Knight Errant: A Highland Passage Novel

by J. L. Jarvis

Father Abbot pushed back from the desk and stood. “Very well, then. As you’ve made your decision, I wish you well.”

  “Thank you, Father Abbot.”

  With little more said, Robert was on his way back to Violet. He couldn’t help but feel that there had been more to their short conversation than Robert could grasp. He exhaled. He was too caught up in the events and emotions of the past few days. He would think more clearly after some sleep.

  Robert’s thoughts strayed to Violet. They hadn’t slept together since before Brother Thomas had died. Robert had withdrawn into his own grief and guilt. Violet had been by his side through it all, but he had been barely aware of his own actions, let alone hers. He found himself wanting her near to make plans for a future—their future. But what would that be, not to mention where or when?

  He lingered in the hall outside Violet’s cell while two monks carried on a long conversation nearby. To avoid looking obvious, Robert walked along and disappeared around a corner, where he stood and waited for what seemed like an eternity. After they had gone, Robert tapped on Violet’s door.

  She opened it and stood with her hand on the door. “Is it time for supper already?”

  He looked to either side to make sure no one was about, then he guided her by the waist back inside and closed the door behind him. Violet’s eyes shone as he bent to kiss her. He pulled her against him and kissed her with renewed fervor.

  “We havenae talked of the future.”

  She rested her hands on his shoulders. “We’ve had quite a bit going on.” She peered at him more closely. “Are you all right?”

  That drew a bright smile from him. “Aye, for a man who’s in love.”

  A smile lit her eyes. “What did Father Abbot say?”

  “’Tis not what he said, but what I realized while he was talking to me.”

  “Robert, you’re not making sense.”

  He grinned. “No, I suppose I’m not.” He grasped her hands and drew her close to him. “I want to be with you—wherever, whenever we can. I would like you to promise to be mine, and I make that same promise to you.” He looked worried while awaiting her answer.

  Seeing his worry, she smiled and touched his cheek and his mouth then kissed him.

  “And?” He looked thoroughly frustrated.

  With a light laugh, she answered, “You know that I will.”

  The fact that she persisted in smiling didn’t help matters any. “I know no such thing.”

  She said, “You do now, because I just told you I will. I’ll go anywhere you go. How could you even doubt it?”

  “Because I’ve never felt I belonged anywhere, but I feel it with you.”

  Violet nodded. “I know.”

  “But you’re smiling. Do you find me amusing?”

  No longer smiling, Violet said, “No. It’s just that I love you so much that I wondered how you could feel the same about me.”

  “Oh, lass, you cannae imagine how much.” He gave up trying to speak. Instead his hands claimed the places he longed to feel pressed against him, and his mouth found its way from her lips to her ear. He brought his hands to the edge of her neckline and folded his fingers over the edge. “Take this off now.”

  A bell rang for vespers. Violet lifted her eyes with a startled expression. Neither moved for a moment.

  Robert slid his palms deliberately over her breasts to her waist, and he pulled her against him and let out a frustrated growl. He lifted his face, full of helpless remorse. “They will notice our absence.”

  Violet sighed. “Then we’d best not be absent.”

  Robert held her wrists and removed her hands from about his waist. “Dinnae touch me, or I’m likely to cause quite a scandal by keeping you here.”

  Violet firmly took him by the shoulders and turned him toward the door. “Leave now.”

  He turned, quietly laughing. “You must go first, as it’s your cell. To make sure no one sees me?”

  She gasped. “What was I thinking? Do you see what you’ve done to me?”

  “Not nearly enough. But I’d gladly remedy that.”

  Violet opened the door and slipped out before he made good on his offer.

  * * *

  AFTER SUPPER, they made a discreet escape and went for a walk, their way lit by the summer moon’s glow.

  Robert stopped under a shadowy ash tree and took her hand. “There’s one thing we haven’t discussed.”

  She said playfully, “Oh, I think there might be more than one.”

  Robert was too deep in thought to give in to her mood. “We must decide where to live, and by where, I mean when.”

