Treasure So Rare (Women of Strength Time Travel Trilogy) (15 page)

"You will not harm that child, not unless you want a
fight on your hands," Erik said. He lowered his voice. "Look around
-- and I'll be the first to knock you down." Men and women stood at the
ready; brooms, wooden paddles, iron pokers within an arm's reach beside the
stable. "I will have no bloodshed. If you wish to kill each other outside
the walls, then so be it."

"I was winning," the man insisted.

 "Take your dice and play elsewhere." Erik looked
around at the other men, five of them now on the fringe of their group.
"Go on, disperse or I'll find each of you a job cleaning the
latrines."

With tight lips the men disbursed, not daring to voice their
disgruntled complaints within his earshot.

Edward moved from behind a wood pole. "Thank you, my
Lord Camdork."

Erik looked at the boy. "You'd best stay away from the
men," he said. "Now you best get inside and get something to
eat."

The boy beamed at him. "Yes, sir, I most certainly
will."

 Erik watched Ulrich, but the other man ignored him. Pulling
a piece of wood from a sack beside him, he began to whittle a piece of wood.
Erik stepped over to him.

"You carve. Can I see that?"

Without a word Ulrich handed him the piece of wood. Erik
took the light chunk of wood about the size of his palm and studied it. "A
pig?" He looked at Ulrich. "It's quite good. Is it a gift?"

Ulrich shrugged. "Nay. I whittle to pass the
time."

Thinking back to the fighter dragon that Iliana swore had
begun as a wood carving, Erik handed it back. "What else do you
carve?"

Ulrich studied him a moment, as if his words were suspect.
Then he turned and walked into the stables. Curiously, Erik followed him.
Ulrich pulled a leather pouch from a wooden peg on the stable wall, then held
it out to him. Erik took the leather pouch, feeling its weight. He opened it
and looked inside. Cows, horses, pigs, deer, geese...numerous animals had been
carved out of various colored woods. He lifted a deer and studied it, turning
it this way and that.

"You carve very well," he said. "What do you
do with these?"

"They remain in the pouch."

"You carve beautiful wood creatures and they sit in
this bag?"

"Aye." Ulrich shrugged, then asked suspiciously,
"Why do you ask?"

"Just a curiosity." He hung the leather pouch back
on the wood hook. "Do you carve dragons?" He met Ulrich's glance
squarely.

Ulrich suddenly looked angry, and he spat on the dirt floor.
"Nay." Without another word he turned and stalked from the stable.

Erik followed him. "That makes you angry?"

Ulrich glared at him. "I am a mercenary." He waved
his arm at the yard. "As we all are. I get paid to fight, not to answer
questions. I have work to do, men to train. If you think you can challenge the
men, join us out in the yard."

"Not today. But I will take you up on that offer
another day," Erik said.

Ulrich glanced at his arm, but otherwise did not respond.

Erik walked across the courtyard, pondering the carved
animals, wondering if there was any significance to Ulrich's hobby -- or was he
chasing false leads? Whichever it was, he knew he must find out what Ulrich hid
and what he knew about Camdork and the sorcerer.

¤¤

Iliana walked with Camdork beside her, quite unsettled by
his presence and the attention they were drawing from the festival goers. She
wanted to remain aloof from him, but it was not to be. She actually found
herself laughing as he made up tall tales of sailing the seas, diving for
buried treasure and being chased by mer-men.

He laid his hand over his heart. "It is the truth. I
swear."

"You swear?" She looked down as William squirmed
in her arms. He wanted to get down on the grass and play with the other
children. She placed him in the grass, keeping a watchful eye on his favorite
carved sheep he held in his hand. She no longer trusted the little wooden
animals, but William was quite attached to them and screamed when she took them
away. She looked up at Camdork. "And what would a man such as yourself
hold dear, that you would swear upon it?"

He seemed to ponder her question quite seriously. "I
swear upon my brother's life."

"Now you have a brother? I have never heard of Weinroof
of Camdork having a brother, or any family for that matter."

