Arrows of Time

by Kim Falconer

  ‘Do you know what would sound better?’

  ‘Show me.’ She knew what was coming next and it made her smile. He reached into his pack and pulled out a low whistle. The tune he played was rich and sorrowful; it was like the sound of a lone raven searching for its mate—sad, yearning yet hopeful. When he finished, Rosette wiped tears from her cheeks. ‘That’s beautiful.’

  ‘Ta.’

  ‘Did you write it?’

  ‘Aye.’

  She looked at his face and noticed a hollowness there she hadn’t spotted before.

  ‘Selene?’

  He looked away. She took Shane’s hand and gave it a squeeze. It felt cold to the touch.

  ‘When’s her birthday?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m a star-witch, remember.’

  He nodded. ‘We call it Caprimarius, half-serpent, half-goat. You know it?’

  Rosette nodded. ‘The Sea-goat? Of course.’

  ‘So tell me, does that mean anything to you?’

  ‘It says something about her ambition and maybe a leaning towards self-sufficiency.’

  ‘That’s playing it soft.’ He broke off a grass stem and chewed one end. His horse took it out of his mouth and finished the job. Rosette pushed the animal over a few paces to unsaddle it, rubbing down one side while Shane did the other.

  ‘Does that mean she’ll never want a partner?’ Shane asked, straightening his back.

  ‘Everyone wants a partner, Shane. Just different kinds and for different reasons.’

  ‘And her reasons?’

  ‘If I had to guess?’

  ‘Please do.’

  ‘To build an empire.’

  He snapped off another tassel of oat grass. ‘That explains it.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘I’ve no interest in empires—building up, or taking down.’

  ‘There are other ways to connect.’

  He wrinkled his nose. ‘Would she think sex was one of them?’

  ‘Of course.’ Rosette laughed. ‘The Sea-goat is as sensual as she is ambitious.’

  ‘Not seeing much of that side.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Shane. We’ll get you home and you’ll sort it out.’

  ‘Is that a prediction?’

  ‘It’s an intention—one you might want to take up yourself.’

  He nodded.

  ‘Meanwhile, she’s safe. She’s with Jarrod, after all.’ Rosette grinned widely, picking up the horse’s hooves and checking for stones.

  Shane raised his eyes to the surrounding mountain peaks, staring at them for some time before putting his whistle back in his pack. ‘That’s not much comfort, actually.’

  ‘Are you kidding? He can protect her, if that’s what you’re worried about, though from what you say she sounds like she can protect herself. Good woman. But Jarrod’s different.’

  ‘In what way?’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s complex.’

  ‘I think he’s the one that’ll need protecting. I saw the way she looked at him.’

  ‘Really? How?’

  Shane gave her a look that made sweat prickle the small of her back.

  ‘Oh. I get it.’

  ‘She likes different,’ Shane said. ‘She likes complex as well.’ He spat out the blade of grass. ‘She likes it a lot.’

  Rosette wrinkled her brow. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’

  ‘I have…’

  She patted him on the shoulder, not knowing how else to respond. Shane was trapped in a creation that was not to his liking, and nothing she could say or do would change it. His emotional dilemma with Selene was his business anyway, not hers. She had dilemmas of her own.

  Grayson?

  Are you listening in, Drayco?

  Only when it’s interesting.

  She sighed. He’s been gone a long time, that’s all. Or rather, I’ve been gone from him for a long time.

  You miss him?

  Feels like it.

  Maybe he’s not as far away as you think.

  What do you mean?

  You don’t know?

  She put her hands on her hips and stared down at her temple cat’s amber-orange eyes. You can enlighten me?

  No, Maudi. This is one you best work out on your own.

  She frowned and roughed his neck. Then I will!

  She led the horses to the edge of the path that wound its way like a snake to the basin below. There, grasslands rolled in broad low hills, dotted with dusty grey cows and jet-black calves. The occasional moo bellowed up to the top of the ravine, answered by the high-pitched bawl of a young one. The wind rustled the white-barked trees. She’d never seen the valley so beautiful.

  She released the horses, slipping their bridles off over their ears and stepping aside. They stood for a moment, looking back at her, until she slapped their shining black rumps and shooed them along. ‘Have a break, my gorgeous ones. You’ve earned it.’