  “I’ve learned not to plan too far ahead.”

  “We’ll want to get married.”

  Violet smiled. “I suppose.”

  He hooked his arm about her waist and yanked her against him. “You suppose?”

  Violet laughed.

  Robert leaned closer until his lips brushed hers. “I’ll not marry a lass who supposes. Do you want me or not?”

  Her smile faded. “Yes.”

  “How much?” He lowered his chin and peered into her eyes.

  “Enough,” she without hesitation.

  “Just enough?” He clapped a hand to his heart. “Oh, my love, you pierce my heart with such declarations!”

  With a crooked smile, she nodded. “Enough to marry you wherever or whenever you’ll have me.” What began as light amusement did not end so. “All I want is you.”

  A moment passed, and the world about them drew to a hush, as if it knew better than to shatter the stillness between them.

  “And what do you want?” she asked.

  He leaned back and looked at the night sky. “I want to belong. I dinnae care where, but I want that for us and for our family. We must have a place that is ours, where our children will grow and have a home.” He looked at her intently.

  Violet lifted her chin and looked into his eyes. “I want that too.”

  Content, as if that were all that could lie in their path, Robert held her face and kissed her.

  * * *

  THEY HAD WONDERED and dreamed then given up talking. But somehow by morning, they had fashioned a plan for their future together. Together, they stood at the abbot’s door.

  When Father Abbot opened the door, Robert said, “We came to wish you farewell. Violet and I are to be married. We’re leaving to go to her home.” He left out the part about how her home was in the twenty-first century and the fact that she was not Catholic. He wasn’t quite sure which the abbot would find more disturbing, so he chose not to find out.

  “Leaving? When?”

  Robert grinned. “Well, now actually.” Seeing the abbot’s surprise, he added, “We’ve no reason to tarry.”

  The abbot’s brow furrowed. “Of course not.” A broad smile lit his face as he turned to Violet and clasped her hand in both of his. “I wish you both happiness.”

  “Thank you, Father Abbot.”

  Robert caught himself staring. He couldn’t get enough of her smile and the way her eyes shone with its warmth.

  Minutes later, they closed the abbot’s door and walked through the cloisters for the last time. As they reached the stable, brooding clouds rolled in on a threatening wind. Young Will, the lad from the stable, rode with them to the foot of Kinnoull Hill, where he tethered their horse to his and rode back to the friary. They swore him to secrecy, for no one embarking on a journey from Perth would be left at the hill without someone wondering why. After they bade Will farewell, they began their climb to the cave. They would go live in Violet’s home for a time, as she had in his, then they would decide where their future would be. They would be there together, and that was enough.

  A storm tossed leaves and whipped branches about as they worked their way up the hill toward the cave. Robert stayed close behind Violet. When he saw her hand tremble, he touched her back to remind her that he was there beside her. It started to rain, and the dirt path grew muddy and slick. Robert worried about Violet�
�s skirts growing heavier as the rain soaked through them. The path leveled out for a few steps.

  Violet stopped and clung to a small tree trunk that seemed to grow out of the rocks. “I’m sorry. I just need a minute.”

  “I’m here. Take your time.”

  Violet leaned her face into her hands, but Robert knew she was crying. He held on to the tree with one hand and circled her waist with the other. “It’s all right. I’ve got you, and I will not let go.”

  With a nervous laugh, Violet said, “So we’ll fall together?”

  Robert tightened his arm. “No. We’ll not fall. Look at me and say it.”

  She looked boldly into his eyes. “No.”

  He wouldn’t relent. “And the rest?”

  Weakly, she said, “We’ll not fall.”

  “There’s a good lass.”

  Whenever he said that, she winced. With one last skeptical glance at Robert, she took a deep breath and proceeded to take a few steps then some more.

  When at last they reached the cave, Violet went straight to the back.

  Robert followed, swept her into his arms, and planted a kiss that he hoped might be sufficient reward for the climb. “I love you even more now than I did at the bottom of the hill.”

