Chapter 14

I woke up in a cell, on the floor, feeling like I’d been hit by a truck (which I have been, so I know what I’m talking about). My head was splitting and every nerve in my body was screaming. 50,000 volts will do that to a girl.

I could see daylight spilling in through slits in the one wall. Crap. I’d been here two days, already. I was probably feeling the effects of the Push as we call it, as well as the nasty shock I’d gotten.

I laid there for a moment, thinking. I do that sometimes.

What the hell was going on? San Martin and Goldberg were from my time? And apparently they had all sorts of equipment and research materials? How the hell could they have snuck all that through at a research station?

There were only ten TALIS stations in existence, four of which were at NCI offices around the world. The others were in high security government facilities under 24 hour guard. How do a couple of guys manage to smuggle modern video surveillance equipment, weapons and a shitload of history books (which effectively are fortune telling devices once you get where you’re going) and God knows what else, past all the security measures that are in place around the machines? No one is allowed to take anything back that could be history changing and yeah, I think Tasers would fall into that category.

“Are you alright?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when O’Greer spoke. I had no idea he was in the room with me. The shock really did throw me out of whack. I’d better keep that in mind for awhile. I sat up way too fast, my head screamed in protest and stars were shooting in front of my eyes. Pretty.

“I’m grand. Just grand.”

“Liar.” I now noticed that there was a folded up coat under me. A rather smelly coat, but far more comfortable than the stone floor, nonetheless. O’Greer must have tried to make me a little more comfortable after they dumped me in the cell. What a sweetie.

“They got you, too, huh?”

“No, I’m just visiting.”

Props for 13th century snark.

I walked over to the big wooden door. It had a little square hole in it, but ain’t nobody getting out that way. Nary a window in sight. Hmmmm.

“Any ideas on how to get out of here?”

“It’s the dungeon. Four stone walls, one locked door. I’m out of ideas.”

Ah, but see that’s where a little 22nd century ingenuity comes in. Remember when I mentioned picking up “other” supplies that I said I would talk about later? Well, it’s later.

Since gunpowder wasn’t in widespread use in yet, there weren’t really a whole lot of explosives available in the 13th century. So I brought my own. Tee hee. No C4, but plenty of mud around, right? There’s a plastic explosive, known as L41 that is completely malleable in its inert state. It can be tinted whatever color is needed (for example, the color of mud) and molded into whatever shape is required (for example, a mud clump) and stored safely till needed. Until you add the “trigger” chemical. Then it conveniently burns through just about anything in a most spectacular way.

It so happens I had a little L41 on me.

It looked like a little clump of mud. Fortunately, (I guess) this is not the first time I’ve found myself in a jail cell, so I’d taken the L41 out of my bag and put it in the pocket of my shirt. That way even if I was searched, it would just look like I was a slob. I figured the chances that anyone would try to take my clump of mud away were pretty slim.

I amped up and listened for any signs of life outside the door. Considering how the stone halls echo, I figured we were pretty much alone.

I molded the L41 against the lock in the heavy wooden door while O’Greer watched me intently. I’m pretty sure he thought I was insane. I’m used to that. Supply had taken a white cloth and soaked it in the compound, then let it dry. The powder by itself was innocuous, but add some water and the L41 and you’ve got the perfect escape. I had the cloth balled up in my pocket like a hanky. My captors had been kind enough to provide a little bucket of water in the corner, or at least I chose to believe it was water. I soaked the cloth and pressed it up against the L41 until I could feel the heat starting. I held it up there as long as I could then dropped the cloth. The L41 continued to burn, smoking up a storm as it ate away at the wooden door. O’Greer looked like he might have developed a whole new respect for me.

Within a few minutes the L41 had burned right through the door. Again I listened to be sure no one was coming and when I was convinced we were safe, I opened the door.

Didn’t really consider that there might be a lone guard sitting quietly right outside the door.

I guess he heard the crackling from the burning door or smelled the smoke or something because he was ready for me. I took one step outside the door and was promptly skewered in the side by a big nasty knife. Whatever happened to “Stop or I’ll shoot?” Guess that doesn’t start for a few centuries.

I’m not really sure if the guard didn’t know there were two of us in the cell or what, but he seemed determined to come in for the kill. It’s a damn good thing O’Greer was following. He saw the guard take me down, and had enough time to react with a very cool Keysi move I’d just taught him a few hours ago. Disarmed the guy and knocked him out in a matter of seconds. I’m so proud.

The knife wound wasn’t anywhere near fatal, but damn it hurt. And I had that whole electrocution hangover anyway. Darn it, I was starting to feel a tad grumpy. Boy, would I not want to be Goldberg when I got my hands on him.

