TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy)

by Amanda May Bell

  There were four other questers who’d already arrived. Evangeline was here and I nodded to her very carefully as I avoided the watchful gaze of our quest mistress. Evangeline nodded to me just as carefully and I saw she stood beside a boy with a serious expression on his face. This boy had dark, brown hair which fell across his face from a natural part just above his right eye and most of his hair was tucked behind his ears. He looked like he was deep in thought and he had shadows beneath his pale, blue eyes. There were two other girls in the courtyard as well. One of them stood with her arms folded and she had a round face, and light golden hair with a rosy hue to it. She looked at the rest of us with a calculating gaze as if she was already competing with us and had already found us wanting. The other girl looked bored. She was a head shorter than the rest of us and her light, brown hair was braided immaculately. She folded her arms too and glanced at me.

  Air patterns disturbed the courtyard once again as the last of our group arrived in the centre of the marker. Two boys appeared. One was tall; as tall as the Quest mistress, and he had thick, golden hair that was cut very short, but still managed to curl around his ears. The other boy was broad and solid. He looked more like a Tournament Champion than a quester and he had medium length, dark hair tied together at the back of his head. He was grinning broadly, but when he looked at our small group, his smile faded suddenly.

  “Now that you’re all here; follow me,” commanded the Quest mistress. She spoke to us in the old language and we followed her obediently towards the back door of the house. The door itself opened to her command as well and I wasn’t surprised.

  Inside, the house was almost bare. The walls were freshly painted in a pale shade of grey and we passed an Early Era iron shield which was mounted on the wall beside us as we walked along a terracotta tiled hallway that appeared to run right through the middle of the house. To our right were wide, dark wooden doors and these were mounted on oversized, black iron hinges. All the doors were all closed. To our left, the hallway opened up to a large, open plan room and this room was tiled as well. There was a partition at one end of the room and I could just see a twenty first century kitchen through some folded doors which stood slightly ajar. A thick, oak wood table filled most of the rest of the room and dark, wooden chairs made it possible for ten people to sit around this table. We followed our quest mistress past this room and the hallway opened up to the right as well. Here, there was a smaller, tiled sitting room which held a square arrangement of dark coloured leather sofas and a heavy wooden coffee table. In this room, built in modular cupboards lined one wall as well. The double front doors of the house were ahead of us now but we turned up some stairs to our left and these took us up to the second level of the house.

  The Quest mistress stopped when she reached the top of these stairs and she turned to face us before addressing us in a loud, commanding voice.

  “I am called Zurina, and those of you with any weight of intelligence at all will have guessed I’m to be your Quest mistress. The room to your left here, is the dormitory for the females amongst you only. There will be no exceptions to this rule. The room to your right is for the rest of you. A single bathroom adjoins each dormitory. Some of you may be unfamiliar with the concept of sharing, but you will learn this, and many more skills here, over the coming weeks. We speak only the old language inside the house and anything at all that happens within these walls comes eventually to my attention so I suggest you follow all my instructions to the letter and make no variations of your own. Consider yourself duly warned. Do I make myself clear?” she asked us sharply, and we nodded as she let her narrowed gaze sweep over our group.

  “You have a quarter of a clock turn to claim your beds, after which you’ll present yourselves downstairs promptly. We will meet in the sitting room at the bottom of the stairs,” she said briskly as she headed back down the stairs herself. When she was gone, the other questers ran for their respective rooms to fight over the beds and I was left standing in the middle of the hallway with Morgan. I glanced at him.

  “I thought the Nazis had been wiped out completely by this time segment,” I said quietly. Morgan grinned.

  “I dare you to be late downstairs,” he said, and I laughed, but I told him I wouldn’t be accepting that dare. We left each other then, to find out which beds were the ones that nobody else wanted.

  I was left with the bed closest to the door and I placed my travelling bag in the wooden clothing chest at the end of it before I smoothed my hair self-consciously. Evangeline had claimed the bathroom as well as the bed beside mine and the other two girls had claimed the two beds on the opposite side of the room. They sat together, whispering, as they glanced at me. There was a closet between the beds on both walls but, other than that, the room was very simple.

  I undid the clasps at the front of my jacket as it was warm in the house and I stared at the girls until they were forced to look at me.

  “May the gifts of the River Zahar remain among us through time,” I said politely, when they eventually looked at me.

  “And may time never be lost between us your Highness,” said the shorter girl.

  “It’s Livia,” I said firmly.

  “I’m called Erin,” said the shorter girl, and she seemed friendly enough.

  “Imogen.”

  The girl with the rose gold hair spoke her name reluctantly and Evangeline appeared from the bathroom as Imogen glanced at me dismissively.

  “I’m going downstairs,” I said. I couldn’t see the point of sitting up here for another ten minutes.

  “I’m going downstairs now too; come girls,” said Evangeline, in her usual commanding manner, and Imogen looked like she was about to refuse but, when Erin stood up straight away, she stood up reluctantly too and followed Evangeline and I out into the hall.

