Kingdom Come (13 page)

“She will heal,” he said. “The injuries are not severe.”

Kieran nodded with relief. “Then we may travel?”

“You may,” Kaleef turned to cast the lady a long glance. “Her head will ache and her pains will be stronger tomorrow, but they should fade with time. It would be good for the lady to rest tomorrow if she can.”

“Excellent,” Kieran looked at Rory. “We shall continue on to the king’s encampment tonight and you may rest tomorrow.”

Rory simply nodded, casting one final glance around the strange and mysterious place.  Kaleef was still looking at her and she met his gaze.  It was an appreciative moment that passed between them.

“I think you really are a healer,” she said, the corner of her mouth twitching. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a very good one.”

Kaleef lifted his shoulders and turned back to wiping out his bowl, but not before she caught a glimpse of an old smile.She was about to say something else to the old man when the door to his hut rattled. Someone was knocking loudly.

Someone was screaming as well. Kaleef didn’t move but Kieran did; he went to the door as the Saracen warriors around him drew their elaborate scimitar swords. A few drew great bejeweled daggers, but for the most part, every man was armed with something very dead and very beautiful. Startled, Rory ended up standing next to Kaleef as Kieran yanked the stodgy old door open.

A very old woman stood outside, her eyes full of tears and her toothless mouth leaking mucus and saliva. She was weeping hysterically.

“What is your trouble, woman?” Kieran asked in a cold, booming voice that Rory had never heard from him before. “What do you want?”

The woman tried to speak but ended up faltering. Kieran caught her before she could go down and she clung to him hysterically.

“He… he’s killed him!” she stammered. “Kaleef! Where is Kaleef?”

Kieran pushed the woman back to her feet, realizing it was the old woman from Hut’s hostel.  He wasn’t sure why, but an alarm suddenly went off in his head; he yanked the old woman inside and slammed the door.  Rory, seeing that he was being very brutal with the old woman, moved forward to assist; her assistance constituted pushing Kieran’s hands off the hysterical female.  She didn’t yet recognize the old woman as the same one who had provided her with the clothing she currently wore.

Kieran didn’t particularly notice that Rory had removed his hands; he was more concerned with the reason for the old woman’s presence and focused on her intently.  He was increasingly on edge.

“Who has been killed?” he demanded harshly. “Make sense, woman. Who do you speak of?”

Kaleef came up behind Rory, his old face showing some concern as he recognized the old woman. “It is Teeta,” he said to no one in particular. “She is Hut’s wife.”

Kieran’s head snapped to Kaleef as the old man confirmed his observation.  His trepidation bloomed.  Before he could press the woman further, she exploded with grief.

“He killed Hut!” she cried. “He came for the English but he was not there. So he killed Hut!”

A black, dreadful sense of foreboding filled Kieran.  He grabbed the old woman by the arms and forced her to look at him. “Who killed Hut?”

The woman gasped and drooled. “The… the knight. The English!”

Kieran shook her and the woman’s head snapped back. “Look at me,” he growled. “Look at me and tell me; who was this English knight?”

The woman’s eyes widened at him as if suddenly recognizing him. She began to squeal. “He wanted you,” she exclaimed.

“How do know he wanted me?”

The woman was nearly beyond the ability to comprehend what she was being asked. “You,” she sobbed loudly. “He asked if Hut had seen a big Englishman taller than the sky. Hut told him that you had left and the man killed him!”

Kaleef grasped at the old woman.  “Are you sure Hut is dead?”

Teeta abu-Syamm clutched at the old alchemist. “You must come,” she wept deeply. “I know you can save his life. You have done this before. You can make him sleep the sleep of the dead and your potions will heal him.”

Kaleef pulled the woman with him, away from the ears that were hearing of his deep, dark secrets. He did not want anyone else to know that his occupation as a healer had lead to the desire to find immortality, among other things. Kaleef was a brilliant and curious man. A few knew of his miraculous potions, but not many. What he did bordered on black magic and he did not want the word to get out.

Rory let the woman go, watching her move with Kaleef and hearing nothing more than whispers between them.  Kieran came to stand next to her, watching the pitiful scene right along with her.

“Kaleef is the alchemist who put me into stasis,” he murmured.

It took a moment for his softly uttered words to sink in. Then Rory’s head jerked to him, her eyes wide as she gazed up into his handsome face. “
That’s
the guy?” she hissed. “My God, why didn’t you tell me before?”

“There was no opportunity.”

She was astonished; her mouth hung open as she stared up at him. “I don’t believe it,” she muttered. “Seriously? That’s the same alchemist?”

“Aye.”

He seemed rather calm about it but she was working herself up into a state. “Kieran, that guy has discovered something so fantastic that it’s never been duplicated, ever,” she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t more excited about it. “Why didn’t you…?”

Kieran shushed her softly under the guise of a kiss. Then he kissed her again just because he wanted to. He put his big arms around her, pulling her into a protective, private cocoon where their conversation could not be heard.

