Castaways in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (26 page)

Another quarter of an hour and Lili was out
of arrows. She turned away to search for the cart that held the
extras when she was stopped in her tracks by Anna, who looked up at
her from the bottom step, a grave expression on her face.

“What is it? Does Henry Percy live?”

“Carew and Rhodri got him out in time,” Anna
said. “He lost blood, but we’ve sewn up his arm. He should be fine,
particularly if the penicillin paste that I made to smear on wounds
works. That’s not it.”

“Then—” Lili’s almost stumbled down the
steps in her haste, her heart leaping into her throat at the
thought that something was wrong with Arthur.

Anna caught Lili’s arms, holding on firmly.
“Papa sent a pigeon from Cardiff. There was a storm in the Irish
Sea. Humphrey de Bohun’s ship was driven back to Wales, but he
fears that David’s ship went down.”

Lili hands clenched around her bow. “It’s
not true. It can’t be.”

Anna moved in closer, holding onto Lili as
if she would run away screaming if she didn’t. “Papa wouldn’t have
sent the message if he didn’t think it could be true. We all know
that anything can happen at night in a storm. David could arrive in
Ireland in two days, safe. We’ll need to hear from Clare before we
really worry.”

Dafydd didn’t have any pigeons that had been
trained to fly across the sea. It meant that if Dafydd did arrive
in Ireland, Lili wouldn’t know it until he sent word on the next
ship or finished his business with Valence there (not that there
would be any business to finish given the fact that Valence had
come to Windsor) and returned himself.

“You must come with me to the castle,” Anna
said.

Lili gestured towards the wall. “I was
just—”

“You are the Queen of England and the mother
of the heir to the throne,” Anna said. “It’s just clean-up work
now. Bevyn can manage here without you.”

Lili opened her mouth to argue with Anna,
but the fierceness in her sister-in-law’s eyes had her
reconsidering. Anna’s earlier confession had tugged at Lili’s
heartstrings. Anna hadn’t grown up in this world, but she’d
suffered losses along with everyone else since she’d arrived. In
private, Lili had wondered to Dafydd how his family could have
chosen to stay in the Middle Ages when they had a choice not to.
Him she understood. Not only was Llywelyn his father, but even a
blind man could see that the role of prince, and then king, was one
he’d been born to play. Anna, however, for all that she and Math
loved each other, had given up a life in the modern world where she
would be educated and free.

Lili longed to see that world. Dafydd had
almost taken her in the midst of Arthur’s birth. The labor had been
a long one, nearly two days with hardly any progress. Dafydd was
within moments of scooping her up and jumping with her from the
highest tower in the castle when she’d succeeded in birthing their
son. Arthur had been turned wrong, face-up. Bronwen said that in
the modern world, a physician might have cut her open to take the
baby. In this world, if not for a last minute position change that
gave her renewed strength, she might have died in childbirth.

Anna hadn’t been able to attend the birth,
but she’d heard about it; the careful way she’d looked at Lili when
she’d arrived at Windsor, and the lengthy embrace, should have
warned Lili about how Anna was feeling now.

But Lili didn’t believe for a moment that
Dafydd was dead. She put her arm around Anna. “He’s okay, Anna. I
know he is. If you look into your heart, you’ll know it too.”

“That’s not very scientific,” Anna said,
though she managed a small smile.

“See,” Lili said. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Anna took in a deep breath and let it out.
Then she nodded. “I can believe it if you can.”

“It isn’t that I’m cavalier about death—my
own or anyone else’s,” Lili said, “but I do understand it in a way
that’s hard for you. My mother died, you know.”

“I know,” Anna said. “I didn’t tell you
about David because I don’t think you can fight. This isn’t about
that.”

“I believe you,” Lili said. “But you need to
know that I’m not leaving because I’m the Queen of England. I’m
leaving because I love you, and even if your feelings aren’t
rational or logical or helpful, you still feel them, and I don’t
need to add to your pain.”

“Besides, we’ve won this particular battle,”
Anna said.

Lili wrinkled her nose at her sister-in-law;
she was right. Then Lili glanced ahead to see Carew walking towards
them. He had blood on his tunic, but his long stride and posture
told her that the blood belonged to someone else, probably to Henry
Percy.

