Hope (5 page)

The question surprised her. "What’s a Sight?"

"Cycles ago, some knights would go into trances, claiming to have seen images of a possible future. The histories call them Seers and their predictions Sights. Some tried to get attention and never accurately predicted anything except with dumb luck. Others helped to avert many disastrous battles. There hasn’t been an occurrence for decades."

After a dreamless sleep the following morning, last night’s events raced through Kathryn's mind while she bathed and dressed. She decided to go across the hall and tell Hal what had happened. Opening her door, she saw Rielle and Nikton deep in conversation.

"What’s going on?" she asked with tentative steps.

They both stopped talking and looked at her with guilty eyes. "I was telling Nikton about what happened last night. He was saying how that would explain Sir Lanclor’s decision this morning about the trip to R’kelo," Rielle said with approval.

"What was Sir Lanclor’s decision?"

"He decided twenty knights an insufficient escort for Lord Alextor’s party. He brought an additional forty knights and split them into two groups to shadow the main group. That way
if
Daemons attacked the main party in the rear, the two shadowing groups, flying above, could fall on the enemy from behind. He also decided to use a decoy for Lord Alextor in the main party, another knight in regular armor but spelled to appear golden. Lord Alextor would be in one of the shadow groups," Nikton said in a respectful voice. "That sounds a little excessive to me, but extra caution makes sense after your Sight."

There it was again. Sight. With the news that Sir Lanclor took her dream seriously, she hoped it was a Sight and not just a nightmare. She would feel awful if she ran to Sir Lanclor about a bad dream like a small child. "Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Do you know if Hal is awake yet?"

"Yeah, I think I heard him stirring in there," Rielle claimed.

Kathryn knocked on Hal’s door and heard a muffled reply for entrance.

"How’s it going?" he said from the desk in front of the window.

"Not too bad. You?"

"All right. I didn’t sleep very well, though. I kept tossing and turning. What’s up?"

"I think I may have a small problem." Well, Sir Lanclor wasn’t exactly small. "I’ve been having pretty much the same dream for the last week or so. It involved an ambush and seemed so real that I finally told Sir Lanclor about it, in the middle of the night, no less." She leaned against the wall with a frown.

"Oh my. You’re brave. Sometimes I think that guy hates everyone. They’re afraid of him." He pointed toward the common room. "Could be because he seems angry all of the time and is built like a house. You couldn’t pay me to hold a sword and drill with him like they do." He rose from the chair and leaned on the desk so he was eye level with her. "Anyway, what did he say?"

"Well, I couldn’t tell with his helmet. He dismissed us without comment and that was it. Sir Lanclor decided to take forty extra knights with him on his trip this morning, which I didn’t even know about, and plans to use a decoy for Lord Alextor. Lord Alextor’s their leader, I think." Kathryn paused, unsure if she should continue. "Rielle mentioned something about Seers last night. Maybe the magic of this place is affecting me somehow. A part of me hopes it’s a glimpse of the future just so I don’t look like a nut case and have to face Sir Lanclor’s wrath."

"Well, you're either a nut case or a prophet. I'm not sure which one's worse. Trapped in this room all day, it drives me crazy. Back on Earth, I was outside all of the time. Being stuck in here makes me want to turn on the television, not that they have that either. I guess you’ll find out if it was just a dream or not when they get back."

"Yeah, you’re right. Have you found any paper? We should create a deck of cards or something to pass the time." Kathryn rubbed the back of her neck, looking for anything to distract her from the current situation.

"Sounds good to me," he said with a relieved smile. "Do you know how to play Gin Rummy?"

"Of course."

After creating a crude deck of cards from some paper they scrounged from Rielle and Nikton, they played Gin Rummy for a few hours.

"Do you have any family back home?" Kathryn asked as she drew from the deck.

"Yeah. I was on my way home before I got here. I was going to take my son camping. I get him on the weekends." He picked up the ace she discarded and gave her an evil grin. "I know you live in your mom’s old house." His grin faded. "How’s your dad doing?"

She looked down so he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. "My dad visited the evening before my birthday—the day we came here. Some party."

"Oh, I didn’t know. Happy birthday!" He gave her a huge smile as he discarded a useless four of diamonds. "So, how’s Donny?"

She winced inwardly and drew from the deck. "Not so good." Kathryn knew Donny blamed her for everything. Her brother wouldn’t even pick up the phone anymore when she called. "He just needs more time." Donny probably hadn’t noticed her absence.

"Marines are tough bastards. He’ll bounce back."

Yeah, he will, just not on his feet.

"How about you? Married?" she asked.

"No, not married. My son is from a relationship back in high school. I was close to marrying her, but it fell apart after she met my best friend."

"Oh, that kind of thing." Just like her ex-husband. "Are you still friends?"

"Yeah, we’re all friends now, but back then, I was so angry. Things change, people change. That’s life. Gin!" He laid down his cards—four aces and a group that included the missing club she'd been waiting to collect.

People did change. Earlier this week, she believed Av’lor represented purgatory. Now she leaned more toward the parallel world theory, only because hell couldn’t be this boring.

A knock on Hal’s door interrupted their game of cards a few days later. Rielle and Nikton were on the other side standing at attention.

