His journey was about to begin. He soared over lakes of fire and trees of turquoise. Robin of Locksley journeyed to the underworld realm of the gods.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The quarterdeck shook as the ship bounced on the waves. It disturbed the captain below from his brief slumber. It had been a long night without sleep, and the morning seemed to promise more sleeplessness.
The massive object came up on the port side. It was the Spanish ship that they had trailed just before the fog appeared. A cabin boy rapped on the captain’s door and shouted, “You’re wanted above, sir!”
The man rolled over on the bed and felt his side where there was a healed bullet wound. Unknown to him, the body on his bed had expired during the night, but he was there to take the place of the vanishing spirit. He looked at his long sleeves with their frills and felt his square jaw. He swished his mouth with his tongue. He explored the occasional spaces between his unclean and coated teeth. There was a mixture of dirt and blood underneath his long fingernails. He smelled of cologne, rum, and the odor of an unbathed man.
In a few minutes, the man hobbled on his wooden leg. He navigated up the stairs to the top of the quarterdeck. The jagged wood on the rails begged to become splinters in the skin, but it provided some degree of support, on the way up the stairs.
Once on the deck, he was not greeted enthusiastically by an overworked quartermaster. “Dysentery below sir. The gold awaits in that ship. Do we proceed?” he spouted to the captain.
The captain avoided a quick response. His new body took a full breath of the crisp sea air. He looked forward to his new life, no matter how brief it would be. A smile came over his unshaven face as he faced his questioner.
“Right—uh—ahead full? What is the word? Broadside? Come about?” he pondered.
The quartermaster whispered in his ear. He spilled his bad breath into it, “Does the captain wish to attack, and get the gold?”
“Yes! Quite right! Let’s attack the ship!”—he suddenly felt the pain at the attached end of the wooden leg. He started to rub it as if it would somehow ease the discomfort.
“And the woman, sir?” the quartermaster asked. “What do we do with the prisoner?”
“Who?” asked the confused captain.
“The lady all dressed fancy below, claiming she’s royalty and all, Lady Marian! The girl with the fancy red stone ‘round ‘er neck!”
With a glimmer of familiarity he said, “Keep her out of harm’s way. I should like to talk with this lady!”
It was going to be an interesting day for Peter as he commanded on the high seas. Was he dreaming? Was he in heaven or hell? Only time would tell.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The long limousine slowed to a stop. The attractive young woman exited. She wore an evening gown of white satin that tightly wrapped her small curves. Her sandals clapped on the paved road as she walked to the sidewalk, and her gown gently waved, disturbed by a fresh night breeze.
She stopped to call the stray animal, “Kitty! Kitty!”
She took care of things as she always had done. She was the art student that had encouraged Mattie to admire a painting one day, and she was the lady who had sat next to a lonely David and had recommended to him the same advice. She had brought them together, with the help of a stone of clairvoyance and the advice of the wise Uncle Willie. She had brought the stones together and had been a matchmaker as well.
The cat’s head peered out from behind a freshly watered bush, against a wooden storefront. It walked toward her, but it did so cautiously. When it reached her, the woman shook her head and tossed her long curls over her back. She bent down and picked it up. She pushed the water that was on its back into its fur as she stroked it lightly.
“Poor baby!” she sighed.
When she got back into the car, she was greeted in the backseat by her companion who disagreed with her term of endearment that she had bestowed upon the evil creature.
“That is a very dangerous creature that you have on your lap!”—the man partially rolled down his window to allow some air in, and the limousine resumed its course.
The man tried to remember how he had first met his love.
Did I meet her first? Or did she meet me first? Did I first meet her in Sacramento? Or was the first time in Cairo? Had I changed history? Or had I simply been manipulated by events out of my control? Was David correct? Is time a linear concept? Or is time spherical?
The woman interrupted his musings, “Haj, let me ask you something? So, after everything, what are you now? I remember Peter once asked you the same question. Are you a Christian? Are you a Muslim? Buddhist? What are you?”—Aysha inquisitively smiled, and she continued to stroke the cat. The cat started to illuminate the backseat with glowing and sparkling red eyes, and Haj answered her.
“I think that I would have to say—that I am nothing more and nothing less than—a believer!”
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Table of Contents
A Prologue by Mattie
San Francisco, 1906
Chapter 1
An Old Friend
Over One Hundred Years Later
Salt Lake City, Utah
Chapter 2
Young David’s Vision
In the Words of David
Chapter 3
How Mattie and David first Met
Chapter 4
The Meeting
Chapter 5
Peter before Egypt
In the Words of Peter
Chapter 6
David’s Retreat
Chapter 7
Peter’s Trip to Wales
Before Egypt
Chapter 8
Mattie Remembers
Chapter 9
Peter and Dred
Just Before Egypt
Chapter 10
Malkuth Stones of Gan Eden
Part One
Chapter 11
The Revelation of John
Chapter 12
Malkuth Stones of Gan Eden
Part Two
Chapter 13
The Short Tale of Sylvia and Peter
Five Years after Egypt
Chapter 14
Malkuth Stones of Gan Eden
Part Three
In the Words of Robin
Chapter 15
Jail Bait
Part One
Chapter 16
Malkuth Stones of Gan Eden
Part Four
In the Words of Merlin
Chapter 17
The Witch, the Sword, and Samuel
In the Words of Sam
Chapter 18
Jail Bait
Part Two
Chapter 19
Gold Rush Fever
Part One
In the Words of Haj
Chapter 20
Gold Rush Fever
Part Two
Chapter 21
Tunnels in Kanab
Part One
Chapter 22
Gold Rush Fever
Part Three
In the Words of Haj
Chapter 23
The Confession of Jesse
In Her Own Words
Chapter 24
The Words of Ani Nvya
Chapter 25
Tunnels in Kanab
Part Two
Epilogue
The Royal Stones of Eden (Royal Secrecies Book 1) Page 31
