It was empty, except for four children in the cradle. His gaze searched the room, but there was no sign of the nanny. His fires flared hotter as he realized that the nanny had lied. She said that the assassins overpowered her.
In truth, she had run away before they even arrived.
Warmund hissed between his teeth, then strode forward quickly. His heart sank to his toes when he saw who the other three children were.
If they were here, that meant that that Penny was, too. His stomach coiled around itself. Where was she? Was she out there, in the midst of the fighting? She might be tough as nails, or at least think she was, but in a real fight?
And if he left the children here, they’d no doubt be targets for the assassins. He couldn’t leave.
“It’s going to be okay.” His gaze swept over Lisa, teary-eyed, Mark, red-faced, Alex kicking and fussing, and lastly, Wildref. She likewise kicked and flailed. Her face was red, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Warmund’s heart lurched. He wanted to pull them all into his arms and comfort them.
But his one arm was still numb and the other lifted his sword as he turned and planted himself in the middle of the room, ready to cut down anybody who might attack.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Within a few minutes, footsteps sounded from the corridor. He braced himself as five people, all brandishing swords and sporting blood splashed over themselves, rushed into the nursery. They stopped in surprise when they saw him there. A couple of them glanced back to the corridor. One of them sneered.
“Didn’t we just leave you near your stepmother’s room?”
Warmund didn’t let himself think what that meant. Instead, he leapt forward, slicing at the speaker’s throat. He jumped back, hissing. As Warmund landed, he spun rapidly, striking out. His blade cut through one of the assassins’ neck. Blood spurted into the air. The other four yelled and attacked as one. Warmund vigorously defended. Strike after strike rained down on him, and he deflected them all. The assassins dodged forward and retreated in tandem. With his right arm useless, he soon grew tired.
His fires burned hot and he released a breath at the leader. Flames ate away at the space between them; the leader spat out a curse as his clothing caught fire. He dropped and rolled while two others came at him from either side. Warmund ducked and rolled to avoid both their blades. As he did so, another sword swung down at him. He was just able to roll from its path—or so he thought.
As he sprang to his feet again and stabbed through his attacker, a wave of light-headedness passed over him. He glanced down at his arm to find a deep gash in the numb flesh, blood pumping from his body.
Great. Just what he needed. He stumbled, as the three assassins left pressed their advantage. Though he couldn’t feel the wound, he could feel the blood leaving his body. It spurted from him as he rammed into the leader, using his weight to crush the man against the wall while slicing the third assassin across the chest. His blade skittered over ribs, but, in veering off, it slid neatly through the fourth assassin’s throat.
Warmund stepped back, dodged a shaky attack and killed the third one. The leader hissed through his teeth as he glowered at his dead companions.
“I will not fail!” The leader threw out a hand. A blast of magic leapt from his fingers and hit Warmund straight in the chest. It lifted him and threw him across the room.
His lungs wouldn’t work. His heart thumped wildly against his ribs. Warmund lay, gasping for breath while unable to get his lungs to expand. The assassin grunted in satisfaction and began to stalk over. Magic charged the room, dancing between the assassin’s fingertips like lightning. A triumphant sneer crossed over his face. Warmund tried to push himself up, but his body wasn’t responding to what he told it to do.
“We weren’t planning to kill you; you’re just the bastard son, no threat to our plans. But if you insist on being loyal to the child that replaced you, so be it. You can die for her.”
The assassin whipped around his sword. The sparking magic flowed down the shaft, surrounding the blade with crackling energy. Warmund sucked in a deep breath, bracing himself. The assassin jabbed the sword down; there was the noise of pottery breaking and the assassin let out a surprised yelp. The sword fell to one side, stabbing through the floor right beside Warmund’s chest.
Pottery sprayed over Warmund’s face. The assassin stumbled for a moment before he dropped. Penny stood in the space the assassin once occupied. Her face was pale, and her hands clutched the remnants of a precious vase. She dropped to her knees next to Warmund and checked his pulse.
He let out a groan, the first noise his body had decided it could make and jerked his head weakly toward the cradle.
“Don’t worry,” Penny gasped as she tore off a strip of her skirt to tie around his arm. “I know how we’re getting out of here.”
She sprang back to her feet and lifted both her hands. Her eyes closed and sweat dripped down her face. At first, Warmund wasn’t sure what she was doing. Then he heard the sound of rushing water and smelled that peculiar scent the had accompanied the portals before. He managed to twist his head to watch as she opened up a portal.
His eyes widened. Opening a portal on her own the first time she attempted it? Penny was a more powerful mage than he realized.
She panted with the effort by the time she was finished. She stumbled a little and Warmund’s leg twitched. He growled in frustration as the numbness and paralysis faded in and out, never long enough one way or the other to get used to it. Penny dashed to the cradle and pushed the whole thing, grunting with effort, until it passed through the portal. She then came back for him as the assassin started to groan again.
“Leave,” Warmund managed to grunt.
“Nope.” Penny grabbed him around the shoulders and hefted him up. She groaned with effort as she dragged him toward the portal. “Not leaving you here.”
