TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy) (31 page)

The sunlight hit us suddenly and the first thing I saw was Caspian running from the second tunnel behind a large group of children whose severed ropes hung loosely from their wrists. Caspian dropped his sword and looked up at the sky before he put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. The ground shook again, and when I turned around, I covered my mouth with one hand only as Morgan still hadn’t let go of my wrist.

The last of the children ran from the mine behind us and I trembled with relief as a hollow eyed boy silently handed me my sword. It was only then that Morgan let go of my wrist and he put his arms around me as I sobbed into his shoulder. All had been saved, and as I managed to take a shuddering breath, there was a very loud crack that came from deep within the mountain.

The mine collapsed at set four exactly, and a hollow, echoing rumble was followed by a cloud of shimmering dust which burst from the two mine entrances and billowed out around us into the air……..

“Come on! I’ve got your bags, but they’re going without us if you don’t come now,” shouted Evangeline into the silence, and we turned to see her standing at the edge of the embankment with her hands on her hips. Caspian, Morgan and I left the children behind as we ran up the embankment towards the marker. The children would have to find their own way home, but I wasn’t worried. There was safety in numbers, and I was sure they’d find their way.

We made it to the marker with two minutes only left to set our pendants. My hands were still shaking slightly as I turned my dials and Morgan took my pendant in his hand when I was done. He checked my settings for me before he handed me my bag of zestonate, and he ignored the presence of the others in our group then as he took my hand gently in his and spoke to me quietly.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let you die in there. Any other day; sure, but not today, on your birthday,” he said, as we walked into the centre of the marker. I looked into his eyes and he grinned.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry too,” I said just as quietly, and when the temperature dropped and the mountain disappeared, Morgan still didn’t let go of my hand……

I thanked Caspian for his help as soon as the air patterns settled. I fell into step beside him as he walked towards the front door of the quest house and I watched Morgan deposit our zestonate bags with the others. Apparently, the marker guards were taking them to Aldiris in the morning.

“I guess we changed history before it became history,” Caspian said to me, and I grinned.

“I’m glad you were there today because if you weren’t, you would never be able to be…..is that right?” I asked him, and he nodded slowly and looked pleased.

Caspian, Morgan and I had to resharpen our swords in the locker room seeing as we’d used them to cut zestonate cables, but we waited until the bench was free. The others returned their boots to their lockers and cleaned their bloodied swords at the bench while I washed my face and hands at the locker room sink. I guessed I had shimmering dust in my hair. It was all over my clothes, and all over Morgan and Caspian too. When the others left to practice combat against Dominic next door, I cleaned my sword carefully and sharpened it carefully too before changing my boots and returning my emergency cylinder to my locker. It was almost a quarter clock turn to set five when I finally sat down on the wooden bench and closed my locker door. Morgan, Caspian and I left the locker room together and I followed Caspian towards the front of the house.

“What are you doing now?” Morgan asked, as he fell into step beside me.

“I’m going to wash all this dust out of my hair. It’s not too long now until the evening meal and I want to have time to dry it,” I said, as we walked slowly up the stairs.

Caspian disappeared into his room and I’d already turned towards mine when Morgan took me by the arm.

“The others are still next door. Why don’t you let me listen to this music cartridge you smuggled into the house while nobody’s around,” he said quietly, and I hesitated before I glanced behind me. I frowned but there was no noise coming from the ground level of the house.

“Alright, I’ll get it,” I said reluctantly, but Morgan followed me into my room.

“Don’t get it. I’ll listen to it in here. I don’t care about Zurina’s rules,” he said quietly, and he folded his arms and looked impressed as I lifted the corner of my mattress to retrieve the cartridge.

“I’ve put a crystal energy disc inside so I’m afraid it’s impossible to play it softly,” I warned him, as I unwound the head phone cords.

“I’m sure if you can handle it, then I can too,” he said dryly, and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you then,” I said, and I put the headphones in his ears and turned the music on. He put his hands up to his ears immediately and frowned instantly, and after a minute or so, he looked at me with a mixture of pain and disbelief.

“How can you stand this? It’s hurting my ears,” he said loudly, and I covered his mouth quickly with my hand and pulled the headphones from his ears by the cord.

“You’re talking too loudly. Someone will hear you,” I whispered, as I tried not to laugh. Morgan grinned.

“What else do you keep under here?” he asked me quietly, and he raised his eyebrows as he lifted the corner of my mattress.

“Nothing,” I said innocently, as I put the cartridge back and Morgan let the mattress fall back into its place.

“So, your treasured contraband is a cartridge of truly unbearable noise which you think is music,” said Morgan slowly, and he was laughing uncontrollably now. I nodded and I was laughing now too.

We looked at each other and Morgan stopped laughing suddenly while my smile faded just as quickly. The light was fading also and it was deadly quiet in the house. We stared at each other and Morgan leant towards me slowly. As I felt his breath against my cheek, I closed my eyes……and when Morgan kissed me……time ceased to exist. My heart pounded in my chest and, as a warmth like no other filled the empty spaces inside me, I suddenly knew what it was that I’d been longing for, when I listened to my twenty first century music in the middle of the night…….

I was vaguely aware of voices out in the hall, but I ignored them and wrapped my arms around Morgan’s neck, and he ignored them too as he pulled me closer…..But the voices were getting louder. Soon, they were right outside the door and we were going to be sent home…..but I…….just didn’t care and Morgan didn’t seem to either………..until the door opened suddenly and Evangeline stood very still in the doorway as she stared at us in complete surprise. Almost instantly, she closed the door again and I heard her voice clearly as she insisted to Erin and Imogen that she’d heard the Aldiris message guard and they were to come back downstairs with her immediately. Their voices faded and Morgan kissed me again……..but the girls would be back soon and we wouldn’t be so lucky twice.

