Kingdom Come (60 page)

“The last time I saw theses walls, there were soldiers on them with big torches in their hands,” she could feel her excitement gaining, realizing she was very happy to be back. Though her sight beheld modern visions, she could only see the Medieval memories at the moment. “They had big dogs with them, too, big greyhounds.  These walls were constantly manned.”

Bud looked up because she was pointing.  Now he had her by the hand, leading her up the road.  In spite of their reason for being here, he still wasn’t sure what to believe. He was a man of science, and science dictated that things like time travel and past lives could not be proven. There had to be a logical explanation for the ancient letter with her name on it. Or maybe there wasn’t.  His indecision had him edgy and torn.

“And this gatehouse,” Rory pointed at it as they approached. “There were two big portcullis’, these big nasty looking things. They had modeled them to look like fangs. It was really awesome and scary-looking.”

Bud suddenly came to a stop and faced her. “Honey, please do me a favor,” he kept his voice down. “Please don’t say any of this in front of the lawyers or the Hage family. Saying it to me is one thing, but saying it to them might give them cause to think you’re crazy. You do realize how you sound, right? Put yourself in their shoes; if some woman showed up talking about having lived during Medieval times, what would you think? You’d think she was nuts. So please, for your sake, don’t talk about this stuff in front of people we don’t know. Okay?”

All of the joy accumulated over the past few minutes was gone from Rory’s face. She looked at Bud, her expression wrought with disappointment and resignation. She knew he was right but she was still upset by his words.  She wasn’t crazy because everything that happened was real; still, she understood what he was driving at. She didn’t want to sound like a nut. With a faint shrug, then a nod, she silently agreed. Bud patted her hand and pulled her towards the waiting lawyers.

“Joseph, this is Dr. Rory Osgrove,” Marc made the introductions as Bud and Rory came upon them. “Rory, this is my colleague, Joseph Saladin. He represents the Hage family.”

Rory shook the man’s hand, getting a good look at him for the first time. He was was young, handsome and had a hint of Middle Eastern decent to his features. The eyes looked strangely familiar and it took her a moment to realize that he looked vaguely like Yusef. 
Isn’t the name Yusef a version of Joseph
? She thought to herself. Startled by the coincidence, she forced herself to come across as polite and in control.

 “Nice to meet you,” she said.

Saladin nodded, a half-grin on his face as he inspected Rory carefully. There was something of vague rememberance in his expression, too, one of those feelings of familiarity that he couldn’t put his finger on.

 “Likewise,” he lifted an eyebrow. “I have wanted to meet you for awhile, Doctor. Maybe you can shed some light on this big mystery.”

Rory’s smile faded as she gazed at the man. She wasn’t sure what to say so she simply lifted her shoulders. “Maybe,” she replied vaguely, her gaze moving to the courtyard beyond the gatehouse. “Is the letter here?”

Joseph nodded and began to lead them into the courtyard beyond. “It is,” he replied as they emerged into the bright green, mowed and manicured courtyard. “The document has never left these walls.” He suddenly put up his hands apologetically. “Let me start from the beginning and see if I can explain this satisfactorily.  This letter isn’t a letter proper as much as it is a scroll of parchment, rolled up and sealed.  It is….”

Rory cut him off gently.  “Whose seal?”

Joseph looked at her. “Sir Kieran Hage,” he replied softly. “But I’m told you already know that.”

Rory was trying not to get ahead of herself and keep her anxious thoughts in check but she wasn’t doing a very good job. “When was it written?”

Joseph inhaled thoughtfully. “I’m told by the Hage family that it’s dated March of eleven hundred and ninety two.”

Rory fell silent as they waited for her to come back with more questions but she didn’t.  Joseph passed a glance at Bud, a more pronounced one at Marc, before continuing.

“Kieran Hage, as you probably already know, was the eldest son of Jeffrey Hage, the fifth Earl of Newark,” he went on as they neared the massive keep that hardly looked anything like what Rory remembered. “The man was a crusader during Richard the Lion Heart’s quest in the holy land but returned prior to the fall or Acre.  He was a powerful man by all accounts and held several titles himself, all of which were passed to his eldest son.”

Rory’s head came up; she was suddenly fighting off a flood of tears as the man brought her son in to the mix. But she didn’t miss the gist of what he had said; Kieran had returned home from the Crusades early, confirming the fact that there was no record of him ever having been excavated in Nahariya.

 Rory had found in the days after her return that the dig in Nahariya was still nothing more than the excavation of an ancient trash pile, as it had been in the days before Kieran had been discovered.  It was like it never progressed beyond potsherds and bits of ancient baskets; it was still stuck in the pre-Kieran discovery days.  She had refused to return to the dig, not strong enough mentally to face it, which is why David Peck was sent to shut it down. In this new world, the Nahariya dig was considered a failure.

But the odd thing was that anyone who was on that rocky outcropping of beach in Nahariya remembered Kieran. Bud and David both remembered him.  Rory wondered if the others there remembered Kieran, too; Darlow, the British Embassy man, or the British marines who had also been there. She’d never contacted them to find out what they remembered.  In hindsight, it didn’t matter too much.  History had been changed so much that she could do nothing more than accept what had happened and deal with it.

She refocused on the barrister and his comment about Kieran Hage’s eldest son. “Are you speaking of Tevin Hage?” she asked hoarsely.