His one hand still clung to his sword, but he was unable to lift it as the assassin pushed himself to his hands and knees. Blood dripped down his forehead. He looked up, eyes dazed, and when he saw Penny and Warmund, his gaze darkened.
Penny gave a mighty heave. A myriad of sight and sound washed over Warmund’s vision, erasing the assassin.
He didn’t recall passing out, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dimly lit room. Blankets lay beneath and over him. A strange wind blew in his ears. Pain burned through his arm, replacing that infernal numbness. He was cold… too cold…
The wind stopped blowing, and he realized it wasn’t wind at all, but a car. His head jerked up. Penny jumped from where she was standing over the cradle. There was no crying; she must have gotten them all asleep. She turned to him, relief washing over her face.
“Good. You’re finally awake.”
Warmund swallowed dryly. “Where are we?”
“It’s an abandoned house near where I grew up. I guess I was thinking of this place when I opened the portal.”
He nodded slowly, then met her eyes again. “When?”
Tears filled Penny’s eyes. “1995. We’re over twenty years too early.”
Chapter Twelve
Penny
Penny wasn’t sure what she was feeling. There was relief at being back in her own world, along with the joys of disposable diapers—especially since she now had four babies to take care of. Wildref was older than Alex but younger than the twins. The weight of responsibility made her want to sit down and cry. Then there was Warmund. She was so, so very glad that he had woken up. When she arrived in this world, his wounds were literally smoking. Even though she wanted to take him to the hospital, she had no idea what strange things his body would do there. She couldn’t reveal the knowledge of dragons this early.
Now as she stared at him, sitting up with a groan while his gaze remained locked on the cradle, a wash of anger came over her. It was that same sort of anger that had taken her when she had first realized that she was in the wrong time and place, back when Warmund first accidentally brought her to
Byrelmore.
“Are the children okay?” he asked, his expression and voice both worried.
“Yeah.” Penny let out a deep breath, calming herself. “They’re good. And I guess that you are, too. What happened, anyway?”
Warmund shrugged and winced as he flexed both his hands. “Got hit by magic. Couldn’t move.”
Penny nodded. Even though her anger was still there, waiting to be unleashed on him, she knew she wasn’t really angry with him. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked away. “So, I guess it’s about time you came to see my hometown, anyway. In all its extreme conservative glory.”
“You came back to your hometown?” Warmund frowned as he experimentally stood. He swayed a little but shook his head when Penny moved to help him. “I’m alright. It’s strange that you brought us back to your childhood, though… I haven’t been able to learn enough about the emotional components of portals yet… maybe it’s because this was a time when you still believed in magic. At the very least, you have strong emotions about it.”
“You could say that.” Penny wrapped her arms around herself. She shivered. “This was where everything I wanted to be was torn away from me, one cruel word at a time until I had to build myself out of walls and scales just to stop the pain.” Warmund’s gaze softened. He opened his mouth, but she didn’t let him continue. “There are some clothes for you in the corner. I hope you appreciate what I did for you today; I broke into my old house and stole all this from my own family.”
She gestured to the canned foods and blankets she’d brought. She had had to leave the babies alone with an unconscious man in order to do that; her stomach churned just thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened while she was gone.
“Thanks.” Warmund crossed to the cradle and gazed in. His shoulders slumped, and a soft, tremulous laugh escaped him as he gazed inward. “But I was successful. I stopped them. They didn’t kidnap her.”
“No,” Penny agreed. “They didn’t. We did.”
Warmund’s head jerked up. He stared at her, startled, and her hands curled into fists. For a moment, the anger overwhelmed her again. She held her breath to stop it from coming tumbling out. Yeah, they had stopped the assassins from taking her. But they hadn’t changed anything the way he’d wanted to. While she wasn’t convinced that was a bad thing, the whole futility of the exercise made her want to scream. She had friends in her own time, she had family that she did get along with—aunts, uncles, and cousins whom she loved dearly. It was going to be even more painful to live now when they were still out there but while she was unable to contact them because she wasn’t the Penny they knew.
Warmund turned to her fully. He wore only the boxers that she’d managed to get on him, but this time she wasn’t going to let herself be distracted by his physique. Her hands curled into fists, as she struggled to keep herself from screaming out. The babies had all barely gotten to sleep and she was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
“I don’t want to say anything I will regret later,” she told him slowly. “And that is why I am going to ask you not to say anything until I have some sleep. Which I have not had in three days.”
“They would have killed her.”
Penny flinched.
“Maybe I am the kidnapper now, but those assassins… they were there to kill her. A baby.” Warmund’s eyes captured her as he reached into the cradle. Penny let out a protest, but he ignored her as he picked up Wildref. The baby jerked, clearly not as asleep as Penny had thought, and let out a thin wail. Warmund held her close to his chest. “They would have killed her, and do you think that they would have spared your children?”
Penny sank to the floor. Tears and sobs came fast and hard. She pressed her hands over her face, trying desperately to stop her sobs. The noise only startled Wildref more and her cries started to get louder. Any more and the others were going to wake up! She looked up desperately, the exhaustion and anger so strong that she didn’t have the strength to fight them.
