by Speer, Flora
“You amaze me,” Mike said. “How can anyone who is a certifiable genius be so appallingly stupid? Don’t you know what you’ve done? Or how dangerous it is to move people around in time? Where’s your common sense, man? Or don’t you care? What are you going to do, Hank, sell tickets and send people back in time so they can change the past and in changing it, destroy the world we know?”
“Hey,” Hank broke into this tirade, “the world we know isn’t so great. Maybe a bit of tinkering with the past would help to improve the present.”
“Maybe tinkering with the past would prevent you from being born,” Mike told him. “Ever think about that, boy genius?” He was sorely tempted to drive the tip of his sword blade through Hank’s throat. Murder might well be the only way to stop a lunatic like Hank from continuing his experiments. It took only an instant’s reflection to make Mike realize he couldn’t kill Hank. Not yet, anyway. First he needed a favor from Hank, and he knew just how to convince him to do what he wanted. “Hank, I’m going to make a bargain with you.”
“What kind of bargain?” Hank looked down the length of Mike’s sword and gulped. “Do you think you could move that thing a little to the left? It’s pretty uncomfortable where it is.”
“I’ll take it away altogether if you agree to do what I want,” Mike said. “In fact, I know a way to make your fortune while at the same time proving beyond any dispute that your theory is true and your experiments are a huge success.”
“How?” asked Hank. “Hey, come on, put the sword away. I’m willing to listen to any proposition you’ve got.”
Mike lowered the sword and stepped back one pace. Hank let out a relieved breath. Alice looked as if she might faint.
“Okay,” Hank said. “What’s your idea?”
“You are going to send me back to exactly the time and place from which you just removed me.”
“That’s not going to prove the validity of my theory to anyone in the twentieth century,” Hank objected. “You won’t be here to back me up.”
“I will be here,” Mike told him, “because on my prearranged signal, you are going to retransport me back here again.”
“I don’t get it.” Alice pushed herself away from the wall. She was still pale, but the angry intensity Mike had noticed in her on their first meeting was flaring anew. “Why do you want to go back and forth like that? What’s the point?”
“The point is,” Mike answered her, “that when I come back here for the second time, I won’t be alone.”
“You want to bring someone with you, out of the past?” Hank stared at him. “Jeez, Mike, I don’t know about this.”
“Well,” Mike responded, shrugging his shoulders as if it really didn’t matter, “if you think the problem is beyond your intellectual capabilities, then forget it.”
“I didn’t say that.” Hank chewed his lower lip, thinking. “You make a good point. Somebody from another time, swearing that I brought him here, and with firsthand information about the past to back up his claim, would prove conclusively that my theory is right. It’s a great idea, Mike, but I’m not sure this computer can do it. Not without serious modification, I mean.”
“How long would the modifications take?” Mike asked.
“A couple of days. I’d have to bring in some more equipment.” Hank walked across the room to stand looking down at his computer. “You know, it could work, but it would be dangerous. You could be left there permanently. Or you could get stuck somewhere between the two times – in transit, so to speak – and never get out again. You’d die in there.”
“It’s worth the chance.” Mike met Hank’s eyes squarely, praying that Hank couldn’t see how many lies he was telling, or how afraid he really was.
“It would mean you’d have to trust me,” Hank said.
“You got me back once. I’m betting you can do it again, especially since it would be to your benefit to have two people claiming to be participants in your experiments.”
“Who is this person you want to bring into the twentieth century with you?” Alice demanded. “How do we know it’s not someone dangerous, who’ll go crazy in this time and start chopping people up with a sword like that one?” She sent a fearful glance toward the weapon still in Mike’s right hand.
“It’s not a warrior,” Mike said. “It’s my wife. I can’t live without her, and after all the grief she’s been through recently, I’m pretty sure she won’t last long without me, either.”
“Your wife?” exclaimed Hank. “Hey, you really did have an adventure, didn’t you, old buddy? I’ll have to hear all about it sometime.” He socked Mike on the arm in a playful way.
