Guardians of Time

by Sarah Woodbury

  Then he heard the crunching of gravel on the driveway, and he came back around to the front of the house in time to see Abraham stop the car by the front door.

  The doctor started speaking before the car door was fully open. “The clinic is surrounded. I decided I’d better not try to get past everyone to reach my office.”

  “We should inform Callum.” Llywelyn led the way into the house without asking for more information. He knew why the clinic was surrounded; he just wished this Tate had been as good as his word.

  Callum was standing at the counter, talking to Cassie and Darren and drinking coffee. Beyond them, in the darkness of the sitting room, Llywelyn could see the mop of Mark’s dark hair sticking out from his blankets where he lay on the floor. He and David had set their computers up in here last night and had spent hours downloading information and printing it. The backpack Callum had bought at the Tesco in Bangor sat on an adjacent table, full to nearly bursting with the paper that had resulted. Llywelyn hoped David had found most of what he’d wanted because he feared their time had just run out.

  Callum looked over as Llywelyn came in. “We were just about to leave to scope out the rendezvous point well in advance. Would you like to come? I could use your experience.”

  “We have some new information that changes everything.” Llywelyn gestured to Abraham, who’d come into the kitchen behind him.

  “Someone, I’m presuming it’s MI-5, has surrounded my clinic. That doesn’t seem like a friendly act to me.”

  “No, that’s not good.” Callum let out a sharp breath. “Tate lied to me.”

  “He probably wouldn’t call it lying,” Cassie said. “More like covering all his bases.”

  “Were he to use a baseball metaphor, yes,” Callum said.

  “We should change the meeting point to a place we know,” Darren said, gesturing with his cup of coffee to indicate the world beyond the house. “Give them a half-hour’s notice they can take or leave.”

  Callum stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at the ancient wood floor and thinking. Nobody interrupted him because they were all doing some thinking of their own. For Llywelyn’s part, he couldn’t be the least bit surprised that Tate had changed the terms of the agreement. These were the same men who’d locked up his son.

  Callum looked over at Abraham. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

  “My clinic is on a side road, as I’m sure you recall, but it’s visible from a certain spot on the hill above it, which I was driving down when I saw the vehicles: four SUVs and two police cars.”

  Callum rubbed his chin. “They are taking this seriously. How long before they find you here?”

  “If they dig hard enough, not long,” Abraham said. “At the same time, my corporation is heavily invested in real estate in this area, so they’ll have at least a dozen properties to search. This is also listed as a clinic, not a residence.”

  “You know,” Cassie said, “to give Tate the benefit of the doubt, they might be at the clinic because of the bus. The police officers would have told them it was there, and so they started looking for it there. They may not have connected Abraham to us at all.”

  “All it will take is one of the bus passengers mentioning Rachel’s existence,” Llywelyn said. “She disappeared a year ago, just like the rest of them.”

  “Then we can be thankful, again, that it’s Christmas Day,” Darren said. “Don’t forget that Meg’s family was checked into the Black Boar, but have now gone missing. Tate is going to assume we’re all together.”

  “Caernarfon Castle,” Abraham cut in. “The Prince of Wales is giving the Christmas Day speech from the bailey this afternoon. The whole city will be full of tourists and security forces.”

  Llywelyn’s eyes narrowed. “Did you say the Prince of Wales?” Llywelyn had wanted to meet this English upstart from the moment Meg had told him how he himself had lost his life at Cilmeri.

  “So that’s what’s got Tate in a tizzy.” Cassie was nodding her head. “It isn’t us. It’s protecting the Prince of Wales. Security is higher, everybody’s on edge, and now the time travelers are back. No wonder Tate is doing everything he can to find us.”

  “If he labels us terrorists,” Callum said, “he can make any security force, policeman, or reporter, for that matter, do his bidding.”

  Llywelyn turned to Abraham, for whom his respect had grown with every minute he’d spent with him. “Why do you suggest we meet Tate at Caernarfon if that’s where the Prince of Wales will speak?”