  Swishing their long tails and nickering to each other, they shook their heads and ambled down the path, breaking into a trot until they reached the edge of the grazing land. There they stopped as one and dropped their heads to the grass. Drayco yawned massively as he watched them. Fynn slept on.

  ‘Will they be all right?’ Shane asked as he leaned against the rock face.

  Rosette laughed at the horses cropping the tall grass. ‘I should think so. And so will be the Corsanon herdsman when he finds two Treeon Temple steeds prancing around in his fields. There would be a reward for their return, I imagine. At least, on my Gaela there would.’

  I smell rabbit. Drayco stood and stretched before he lunged over a shrub and darted away.

  Don’t be long. We aren’t staying. She reached out to Shane and pulled him forward.

  ‘Come on. Let’s swim.’

  ‘And then home?’ he asked, following her down the path to the water.

  ‘Which one?’ she said, stripping off her clothes when she reached the water’s edge.

  ‘Mine,’ he said, doing the same.

  She didn’t answer right away. She’d have loved to go home to her Gaela. But she hadn’t seen Kreshkali in…she paused. How long would it have been? The time loops they’d been experiencing made it impossible to know. It felt like ages. She wanted to see her, and she wanted to find Grayson. They’d separated too quickly. There’d been no time to talk, no time to clarify their connection. But she also needed to find Jarrod, and get Shane back to Tensar. That was a priority.

  Torn between her intentions, she trod water, swishing it around her body as her arms glided in circular motions just under the surface, flutter kicking to keep her head up. Finally, she flipped over on her back and floated, letting the gentle current take her downstream.

  ‘Not back to Tensar yet, Shane,’ she said as he swam beside her. ‘We don’t want to walk into that time loop again. I was thinking more of my other home world. We can get some perspective there, and consult with Kreshkali. She’ll help get this mix-up straightened out.’

  Shane rolled over like an otter. ‘Earth?’

  ‘That’s the goal.’

  ‘What’s it like?’

  She swam back to the embankment, Shane still at her side. ‘I think I’ll have to show you. It’s too hard to describe.’

  Drayco?

  Here, Maudi. I have a rabbit! Are you hungry too?

  Not so much, lovely, but can you save some for Fynn?

  If I must.

  Please? Her feet sank into the mud as she stood, walking the rest of the way out of the water. You know what he’s like when he’s hungry…

  Say no more. I’ll nab a whole one just for him.

  She swiped the water from her body and lay down in the grass. Within minutes the sun had dried and warmed her skin enough for her to get dressed. She and Shane climbed back up to the portal in silence.

  Can you meet us at the top, Drayco? It’s time to go.

  He answered by appearing around the other side of the ledge, his pace leisurely, a limp jack rabb
it dangling from his mouth.

  ‘Nice one,’ she said and stroked the top of his head. ‘Fynn will be pleased.’

  And famished.

  ‘If he ever wakes up.’

  Drayco didn’t respond, but his eyebrows twitched.

  Rosette scooped up the pup and led the way to the portal. It was hidden in the crevice of the mountainside, but she knew where to find it. This may be a different Gaela, but the land was the same above Corsanon—at least it seemed to be. As she entered the portal that led to the corridors between the many-worlds, she felt the tingling of the plasma energy that always enraptured her. Bliss. Are you with me, Dray?

  Naturally.

  She pulled Shane in a little further and glided her hand over the plasma Entity, her mind focused on her mother, in either of the woman’s forms. She thought first of Earth, where Kreshkali would be, picturing her at the entrance to the resistance stronghold in Half Moon Bay. Next she imagined her mother Nell, standing in her gardens near the Dumarkian Woods, just in case she was there. It wasn’t likely, but she wanted to cover all bases. It was the right choice, either way. She needed guidance and reflection after her encounter with young Nell and the Treeon guards.

  Jarrod would have met the Caller on Tensar by now. She felt a wave of concern at the thought, but convinced herself he could handle things there. She’d find him after she sought counsel with her mother—be she Nell on Gaela or Kreshkali on Earth. She chuckled. Her mother was one of the few witches who had the skill to be in two worlds at once, more even, judging by her recent meeting with the young Nell here on this world—this Gaela. Rosette bristled. She still wanted to have words with that girl. What was she thinking, turning them over to the temple guards?

