That’s what I was doing here. My mother had been a quester and her father before that. My parents lived and worked in the Royal House, so tradition decreed I join the ranks of questers myself, and this was my sixth and final year of training. I was almost eighteen turns of a marker and the final challenges, one of the last training segments, would begin for those in my year in exactly two weeks.

  Below me, dim light shone suddenly and briefly across the front path as the front door of the house opened and closed. From my window, I watched my tutor open the front gate before looking furtively up and down the street. Her hair hung loosely down her back now and she wore a dark coloured cloak. I frowned as I wondered what errand would require her to leave the house on foot at this time of the night, and I continued to watch her curiously as she walked briskly along the footpath. The house next door had a higher hedge across the front than ours and I soon lost sight of her. She wasn’t supposed to leave me alone after dark but I wasn’t concerned, only curious. I knew an Aldirite marker guard was on duty close by, and I was also more than capable of taking care of myself.

  I glanced down at my pendant again. The blue crystal needle in the centre of the dials glowed slightly and it pointed across the street to the marker located in the corner of the park. It continued to point in that direction as I turned slowly away from the window too, and as I headed out of the study towards my bedroom at the back of the house. The house was silent and only dimly lit as always and when I reached my adjoining bathroom, I put the plug in the sink and turned the silver tap. I shook my head and smiled wryly as the water flowed instantly. In this time segment, I could drain a whole river if I chose. Soon, the empty space around me was filled with the comforting sound of running water and I dipped my hands into the marble basin and splashed warm water onto my face. The mirror in front of me reflected my image and I looked up into my own emerald green eyes. I blinked my damp lashes and turned off the water, and as I waited for my face to dry, I studied my reflection. My face was oval and my skin tone was neither dark nor light, but it did glow with good health. I noticed this particularly in this time segment as the sallow skin of the locals tended to point it out. As far as I could tell, my face was very ordinary, but I quite liked my hair. It fell to just above my waist and it was brown with auburn highlights that turned a deep rust colour whenever I was out in the sunlight. As I combed it quickly, the ends bounced back into large, loose curls.

  Eventually, I put my comb down and turned off the soft night light which was plugged into the twenty first century power socket above the bench. We didn’t use the overhead lights. They were much too harsh. Night lighting should be dim and very soft so as not to interfere with the natural rhythms of sleep.

  It was nearly set ten now but I doubted I’d sleep easily, despite the dim lights and my gruelling schedule. I was restless again tonight, and when I returned to my bedroom, I undressed in the semi darkness and slipped between fine, silk sheets. The high rise lights from the city shed their glow into every room of this house, but I didn’t pull the blinds. Instead, I stared up at the soft pattern the lights made on my ceiling and I could feel the comforting weight of my pendant where it lay against my chest. I rolled over then and reached under my mattress for the plastic, rechargeable cartridge Josh had given me at the beginning of last week. I smiled a little. Everything here was plastic. It was no wonder our people called this the Synthetic Era.

  I wasn’t supposed to bring any extra items from this time segment, or any other time segment for that matter, into this house, but I guessed my tutor wasn’t the only one bending the rules a little. I put the plastic buds into my ears, and immediately, the loud, early twenty first century music filled my head. I did suspect it was the music from this era which was causing my restlessness but I wasn’t sure why, and I doubted I could make myself give it up, even if I tried. Listening to the songs stored on this cartridge had become my secret, nightly obsession and despite the unnatural, electronic sound of the instruments and voices, something about the beat and the lyrics immediately roused a strangely addictive feeling of longing inside me. For what, I had no idea, but the restlessness which was plaguing me at odd hours of the day and night had surfaced at around the same time as I’d started listening to this music, and tonight, as I’d predicted, my pendant turned at least a whole turn of the clock past set ten……..before I finally slept…………

  CHAPTER 2:

  The dawn light woke me as it did every morning and I rolled slowly out of bed. After searching for it briefly, I returned the twenty first century music cartridge and its attached head phones to its place beneath the corner of my mattress. There was no need to charge it. The first night I’d listened to it, I’d taken it apart and inserted a tiny crystal disc within the circuits. The crystal disc harnessed the natural energy which was all around us and I knew could listen to the songs again whenever I chose, and for as long as I wanted to.