“Thank you for rescuing Henry,” Lili said as
he halted in front of them.

He bowed at the waist. “The boy fought
bravely, for all that he has little experience in battle. He was
trained well; he just wasn’t ready to face a giant.”

“He was very contrite once he was able to
speak,” Anna said, turning with Carew and Lili back towards the
entrance to the castle, which rose above them, as yet untouched by
war.

“He has even less experience than I,” Lili
said, unable to resist pointing out that fact.

“Which means that he shouldn’t have been
where he was,” Carew said. “I will speak to Bevyn and Math as to
how it came about.”

Anna stopped and put a hand on Lili’s arm.
“I want you to know—”

But whatever Anna was going to say was lost
in a sudden uproar from the battlement. “Look out!”

Fifty flaming arrows arched above their
heads coming from the south side of the town, and the trio dove for
safety to the base of a nearby wall. The arrows fell among the
shops and huts of the village. The barrage was followed by a
second, and then a third.

“I thought they didn’t have archers!” Anna
said.

“Valence must have held them back until he
saw how his first assault went,” Carew said.

As it hadn’t gone well, Valence might be
putting all the more weight into this attack. A fourth flight came,
adding to the chaos in the streets. “The infirmary!” Lili gasped to
see a spout of flame rise up from the low building beside the
Abbey.

“Come on.” Anna set off at a run, smartly
keeping to the shelter of buildings not yet damaged instead of
heading directly towards the church. Lili followed, with Carew
protesting, even as he kept his arm around her shoulders. He forced
her to run at a low crouch, as if that would prevent an arrow from
hitting her.

“Let others see to the sick!” Carew shouted
ahead to Anna. “I must get you to safety.”

Yet another flight of arrows soared over the
wall and came to land on the rooftops around them. Villagers
hurried back and forth, bringing buckets that they’d filled in
preparation for exactly this eventuality. Fortunately, with the
river so close, they had plenty of water.

The roof of the stone Abbey was made of
slate, so it hadn’t yet been harmed. The infirmary hadn’t been so
lucky. In the few minutes it had taken for Anna and Lili to cross
half the distance from the gatehouse, fire consumed the roof. With
a blaze and a crash, it collapsed in on itself. Anna screamed; Lili
raced to her and wrapped her arms around her, stopping her from
getting any closer.

“All those people.” Anna bent her head,
tears coursing down her cheeks.

Carew wrapped his arms around both of them.
“I’m taking you to the castle.” He tugged hard, and both women had
all but consented to go with him when Anna spied one of the nuns,
her veil missing and her normally undyed robe blackened with soot.
Her name was Joan, and she was the herbalist at the Abbey. Although
she was well into middle age, she’d been one of the first to
embrace Anna’s new methods.

“Lady Anna!” Joan picked up her skirts and
ran towards them.

“They’re all dead—” Anna choked on her
words.

“No! No, my lady! All is well!” Joan said.
“We had already moved them into the church for their safety.
Because the infirmary was separate, we didn’t worry about saving
it. That’s why it burned so fast.”

Anna listened with her hand to her heart.
Then she threw her arms around the nun. “Thank you!”

Joan stepped back, renewing the distance
between them. Anna’s hug had been typical for the Americans but was
much more exuberant than most English were used to.

“We’ll keep them safe. Don’t you worry.”
Joan looked past Anna to Lili. “Why aren’t you on the wall, my
queen? Surely you would be of better use up there than down
here?”

“Isn’t that what I’ve been saying?” Lili
said.

“Excuse us.” Carew tugged on Lili’s arm. “We
are all needed elsewhere.”

September, 2017

Callum

“
I
need you in
here, Callum.” Lady Jane tipped her head towards an empty hospital
room. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Callum and Cassie
had brought David in, and Callum was beginning to think he might
lose his mind with the waiting and doing nothing but watching David
sleep. Thus Lady Jane’s summons, as perfunctory as her manner was,
came as a relief.

