Viking Love Beyond Time (Time Travel Romance) (13 page)

             
Deoli managed to get a recognisable expression of bewilderment on his fat red face. “I am sorry, I have never heard of them, I know of no civilisations that can time travel at will”

             
Alodie smiled, it had been a long shot anyway “Forget it, thank you anyway Captain”

“It was a pleasure talking to you Captain, I am just sorry that I could not be of any help in your trouble. Oh, by the way, I have just managed to locate that ship of yours, it has not gone far I am afraid, only about a half a million of your spatial units, far enough away not to do any serious damage to the Earth but when it does blow there will be a sizeable plasma explosion which may temporarily interfere with your weather patterns, causing storms planet wide”

             
“Unfortunately, the hauler was damaged and I could only get cruising power” replied Alodie.

             
“You did the right thing Captain Austen, I will contact you again next time I am in the area”

             
“The co-ordinates of my wrist set are EAVD 8601, I may not be near the ship next time you call, those of my navigator are EAVD
8704”

             
“Ah, so you are not completely alone.  Your navigator, what is her name?”

             
“He is called Luke Owen, Lieutenant Commander Luke Owen”

             
Deoli snorted - “Your species lets
males
serve aboard starships in command capacities - no wonder it took you so long to get off planet!  Oh well, goodbye and good luck”

             
Alodie laughed. “Goodbye and the same to you” she replied.

The screen flickered and went blank.  Alodie had a momentary feeling of guilt, being unable to tell Deoli about her race’s eventual fate at the hands of the Ling Corporation, she lay back and closed her eyes.  It had been refreshing to be herself, to talk to another captain, someone on her own wavelength.

             
She was about to climb out of the ship when her communicator flashed, one flash per second, it was Luke.  She lifted the blue stone “Luke?” she said absently.

             
“Look Alodie, I’m alone but only for a minute, what’s the rundown on the signal?”  She quickly brought him up to date.

             
“So we’re going to have to watch out for storms in December” she ended “shame it wasn’t the time travellers”

             
Luke coughed “What?  Oh yes, shame” did she sense relief in his voice?

             
“How are things in
Winchester
?” she asked.

             
“All’s well here, King Alfred’s a decent guy and his wife’s very pretty”

             
“Great, seduce her and get off my back”

             
Luke laughed “Not a chance, I said pretty, not absolutely gorgeous, and anyway I think the penalty for screwing the queen of
Wessex
is pretty severe.  She’s heard about you by the way from Edric of Lamporth who is head over heels in love with you, and has been singing your praises from the rafters since we arrived.  She wants you to be one of her ladies of the boudoir or whatever as soon as we get married.  I’m going to tell her no, you’ll have other things to do, like keeping me warm through those storms in December!”

             
“Oh God, Luke, are you incapable of holding a conversation without sex rearing its ugly head?”

             
Luke laughed again “I’ll stop talking about it when I start doing it - damn, someone’s coming, over and out”

             
Alodie tutted and opening the hatch climbed out of the shuttle.  As the soft balmy summer air greeted her, she took a deep breath and pondered, not for the first time, on how sheltered had been the environment in which she had grown up.  The only air she had ever breathed had been scrubbed, the only water purified and de-toxified, and the only food manufactured.  This, here, now, was how mankind
should
live.

             
She stood still and listened, somewhere in the distance a cow was lowing, all around her was the twittering of birds, to her delight she recognised the cooing of a wood pigeon, and the smell of blossoms was almost overpowering.  The flowers were alive with insect life and the chirp of the cricket and the buzz of the bees as they lurched from one pollen filled flower to another filled the air.  Below her came the splash of the sea as it threw itself against the cliffs.  What peace, what beauty, how could she ever think of leaving it, why on Earth would she want to?   And yet, back in 2430, she was the captain of a multi billion credit starship, using her brain to its optimum, responsible for shipping billions of credits worth of freight from one side of the galaxy to the other.  She
was
someone, someone of standing, someone important.  Here, people felt sorry for her because she could not bake or embroider.

             
She thought about Luke in
Winchester
.  What was he doing?  Why was she interested?  She shook her head.  As she descended the ladder she allowed herself a smile - that afternoon in the garden had left her feeling used, infuriated and, yes, frustrated.

             
She reached the ground, retracted the ladder, picked a few forget-me nots and hummed a tune as she wandered toward her horse who was contentedly cropping the grass where she had left her.  As she reached out to take the mare’s bridle Emma came out from behind a tree, her face alight with triumph.  “Whore of a witch!” she hissed “I have you now!”

             
Alodie sighed, she had half been expecting this, she had thought she had been followed.  “Emma, dear, whatever do you mean?” she asked sweetly, pushing past her and untying Doucette’s reins.

             
“I saw you, I saw you! You walked over yonder, climbed into mid air and disappeared, then reappeared again just now, in mid air - you have been to get instructions from your master - the Devil in Hell!!”

             
Alodie laughed, unconvincingly it seemed to her “Well, dear, I’ll give you credit for your imagination but do you think anyone in their right minds will believe you?”

             
Emma was almost foaming at the mouth with rage “I know what I saw and there’ll be plenty to believe me too!  I’ve already heard it said by some of the old women that your beauty can only be the gift of the Devil!”

             
“Yes, well, it’s your word against mine Emma, isn’t it?”