  Perhaps it was not the most fortunate thought to be holding as she crossed through the portal and into the corridors. Her intention was to reach her mother, and that was what she did, but her overriding emotion was focused on the Nell of this reality, and she got that too, more or less.

  GAELA—TIME: FORWARD

  CHAPTER 14

  When the portal opened, Rosette put Fynn down, her hands going slack. It wasn’t the view she’d anticipated. It was neither Earth nor the Gaela she’d thought of, but the landscape took her breath away. ‘So it’s Nell, is it?’ she said. ‘I wonder what she’s doing back here.’

  Drayco leapt through the portal to land beside her. Dumarka, Maudi. We’re home to Dumarka!

  His voice roared in her mind. ‘Dumarka,’ she whispered, while taking a keen look at the contours of the land as it sloped away from the ledge. ‘It is Dumarka, of course. Look at the trees. Nothing like them anywhere else, but this isn’t where the portal normally is, not the one we’ve ever used, and everything is so much greener.’

  Dumarka’s always been green, Maudi.

  ‘Not quite these shades, even in spring. Where are the ruins?’

  I don’t know, but it’s unmistakably Dumarka. Drayco pressed his head into her leg. Aren’t you glad, Maudi?

  ‘I am, but it’s so strange. It feels the same, but it looks…different.’

  Breathe, Maudi. This is good. This is my place, where I come from.

  ‘It’s my place too, but…’ She drew in a breath. Loam filled her senses, mingling with the sweetness of pine needles, wild sage and blackberry blossoms. It had to be the height of summer. The tall redwoods were tinged crimson in the sunrise, creating a shining canopy above them, and the warmth of the sunbeams made the air all the more fragrant. The shades of green ranged from the colour of sweet peas to freshly mowed grass, more vivid than she had ever remembered. A layer of white mist, remnants of a night fog, hovered above the ground like a mystical sea. The allure and slight unfamiliarity reminded her of the first time she walked into these woods with Nell, gathering herbs and mushrooms, before she and Drayco had even met. ‘This is very near where I found you!’

  As I said, Maudi, our Dumarka.

  ‘I still don’t see the temple ruins.’ Her eyes strained into the distance. ‘Where’s that massive slab of marble, the vine-covered columns and the crumbled steps that lead nowhere?’

  Drayco didn’t reply. He’d turned around to face the other way, his tail brushing her thigh. Birds were flitting in the high branches, calling like a mad chorus—sparrows with their sweet chirps, ravens, guttural and sharp, and lilting magpies, gloriously melodic. Louder than them all, noisy miners were scolding in their high-pitched ‘weet, weet, weet’, clearly annoyed by the intruders, especially Drayco. A red-tailed hawk whistled long and mournful, her single descending note lingering above the treetops. Rosette tipped her head back. The raptor’s shadow passed over them, and it wheeled once before disappearing towards the North Seas.

  Maudi!

  ‘Beautiful,’ she whispered, sighing at the space between the trees where the hawk had been.

  Stop gawking at the sky and turn around. You won’t believe this! Drayco’s mind speech jarred her reverie.

  Rosette turned, her mouth opening in slow motion—the world waiting for her awareness to catch up. Hairs prickled on the back of her neck. As the scene before her registered, she rocked back on her heels, snapping her mouth shut. She reached for Shane and turned him around also. Automatically her hand found the hilt of her sword. She sensed Shane doing the same. ‘What is that?’ she asked, her voice barely audible.

  ‘Looks like a temple to me,’ Shane whispered back. ‘Quite a decent one, I’d say. This Earth of yours is a spectacular place. I can see why words wouldn’t describe it.’

  Rosette shook her head. ‘This isn’t Earth. Nothing close.’ She let go of her hilt, her hands falling to her sides. What was the Entity up to, sending her here, this time?

  ‘Where, then?’ Shane asked.

  ‘It’s Gaela, the woods of Dumarka, but the question isn’t “where” any more. It’s “when”.’

  ‘Again?’

  ‘Seems so.’

  ‘I thought you knew what you were doing.’

  ‘Me too.’