Mike nearly did kill him then. He restrained himself, knowing that without Hank’s help he would never see Danise again.
“Well?” he said to Hank. “Can you do it, or not? And if you can, are you willing to risk everything on one grand experiment?”
“The whole idea is crazy,” Alice said. “Hank, you know it can’t be done. You barely got Mike back, so how can you imagine you could retrieve two people at once?”
“It’s a challenge, I admit, but hey, I like a tough puzzle. Now look, Alice, you are going to have to help me.”
“I’ll do anything I can,” Mike offered.
“Yeah, sure.” Hank’s attention was on his computer. “Hey Alice, you know that old computer you stashed in the dining room closet? Show Mike where it is, will you? And help him move it in here while I write out a list of stuff for you to buy over at Electronics Discount Mart. I’ve just had a brainstorm.”
It took them four days to modify the computer to Hank’s satisfaction. Mike curbed his impatience with the intricate, tedious work. He wanted everything to be just right before Hank attempted to move him to the eighth century and back to the twentieth again. After listening to Hank’s explanation of the process they were going to try, Mike knew he would only have the one chance to reach Danise. He also thought the passage of a few days would mean little to Danise, because if his plan worked out, to people in the eighth century it would be as though he had never been absent.
“Don’t be too sure of that,” Hank cautioned when Mike voiced this belief. “We’re talking about an experimental effort here. After years of moving people around I may fine-tune the computer to within a second or two, but not yet. You’ll be lucky if I can send you back to a week or so after you left.”
“If that’s the best you can do, I’ll have to live with it,” Mike said. “Just be sure you don’t make me materialize in thin air or the top of a tree the way you did the last time. And send me to the right place. I can make my way home from there and claim I got lost in the woods.”
“Hummph,” said the ever-unpleasant Alice. “Wandering in the woods for weeks? I’d never believe an excuse like that.”
“You’ve never seen an eighth century forest,” Mike responded.
“We’re all set,” Hank said. “Mike, do you have any last minute details to attend to before you leave on this trip? Want to eat, drink, go to the bathroom?”
“No, thanks.” Mike would not admit to the trepidation he felt about the whole enterprise. His feelings didn’t matter. Danise’s did, and it was worth any risk to have her with him. “Let’s get on with it.”
“Now, remember, when you’re ready to come back, press on this gadget I’ve fastened to your belt, and keep your wife right next to you. Jeez, will you look at this, Alice? An eighth century Frankish sword and the latest electronic invention, both hanging from the same belt. Is that a sight, or what?”
“Don’t congratulate yourself yet,” Alice said in her sourest voice. “It may not work.”
“It has to work,” Mike told her. “I’m betting my life on it. And my wife’s life, too. Hank, when I give the signal, get Danise and me back right away. No delay, understand? I plan to choose exactly the right minute and I don’t want any foul-ups from this end.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Despite his claim that all was in readiness, Hank was still fiddling w
ith switches and with the dial on a mysterious gauge installed only that morning. “Jeez, Mike, you make me feel like the mad scientist in some way-out science fiction movie. Give me a break. You said you’d trust me.”
“Right.” Mike sincerely hoped Hank would not discover just how little he was trusted until Mike and Danise were safely in the twentieth century. By then, it wouldn’t matter that Mike had secretly made several telephone calls while Hank was busy with the computer and Alice wasn’t there. “What do you want me to do, Hank?”
“Just come over here,” Hank instructed, “and put your hand on the screen. Yes, like that. Okay, here we go.”
Hank threw a switch on the computer. Mike heard a humming noise followed by the appearance of the familiar pulsating orange-gold light. Then came the blackness and the sensation of falling. This time there was a difference. This time he welcomed the feelings of dizziness and nausea. Nor did the black silence terrify him. Now that he was on his way to find Danise, his earlier concerns about the experiment vanished. He was excited and yet perfectly serene about what he was attempting to do.