“They could have died. They could have died because of you. You are the one who brought us there. You robbed the palace and brought the guards right to us! Everything that happened is your fault. If they had gotten hurt… if they’d gotten killed… and now I’m stuck here! Completely alone again!”
She collapsed back into sobs. Warmund was silent and Penny was glad for it. She was too tired to think and certainly too tired to listen. Penny threw herself into the pile of blankets on the floor and continued to sob, letting all her emotions out in a rush of tears and sobs.
***
When she woke, Penny felt a little better for having cried and slept. Her eyes felt all crusty from her tears and her body still ached with tiredness. Her head was a little clearer, though. When she sat up, she saw Warmund was still there. He silently passed her a water bottle. The twins were both up, sitting on another blanket and happily munching some crackers.
“Thanks.” Penny emptied the water bottle and wiped her face on her sleeve. “Sorry.”
Warmund shrugged. “I thought about what you said.”
“What I…? Oh.” She blushed. “It’s not your fault, you didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Maybe not, but you are right. It was my doing. Accidently or not. But you have to realize… I saved her. I saved my sister.” A flash of pain came over his face. “But I wasn’t able to save her mother. It all happened the same way. Maybe not exactly how I remembered it, but I didn’t really change anything. Wildref was kidnapped, my stepmother was killed. It was all for nothing.”
Penny shook her head. “Not for nothing. If you knew Katrina, you’d know it wasn’t for nothing. You said that the assassins there were after her to kill her? So, you saved her. Maybe not the way you thought you would, but you still saved her. Kat loves her life. She loves her parents and the way she grew up. She’s said many times that she wouldn’t change her life for anything. Now we have the chance to—"
“You want me to give up.”
Penny stared, uncertain.
Warmund’s gaze darkened, as he stood and strode to the window. His muscles bunched beneath the shirt she’d stolen from her father’s dresser. His hands clenched at his sides, as he stared to the world outside. A low growl emitted from his throat, and she thought she saw smoke curling around him. She reached inside of herself, searching for some small spark of magic. There was nothing, at least nothing she could feel.
“After everything, you still want me to give up. Wildref doesn’t belong in this world. Neither of us does. None of us,” he corrected as he turned toward her. “Do you even understand what gifts have been denied you, living in this magicless world, rather than in Byrelmore? You are a powerful mage and you don’t even know the basics of magic.”
“I don’t need magic.”
“Without it, you live a short life. You work all the time and for what? To be miserable and exhausted with a job you hate?”
Penny shook her head. “I don’t hate my job. I love being a nurse. I can help people.”
Warmund let out a stifled sigh, as though she was completely missing the point and not the other way around. “Maybe you can be satisfied not reaching your potential, but I can’t allow that for Wildref.”
Penny gave Lisa another cracker. “Warmund, she loves her life. You’re going to take that away from her just because you think she should grow up in a palace instead?”
“It’s not just the palace. Her dragon was denied her, Penny. Her heritage. Her people. Her family!”
“She has a family! A family that loves her. You can be part of her life but—” What was she saying? She threw her hands into the air and let out a bitter laugh. “I guess we don’t have a choice. It’s not like we can open another portal. Congratulations, Warmund. You’ve changed time. I guess, instead of being Katrina’s brother, you’re going to be her father. And I guess I’ve got four babies to look after now.”
Warmund shook his head slowly. “I just have to figure out a way for you to ac
cess your magic again, so you can open a new portal. Then we can go back, and my father can send you and your children back to your own future.”
And what about you? She wanted to ask. At the same time, she wanted to say, Alex is your son. How will this affect him?
But the words that pressed against her lips were nothing more than an accusation. So she turned her face away and said nothing. Tears started to press against her eyes again and she screwed them shut tight, fighting them. To her surprise, Warmund wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened at first but soon found herself leaning into his warmth. It felt so good to be held…
“I’m sorry that this is so frightening,” he murmured into her hair. “I promise, we’ll figure it out.”
Penny nodded, even though she knew it was a lie. They couldn’t figure out anything while he was refusing to see things from her perspective. But at the moment, she didn’t want to think about that. She just wanted him to hold her.
Chapter Thirteen
Warmund
For several days, they lived in the abandoned house. Penny’s family was away on vacation, so when they needed anything, they just raided her childhood home, but she refused to go back there to stay. Warmund didn’t ask why. Even though he burned with curiosity, he recognized that this was something that clearly held a lot of pain for her, and he wasn’t going to increase that pain.
Caring for four infants was difficult work. Diapers were in constant need of changing, bottles were in constant need of being made and entertaining them all was something else entirely. Warmund didn’t have much time to think about what he needed to do in order to get Wildref back to the time she needed to live in.
When he did find time to venture forth, he found that the internet was not what it would be twenty-plus years into the future. Finding information was much more difficult, and many of the theories that he’d built his first device on weren’t around yet anyway. He started to work on another one, hoping to be able to amplify what flames he had left; they were wearing out faster than they had when he first came through, but if he was able to amplify them, perhaps that would be enough to spark Penny’s magic again.
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