He shrugged. "I don't know about Camdork. I speak of myself,
Erik Marcus Remington. And I do have a brother. His name is Darien."

She wondered at his insistence in clinging to that story.

"Ah," he added with an exaggerated sigh, "I
see the suspicion in your eyes, and you think me a liar." He looked away
from her, toward the young men and women decorating the may pole in the middle
of the field. "I have a brother whom I love very much." He looked at
her, his eyes deep green and intense. "He traveled through time for the
woman he loved, his dear wife Elise."

Iliana caught her breath. "Traveled through time?"

"Aye. As I have traveled through time for the woman I
loved."

She half turned from him, confused by his talk of time
travel and his talk of love. "You say 'loved'? She is lost to you?"

"It appears to be so."

"I cannot credit you as a man in love." She
frowned. "From all I have heard --" she shook her head. "What
would you know of time travel? You, a man consumed by war and brutality."

"You fight me at every turn," he said sadly,
"every word I say. And here I am for your protection."

Iliana raised a brow. "I am well able to take care of
myself."

"Perhaps," he conceded. "And you appear to be
unwilling to believe other than what you think you know. I am here now, but who
knows, perhaps the wind will take me and thrust me back into my own time."

Iliana put a hand to her head. "You talk of things
which are --"

"What?"

She looked around. "Forbidden. You cannot talk of time
travel." She looked up toward the blue sky, then the hills in the
distance.

"Why not?"

"The wer-dragons," she said in a low voice.
"The wer-dragons are a peaceful lot, but do not tempt them with such
talk."

"Please explain as if I were a dull-witted lad,"
Camdork said. "You say they are peaceful, yet fear letting them hear you
talk of time travel?"

Iliana lifted William and nodded for Camdork to follow. They
walked a bit away from the festivities, to a small group of trees where log
seats had been cut and laid out upon the yellowing grass. She sat down and
placed William back on the grass at her feet. He grabbed at tiny yellow flowers
that had managed to bloom in the dry and parched ground.

She pointed up toward the blue skies. "You see how they
glide across the sky, moving back and forth, not bothering a soul? The
wer-dragons are the keepers of the skies, the way in and out for those who seek
to travel through time. It is whispered some have traveled away from
here."

"There are other ways than through the sky,"
Camdork said.

She looked at him sharply. "There is no other known
way."

"I came by the sea," he said. "Apparently, it
is another entry point."

"By the sea?" Iliana stared at him. Did he tell
the truth? The man was confusing, or was he just confused? She shook her head.

"Believe what you will." He came to his feet,
hands on hips, staring at the hills around them.

"If I were to humor you, tell me how would you go back
by sea?" she asked.

"The way we came in," he said, "through a
vortex, a hole in the sea, but in truth, I am not sure if it will work. How
does one make it open when I wish to leave again?"

Iliana felt a touch of excitement. Could it be true? Had he
really time traveled by way of the sea? "You must tell me."

"First, I would ask a favor."

She tensed at his roguish grin.

"I would ask a kiss and in return I will tell you how I
came by sea."

Her expression grew distant. She scooped up her son and
began to walk back toward the revelers. She halted when his hand touched her
shoulder. A small jolt went through her body, and it shivered down her back and
across her neck. She turned, dislodging his hand.

"It would merely be an experiment," he said, eyes
dancing. "But no matter, if you are not up to it, I will still tell you of
my voyage by sea." His grin never wavered. "But now, come. Look over
there." He pointed toward the middle of the field. "Surely you want
to go around the maypole with the other ladies? Look at the grand time they're
having."

Indeed they were. The young girls and men were winding
themselves around the maypole that had been constructed in the middle of the
field. Flowers and garlands adorned the area and long streaming ribbons of
material had been fastened to the top of the pole.

Camdork pulled her toward the gaily attired women. Many of
the village girls Iliana knew by sight. She'd kept her distance for years,
helping them when she could, but she'd always felt they wished her as lady of
the keep to remain at a distance. And so she had.