  “I don’t mean for us to meet him in the castle itself,” Abraham said. “There’s a swinging bridge over the river that runs along the south side of the castle. I know the man who manages the controls for the swing, and I have a friend with a boat. MI-5 could leave the supplies on the bridge, and my friend could take them away in his boat.”

  Callum stared at him. “They would do that for you?”

  “Of course,” Abraham said with utter certainty.

  “On Christmas Day?” Cassie said.

  Abraham shot her an amused look. “Jewish. Remember?”

  “Crowds were the reason we rejected Bangor Cathedral as a meeting place,” Callum said, “but Abraham may be on to something. Meeting in a public place—especially if none of us but Mark ever has to show himself to MI-5—will allow us to lose ourselves in the crowd. Even if we split up—which we should do in order to scout the area—we can keep in touch by mobile.”

  “It could be much like when Goronwy, Meg, and I arrived at Chepstow,” Llywelyn said, not without a touch of pride at the memory. “We won’t stand out because we’ll be ten among hundreds. Also much like at Chepstow, the weather can only help because everybody’s faces will be covered by hats and hoods.”

  Callum gave him a sour look. “Believe me, I remember.”

  “Do we really think they plan to grab us?” Cassie said.

  “Tate didn’t sound like that’s what he wanted last night,” Callum said, “but he’s a politician and a professional liar.”

  “Nobody will question apprehending possible terrorists on the day of the prince’s speech,” Darren said. “If that is, in fact, his intent, it’s a perfect set up for him.”

  “It also might mean that he doesn’t believe what I told him about Lee. I am officially irked.” Callum crumpled up a cloth that had been lying on the kitchen counter and threw it at Mark’s head. “Wake up!”

  Mark groaned, but he sat up and put his hand to his eyes to shield them from the light. “What?”

  “Tate’s up to something,” Callum said. “We need you.”

  “Tate won’t want to hear the plans have changed,” Darren warned.

  “Then he shouldn’t have surrounded Abraham’s clinic,” Callum said. “He’ll have to agree to what we want if he doesn’t want us to disappear.”

  “Merry Christmas!”

  Llywelyn turned to see Anna yawning as she pulled a sweater, what Bridget called a jumper, close around herself. She put her arms around Llywelyn’s waist and squeezed. “What’s happened to make everyone so unhappy? I’m guessing trouble.”

  Llywelyn hugged her back. “Yes indeed. It seems, yet again, that we can’t go anywhere without it.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Anna

  While the others continued to discuss strategy, Anna woke the rest of the house. She felt particularly bad about waking Mom and Aunt Elisa, who’d stayed up far too late talking. Then she had to practically jump on David to wake him. He sat up, bleary-eyed and with his hair stuck up on end. He ran his hand through it in a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to tame it.

  “What’s up?” David said.

  Anna explained about the change in plans.

  Ten minutes later, they were all back in the kitchen, where Callum told everyone, “Tate wasn’t happy to hear from me, but he didn’t argue either.”

  “Isn’t that suspicious?” Anna said. “What excuse did you give him for changing the location of the meet?”

  “T
he weather,” Callum said.

  David raised his eyebrows. “Did you tell him you knew the clinic was surrounded?”

  “No,” Callum said. “I’m holding those cards close to my chest, for now.”

  “Do you think he bought it?” Anna said.

  “Are you asking if I trust him?” Callum said. “Of course I don’t.”

  “Eat.” Cassie came up behind Anna with a plate of food in her hand and prodded her towards the table.

  Abraham had made a large breakfast, complete with Welsh bacon, which he and Rachel ate unapologetically along with their eggs and fried bread. It wasn’t so different from the food she’d normally eat for breakfast in the medieval world. It was hard to go wrong with bacon and eggs, and everybody—medieval and modern—was satisfied. As they sat around the large table next to a fireplace that wouldn’t have been out of place in a great hall, Anna could almost believe that they’d been miraculously transported home. But no, that was coming later.

