Stitch in Time

At least he was still alive.

Doubled over and clinging to the panicked mare with his good hand, Harrison Freely tried to see through the driving rain as relentless gusts of wind buffeted him and tried to remove him from the saddle. As they rode higher onto the mountain the intensity of the storm seemed only to worsen around them. The path the horse chose for their escape was lit by flashes of lightning that arched across the midnight sky above them.

He tried not to think about the arrow buried in his left shoulder or that his left arm flopped useless against the horse. The pain had slowly faded; he was going into shock.

The horse was still frantically trying to run into the storm, and that told him pursuit was still close behind. The blond woman and her minions had proven relentless since the horse had carried him from the confines of the wizards’ keep.

He hadn’t been here long enough to make many friends, but he appeared to have made plenty of enemies that were intent on capturing him — to what end he was still unsure.

The growing evidence told him he really had traveled over seven hundred years into the past, and the realization was still sinking into his view of reality. He wondered what archeologists would think if they found a skeleton wearing an Aerostitch suit designed for motorcycles that hadn’t been invented yet.

What protection the forest had offered fell away as the horse leapt into an open field and began to cross through the tall grass. He tensed, realizing they were now open target for the lightning.

Every hair on the back of his neck rose in warning as the world lit up around them and he blacked out.

* * *

When he awoke, Harrison Freely was relieved not to be lying helpless in an open field. He was warm and dry beneath what appeared to be a heavy blanket and lying on a thick mattress. There was rhythmic beeping nearby, and when he opened his eyes he was able to make out a white ceiling above him. Whatever room he was in was dim, lit only by flickering light from a fire.

He discovered restraints when he tried to move his arms, which, like his legs, were held secure to the bed. Turning his head he found the source of the beeping: it was a medical device on a nearby column, and it was measuring the beating of his heart. He also saw a bottle of some sort feeding into a long plastic line that was connected to the back of his left hand.

Relief flooded through him as he dismissed thoughts of medieval castles and wizards. It had to have been a dream. He remembered the motorcycle accident that started the whole fictitious trip, but everything else must have come from the injuries he sustained.

This would be the last time he ever did a favor for a vampire. Specially one he had grown up around. Puberty had been unkind when he found he had fallen for mysterious Roxanna Bonneville.

The hint of a foreign accent, her light olive complexion, golden brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair only added to what the small exotic pout of her lips fueled within his youthful imagination.

Years had past since; he had moved on and lost contact with her. Crossing paths had been a cosmic accident of the most unlucky kind. She had asked him to deliver a motorcycle for her and wanted it ridden hard, not shipped.

It was a trip that would take him across a desert covered in sunlight, which would be unkind to her complexion.

During a storm he had misjudged a curve and missed the turn only to hurtle toward the fence that encircled a power plant. Everything else had been a blur. A freaking scary blur — but now nothing but fleeting memory that would leave him to wonder what his imagination had been smoking to create it.

Lifting his head he saw that the flickering light came from a fireplace on the far side of the room. The fire itself was secured behind a glass door, yet another sign that he was in modern times.

He chuckled and shook his head, realizing that the intensity of the dream had left him not fully convinced it had been a dream. At any moment the crazy blond woman would crash through the door and do whatever it was she had set out to do.

He wondered where his imagination had dredged up such a person. He didn’t recall knowing anyone that had resembled her nor what she represented to his subconscious.

Then there was the Wizard. Rubikyan. What a name he could pluck out for someone who studied magic.

He looked around the room and tried to make out where exactly he was. It seemed more like the formal bedroom rather than a hospital room. Shelves along one wall were filled thick with bound volumes of books, not exactly bookstore paperbacks like the ones he had once collected. What appeared to be a tall window was covered in dark curtains.

The large door opposite the window opened as a tall figure backed into the room and closed it with a foot. Long, curled gray hair fell to the waist over a dark gray robe as the figure moved to stoop before the fireplace and dropped several logs. A long slender hand reached out to pick up a poker as the figure opened the fireplace doors.

“Glad to see you are back with us. We were becoming concerned.”

The deeply graveled male voice sounded strangely familiar as Freely watched the man add wood to the fire. Gently closing the door the man replaced the poker. He stood and appeared to warm his hands. The man appeared to be wearing a robe tied with a single white cord.

“We chose to bring you here for your recovery. Anyone looking will be less likely to find you here. But then again they assume you died in the accident... for the most part.”

The man turned and walked toward the bed revealing features that shocked Harrison Freely to his core.

The unmistakable features of a long, narrowed nose between dark piercing eyes that sparkled with amusement studied him as the thin pale lips of the Great Wizard Rubikyan curled into a smile. Before Freely could say anything, Rubikyan raised a finger to stop him.

“Roxaleene has put together a collection of information that will help to explain what has happened to you and why.”

Walking over to the shelves, Rubikyan selected a book that he brought over and laid upon Freely’s chest. Waiving a hand over each restrained wrist, the Wizard stepped back to pull up a chair. When Freely didn’t do anything with the book, Rubikyan gestured to the book and settled in to wait. With a snap of his narrow fingers a small ball of light appeared as if to be a reading light.

The book appeared to be the standard ledger variety. Glancing up at the Wizard as if to be sure he was really there, Freely carefully opened the front cover and found the first page filled with neatly penned script.

Dearest Harry.

If you are reading this you have risen from your deep slumber. Undoubtedly you are filled with questions that I will try to answer. As you read these pages you will find the events incredible yet familiar. I hope you will forgive me for my part but when the opportunity arose I chose to use it to my advantage.

Yours Truly, Roxanna

Freely looked up and found the Wizard watching him intently. When Rubikyan motioned for him to turn the page, he did so and reluctantly and began to read.