Until he heard Danise screaming….
Chapter 20
“It’s an attack! Guntram, help!” Even as she screamed out her warning, Danise was surrounded by Autichar’s men, all of them with drawn swords or battle-axes in hand. They closed in around her with relentless purpose written clear upon their faces.
Danise knew she would be dead before Guntram reached her, but at least he and Clothilde and the others would be warned. Her sacrifice might enable her friends to live. The only thing left for her to do in these last moments of her life was say her prayers.
Clasping her hands at her bosom, Danise closed her eyes, thinking of Michel, praying for his well-being and happiness, wherever he was. A quick prayer for the safety of Guntram and Clothilde and the rest of their group followed.
Before she finished it, rough hands pulled the linen scarf off her hair and grabbed at her braids, jerking her head backward, baring her throat to her killer’s blade. Something – sword or ax, she knew not which – slashed across her cheek, drawing blood. This was the moment, then. Waiting for the final, death-dealing stroke, Danise gathered all her strength and courage to withstand it without flinching.
Her next and final prayer ought to be for herself, but suddenly her willingness to die vanished and Danise was filled with a blazing anger and a resurgence of her desire to live. She, the daughter and wife and friend of brave warriors, was not going to allow herself to be cut down like a willing victim! Whether she ever saw Michel again or not, she was going to make him proud of her. She was going to die fighting and until her last breath she was going to continue to shout out her warning to Guntram.
When she opened her eyes she looked right into the face of the man who had first accosted her, the leader of the warrior band. Unclasping her fingers from their prayerful position she pushed hard against the man with both hands, forcing him backward. He was not expecting her sudden movement. He stumbled, collapsing against two of his fellows, who were crowding around her. They caught his arms, pulling him away from her.
Surprised by their action, and by an unusual glare, Danise blinked. The sunlight was unnaturally bright here in the deep woods where it ought to be shady. The men around her were all falling back now, staring at something she had not yet seen, and leaving Danise standing alone.
No one spoke. There was a strange silence filling the forest glade. The unusual light grew stronger, and Danise began to wonder if she was already dead. She looked in the direction in which all the men were gazing, and saw a globe of orange-gold light. Caught in amazement she stared at it, unable to move. A human figure stepped out of the light and came toward her.
“Danise!” She recognized that beloved voice.
“Michel? Michel!” She was in his arms and she knew he was no ghost and no dream, either. He was alive and so was she. “You came back for me!”
“What are you doing here?” he demanded. “You should be safe at Deutz. Never mind, you can tell me later. Actually, this is a stroke of wonderful luck.”
“Michel, where have you been? What is that light? It hurts my eyes, and look at Autichar’s men, how they are standing so still, staring at it.”
“Hush, darling. Don’t talk, just listen. Those fellows will probably recover from their shock in a minute or two. Danise, I have found a way to take you with me into the twentieth century. At least, I think I have. I have to warn you, it is dangerous. Will you take the risk? Will you go with me?”
“You cannot stay in Francia any longer?” Danise held on to his hands, unwilling to release him even for an instant.
“I have to return to the twentieth century,” he said. “If I don’t, Hank will never stop his experiments. Who knows how far he will go or how much damage he’ll succeed in doing? Once I’ve fixed things so he can’t move people around in time anymore, I won’t be able to come back here. Danise, I hear Guntram, and he sounds as if he’s coming closer.”
“I shouted to warn him of the attack. But, Michel—”
There’s no time for any explanation,” he interrupted. “Right now, Danise – this instant – you have to decide. I know this demand is unfair to you, but it can’t be helped. Are you going with me, or are you staying?”
“I will go anywhere with you. I cannot live without you.”
“Be absolutely sure. Once we go, there’s no turning back.”
“I am with you, Michel, to the very end of time.” There was no doubt in her heart, only joy.