  Morgan entered the hallway at the same time we did and he was closely followed by two of the boys. We all traipsed silently down the stairs before entering the sitting room and I sat down quickly on one of the sofas while Evangeline sat down just as quickly opposite me. Morgan sat down beside me and, when we were all seated, there was an awkward silence which was broken when the tall boy leant forward in his seat. He cleared his throat.

  “I’m called Seth, your Highness,” he said.

  “It’s Livia,” I said automatically, and I suggested we should all exchange names when everyone was here so we didn’t have to spend all afternoon greeting each other in the manner of our people.

  “Good idea your Highness if you’ll permit me to say so,” said Seth, nodding enthusiastically, and I had a feeling he was going to be as well-meaning, but as difficult to be around, as Jonah.

  “Who’s missing?” asked the broad shouldered boy. He glanced around at our group, but it was the serious looking boy with the shadows beneath his eyes who hadn’t joined us yet.

  “That would be Caspian; my partner. He’s a servant quester and he’s the one who isn’t here,” said Evangeline sourly and, from the way she spoke, I gathered her new partnership wasn’t going as planned.

  “So, just to be clear; is he not here because he’s a servant quester or because he’s your partner?” asked Morgan, and Evangeline frowned and narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Pay no heed to him. He’s a servant quester too and he thinks himself far more important than his station.”

  It was the broad shouldered boy who’d spoken and he smiled smugly at Morgan.

  “Good to see you too, Dominic,” said Morgan cheerfully, but I could detect a mocking undertone to his cheerfulness. I frowned at the obvious hostility between Morgan and this boy.

  “I don’t know why we’re not separated in the finals like we are during training,” muttered Imogen, and Erin looked at her and nodded before she looked at Morgan with open hostility. I looked at them all in surprise before I glanced down at my pendant.

  I stood up.

  “Where are you going your Highness?” asked Seth with concern.

  “I’m going to fetch Cas
pian,” I said on my way out of the room, and I heard someone behind me as I headed for the stairs. It was Morgan who appeared beside me just before I reached them.

  “You’re not allowed in our room. I can’t let you get into trouble from the Quest mistress on your first day here. I’ll fetch Caz,” he said firmly, as we ran quickly up the stairs together.

  “Zurina said you’re not allowed in our room. She said nothing about the other way around,” I said, and Morgan grinned.

  As it was, neither of us had to fetch Caspian. He appeared in the hallway just as we reached the top of the stairs. He had a wad of small parchments in one hand and these parchments were bound together at one edge. As he hurried towards us, he shoved the parchments into the inside pocket of his jacket.

  “Where are you going? We have to be downstairs in one minute,” said Caspian, and he was looking at us with concern.

  “We were………never mind,” said Morgan, and he looked at me and shook his head before we ran back down the stairs. Caspian followed us and, when we entered the small room again, the glances between the others made me fairly sure they’d been talking about us while we’d been gone. I sat back down next to Morgan and there was more awkward silence as more glances were exchanged. Caspian found a seat beside Seth and I was grateful when Zurina marched briskly into the room.

  Zurina drew herself up to her full height and glared at all of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Erin sit up a little straighter and Seth looked very uncomfortable as he was treated to the full force of her gaze.

  “First, I will run through some rules and I suggest you listen carefully because I don’t intend to repeat myself,” said Zurina briskly, and she proceeded to run through a list of rules which were mostly concerned with housekeeping, cleaning, meal times and laundry. Most of these rules would come into effect only when we returned here next weekend.

  “Meal times will remain fixed even during challenges and there will a compulsory run at rise seven on all days but the seventh. Challenges will run at different times of the day and night and will last for different lengths of time, so you should expect this and get some rest if you are told to. Also, while you are in this house, you will keep your voices at an acceptable volume and you will move about at an acceptable pace. I shouldn’t need to explain myself further on that,” said Zurina, and she folded her arms and walked slowly across the room before she spoke again.

  “There will be a message drop between here and Aldiris on Tuesdays so you may receive messages from your family, friends and others. You can leave your message parchments, if you choose to send any, with one of the marker guards. I expect you to speak in a civil manner to each other at all times. While you reside in this house, hostility between questers is forbidden and, as is also the case once you arise, so too, are relationships. I strongly suggest you conduct yourselves in a professional manner as I deal with any and all discretions by removing pendants, and I’ve been known to remove them permanently. Are there any questions?” she finished sharply, and if we had any, we kept them to ourselves.

  “Fine, then let us begin,” she said, and Zurina walked around us and paused beside the door. “You’ve all arrived here from either the twentieth, or the twenty first century. Are you familiar with the ill-fated ship the Titanic?” she asked us, and we nodded. Our study of the history of each era was intensive, as was our study of the historical events best known to locals in the time segments. Most locals in segments spanning many decades were familiar with the story of the Titanic.

  “What if I were to say to you that I know of a marker located on the docks where she left for her unfortunate voyage,” said Zurina, and she walked around the room again and lowered her voice. She had a commanding presence and every one of us followed her with our eyes. “And this marker is turning, as all markers are turning, and its year has turned to the exact year of the disastrous voyage, and the exact day the ship set sail is fast approaching too. As you would be aware, this presents to us a unique opportunity to witness history first hand,” said Zurina and she paused and looked at us thoughtfully.

