I’d done good here. Mae had done good here. Now it was time to find out what I needed.
And I wouldn’t be scared.
Well I would, because my heart was thumping in my chest, loud and uneven, but I didn’t move my gaze from that of the Mage’s silver stare as I worked my way towards her. “I make no resistance. Let my people go and I will come freely.”
She sneered, and my throat tightened as I saw the soldier at her side clench his long spear just a little tighter. “I have no need of your people. They won’t make slaves worth bringing back to Rome. Worthless creatures every one of them.”
The soldier at her side glanced a look in her direction. His gleaming uniform more elaborate than the others, the plume of feathers in his helmet marked him as someone different to the other foot soldiers. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
I bit my tongue and refused to look at the people I loved behind me. “True. Most of them won’t make the journey. But I am yours.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I know you are.”
Just take me already. The air was tinged with sweat and fear. My stomach rolled the longer we stood. This Mage could have no idea of my plans to end her. Of my hatred of her for killing my only friend.
My pulse thickened as I thought of Phil now resting in a grave on the grounds of Fire Stone. She could be buried right where we stand, two thousand years from now, and all at the hands of this woman, because she wants me, needs me for something I don’t understand.
Well goddam take me already.
The Mage was in no rush. She watched me carefully. “You know, child.” I froze at the light tone laced with ice. “I have some sight myself, and sense this has happened before.”
Fuck.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“There is another. One who won’t let you go.”
I shivered involuntarily. “No. There is no other here.” I stared at the Mage with her pale eyes, noticing the intense expression on the general’s face at her side. His eyes were on my face, scrutinising, searching.
The white swish of my father’s robe caught the edge of my vision. I must not let these two meet. If I succeeded in achieving anything here, that would be it.
“There is no other. Now, I believe you have somewhere you need to take me.” I lifted my chin, meeting her gaze, urging her desperately to get the hell on with it.
And then it happened. The one thing I never wanted.
A crash and a shout rose from the trees, and I could sense him before I even saw him. Hell, that man was determined to save my life, regardless of how I pleaded otherwise.
Stamping my foot into the ground, uncaring of who was watching I pushed my need into the earth. A deep resounding crack echoed through the earth as it gaped open and shoots of new bushes and shrubs built a solid wall.
His axe crashed through, determined to get to me and I winced as he damaged the brilliant green new growth.
Please stop.
The Mage watched me coolly. Her expression neutral. Then finally she lifted her hand and snapped her fingers, pointing them at Tristram where he battled sweaty and breathless, hacking his way through the wall of shrubs to get to me. “Kill him.”
My knees buckled. My head whirled. “No!”
The soldiers though sprung forward, their hands grasping at Tristram’s arms, hauling him up, their spears at the ready.
The green shoots of my barricade covered him from sight, but their leaves could not block the sound of his last cry. “Mae!”
Then silence filled the air.
The clansmen watched me wordlessly as I fell to my knees, my heart throbbing, the pendant at my throat cool as the one thing I needed more than any other was snatched away.
“Come.” The Mage motioned to the soldiers nearest her. “Time to move.”
They lifted me, but I was blind to their actions, unable to stand. A tutting noise filled the air. “Carry her. We can’t waste any more time.”
My body banged as I landed with a thump over a wide shoulder. But I couldn’t care. I didn’t even want to breathe. My focus remained trained on the hedge shielding me from the sight of my dead soulmate.
Tristram was dead.
And I’d changed the past and made it so much worse.
The march began and I watched the hedge holding my love until I could no longer see it.
I’d changed everything. Now I was truly on my own.
I bounced over the soldier’s shoulders for longer than I could count. Not that I counted, my tears wouldn’t let me. Where my tears fell flowers sprung up in their place, but they were quickly stamped to death by the heavy footfall of the soldiers in formation behind.
The Roman army were persistent and disciplined. I knew now how they had conquered the British Isles so easily. The ramshackle clans of the southern lands would never have been able to defend against a marching machine of this force. The fact my home isles had for so long was mainly due to the fact we were hidden in the wilds of the forest; of that I was almost entirely sure.
I had half a thought that I’d tell the next history teacher I saw, if I ever got back to my own time. But the prospect of returning to my own time seemed impossible. It would be like building a time machine when I didn’t know what parts I needed.
Tristram was dead.
I’d changed everything.
We hadn’t died together, our blood mingled on the stones. And he hadn’t lived, either, to be with Mae.
He was just dead. His cry of my name still echoing in my ears.
My chest hurt from my heaving sobs. My heart ached, and deep within my soul splintered.
