Treasure So Rare (Women of Strength Time Travel Trilogy) (19 page)

"For now," she said.

"Yes." He hesitated, but knew she must be told.
"I am fairly certain Camdork is responsible, at least for Agnes'
death."

"I fear it, too. My life tapestry showed three men
hiding in the woods, and a blood trail leading to them."

Erik tightened his fingers on the reins and his horse
pranced nervously. Soothingly, he ran his palm down the horse's neck.

"When someone dies, their life tapestry is once more as
empty as when they are born. I have this thought that I should collect the
tapestries of the dead. I have a master weaver who will create for me a
tapestry at my own direction."

"You think to create another life tapestry?"

"Yes, with a story of my choosing. A life tapestry from
the green emerald, a story that will show me the way to the gem. Once I find it
I can leave this place."

Erik shook his head. "It has been my experience we
write our own destiny, Iliana, not rely upon a tapestry to mirror the actions
we have taken."

"It may be the only way William and I may leave this
place."

"And how far along is the new tapestry?"

"The master weaver has not been able to successfully weave
such a tapestry."

"And if he is not able to do it at all?" he asked,
troubled. She looked at him, her eyes a deep blue imprinted upon his heart.

"When you leave, will you take us with you?"

Erik nodded. "Of course I will take you and
William."

Iliana looked back again, nudged her horse into a walk as
Ulrich drew nearer. "How can I have been with you when there is no
memory?" she asked. "No memory of you, your touch, your scent,"
she murmured. "How can it be so? Please tell me again about that
time."

"Three years ago I made a run in
the
Merry Maiden
to ports along the east coast. One morning, after a particularly grueling storm
at sea, I went to my cabin to rest my sleep deprived body. When I awoke, it was
to find a young woman in my cabin. Imagine my surprise, and my delight. I soon
discovered the woman had appeared as if dropped from the heavens. By all that
is holy, we were three days out to sea. She told me she was on a quest and
needed help in her search for a green gem that would save her people."

She frowned. "That is my quest."

"Could you have been injured in this time traveling and
your memory wiped clean as a slate?" Fiercely, suddenly, Erik said in a
low voice, "I wish William were mine -- I wish he were mine instead of
another's."

Iliana looked away, and he nudged his horse closer, leaned
from the saddle toward her and reached out his hand to gently cup her cheek.
"But it matters not. It is you I care about, and the boy is yours, so I
think he, too, will be easily loved."

She drew in a sharp breath and her eyes met his.
"Erik."

He gave her a charming, roguish smile, but his eyes were
deadly serious.

"Many would not welcome another's child," she
said.

"I am not many," he said simply. He looked out
over the hills and the small valley below. "I grew up without a father. I
would not wish that on another child."

She nodded. "It bothers me that William has no father,
but I look forward to the day we can leave. When my mission is complete -- this
mission is not easily abandoned, no matter the hardship."

"Help me understand. When you came to me aboard my
ship, you were consumed with thoughts of the green gem."

"All I know is it is an emerald, and of such a large
size that is quite rare. I have heard tales of the gem, with its strange
inscriptions and drawings. Some say the stone itself is under a spell of
enchantment, while others say it is held in an underground tomb and guarded by
otherworldly creatures."

"And what do you believe, Iliana?"

"From all I have learned, from the knowledge that has
come to me, the mystery of the gem and its legend first arose in ancient lands,
around the time of Cleopatra. The stone itself has mystical healing powers, as
do many true emeralds. An emerald with clarity is forgiven many faults, but one
with the true green that shines and heals, that gem is a treasure to be
coveted. Men have died while trying to steal this gem while others have carried
it to safety and hidden it for hundreds and hundreds of years." She looked
around as Erik turned his horse back along the track and they once more rode
alongside a wooded area.

"There have been many who sought to keep this emerald
for their own gain, but none survived to tell the tale of their journey."

"And it appears every hundred or so years?"

"Only to disappear once again."

"To keep the legend going, perhaps," Erik
muttered, and frowned. "It almost sounds like a society is controlling
it."