  Maudi! Temple cats! Dozens of them! They’re coming.

  ‘I see them, Dray.’

  This is thrilling!

  ‘Yes, it is.’ She stroked the top of Drayco’s head, feeling him quivering beneath her hand. They had to be quite a long time ago for this to be happening.

  Here they come, Maudi.

  Below them, expansive temple grounds rose out of the mist. It nestled among the trees like part of the forest itself, with its tall pillars, open walkways and redwoods growing on all sides and up through the middle of the inner courtyard. The place felt alive, an island surrounded by mist and waterways. There was a series of arched wooden bridges crossing the meandering streams. The steps leading to the entrance were massive, wide enough for twenty horses abreast, and down them paced the most impressive sight Rosette had ever seen. Temple cats by the dozen were descending the stairway, their heads high, eyes bright.

  Drayco dropped to the ground like a sphinx, stretching out his nose, testing the air. Rosette’s lips parted as she watched the clowder of felines. Most were black with red highlights, like Drayco, but some had rust-coloured spots on their flanks, and others had deep red tabby stripes around their eyes and forelegs. A few had white markings on their chests with dusky-grey striped limbs. All were at least as large as her familiar and more than a few were bristling. Drayco didn’t react to the threats, but she felt Fynn sandwiched between her feet, whimpering.

  My ancestors! Maudi!

  ‘Wonderful, Dray. Are they friendly?’ She crouched down and stroked his back, unable to take her eyes off the other felines. She wondered what it would be like to face these creatures without her bonded mate. That was not something she wanted to find out. Drayco had identified them as forebears and it made sense, though just how far back in time they’d gone, she couldn’t guess. The temple had been destroyed before the Corsanon wars had got under way. She tried to remember when that would have been. Gaelan history was not her best subject.

  They’re my fam
ily.

  ‘I’m glad you’re so excited, Dray.’

  You’re not?

  ‘I was hoping to get to Earth and find Kreshkali, or Nell.’

  That’s not a problem.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  You’ll see.

  ‘This isn’t a good time to be cryptic.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Shane asked, missing the mental communication from Drayco. He tore his eyes away from the approaching temple cats to look down at her.

  ‘I don’t know what’s going on. We aren’t where we wanted to be—again—and Drayco isn’t making much sense.’

  Shane put his hand on her shoulder as the lead temple cat sat in front of them and stared at her with jewel-green eyes. ‘Maybe where we think we want to be and where we actually need to be are not the same thing,’ he said.

  Rosette stood up, glancing sideways. ‘Are you sure you dropped out of the mystery teachings?’

  He laughed. ‘Bards can have insights too, you know.’

  She smiled. ‘I know.’ She said the last words so softly she didn’t think he heard her. Turning her attention to the temple cats, she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. ‘You’re all so magnificent. Let me introduce myself.’

  They know who you are, Maudi. I told them.

  ‘Thank you.’

  But you better tell her.

  ‘Who?’

  Nell.

  Rosette’s eyes widened. ‘Nell? She’s here?’

  ‘Of course, my dear.’ A voice floated from the top of the steps, light as a breeze.

  Rosette stared at the woman. She wore a long green dress that dropped down from her shoulders and plunged deeply between her breasts. Her arms were tattooed with temple cats, ravens and other symbols, black images with just a hint of shade and colour. Her hair was red with highlights of gold.

  ‘Nell? Is that you?’

  ‘Who else would I be?’ The woman opened her arms, her lips curling into a smile. ‘Welcome to Temple Dumarka,’ she said. ‘Now tell me who you are and how you come to know my name.’

  EARTH—TIME: BACKWARD

  CHAPTER 15

  Everett pulled the tome from the highest shelf, and dusted the jacket. It was quiet in the rare books library, the long reading table empty, only one lamp turned on. He stretched his neck from side to side. He’d been searching half the night, looking for answers in the artefacts of the past—books. So far, he’d found none. The old medical texts offered nothing he didn’t already have in his database. They listed the diseases now eradicated, particularly the cardiovascular disorders that plagued earlier times, but he found no clues to Jane Doe’s condition. The editions from the twenty-first century post-enlightenment period were too dated to be of any use. Dead ends. But the text in his hand might offer something the medical books could not.