Callum had been hoping for a chance to speak
with her. He put a gentle hand on Cassie’s shoulder to indicate
that he was going, and followed Lady Jane into the room she’d
chosen. It was three doors down from the one in which David slept.
They hadn’t needed to intubate him, but he hadn’t spoken since
they’d brought him in. From what Callum could gather from the
attending physicians, they were concerned he might not ever wake
again.

That wasn’t to be tolerated. For now,
however, Callum could do nothing for David. Lady Jane, on the other
hand, had some explaining to do, and it looked like he was finally
going to get some answers.

Once inside the room, she turned on the fan
in the private loo and indicated that he should follow her inside.
It was more than a little awkward to be crammed into the small
space between the sink and the tiny shower, but he braced his
shoulder against the wall and composed himself to listen.

Lady Jane closed the door. “We can’t be
overheard in here.”

Callum folded his arms across his chest and
waited for her to explain what she wanted. Lady Jane would tell him
what she wanted him to know in her own time.

“I have arranged for documents, detailing
what I know and what I suspect, to be sent to individuals in the
highest levels of government
and
the press, should something
happen to me,” she said without preamble, raising the stakes as
high as they could be raised, short of nuclear war.

Callum dropped his arms to his sides. “You
believe yourself to be in danger?”

“In the past month, there have been three
attempts on my life that I know of. Each was intended to look like
an accident. I might not be so lucky with the next one. I feel them
closing in on me. My movements are being monitored, along with my
email and whom I speak to. They’ll be after you next. I’m putting
your life in danger even now if someone notices that we are both
absent at the same time.”

“Murdering a director of the Security
Service is no small act,” Callum said. “How can you be sure—”

Lady Jane was already shaking her head
before he could finish his sentence. “Ever since you left us, the
influence of special interests on the Security Service, Whitehall,
and Parliament has increased with every week that passed. At first,
I thought it was no more than business as usual, but as the months
went by, it became clear that the corruption goes to the highest
levels. Perhaps all the way to the top, though I have been unable
to confirm that.”

“You’re speaking of the Prime Minister?”
Callum said.

“To Downing Street,” Lady Jane said. “Beyond
that, I cannot say.”

“And you’ve chosen to speak to me because …
?”

Lady Jane gave him a sharp look. “You are
the only one whose record is beyond reproach. You’ve spent the last
ten months in the Middle Ages and thus are uncorrupted. Not to
mention
incorruptible.
Everyone knows you would never sell
yourself, not to another government, not to corporate interests, no
matter how much money was offered.”

Callum couldn’t argue with that.

“You’ve proved yourself once again by
rescuing David and returning here with him,” Lady Jane said,
“though I wish you’d phoned me so we could have arranged for a more
anonymous admittance.”

“I didn’t know if I could trust you,” Callum
said. “I deliberately made our arrival as public as possible.”

“That’s honest, I suppose,” Lady Jane said.
“Do you trust me now?”

“I believe you,” Callum said, “but all I
know for certain is that I need to get David away from here as
quickly as possible.”

“There’s a safe house—”

“I don’t mean to a safe house,” Callum
said.

Lady Jane pursed her lips. “You intend to
return with him to the Middle Ages.”

“I’m sorry, but his well-being is my first
priority, and what you’ve just told me only confirms my worst fears
and increases my urgency. He can never be safe here.”

“If I guarantee his safety—”

“You’ve just said that you fear for your own
life. How can you guarantee his safety when you can’t ensure your
own?” Callum didn’t mean to sound harsh, but the moment called for
truth. He was seeing with a clarity that he’d been missing the
whole time they’d been here.

Lady Jane didn’t continue the argument. “I
have to tell you that things are coming to a head. I’ve laid a trap
that may well cost me my life.”

“Director—”

“No. Hear me out. I’ve been laboring alone
for months, and it’s a relief to tell someone. Natasha was only one
of several agents whom I fear have betrayed us.”

“Driscoll among them?” Callum said.

“I assume it, though I have no direct
evidence of his betrayal beyond impression and instinct. My sense
is that Natasha and Driscoll don’t—or rather, didn’t—know of the
other’s involvement. In regard to Natasha, she did what she set out
to do, which was to deliver David. She’s done a bunk, and I don’t
expect to see her again.”