  “You,” she said briskly, and she pointed to Dominic who shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You are given a quest that sends you to this marker on the very day the Titanic leaves the dock and you have a clock turn to spend on the docks as the doomed passenger’s board her. What do you do?” she demanded. Dominic looked at Zurina carefully for a moment before he answered her just as carefully.

  “I’d match my mood and language to those around me and blend into the crowd. That’s our job as questers. We’re don’t travel into the past to change history, so I’d just ignore the Titanic and get on with my quest,” he said, and Zurina nodded while Dominic looked pleased with himself.

  “Fair answer,” said Zurina slowly, but she didn’t sound impressed. She turned around and pointed to me.

  “What would you do Livia?” she asked me briskly.

  “I’d make sure that to stop as many people as we could from boarding that ship, was the quest,” I said, without hesitation.

  “Yes……I can see that you would,” said Zurina thoughtfully.

  “You?” she asked Evangeline, as she pointed to her. Evangeline crossed her legs and waited until all eyes were on her before she answered.

  “I’d wait until I arrived at the marker and assess the situation then. Opportunities arise when you least expect them and can rarely be planned out in advance,” she said smoothly.

  “I see,” said Zurina slowly, and she stared at Evangeline who looked back at her innocently.

  “You; what would you do?” she asked Caspian. Caspian frowned slightly and leant forward in his seat. When he spoke, he used his hands to emphasise his words and he sounded like he was delivering a tutor’s lecture.

  “You’re obviously trying to make a point about history or you wouldn’t have mentioned Titanic, so……if you do give me that marker setting I can tell you in advance, I’ll do nothing that’ll stop that ship setting sail because it did sail that day. Nothing I’ll do will stop Titanic sinking either because it lies on the bottom of the sea as we speak. If I manage to convince somebody to catch a ride on the next boat instead, their name won’t disappear from the list of those who were lost because their name would never have been on it in the first place. If I’ve changed the past at all, it’s already been done. That day only happened once and, if I was there, I know for sure I did nothing to avert the disaster and, if I wasn’t there, I won’t ever be able to be there, because that’s the nature of the time circle and the nature of the concepts of past and the present as well,” he finished firmly, and all of us, including Zurina, stared at him for a moment.

  “And, who are you?” Zurina asked him.

  “I’m called Caspian,” he said, a little hesitantly.

  “Interesting answer Caspian,” said Zurina briskly, “And mathematically correct I don’t doubt,” she added, as she shook her head slightly. Caspian looked very pleased with her assessment of his answer and he even smiled a little, but Zurina was already moving on. She turned to Morgan.

  “You; what would you do at this marker?” she asked him.

  “Do you know of this marker or is this just a test?” Morgan asked her, and Zurina narrowed her eyes at him while I rolled mine. Morgan almost always answered a question with another question. I’d already learnt it was next to impossible to get him to answer anything he didn’t want to.

  “Are you going to give me trouble young man?” asked Zurina.

  “Was that the question you were really asking me in the first place?” Morgan asked her, and Zurina pressed her lips together and folded her arms.

  “And, you are called?” she demanded.

  “Morgan” he said, and it was the first of her questions he’d actually answered. Caspian leant forward in his chair again.

  “Of course; our answers gave a perfect insight into our characters,” said Caspian slowly, and he was obviously impressed by Zurina’s tactics. Zurina looked at her pendan
t and let out her breath with annoyance before she glared at all of us.

  “Well, thanks to Morgan and Caspian, this exercise is now over,” she said briskly. “You will meet me in ten minutes time in the locker room which is the first door you passed when you arrived here today,” she added briskly, before she strode from the room.

  Caspian looked at Morgan and grinned. Morgan grinned too and shrugged.

  “Would it be too much to ask of a servant quester to give everyone a chance to answer before they ruin it for the rest of us?” muttered Imogen sourly.

  Morgan ignored her and he glanced at me before we stood up together and headed for the locker room. Zurina hadn’t mentioned that we had to stay in the sitting room for the next ten minutes.

  Morgan and I wandered into the hallway and back past the dining room, and we passed the heavy wooden doors until we came to the one closest to the back courtyard. The door opened smoothly when I pushed against it and I walked into……..a real quester’s locker room.

  The metal lockers stood back to back in the middle of the room and they faced waxed, low wooden benches on both sides. Around the walls, racks held bows and cylindrical, hardened leather quivers held multiple sets of triple barbed, Aldirite battle and hunting arrows. Swords were suspended horizontally on wooden racks around the room too, and these swords had thick and thin blades of all different sizes. Scabbards hung vertically in rows and belts of all different sizes were arranged neatly on shelves. A narrow workbench was fitted with a sword sharpening light, and various cylindrical, light tools for tensioning bows and sharpening arrows were arranged on the bench as well. There was also a sink with a jug of water set beside it.