             
Alodie swung her leg over Doucette’s back and clicked to the horse to move off but Emma grabbed her bridle.  “The least you’ll get, whore is the ordeal!”

             
Alodie signed.  “Go on, Emma, tell me, you’re longing to, what’s the ordeal?”

             
A feral, almost wolfish grin spread across Emma’s face “Did you learn nothing in
Bohemia
witch hag?  They take you and bind you and throw you into the river, if you sink you are innocent but if you float you are guilty and will hang!”

             
Alodie sighed again “So if I am innocent I drown, either way the field is clear for you and Luke, is that it?”

             
Emma coloured, “If, you want me to admit it, yes”

             
“Do you think for one moment, Emma, that Luke would look at the woman who accused me?”

             
Emma shrugged, “Probably not, but I hate you so much it would be worth not having him to see you HANG!!!!”

             
Alodie laughed and patted Doucette on the neck, it was obvious the girl’s hatred of her was such that reason would not prevail, fear might though, she smiled at her “Emma, Emma, dearie dear!  Hang?  Me?  Do you think for one moment I would let them do that?  Why, I am strong enough to burn you and your little town to a cinder!”

             
Emma took a step backward, a quiver of fear flashing across her face.  “Ha” she replied “No witch is that strong”

             
Alodie smiled enigmatically and, dismounting, walked away a few paces, snapped up the stone covering the psi gun, set it to medium blast and turned. “Stand back, Emma” she instructed and pressed the button.  Instantly a beam of light shot out and hitting a nearby rock, atomised it with an ear splitting crash.

             
Emma screamed, threw herself down to the ground  and covered her head as chips of stone rained down on her.  Both horses neighed in fear and Doucette, being untethered, ran off a few yards.  When the dust had settled Alodie saw that the blast had left a crater perhaps two feet deep and set fire to a gorse bush.

             
Emma got to her feet and backed off, terrified.  Alodie brushed her hands down her gown to dislodge a few shards of stone and dirt then walked over to where Doucette was standing, shivering, and nonchalantly mounted her.  “Now Emma, my sweet, if you so much as mention a word of this to anyone, you know what will happen, don’t you?  Bang! Flash! no Emma!  And, if you attempt to harm me whilst I am sleeping, the same thing - Ker BOOM!”

             
The woman had such a look of abject terror on her face that Alodie felt guilty.  She had always felt sorry for Emma, unloved, plain and madly in love with Luke Owen.  She smiled at her “I mean no one any harm - I am not an evil witch, I only wish to do good and try to help people.  If you’d let me Emma, I could be your friend” Emma swallowed, visibly and, pulling out her crucifix, held it up to Alodie, as if to ward her off.  Smiling, Alodie pulled out her own, which Godgyth had given her, and kissed it “I have no fear of the cross” she said softly.

             
“T- t’is the Devil’s work, Lucifer incarnate, may God and the Holy Virgin protect me” gabbled Emma.

             
Just then, the glade filled with sound.  It came from behind them, over the cliff from the direction of the sea, the sound of men shouting to each other, vast numbers of men.

             
Alodie walked Doucette over toward the edge of the cliff.  What she saw made her heart plummet and her mouth go dry.  The sea was black with ships, some already making preparations to land, more ships than had ever been gathered together at one time and they all carried the square striped sail.  At a rough calculation, Alodie made it to be between four and five hundred in total, dragon ships, snake ships, reindeer ships, even trading
knarrs
, all filled to the gunwales with the most bloodthirsty pirates in the history of mankind.  The
‘summer army innumerable’
had come.  The Vikings were landing.

             
Alodie turned as Emma came up behind her “Oh Holy Jesu, we are lost!” she heard her whisper.  Alodie fought down an overwhelming desire to run for the shuttle and take off for
Australia
or somewhere.  She took a deep breath.

             
“Amen” she said, then turned and slapped Doucette’s neck. “come Emma, we must warn the village”

             
Emma snorted, “Warn who you like witch, I’m for the forest!”

             
“But your mother - the villagers!” Emma shrugged and picking up her skirts ran for her horse, mounting, she pulled its head round.

             
“You are the favoured one, Alodie” she shouted “you are the one with magical powers!  You warn them!” with that she cantered off northward.

****************

             
With a slither of hooves Alodie pulled the mare to a stop and dismounting, ran into the hall.  Several times on the way home she had been tempted to use her communicator to warn Luke of the invasion but desisted as it would have been useless.  How could Luke have told King Alfred that he had received a message of a Viking invasion on his bracelet, and anyway, that would have been tampering with history in a major way.  Alfred must find out about the invasion through the normal channels.

             
The hall seemed deserted.  Alodie ran over to the cooking area and looked into the bedrooms, no one about.  She ran back down the steps.  “Godgyth! Rhys! Edwin!  Someone! Quickly!” she called.  She thought she saw a movement in the kitchen garden through the open door at the back.  Hurrying out she discovered Godgyth sitting in the sun shelling peas with Herluva the cook.  “Godgyth!” she gasped.

             
The women turned as Alodie dashed over.  “Bless the child what is it?” she asked.

             
Panting from her exertions Alodie lowered herself onto her haunches and took a deep breath.  “Danes, thousands of them in ships, we must hide, hurry”

             
Both women crossed themselves. “Jesu and most of our men away!” whispered Godgyth.

             
Alodie shook her head.  “Our men could no nothing against these hoards Godgyth!”.  The woman sighed then glanced sharply at Alodie.