  It was only at the end of the meal that Abraham looked up and said, “I’m sorry. Are there any vegans among you?”

  Everyone laughed, though Anna had to explain the concept to Math before he got it. “Monks don’t eat meat on many days, but why would anyone else turn down good food when it’s offered?”

  “In this world, many people oppose the killing of animals for food,” Anna said, and at Math’s continued stare, she added, “Large farms keep animals in small cages or pens all their lives and stuff them full of chemicals. It’s inhumane and unhealthy.”

  “But—

  Anna smiled and put a hand on Math’s arm. “This is one aspect of the modern world I really can explain later. Now—” she looked around the table, “—my guess is that it’s time to go.”

  Christopher pushed away his plate. He’d kept pace with David’s seconds and thirds, which given that he was seventeen, was no surprise. “I want to come with you when you go back to the Middle Ages.”

  Uncle Ted put out a hand to him. “Son—” while at the same time Aunt Elisa said, “Christopher!”

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about this,” Christopher said, not heeding his parents. “I know it isn’t a decision to be made lightly, but it’s one I’ve made.”

  “I know you want to go, sport.” Uncle Ted’s hand came down on his son’s shoulder, though he met Anna’s eyes and gave his own head a slight shake, which Anna took to mean you’re going over my dead body. “I’d love to go too, but we just can’t. Think of your mother and sister.”

  “It isn’t their life.” Christopher kept his attention entirely on David.

  Aunt Elisa scoffed and rose to her feet. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “I do too, Mom!”

  Anna’s mother put out a hand to her sister. “Elisa, may I?”

  Aunt Elisa had been getting along well with Mom up until now, but color had flooded her face. She looked like she was going to protest again, but Uncle Ted drew her back to stop her from talking.

  Mom rested her elbows on the table and studied Christopher over hands clasped in front of her chin. “You’d be leaving this world for another universe, one you might never come back from, and at seventeen, like it or not, you aren’t a man yet. Not here. This isn’t your decision to make.”

  Christopher opened his mouth, but Mom forestalled him with a raised finger.

  “It’s David’s decision. He is the King of England, and in the medieval world, he would be your liege lord. You might not think you have to obey your father, but you do have to obey him.”

  “I know that,” Christopher said. “I accept that.”

  “But David hasn’t given you permission to come with us,” Mom said.

  All eyes turned to David, who studied Christopher for a moment before putting down his fork. “My mom is right.”

  Christopher’s chin was wrinkled like a prune and his expression mutinous.

  But then David canted his head. “Still, she might not always be. If I do come back, we will speak of this again. At that time, you can decide what is right for you.”

  Anna had seen David speak like this dozens of times, to many different people. It was as if he and Christopher were the alone in the room. It was David at his best.

  Slowly Christopher eased back in his chair. “Okay. I will hold you to that.”

  Aunt Elisa let out a trembling breath, and Uncle Ted pulled her away from the table before she could ruin the moment. In another few seconds, everyone else was standing, clearing the table, and getting their things together to leave.

  Except David and Christopher, who still sat looking at each other. “Do you mean it?” Christopher said.

  “I don’t say things I don’t mean,” David said. “If this is really something you want, you’d better do what you can to make yourself ready. I heard your grades weren’t very good last quarter.”

  The mutinous look was back. David ignored it, getting to his feet and moving to where he’d left his laptop. Anna watched Christopher sit at the table for a few seconds, and then she pulled him up to give him a hug. When she let go, she said, “For now, we need you here, keeping this end of our lives safe, Christopher.”

  She put her hands on both sides of his face. He was nearly six feet tall, so she had to reach up. Seeing him like this made Anna miss her own boys even more. Cadell, at seven, was four years younger than Elen, but far more independent than many eleven-year-olds. Hardly a morning went by, however, when Bran didn’t come in to her room, usually after Math was already up and gone, to snuggle with her. She could see both of them in Christopher, who in his disappointment was looking much younger than his seventeen years.