Iliana shrugged. "If I can secure the gem and bring it
here to the keep, only then can the people's future be secured. The land will
have an opportunity to heal, people can once more sow the seed without half of
it rotting in the ground, and the fields will know abundant harvests. Bad times
have befallen the people of this region. Since my lord William was killed and
his sons are all gone, there is no one to take the region in hand. Nature
herself seems a blight on the land. There will be much work necessary to make
this right once more."

"And now my lady Iliana, why has this task fallen to
you?"

"I have no answers, Erik. I am here and I am under service
to complete this mission. Until it is fulfilled, my life is not my own."
She looked at him. "I tried once to leave."

"How is it you failed?"

"I reached the edge of the boundary marked by red soil.
The fighter dragons were lined up by the thousands in the red hills I could see
and then hear their wings buzzing, as if anxious to see if I crossed the line.
I dared to cross the line that first time, and then as the dragons took to the
air, they bore down upon me with their ferocious teeth and claws bared."
She looked at him. "Then -- I remembered no more until I awoke, and much
time had passed. I had been lying ill all that time, as if under a spell."
She frowned. "From time to time memory has come to me, almost a memory
from sleep, of the worlds I visited."

"What hold this quest has over you!"

"All I hold dear is in a fine balance between this
world and the next." Iliana lifted her chin, met his eyes. "This duty
is upon me and I cannot refuse. Should I walk away, I shall perish with the
people of Dutton Keep, forever a prisoner in another time."

Erik pressed a fist to his chest. "I swear by all I
value, I will help you. Together we will see this mission to an end."

Iliana smiled, but cautiously. "It is a dangerous
mission -- that you must fully understand."

"I am a man who enjoys solving riddles, Iliana. This is
merely an intricate riddle."

"Perhaps," she said slowly. "But then I am
not very good at riddles."

"And once solved, we shall leave this place. I will
take you with me, and we shall find a new life on the other side. How does
Mandrak fall into this scheme?"

"He too seeks the emerald. I fear if he gains
possession of the gem, the world will fall into total chaos. He seeks to
control its power."

"I would meet this so-called sorcerer," Erik said
grimly.

"Erik, please," she cautioned, "do not speak
of him. I have a terrible sense of doom about him."

"He and his witches. There must be a way to stop him.
There must be a way we can secure the gem." Erik looked at the clouds
making their way across the horizon. In the distance the keep's dark walls
stood in sharp contrast against the blue sky.

As before, Erik noted the peculiar light that hung about the
keep, deep like the color of blood. It was a sight that he still found
unsettling. "Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar, the light that
hangs about that place?"

Iliana twisted in her saddle. "You see the light
also?" she asked. "It hangs like blood in the skies. It has been that
peculiar light as long as I have been here. Many do not seem to notice."

Erik sighed. "So many unanswered questions,
Iliana." He looked upward. "I fear it looks like we may have rain.
Come, let us give the horses a real chance to stretch their legs."

And they were off, racing across the field toward the keep
with its blood red skies.

As they cantered past Ulrich, Erik saluted the man, ignoring
his sour-faced expression. Ulrich had little to say, but Erik thought there was
much the man allowed none to see.

¤¤

As the pretender and the lady Iliana rode back toward the
keep, their horses in fine fiddle and running across the fields, Ulrich looked
searchingly toward the woods, and then urged his mount into a trot.

"Now I am a nursemaid," he grumbled, "as if
there are no important duties awaiting me, no men to train -- I must follow the
pretender and see that he finds no mischief. Methinks mischief has found him in
his pursuit of the lady Iliana."

"Psst. Man -- wait upon me."

Ulrich drew his sword as a figure garbed in a long brown
robe walked out of the forest to his right. Then another shadow appeared, and
Ulrich saw the sorcerer was accompanied by Camdork.

Quickly, Ulrich said a short prayer of protection under his
breath and then he bowed his head, aware that a tick began below his right eye.
"My lord sorcerer," he said in deference, "and my Lord Camdork,
how may I serve?"