But today, all that seemed different. They smiled and
motioned for her to join them. Again, she was tempted to drop the mantle of
responsibility she wore day in and day out, to have a modicum of enjoyment
enter her day and forget tonight's meal or tomorrow's business that must be
planned and conducted.

"Yes, but only for a moment. William will enjoy it
also." She surprised herself greatly when she smiled at the blond giant
beside her.

Rowenna was in with the young girls who had decorated the
pole. She ran up to her now and held out her arms for William. "Come,
mistress," she said. "I will care for the wee one. Join the maypole
fun."

Iliana laughed. "All right." She looked down into
her son's eyes, and she smiled at him. "William, you remember Rowenna, go
play with her now." And Rowenna lifted William from her arms.

With a backward glance, she ran to the maypole and grabbed
one of the brightly colored streamers.

Laughing, the women began to circle the pole and the men and
boys joined in, faster and faster around they went. Iliana slowed down as her
hair began to unloosen from the braids wound around her head, but she was urged
from behind to keep moving. Laughing, she joined in the fun of the moment. More
men joined them around the maypole and they began to become wound together
within the ribbons.

Iliana found herself bound with the rest in the ribbons. She
looked up at the male chest of the man she was suddenly wound into the ribbons
with. Bright, clear green eyes. Camdork. He had jumped in apparently at an
opportune time and now they were wound together in the ribbon. She studied his
face, inhaled his scent as it too wound around her. She found it not
unpleasant, clean and surprisingly tangy, as if he'd bathed only that morning.
His arm came around her shoulders and shielded her from the jostling of others
about them. His strength was all around her and she almost felt a moment of
lightheadedness come over her. How would it be if this was his true nature? How
would she keep herself from caring for him, when he presented this softer side?

"It appears we are bound together," he observed.

"It is merely a game," she said. "On May Day
it is not taken seriously."

His face so close to hers bore quite a serious expression.
Iliana felt the heat of his body warming her own.

"This game has borne out what I knew all along."
His whisper teased at her ears so that only she could hear his words.

Uneasily, her stomach tightened. "And what is
that?"

"We are meant to be bound together," he murmured.

She had a sudden urge to stand on tiptoe and touch her mouth
to his, but she stood stiffly, reminding herself this man was her enemy.
Feeling aflame, she was certain the burning in her body would start the ribbons
on fire.

¤¤

Erik helped Iliana unwind them from the streaming ribbons.
They were the last ones out from the maypole. Some of the other couples had
disappeared into the woods and for a moment, Erik wished that for himself and
Iliana. Alas, that was not to be, and he felt somewhat shaken by the spell this
woman had cast upon him, unwittingly or no.

He had hoped that his earlier suggestion of a mere kiss
would shake a memory loose, perhaps jar a memory of the time they'd spent
together. Yet, she still saw him as Camdork, and indeed, did not seem willing
or able to shake that image and see him apart from that scoundrel.

If she had granted him a kiss, he would have been stepping
beyond the bounds of where he'd been directed to go. Erik felt like a horse
chafing at the bit, impatient with this task which had been cast upon him. Erik
supposed he was fortunate this woman even spoke to him, thinking him the other
one. At the moment, and for the first time in his life, Erik was uncertain how
to extricate himself from this tangled web. How to make himself known and yet
at the same time protect Iliana, her child and the people of the keep? He
feared Camdork might well slay all in his path if the notion took him.

This woman had reached to him from beyond time and now he'd
found her only to realize she was out of his reach and soon to be another man's
wife. That bitter knowledge ate at him sorely, but he kept his thoughts to
himself as they were finally free of the ribbons.

Iliana looked about at the suddenly sparse fields. "I
believe it is time I returned. I have neglected much this afternoon," she
said quietly. She frowned. "Rowenna?" she called, walking toward some
gaily colored tents.

Erik also looked around, but he did not see the girl with
William.

Iliana began to run toward the tents. "William. Rowenna
--!"

She tripped and fell to one knee. Erik quickly helped her
up, saw the panic on her face.

"I must find William."