  I had to wear clothes from this time segment this morning and I frowned slightly as I pulled on synthetic fibre sportswear that scratched against my skin. Whenever I was allowed, it was my preference to wear my Aldirite clothes. They were sewn by hand and made only of the finest weaves of natural wools and fibres. Aldirite society, although far advanced in the areas of medicine and energy, and in our knowledge of the elements, would in some ways, have been seen as primitive by the people of +2013. We lived slowly and without convenience or waste. Our craftsmen worked only on things which would last us a lifetime and our people knew the value of working with the na
tural world instead of against it. The instant communication which had become a way of life here in +2013 was looked upon with horror by my people. It was against nature and hazardous to the health to receive messages instantly and to talk to those who were not by your side. Aldirites knew it was far healthier for the mind, and the body, to wait patiently for a message to arrive. The earth itself waited for the sun to rise and set, and for the seasons to pass from one to the next. Even the galaxy was required to wait. It waited centuries for comets to pass. In fact, the only thing our people did that went against the natural state of man within earth and space was to travel through time. And those of us who did this paid for it physically every time we made a drop.

  I bent down and tied the synthetic laces on my rubber soled running shoes. The plastic fibres on the laces scratched against my fingers and I winced a little and frowned. My Aldirite shoes were nothing like these running shoes. They were knee high boots made of the softest leather which was crafted to stretch and mould closely to the shape of my calf and foot. The soles of my Aldirite boots were treated with the sap of a particular plant which was gathered and bought to our Kingdom from an ancient past. Many layers of a natural rubber like substance were bonded together with this sap to last us through a lifetime of running across all types of terrain.

  While I waited patiently for my pendant to turn to rise seven, I fidgeted absently with the Aldirite leather which was looped multiple times around my right wrist. The leather was soft and supple, as was all Aldirite leather, and it was tied together at the ends before those ends were tucked beneath the looped binds. It didn’t matter what time segment I was in, I never removed my pendant and I never removed the leather binds I wore around my wrist. Before I went downstairs though, I made sure my pendant was hidden beneath my clothes, and I pulled my long sleeve down firmly to make sure it completely covered my leather bound wrist.

  “Good rise Livia,” said my tutor briskly.

  She waited for me at the front door and was also dressed to go running in a +2013 park. Her pendant was tucked beneath her sports shirt as well, but she didn’t have to worry about wrist binds. As my mother liked to remind me on every occasion she could, I was the only Aldirite she knew of who’d been born with a shameful secret which needed to be covered.

  “Good rise Mirren,” I said, with what I thought was a good attempt at sounding friendly, but my tutor didn’t look at me at all as she mumbled a reply. She avoided my eyes and opened the door for me instead, and as we were hit by the crisp morning air, we jogged slowly across the street towards the entrance to the park.

  In this time segment, my schedule began every morning with a run, and running was my least favourite of my physical challenges. I didn’t mind climbing. When I’d been based in Ancient Era time segments, I’d climbed giant structures and monuments which, by this time segment, had long since crumbled into dust. When I’d lived in +2134 for a while, I’d been taken to an indoor, purpose built plastic climbing mountain every few days. In that time segment, my tutor and I could climb to impressive heights in the comfort of temperature controlled warmth, and it had been handy to be able to climb down again without having to worry about bad weather setting in. I liked swimming, if the temperature of the water was warm, and I enjoyed skiing and riding too, but I really didn’t like to run. My natural endurance wasn’t that strong and running always reminded me of this. Even though I’d been made to include running in my schedule since I was nine turns of a marker, I still couldn’t enjoy it, and the discomfort I felt when my lungs started burning hadn’t been a pain I’d gotten used to like the pain of combat injuries, or the pain of time travel, which now, I almost enjoyed.

  Unlike me, Mirren loved to run, and as we headed through the trees along the bone jolting, concrete running path in the park, I glanced at her. She was breathing steadily through her nose and her face had already settled into a blissful expression. I grimaced. I knew she entered into another world as she ran lightly along beside me, but I silently thanked her for setting an easy pace. I wondered what is was she thought about as she ran and I tried to enter another world myself, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I hated running and I kept wondering how much longer I had to keep running before I was going to be able to stop. There was definitely no blissful facial expression for me!