“Then hold on to me and try not to be too frightened. I love you, Danise.” He pulled her toward the waiting light.
“And I love you. Oh, what is that box on your belt?”
His hand was on the box, pressing it hard. It began to emit a strange humming sound. Danise would have jumped away from it, but Michel caught her with his free arm, holding her tight against his side.
“Don’t let go,” he said. “Stay right here with me.”
The humming noise grew louder, and suddenly they were drenched in light so brilliant that Danise pressed her face into Michel’s shoulder to shield her eyes from it. Then, in the next moment, all was empty blackness. All things familiar fell away from her, leaving her completely alone except for Michel, who still held her close.
She was not afraid. Whatever was happening, she was with her love. If they were dying, they would die together, and she had been prepared for a death far worse than this. She was not even afraid when they began to fall.
* * *
“It is beyond my understanding.” Guntram shook his head. “So many men, all discovered in the same unexplainable condition. First Autichar, and now these men, all of them found on their knees in the same location, every one staring at nothing with expressions of horror on their faces.”
“I can explain it.” Uland crossed himself and then made the sign a second time. “There is a dreadful monster living somewhere in this forest, a creature that snatches away people without a trace. Autichar saw it when Michel was taken. Now these men have seen Danise carried off in the same manner.”
“Who are they?” Guntram gazed down at the six pitiable figures, then looked around. “They were heavily armed. See, Uland, there are two battle-axes and here is a sword someone has dropped, but every man of them still has a weapon in hand.” Bending down, Guntram removed the sword from the unresisting fingers of one man. “All armed and yet stricken dumb and immobilized. Never have I dealt with so great a mystery.”
“Guntram?” Clothilde hurried through the trees. “Your men tried to stop me, but I must know. Where is Danise?”
His eyes suddenly full of tears, Guntram picked up a bloodstained linen cloth. He held it out to Clothilde. Smothering a cry of anguish, she took the cloth from him.
“What has happened here?” Clothilde recoiled from the unmoving men kneeling in silence before her.
“Whatever creature took Michel away has also taken Danise,” Guntram said. “Perhap
s the intent of these men was as evil as Autichar’s intent. Perhaps that is why they have been punished as he was.”
“Oh, no! Danise! Danise.” Clothilde paid no heed to Guntram’s suppositions. She heard only his words about her mistress. “Danise!” Guntram caught her, stopping her from plunging into the trees in search of Danise, holding her in place by embracing her with an unbreakable grip.
“We should leave here at once,” Uland advised. “This is a dangerous and unnatural place.”
“We cannot leave,” Clothilde cried, struggling against the restraint of Guntram’s arms. “We must find Danise! Guntram, begin a search at once.”
“You sound now the way Danise sounded when she heard of Michel’s disappearance,” Guntram said. “I do not want to be unkind to you, Clothilde, and you know I loved Danise as if she were my own daughter, but I will not risk the life of any other person in a fruitless search. We have from Danise’s loss the proof we were seeking for Michel’s death. That bloody headcloth tells us she was badly injured or killed at once, and her body carried off by the beast. There can be no chance for her survival. Surely, the same fate also befell Michel. That is what I will report to Charles.”
“I have been with her since she was a baby,” Clothilde sobbed. “How can you ask me to give up so easily?”
“You will do it because there is nothing else you can do,” Guntram said, though not unkindly. “I am convinced that Uland is right. There is a monster lurking in this forest, which you must agree is dense enough to conceal any number of large beasts. I believe we will never find Danise or Michel, or any trace of their bodies, and I wish I had never agreed to bring Danise to this terrible place. If I had refused her, she would still be alive. I blame myself for her death.”
“Don’t say that. If you had refused her, she would have come here alone.” Clothilde was calm enough by now to consider what Guntram was saying, and to appreciate the depth of his grief. “Danise would never have believed that Michel was gone without seeing for herself. Now she knows the truth of his disappearance and we shall never see her again. We must pray that they are together and happy in heaven.”