“Not another word, Lib,” he whispered. “I do not want Yusef or his men to hear. We have returned to the same man who gave me his potions that put me to sleep for eight hundred years, only to be awoken by your kiss.  That is how I knew he could help you; he helped me to live and I knew he would do the same for you. And Hut’s wife; she knows it as well because it was Hut who sent me to Kaleef after I was wounded by Simon’s assassins.”

The information was overwhelming. Rory struggled to digest everything he was telling her, her sharp mind working through the situation and coming to a horrifying, rapid conclusion.

“Then… then the man who just killed Hut must have been Simon, looking for you,” she whispered. “Why did he kill Hut instead?”

Kieran shrugged. “I can only surmise that it was because he was angry that I had left,” he muttered, glancing over his shoulder at Yusef and his men.  He suddenly emitted a pent-up sigh, scratching his forehead as he did so. “So now I find myself back in Nahariya, back with the alchemist who put me to sleep in order to save my life.  But this time, Hut has been killed by Simon instead of me.”

Rory was truly bewildered as she, too, realized that history was taking a slightly different twist this time. “Oh, God,” she breathed. “What does it all mean?”

“I do not know.”

She suddenly looked stricken. “What if… what if Simon followed Hut’s wife here? What if he followed her when she ran?”

Kieran shook his head. “He would have no reason to unless….”

He trailed off and Rory finished for him. “Unless he thought she was running to warn you.”

Kieran suddenly pushed Rory into the heart of Hut’s small cottage, shoving her at the old man.  When she looked at him with a mixture of fear and indignation, he pointed a gloved finger at her.

“Stay here with Kaleef,” he commanded. “Do not leave this place.”

“No, Kieran,” she grabbed on to him and dug her heels in. “You’re not going anywhere.  You can’t leave me.”

“You will not argue.”

“You don’t even have a weapon,” she pointed out hotly. “What in the hell are you thinking?”

Kieran was close to losing his temper with her; he hadn’t time to argue.He looked at the somewhat startled Kaleef.

“Do you have a sword?” he demanded.

Kaleef nodded, pointing to the far corner of his cottage.  As Rory continued her protests, Kieran plowed his way through the clutter to the back of the hut, looking for what Kaleef considered to be a weapon of some kind.  Yusef was right behind him.

“What is wrong?” he demanded softly.

Kieran spotted the sword; it was an old scimitar, dark with age and somewhat worn. But it was the only thing available and Kieran collected it swiftly, kicking aside the clutter that was on top of it.

“Those assassins I told you of,” he muttered, his eyes moving from Yusef to the weeping Teeta. “I fear that old woman may have led them straight to us.”

Yusef didn’t ask any more questions. He acted swiftly, barking orders to his men in the fluid, foreign syllables of Arabic and putting the group on alert.  No sooner had the orders left his lips than the door to Kaleef’s hut rattled again, this time violently.  When it suddenly exploded in a shower of splinters, Kieran, Yusef and the Saracen warriors rushed the door with weapons drawn.

Rory couldn’t even see who they were fighting; it was suddenly one big giant melee and she was rightly terrified. In the rush, someone kicked over an oil lamp and the toppled flame lit one of the old tables on fire.  Kaleef grabbed Rory and began shoving her back towards the alcove where Kieran had found the old sword.

“Go,” he yelped. “Get out of here before everything explodes.”

Rory didn’t want to leave Kieran and she protested vehemently. “No,” she shouted. “I’m not leaving without Kieran. Kieran!”

Kieran was on the opposite side of the hut, battling two men he recognized from Simon’s arsenal. Yet, oddly enough, he had not seen Simon yet. With all of the noise going on around him, swords meeting and men yelling, he didn’t hear Rory’s frantic cry.  He had no idea that Kaleef had shoved her out through a small back entrance as the fire in the hut grew. In fact, he didn’t even notice the fire until Yusef happened to mention it in between sword thrusts.  Suddenly, Kieran realized there was a very big fire between him and Rory, and his focus began to shift.

“Libby!” he bellowed, trying not to get his head cut off as he continued to battle. “
Rory
!”

He couldn’t see the main part of the hut through the smoke and fire and, terrified, he kicked his opponent away and charged through the flame, catching his tunic on fire and beating out the flames as he called Rory’s name again.  The smoke was growing heavy and, coughing, he noticed the small, open doorway in the alcove off to his left.  He charged through it as the flames began to consume the walls of the hut.

He was barely into the open air when Rory was suddenly throwing herself at him, her arms around his neck.  Off guard, he lost his balance momentarily as she tackled him.  But his arms went swiftly around her, relieved beyond words that she was all right.  It took him a moment to realize she was weeping hysterically. He held her tightly.

“All is well, sweetheart,” he murmured into her hair, kissing her head. “Calm yourself; all is well now. But we must get out of here.”

She held him a moment longer, utterly terrified and relieved, before letting go and sliding to the ground.  “Are you all right?” she sniffled, wiping the tears from her face. “Are you hurt?”

He shook his head, grasping her by the elbow and leading her swiftly down the dark and spooky alley. “Where is Kaleef?”