  Behind us, I heard one of my minders who ran with a heavy step. I had a feeling he hated running too, but the Aldirite guards took turns to run behind us and this particular guard was lucky, he only had to run with us once a week at the most.

  We passed other runners on the path and I wished I didn’t have to hide my music cartridge from my tutor and the guards. It would probably have helped me if I’d been able to run to the beat of twenty first century music, like every other person who jogged in the park. We were supposed to blend in to time segments and not draw attention to ourselves, but we were also supposed to remember who we were. Aldirite music was performed at celebrations only and it was made with wooden instruments, water filled pipes, and finely tuned pitch strings. People of my race often sang as they worked too, and probably because of this, our songs were mainly about harvesting, cooking, wood turning, crystal shaping and other such community tasks. The songs on my cartridge were definitely not about things like that........

  As the sun rose into a mostly clear sky, we ran past a park bench and a young man watched us go by with a hopeless expression on his face. His eyes darted while he frowned to himself and his clothes hung loosely on his bony frame. I wondered what it was that had removed his hope and I glanced at him sadly as I passed him while, beside me, my tutor didn’t see him at all.

  My run finished eventually, as it did every morning, and I crossed the busy street with Mirren and headed thankfully back to the house.

  While I was here in this time segment, I was required to go to school to enhance my social and historical appreciation of this era. Questers had to be able to speak the major languages of all the significant eras and they also had to be aware of the acceptable social customs of each time segment they were dropped in. It was thought that school was a good training ground for both these things, and all questers spent a fair amount of their time at a few different schools before they made their final challenges.

  Going to school in this particular time segment had been unexpectedly enjoyable for me and, when I was back in my rooms, I bathed quickly and changed hastily into my scratchy school uniform. I certainly dressed for school with a lot more enthusiasm than I’d changed earlier for my morning run.

  When I was dressed, I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and combed my hair. I had to tie it up for school but I couldn’t braid it in Aldirite style. I had to braid it loosely behind my ears instead, and I tied the remainder of my hair together loosely before twisting it around itself and fastening it at the back of my head. It was up to female questers to copy the locals when it came to styling our hair. Only to a point though. Our people would never add poisons of any kind to our hair, and we’d never put chemicals on our skin on purpose as was fashionable in this particular era. I tucked my pendant beneath my school blouse and pulled my blazer sleeve down over the leather binds which covered the shame on my wrist. Then, I ran swiftly down the stairs.

  It was part of my tutor’s responsibilities to make sure I ate in Aldirite style whenever it was possible and I entered the dining room to find Mirren had already finished preparing my breakfast. She’d set the table for one and, as usual, she left me alone the moment I was seated. In front of me, a warm piece of slightly sour, spongy bread was drizzled with honey and spices, and the strong, creamy cocoa which accompanied it was as familiar to me as the solitude in which I ate. I took small bites and chewed slowly because an Aldirite, and a Denborite too for that matter, would be late to their own memorial procession rather than be forced to hurry through a meal…….

  My tutor appeared as soon as I was done, making me suspect she’d been listening for the sound of my chair scraping, and I thanked her as she cle
ared the table silently.

  “I’ll be home just before set four,” I said to her cheerfully, as I tried to make another attempt at friendliness, but Mirren only nodded; and she didn’t say another word as she ushered me hastily out the front door with my cup and bowl still held in her hands. It was as if she couldn’t get me out the door fast enough, and when she closed the front door firmly, I sighed and hitched my bag of bound, paper books a little higher on my shoulder before heading for my front gate.

  Despite my disappointment at my tutor’s unresponsive demeanour, it didn’t take long for my spirits to lift. One of my favourite things about going to school here was walking there. Although I was often alone inside whatever dwelling I was based in, I was rarely allowed to be outside in a time segment by myself. I was surprised I’d been allowed to do it here, but at my begging, Mirren had applied to my mother and father directly for permission for me to walk to school, and I’d been granted it, seeing as I was so close to my finals. I wasn’t entirely alone of course. Aldirite guards shadowed me as always and I guessed there was probably at least four of them somewhere around me now. But, if I deliberately didn’t look for them, I felt almost……free.