"I do not like the look of any of this," said
Camdork, scowling after the two riders. "He thinks to take my place. I
will kill the bastard before --" the dark robed figure extended a quick
hand and placed it against Camdork's chest. Camdork took several steps back,
closing his mouth tightly, his eyes dark and bitter. He wore a makeshift sling
around his neck and his one hand was tied into the material.

"Tell me what you know," said Mandrak.

Ulrich, too, looked after the pair as they disappeared into
the distance. "Of Lady Iliana or the pretender, my lord?"

"The pretender."

Ulrich could not see the man's face, hidden deep within the
cowl. It made him uneasy.

"Dismount from your horse and spend a moment,"
remarked Mandrak.

Ulrich complied, standing before both men. "He came
from the sea and my Lord Camdork --" he looked at Camdork but the man
remained silent, "forced this mission upon him, to go in his stead to the
keep of the Lady Iliana."

Mandrak turned to Camdork. "And what did you hope to
gain with this pretense?"

"You warned me of his coming. I thought to keep him
occupied while I discovered what was afoot. There are assassins in the woods,
small armies patrol --"

Mandrak made a cutting motion with his arm and Camdork
stopped speaking.

"And what do you think, Ulrich?" Mandrak asked.

"I am not sure, my lord." Ulrich stumbled over how
to address the sorcerer. He gritted his teeth, wanting to be on his way and
back at his duties. "My Lord Camdork shared that he feared there was a
plot against the queen and he wanted to remain close at her side."

"So you are this pretender's bodyguard -- or his
watchman?"

"I was bid to watch the pretender for what I can see
and what I would hear."

"It was necessary," blustered Camdork. "I
promised you information, and I have it," he added angrily. "I went
to the queen's court as promised."

"I know this," said Mandrak. "I know you
would not dare to hide from me and conspire with others."

"Of course not," Camdork said angrily, putting a
hand to his sword hilt.

"You have not been conspiring with your lord, have you,
Ulrich?"

"No, my lord sorcerer. This is the first time I have
seen my Lord Camdork since I arrived at the castle."

Ulrich was glad when Mandrak turned his attention from him.

"Camdork, your drinking and wenching will bring you to
ruin and quite probably your death," he said dispassionately. "If you
persist in chasing after the wants of this queen, that deadly spider will seal
your ruin."

"Sorcerer, you speak like a man without a country,
either that or it is treason."

Ulrich drew in a quick breath at what he considered my lord
Camdork's foolhardy words.

Mandrak laughed. "Yes, I speak against the queen. When
all this comes about, she too will fall."

Ulrich felt the sorcerer's attention. He clenched his fist,
pressed it against his horse's saddle. "Yes my lord sorcerer."

"I brought you into this game," Camdork snarled,
"thinking I could trust you, and yet you speak evil against the
queen." His eyes narrowed. "I wonder, are you involved in the plot to
bring Henry out of captivity and onto the throne --"

Suddenly, the sorcerer turned on him and almost before
Ulrich realized it, he had Camdork by the throat. From within Mandrak's
tattered sleeve a fighter dragon crawled out onto his wrist and then the back
of his hand. Camdork watched the fighter dragon a mere three inches from his
eyes. Ulrich also froze, his gaze trained to the small dragon.

"Do you understand I need your loyalty?" Mandrak
asked, seemingly unconcerned with the dragon clinging to his hand.

Camdork nodded.

"I thought you faithful until I see the way you run off
to your queen," Mandrak sneered. The fighter dragon disappeared again into
his wide sleeve. He released Camdork, who stumbled back.

"Ulrich, I need a man such as yourself to accompany me
on my journeys," Mandrak said.

Ulrich stiffened.  "Of course, if that is your
wish," he said.

The sorcerer stepped closer and suddenly swept his cowl
back, leaving his head and face exposed to Ulrich's gaze.

Ulrich had seen the horrors of war, fought in many bloody
battles where limbs were severed or crushed, but never had he seen a face as if
eaten away, where worms nested in one eye socket. It fair churned his stomach
and he felt in danger of losing the little food he had partaken of hours
before.