Joseph nodded, oblivious to the longing inflection in her tone. “He was a remarkable man by all accounts, very involved in royal affairs and wrote what is largely considered the basis of the United States Constitution,” his gaze moved to the enormous Georgian-style structure in front of him. “Moreover, he is widely regarded as the one who held England together through some very rough times following the death of Matilda’s son, Henry V.  There was a real power struggle at that point in history, if you recall. Tevin Hage was hugely influential in his time and quite well regarded.”

Rory’s heart swelled with pride as she heard of her son’s accomplishments.   She knew that Kieran would have been deeply proud as well. “I’m not surprised to hear that,” she murmured gratefully. “His father set a fine example.”

“You would think so but that wasn’t the case,” Joseph glanced at her. “Tevin was raised by Kieran’s brother, Sean, because Kieran died in the summer of eleven hundred and ninety three. In fact, he….”

So much for dealing with the status of history; those few words had Rory bursting into hysterical tears. She would have fallen had Bud not still had hold of her arm.  They were loud, painful gasps, hysterical, as Bud held her to keep her from falling.  Marc even went to see if he could help, grasping her by the torso as Bud put his hands on her face and begged her to calm down.  Joseph took a few steps towards the group, his brow furrowed with concern and curiosity.

“I’m sorry,” he wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Is… is there a problem? Why don’t we go inside and sit down. Maybe Dr. Osgrove will feel better if we sit.”

Bud had his hands full but he acknowledged the lawyer.  “Good idea,” he grabbed Rory around the waist, practically carrying her towards the massive Georgian building before them. “It’s been a long flight and too much travel. Dr. Osgrove is… she’s just exhausted.”

Joseph bought the explanation, having no reason not to.  With nothing more said, the group disappeared into the sixteenth century addition to Southwell’s massive keep.

***

A half hour later, fortified by the two shots of brandy that Bud had forced her to down, Rory was seated in an enormous Baroque-style parlor just off the main entrance to the building.  Everything was lavish and over the top but not completely gaudy, decorated in shades of yellows and reds and golds.  It was simply a testament to the wealth of the Hages, with pictures of Hage family members that Rory didn’t recognize gracing the walls. One thing she did notice, however, was that all of the men had the Hage square jaw and many of the women seemed to have chestnut-colored hair. A coincidence? She wondered.

Marc and Joseph sat across from Bud and Rory, waiting patiently for Rory to pull herself together. Rory was coming to realize how foolish she had looked out in the courtyard and struggled not to be too embarrassed. Trouble was that she couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. But she had reached the point now where she had to know everything; she’d stayed away from anything Hage or Medieval for six months and now, she had to know everything no matter what.  She took another shot of brandy before she dared continue.

“I’m sorry about that,” she took a deep breath and faced the lawyers. “I guess I take my history too seriously.”

Joseph watched her closely. “Not to worry, Doctor,” he assured her. “Sometimes I do the same thing when I’ve lost a case.”

Rory smiles weakly.  As she prepared to reply, a man entered the hall and Joseph rose swiftly to greet him.  Rory stood as well, followed by Bud and Marc.  She studied the man who was amiably greeting Joseph; he was broad and fairly tall, with short blond hair that was graying at the temples. He looked if he might have played rugby at some point because of his muscular build. He had enormous hands. When he turned to Rory and extended a hand in greeting, Rory was struck by the square jaw and bright green eyes. She would have known those eyes anywhere; she had seen them, once, on a child she gave birth to.  Shaken, she struggled not to come across like an idiot again.

Introductions went all around.  Daniel Antony Christopher Hage, the eighteenth Earl of Newark, was a handsome man with an easy-going way about him. He insisted everyone call him Dan.  Rory watched him, fascinated, because he seemed to be cut out of the same mold that Kieran and Sean had been.  He was manly to a fault, intelligent and gracious.  Rory sat back down in her chair, seated across from him, staring at the man because he seemed so familiar.  She was so busy staring that she was caught off guard when Joseph drew her in to the conversation.

“Dr. Osgrove is the woman we have all been waiting to meet,” he said to Dan. “I can’t tell you how bizarre this all seems, but you wanted me to find Rory Osgrove, daughter of Lucas, so here she is.  And what’s even odder is that I’m told she knew the letter was from your ancestor, Kieran, before she was even told.”

Dan looked at her with his bright green eyes, a faint smile playing off his lips. “Bizarre, indeed,” he muttered, seeming to study her just as she was studying him. “How did you know it was from Kieran?”

Rory sighed faintly, averting her gaze as she thought of a believable answer. She had promised Bud she would be careful in what she said and she was trying to do so.

“I’m not sure,” she lied. “I… I’m a doctor of Medieval History and have done a lot of research, obviously, in the field, and I know a great deal about Kieran Hage. Can I please see the letter?”

Dan scratched his chin, snickering at her straight to the point request. “I think that can be arranged,” he replied, glancing at Marc and the other men in the room as he stood up. “Would you gentlemen mind waiting here a moment?  Dr. Osgrove and I will be right back.”

Bud looked slightly panicked that Rory was leaving his presence but he sat tight.  Rory’s gaze lingered on him as she left the room, winking at him just before Dan took her into a small corridor off the main room.  The corridor was narrow, opulently paneled, and led to a series of smaller rooms.  When they entered the first red-wallpapered chamber, Dan shut the door behind them.

“Nosy lawyers,” he muttered, grinning when Rory snickered.  “Joseph will try to follow us just to spy.”