O’Greer insisted on checking out the wound. It was bleeding rather profusely, which is almost never good. I pushed off the wall I was leaning against, and started down the hall.

“It’s not that bad. But I need my bag. It has disinfectant and bandages in it. I’m guessing that knife had all sorts of critters growing on it.”

“You can’t be serious. We’ve got to escape the castle. We can’t go look for your belongings!”

“I need my stuff and if you think I’m not going to leave without wreaking all kinds of vengeance on that little bastard’s ass, you’ve seriously misjudged me.”

“You need to bind that wound – “

“There’s no time.” I’m not always terribly bright when I’m angry. Fortunately, O’Greer was a little more level headed. He pushed me back against the wall and forced me to sit down. Very quickly he took off his shirt and ripped it in to a couple of strips. The man had a body like a bulldozer, huge chest, fantastic abs. Ok, I’m back.

He tied the strips together and wrapped them tightly around my midsection. I was impressed with the knowledge of triage. I guess I hadn’t given enough credit to the big lug. The big, hairy chested, hunk of…I’m back.

It only took a minute to bind me up and we were on our way. We headed down the hall till we got to what appeared to be the only set of stairs leading up into the castle’s main floor. I was really, really hoping that no one chose those next few minutes to come for a visit.

And, for a change, I got my wish. We didn’t meet anyone on the way down. Reaching the first floor, I put my head down and listened. I know I wouldn’t have recognized Goldberg by his voice, but I could certainly recognize his accent. Convinced that I heard him down a hallway to my right, I started heading that way, only to be none too ceremoniously yanked in the opposite direction by O’Greer.

“This is the way out.” He was dragging me to the left.

“But I need to get-“

“We’ll come back for your things.”

“Goldberg-“

“What part about escaping are you unfamiliar with? Do you have any idea what Cayden will do if I come back without you? We know how to get in. We know where his guard boxes are and how to avoid them. And we will come back in force. But right now, we’re leaving.”

And with that, he dragged me out of there. I guess I could have given him more of a fight, but given that the castle was just brimming with men who seemed quite comfortable using excessive force, I shut my mouth and followed. Well, for that reason and the fact that the big hole in my side was kind of gushing blood at that point.

It was mid-morning by the time we made it back to Cayden’s camp. We were probably still a quarter of a mile away when I heard one of the guards yell out that we were coming. O’Greer thought I was imagining it (hard to convince someone you have super hearing), but sure enough, Cayden was waiting for us at the camp perimeter. It looked like he went a little pale when he saw the amount of blood I’d lost, but honestly, the wound had stopped bleeding way before. And yeah, I was kind of weak, but I could still have kicked butt if I had to. As long as none of my opponents was over the age of eight.

Cayden called for a stretcher, which, honestly, I had no idea they had them back then, and he had them take me to his tent. Two big dudes help me get situated on the big pile of pillows in the tent. I carefully unwound the bandages O’Greer had put on me and, with Cayden’s help, pulled the shirt over my head. I just didn’t want to get blood all over the pretty pillows. I then curled into a little ball and fell fast asleep. I did not pass out. Just making it clear. I fell asleep.

For all of five minutes.

The doctor, and I’m using that term loosely, came in, leeches in tow. Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, did have a hospital, which I mentioned during my research. But I don’t think this guy studied there. He came in with a red hot poker. Literally, I mean that. Red hot poker in his hand, looking to cauterize the wound. Sure, standard procedure back then, but Jesus H. Christ! Have you ever had someone come at you with a big wad of cloth (to bit on) and a branding iron? Oh, and worms with teeth?

Very, very happily, however, the gash in my side had almost completely healed over already. I had been overtaxing my adrenal system for a couple of hours at that point, and although I was completely exhausted, my body really wasn’t in that bad of shape. There are a few, a very few, disadvantages to being a Delta, but healing ultrafast certainly doesn’t suck.

I convinced him all I really needed in this world was a nice bowl of boiled water and the cleanest cloth he could find. With a brief urging from Cayden, he went to get them.

Cayden knelt down beside me, pushed my hair off my face.

“So, you really are insane, aren’t you?”

“Sorry?”

“O’Greer tells me you were knocked unconscious, stabbed and bleeding, yet still wanted to go after the wizard.”

“He’s not a wizard. He’s from my time. Both he and San Martin are from the future. They don’t belong here and I need to send them back before they do any more damager.”

He leaned down and kissed me. I was already half asleep as I mumbled. “And I’m not insane, I’m determined. The psychologist said there’s a difference.”

The darkness was pure heaven.