  “How can I possibly help with that?” he said.

  “You’re a smart boy. You’ve had a taste of what it’s like for us when we come here, running around Wales like we have. What do we need help with most?”

  He scoffed. “It isn’t like learning Welsh is going to do any good. You already speak it. But with those agents—” he broke off, his eyes widening with sudden realization. “I could join the FBI—”

  Anna cut him off with a finger to his lips. “You should do what you want. It’s your life—one which you must lead here because David might not come back for a long time—but if you really do want to make a difference for us when we return, having an ally in law enforcement, even in the United States, would be helpful. Alternatively, becoming an engineer or a doctor could be very useful too. We need educated people in the Middle Ages.”

  She had meant only to appease him and to make him less resentful of his mother and father, but she could see the gears turning in his head as he considered the possibilities.

  “I know you’re going to make good choices,” she said.

  The sun was just rising when they gathered in the oldest part of the house in preparation for their departure. It was snowing in earnest again, so it wasn’t as if they could actually see the sun, but Papa, at least, had taken a walk outside and returned with a more contented look on his face. He knew this region of Wales like the back of his hand. Seven hundred years and the English conquest couldn’t change that.

  Callum called for everyone’s attention. “We have multiple tasks before us. The first is to return Ted, Elisa, and the children to the Black Boar.”

  “I’m worried about what will happen to them when we do that,” Mom said. “MI-5 might still want to question them. Tate might not honor our bargain.”

  “If that’s what happens, it happens,” Uncle Ted said.

  “Under the circumstances, I find it likely that with our presence and the prince’s speech, MI-5 have bigger fish to fry,” Callum said.

  “Tell them as much of the truth as you wish to,” Cassie said to Uncle Ted. “You spent Christmas Eve with us, and then we went on our way.”

  “Unfortunately for her, Cassie needs to stay with the van, ready to leave at a moment’s notice,” Callum said. “I would prefer that at least Rachel, Abraham, and Meg stay with her while some of us escort
Ted and the others into the city, and the rest scout the perimeter of the castle square.”

  David had confided to Anna that if he’d had his way, Abraham would have been left behind at the house, but Abraham was insistent that he come with them. He’d heard enough about the sudden nature of the appearances and disappearances between the Middle Ages and the twenty-first century to fear that a sudden event might take Rachel away from him again.

  For her part, Anna liked Abraham very much and thought he could be a great addition to the family. He might be showing them only his good side, but since his good side had included accepting their origins in the Middle Ages, Mom’s need for care, and housing them for the night at Aber—which Anna still could only just believe he owned—he would have to turn into an ogre pretty quickly for anyone to object strongly to his company.

  “I don’t like it.” Mom frowned. “But I also know that I’m not trained for anything that will help you now.”

  “Nor am I.” Rachel sighed. “I hate being left behind.”

  Cassie tsked through her teeth. “You and me both.”

  Abraham, however, raised a hand. “You might want to include me in the party that scouts the area around the bridge. At the very least, I have an invitation to sit in one of the VIP chairs during the prince’s speech.” Abraham looked sheepish as everyone gaped at him. “None of you are supposed to be here, so it might come in handy if we’re stopped. I also know Caernarfon well.”

  David was chuckling quietly to himself. “I get it now. You’re a Welshophile, aren’t you?”

  “I haven’t ever heard that term before, but you’re not wrong,” Abraham said.

  “If Abraham goes with David and Llywelyn—” Callum hesitated, and he actually turned a little red.

  David smirked. “We aren’t kings here, Callum. You can say our names.”

  Anna gave a sudden laugh, realizing as she thought back over all the interactions she’d witnessed between Callum and David and Papa over the last day, not once had he actually said their names. She was also kind of amazed that Callum wasn’t trying to leave her behind too, but she supposed her black belt in karate, ancient history as it was, qualified her in his mind as a combatant.