"Lord Alextor has requested an audience with you, Lady Kathryn," Rielle said in a formal tone. "Please follow me. Quickly."

Kathryn looked at Hal in with wide eyes and tried to fix her hair with her fingers. Figures she’d have to meet with the most important knight when she looked her worst. She’d give anything for a hairbrush or even a little eye liner. Better yet, deodorant, a shower, shampoo, conditioner, all the little things she took for granted.

A short while later, Rielle and Nikton escorted Kathryn out of the building toward the main part of the castle. They walked too fast for her to enjoy the new surroundings and approached a large door guarded by two knights, one with gray wings and the other with brown.

"You’re on your own from here," Rielle said. "Good luck."

They moved away as the two guards swung open the large doors. Kathryn entered a large room with several chairs and a table off to one side. On the other side stood about a dozen knights, including Sir Lanclor and the golden knight from her dream, Lord Alextor. Sir Lanclor saw her enter and came toward her. His limp drew her gaze to the dent in his armor on his right thigh.

"Come with me and I’ll introduce you to Lord Alextor." He took her arm and steered her through the group of knights with a firm grip. She felt as though she made her way through a small forest of armored trees with most of the knights towering over her. Each one looked down and gave her a courteous nod of their helmet. They approached Lord Alextor whose armor showed several dents as well. Like every other knight she’d ever met, he kept his helmet on so only his dark brown eyes showed.

"Milord, this is the woman I told you about. May I present Lady Kathryn, a native of Earth." Sir Lanclor released her arm and stepped back as a hush fell upon the group.

Lady
Kathryn? There it was again. Must be some type of promotion.

"Lady Kathryn, your presence honors us," Lord Alextor said in flawless English. "I know I speak for everyone when I say that without you, our lives would surely have been lost. Lanclor told me about your Sight and advised extra caution. Without the extra forty knights, we wouldn’t be standing here. With that said, I’d like to honor you with some type of reward. Can we help you? Perhaps giving you access to our libraries to search for a way back to your home world. Or is there another request we may be able to honor?"

Her eyes wide with shock, Kathryn didn’t respond right away. If she hadn’t told Sir Lanclor, these knights would have been floating, or rather sinking, in that lake. Either that, or the Daemons would have dined on them oyster-style, plucking them out of their armor. Her dream saved the lives of the people in this room. She’d have to think on that later. The opportunity to utilize the libraries was too good to pass up.

She remembered the numerous fantasy novels she had read back on Earth and how formal she should probably be to a King—or whatever. "I’m speechless, Milord. Your generous offer honors me. However, I’d like Hal also to have access to the libraries. It would enable us to search for information about our home world together." She held her breath.

"I haven’t met Hal, but he’ll also be allowed access to our libraries. You should have more than just that. If you can think of anything else, just let me know and we can discuss it. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a lot to discuss. Thank you again for your assistance. Lanclor, would you please escort Lady Kathryn back to her room?" Sir Lanclor nodded to Lord Alextor and they left the room.

Once outside the meeting room, Sir Lanclor let go of her arm and started walking away from the large door. It took him several steps to realize she hadn’t followed. "Is there something amiss, Lady Kathryn?"

She needed to gather her thoughts and figure out what had just happened. She had a glimpse of the future. Did this mean every dream was a glimpse, or only the persistent ones? Why was Sir Lanclor, the most offensive knight she’d met so far, calling her
Lady
Kathryn? "What happened during the trip?"

"Let’s walk and I’ll tell you."

She nodded, walking next to him toward her room.

"I always take warnings seriously, no matter what the source." He gave her a quick glance. "I decided to bring forty extra knights and use a decoy in Lord Alextor’s place in the main group. I split the extra knights into two parties with one flying high above and the other just low enough to watch our backs." Sir Lanclor gestured with his hands to indicate the positions.

"It happened as you said. As soon as the main group flew over the Floalkel Falls, one of my officers in the lower of the two groups signaled about the Daemons flying up from the forest. There were about forty Daemons and our small group of twenty wouldn’t have stood a chance. Just when they thought they had the advantage of a rear surprise attack, we split our group and flew upwards. As the Daemons followed, our two other groups fell upon them like a hammer on an anvil." He smacked his fist into his palm.

"We dove back down and flanked them. There were a few injuries on our side, but we destroyed the Daemons. Without your warning, Av’lor would have fallen apart without the Knighthood and its rightful leader. You’ll now be addressed with respect."

His unspoken "or else" hung in the air. By the time he finished his tale they entered the North Wing. "Please let me know when Hal and you would like to visit the library. Be safe." He turned on his heel and strode back toward the castle.

"Thank God!" Hal exclaimed a few minutes later. "I can only stand so much solitude."

"I’m glad you’re looking forward to it. I can't think of anything else to ask of them. What if I ask them for something and they get offended?"

"Oh, don’t worry,
Lady
Kathryn. I’m sure they would forgive you," he said with a theatrical bow.

Several days later, Kathryn lay in her bed after an exhausting day of reading in the library. Her mind raced with needless information on unicorns and dragons. She couldn’t tell if the authors were serious about them being real. Their descriptions certainly didn’t fit the standard idea of the mythical creatures. Sighing, she stared at the ceiling and then noticed the light from the fire seemed to brighten. She flinched from the light, closing her eyes but unable to escape it.