“You should go,” I whispered, and he murmured a reply but I had to tell him to go one more time before he left me reluctantly and closed the door softly behind him.

When he was gone, I sat on my bed in a daze before I let myself fall on my back against my pillow…… I stared up at the ceiling……and I couldn’t stop my smile.

Evangeline spoke loudly on her way up the stairs when she returned and I knew it was solely for my benefit. I sat up quickly and took clean clothes out of the chest at the end of my bed, and I was safely locked in the bathroom with the water running by the time the three girls entered the room.

I washed my hair and cleaned the zestonate dust and the smell of cypress smoke from its lengths, and I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror and smiled again. Tomorrow, Morgan and I would be forced to spend two whole clock turns by ourselves in another time segment. I didn’t know where, exactly. I hadn’t even asked Morgan what time segment we’d be visiting….but I didn’t really care where we were going……

It took me a while to dry my hair completely. I pressed it section by section with an Aldirite drying towel and, by the time I was braiding it, it was almost time for the evening meal. Evangeline had bathed when I’d finished in the bathroom and she’d washed the dragon smoke out of her hair too. Erin and Imogen had gone downstairs as soon as they’d dressed and Evangeline glanced at me more than once as she sat on her own bed drying her hair. I avoided her gaze though and concentrated firmly on braiding my hair. I could tell she was curious but I didn’t want to talk to her about Morgan right now, even though I knew I could trust her. Eventually, she gave up trying to get my attention and she was braiding her own hair when I left the dorm room to find Morgan waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

“Hey,” he said, and I smiled at him shyly. His hair was damp and he leant against the stair rail.

“Hey,” I said quietly, and he smiled too as we stood close together at the top of the stairs.

“Your hair smells nice,” he said softly, and I nodded.

“It doesn’t smell like dragon smoke anymore,” I said. Morgan smiled again before he glanced behind us into the hallway. We could hear Dominic’s voice coming from behind the dormitory door and Morgan looked at me and let out his breath.

“Let’s go down to the dining room. I can’t stay here with you or I’ll be sent home before we even make it to the meal,” he said quickly, and I followed him as he ran down the stairs.

Erin and Imogen were at the table already and, by the time we sat down, Seth and Dominic had joined us as well. Evangeline and Caspian came downstairs together and Evangeline asked anyone if they knew when the messages were meant to arrive.

“The messages will be late tonight. They’re not expected until just before set nine,” Morgan told her and Evangeline nodded. “I went outside to talk to the marker guards for a while after I left you,” Morgan added to me quietly, when I looked at him curiously.

Marko served us our meal and Seth, Dominic and Imogen began to speak together quietly. I glanced at Morgan and he glanced at me at the same time. He smiled and moved so his leg rested against mine under the table. I let out my breath slowly and looked over at Caspian. How was I supposed to get through the hours until our quest tomorrow?

Caspian was writing in his book of Parchments again but when he’d closed it and prepared to return it to his pocket, I decided I couldn’t wonder anymore.

“Caspian, if you don’t mind me asking, what is it you write in that book of yours?” I asked him curiously, and everyone at the table stopped eating and looked at Caspian who glanced down at his book and shrugged before he addressed us all.

“I’m working out time travel markers,” he said, and we all stared at him. He half smiled at our surprise and then went on to explain himself. “I worked out the marker equation about a turn ago and I’m working out as many markers as I can. It’s fascinating, actually. Markers are generally situated in one area in groups of four or five, and there’s any combination of rising and setting markers, but never all of one kind. The groups themselves are spread widely across the earth’s surface as they line up in each turn, and, interestingly, it’s almost impossible to travel between them quickly either by land or by sea. The circle is moving constantly, of course, at each group of these markers too, and it’s like the time circle itself makes sure no day can be revisited,” he said, and he smiled at us broadly as he patted his book affectionately.

There was an awkward silence and Caspian’s smile faded.

“
You’ve
worked out the marker equation,” said Dominic eventually, and his disbelief was obvious. Caspian frowned as everyone at the table exchanged looks.

“Yes, it wasn’t that difficult after all,” Caspian said defiantly, and he turned to a page in his book and showed us a complicated equation that was scrawled halfway down the page. “See, when I halved the variant at………”

“So, you’re saying that you’ve worked out an equation that was lost six hundred turns ago on the day of our Destruction; one that no scholar in either Denboris or Aldiris has even come close to working it out over the last six hundred turns, and
you’re also saying it wasn’t that difficult
?” asked Seth in astonishment, and it was obvious he didn’t believe him either. Caspian frowned again and looked around the table before his eyes came to rest on me.

“Livia, tell me the marker at your last house,” demanded Caspian, and I recited the park marker setting from +2013. Caspian rifled quickly through his book.

“See, I have that one, and I’ve worked out there’s another in that same area. It’s
Vela +2013 set 106º
,” said Caspian triumphantly, and I looked at him awkwardly as he showed me a page in his book. His script was very small and it angled slightly across the page.

“I wouldn’t go using that marker if you need to return there, Livia,” said Imogen, with amusement, and Caspian frowned at her before he turned to Morgan for support.

“Morgan, what marker setting do you have for tomorrow’s quest?” he demanded, and Morgan took the small parchment from his jacket pocket and passed it across the table to Caspian who unrolled it before he rifled through his book again. I glanced at Morgan and I could tell he didn’t believe Caspian either.

“See, I have all three from that area,” said Caspian, “I have
Orion +1770 set 54º
,
Andromeda +1770 set 81º
, and
Scorpius set +1770 set 190º
and I know there’ll be at least one other marker in that area too. When I work it out, it’ll be a rising marker for sure. It has to be,” insisted Caspian, and he passed Morgan back his parchment. Moran shrugged.