  With an uncomfortable frown, Violet said, “Do you? Well, that’s enough love for me.”

  Robert laughed. “You dinnae have to climb cliffs to earn my love.”

  Violet let out a huge sigh. “Well, that’s good, ’cause as much as I love you, if that’s what it costs, then I might have to settle for less.”

  He shook his head. “You'll not have to. My love knows no bounds.”

  The corner of her mouth turned up. “I could get used to this. I wonder when it was that men lost this fine art of flattery? I like it. I don’t even mind if it's false.”

  Robert’s eyes flared. “False? Oh, lass, if you dinnae believe me, how can I convince you?”

  He pressed his mouth to hers. Outside the wind blew, but neither cared, for their love was stronger.

  14

  THE AWAKENING

  The unmistakable sound of a wheel-lock pistol being cocked woke Robert. He carefully lifted his hands and focused wary eyes on the man barely visible in the gray mist of pre-dawn.

  Violet stirred. “Father Abbot?”

  She began to sit up, but her sudden movement startled the abbot, and he pointed his pistol at her.

  “The young lovers. How sweet.” The abbot regarded them with a wistful smile while he kept his pistol pointed at Violet. “Robert, first lay your weapons on the ground before you. If you do anything foolish, I’ll shoot her.”

  Robert set his sword and dirk in front of the abbot’s feet.

  “And the sgian dubh.”

  Robert’s eyes narrowed as he pulled the sgian dubh from his boot. “Whatever brought you here concerns me alone. You’ve no business with Violet.”

  Ignoring him, the abbot said, “Now stand and lift your arms, and slowly step back.”

  Robert did as he was told while keeping a suspicious eye on the abbot.

  The abbot pointed the gun at Robert and said to Violet, “Now it’s your turn. Give me any weapons you’ve got.” Violet opened her mouth to protest, but the abbot said, “If I find one, I’ll use it on you.”

  Robert said, “Give it to him.”

  Violet lay the dirk on the ground then returned to Robert’s side. Something in Robert’s demeanor drew a smile from the abbot. “I recall love like that burning so bright that I feared it would consume me.”

  “Who was she?” Robert asked, stalling until he could determine what was the best thing to do. When he got no response, Robert quietly said, “Father Abbot?”

  “Hmm? Oh, who was she? What does it matter? She’s gone.”

  “But she meant something to you.”

  The abbot nodded and looked at Robert for a long while. “And to you. You look like her. No one saw anything of your father in you, so they never suspected, the fools. They arrived together, and she later turned out to be with child. The monks saw the best, because that was what they wanted to believe, but I saw the truth.”

  Robert’s mind raced as he tried to understand how his parents’ past related to the gun pointed at him.

  The abbot went on. “And I saw them. I followed them once on a late summer’s day. They walked into the fields. The wind stirred the barley so they didn’t hear me approach until it was too late. I’d never seen such beauty. Lying there, with the grain fanning about her and framing her beauty in gold. She was transcendent.”

  Robert knocked the gun out of the abbot’s hand. They grappled, but the abbot fought back with maneuvers that took Robert by surprise. He fought like the Jesuit priests who had attacked them, kicking and slicing with swift moves that caught Robert off guard. Without a weapon, Robert was barely a match for such tactics. Within minutes, the abbot had his hand clamped about Robert’s neck as he pinned him to the ground.

  Smiling over his easy victory, the abbot said, “Your father provided me with an income for years, so devoted was he to protecting her memory. He had a true gift for creating relics.”

  Robert thought of the disdain he had heaped upon his father over making false relics. All the while, he was being blackmailed by the abbot.

  The abbot sighed. “Ah, well, as much as I’d like to reminisce, I’ve a busy day ahead.”

  “Don’t let us keep you,” Violet muttered.

  “Aye, well, you’ve kept us quite busy. But alas, I’ve grown weary of chasing you two over the countryside—or rather, my men have.”

  “You’re one of them.” Robert saw from the abbot’s reaction that he knew to whom Robert referred. All along, the Jesuits who had attacked them were working for the abbot.

  The abbot grinned. “We were missionaries together ten years ago in Japan. But the Japanese decided they didn’t want to be converted, so we passed the time learning their ways. The Buddhist monks taught us Fujian White Crane Kung Fu. Fascinating, really—as much strength of the mind as the body.”

  Violet lunged at him, but he moved to the side to avoid her. While she was off balance, he swatted her with a force that sent her backward to the ground. She lay with the wind knocked out of her, unable to move for a moment. With the abbot’s attention on Violet, Robert seized the chance to land a blow to the abbot’s jaw, then another, before the abbot jabbed his fingertips into Robert’s throat. Robert fell, fighting for breath. He recovered first and grasped Violet’s hand. She looked at him with such trust that a drive to protect her coursed through him.

  “To see you two so in love makes me sorry that I’ll have to separate you.” The abbot sat halfway between them and the cave’s opening, aiming his pistol first at one then the other, as if they needed reminding that he had a gun. “I don’t want to hurt either of you. The gun’s simply here to remind you to follow instructions.”

  “Instructions?” Robert asked.

  When the rising sun lit the cave with its light, Robert and Violet exchanged uneasy glances. It would soon be too late for their journey.

  A curious look crossed the abbot's face as he saw the exchange but said nothing. “First, tell me how it is done.” When Robert looked quizzically at him, he added, “Your little trips to the past and the future.”

  Violet exhaled, aggravated. “Is that what this is about? You want to travel through time? Well, be my guest. Bon voyage!”

  Robert gave Violet’s hand a cautionary squeeze, prompting a sharp glance from her.

  For the first time, the abbot regarded Violet with interest. “She’s a bold one.”

  Violet bristled and scowled.

  The abbot smiled at her reaction. “’Tis not such a bad thing, my child. In fact, it could be quite useful.”

  Robert wasn’t sure which of them he was angrier with. He could do nothing about the abbot, but he wished Violet had kept quiet. It wouldn’t help their cause for her to allow her emotions to rule unchecked. He could practically hear the abbot f
orming a plan to take full advantage of her anger, so he tried to distract him. “Why time travel?”

  A spark lit the abbot’s eyes. “’Tis a wondrous thing to imagine, isn’t it?”

  Robert made no effort to hide his impatience.

  The abbot leaned against the cave wall. “And then there’s the scroll. All of those drawings and symbols—but what does it mean?”

  Robert shrugged. “I dinnae ken, nor does anyone else.”

  The abbot went on. “If you look at it, which I did at great length, there are symbols and places that made me wonder if it might not be a means of guiding people to places they might not otherwise know how to find.”

  Violet squinted. “Like a low-tech GPS?”

  Both men turned blank faces toward her.

  Violet shook her head and said softly, “Never mind. I guess that would just make it a map.”

  The abbot said, “Imagine the power of knowing the future and traveling through time to reshape the past. We’d exert limitless influence over the world.”

  Robert said, “I’m sure that’s what the Templars did not want.”

  “Except for themselves. They amassed quite a widespread financial network. Rulers all over Europe were indebted to them. Once you control money, you control those who need it. Oh, they would have gone further, if permitted.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  The abbot smiled. “Because your world is small. You can’t see the grand realm of options it offers. I do. And that is why I want to know how to travel through time. Only then will we be able to put the scroll to its proper use. But first we’ll need the scroll.”

  Robert scoffed. “It’s an old piece of linen with historical value, no doubt, but I dinnae ken what makes you think it has anything to do with time travel—or maps, for that matter.”

  The abbot nodded. “For a long time, I did not. I thought that the scroll itself held all of the answers. But I realized it did not—and I thank you for that—when you appeared with this lovely young woman, with her strange speech and ways. It was almost as if she were from the future. Then there were your parents. After they arrived, my men found a Templar tunic at the foot of Kinnoull Hill. When by chance I caught a glimpse of the scroll, the pieces began to take shape. Strange people from the past and the future, and a scroll with strange markings—and all connected to one man: your father.”