It was the year of our Lord 1336 that I first met you. I was then known as Roxaleene, Captain of the Royal Guard which commanded forces sent to protect the Wizard Rubikyan from the dark forces that threatened to breach our borders.

Celina, whom you have known as my master was then one of many who commanded those dark forces. When you arrived we thought it was she who had sent you, but quickly realized that was not the case. I have put together the story from what I recall as well as what others whom were involved have shared with me.

Undoubtedly some of it will be familiar while other parts may help to clarify the reasons for our actions and perhaps your involvement.

As I write this I am reminded how time has been fleeting. I sit next to your bed as you sleep knowing that the injuries you sustained were necessary and the responsibility for putting you in harms way was mine and mine alone. Do not let Rubikyan try to convince you otherwise.

My memory of that period of time is as clear today as when it happened then. It would start with a storm and end with a storm leaving us to consider how time travel can affect events on both ends of the spectrum.

If there had been another way, but there wasn’t.

* * *

Harrison Freely turned the page and continued to read.

Several times Rubikyan rose and fed the fire. The Wizard opened the drapes to let in sunlight as the day progressed and servants intruded to occasionally deliver food while a nurse arrived to check his progress. When alone, silence again descended as he read and Rubikyan watched the fire and then watched him read.

At long last Freely closed the book and set it aside. Laying his head back, Freely closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

The wizard was the first to speak. “It was not her fault, you know. It was I who made the deal with the devil; or demon in this case.”

Freely opened his eyes and met those of the Wizard. “I don’t understand this time travel thing. How is it that I went back because you convinced Roxanna centuries later?”

Rubikyan stood and clasped his hands behind him as he turned and began to pace the room. “Time travel is a tricky thing in and of itself. People forget that the earth turns, and rotates around the sun. The sun itself invariably could expand and push planets further away. If one is not careful and travels back in time, they may very well find themselves in space rather than where they want to be.”

“What does that have to do with what happened to me?”

“I was trained to call demons and ask them for... favors. Sometimes they granted the favor, sometimes they asked for something in return.” The wry expression on the Wizard’s face told Freely enough that he wanted to know more.

“Roxy mentioned in that book that there was a demon involved. How exactly did that work?”

“When you arrived, you were wearing an amulet.”

“Yes, she gave it to me before the trip.”

“On that amulet were some inscriptions, or a note, written by me for only me to read. It told me the name of a demon and what to ask of him. It also told me what he would want in return that would guarantee that he gave me what I asked.” Rubikyan paused as he turned to resume pacing. “It reminds me of the old saying that one should be careful what one asks for.”

“Go on.” Freely said, his impatience growing.

“This demon had a child with a mortal. Her name was Wraith. She was the one chasing you the night you escaped from the Keep.”

Freely’s eyes widened. “She was a demon? How did I manage to outrun her?”

“Half-demon, half-human. She passed herself off as student of the magical arts and managed to become quite a sorceress herself. She discovered you had arrived through spies they had placed within our midst.”

Freely’s eyes narrowed as he thought about the implications of what Rubikyan had just said. “How did my arrival draw her attention and why on earth was she so interested in me?”

Rubikyan smiled as he paced slowly across the room. “She was interested in you because you were a stranger that her spies reported wore very strange magical armor.”

“My motorcycle armor?”

“Well that and she could sense the demon blood in the amulet which I’m sure set off all kinds of alarms. Demons are hyper-aware of other demons and demon blood is something they can sense quite well.”

“Okay, how is it that I was able to get from back there to back here again and where exactly am I now?”

Rubikyan, apparently tired of pacing, turned and sat back in his chair. “Lightning hit you and activated the amulet. You arrived back in this time and that is where they found you.”

“They? Who exactly found me?”

“Wraith somehow figured out when you had come from and was waiting to get that amulet. If she was anything, she was patient.”

“And she let me live?”

Rubikyan sighed as he brought his fingers together in a steeple. “I instructed Roxaleene to use an arrow that was dipped in something that would make it appear that you were dead.”

Freely stared at the Wizard as he realized the full implication of the Wizard’s words; “Roxy shot me? With that arrow?”

“Fortunately, she is and was an excellent marksman. When you arrived here, Wraith snatched the amulet as we arrived and she left you in one piece.”

“Why would she want that amulet?”

“When we knew her forces would invade and take my castle, I used the information from that amulet to call forth the demon and make a deal. He would craft two more amulets identical to yours.”

“In exchange for...?”

“The amulets are boomerangs of sorts. They form stitches in time. With the application of power such as that of a lightning bolt, they will take you from a certain point in time to another and then back before they expire.”

“Mine took me back and forth, and yours brought you here, what happened to the third one?”

“Roxaleene had to have one to give to you, did she not?”

“But, wait. You said Wraith took mine. If mine was... expired, would it still work for her?”

Rubikyan smiled with pleasure. “I switched yours for one that the demon gave us. I used yours and you used another. If she had seen the inscription, she would have known what was going on.”

Freely frowned, not understanding what the Wizard had explained.

Rubikyan stood and walked over to the fire. “When the final push came and Wraith was chasing you, her people forced their way up the tower to capture me. I set up a trap which was activated to destroy the tower and everything in it. I used my amulet to transport out just before the trap activated.”

Stoking the fire the Wizard remained silent until he closed the doors. “When Wraith used the amulet, she was returned to exactly that moment in time and was given a choice by her father to serve him or perish. In reality it was what he wanted in the first place. He knew she would not choose death for any reason.”

“And Roxaleene?”

“She knew what she had to do and submitted to Celina when she was captured. They used her to track down her people once she was brought across.”

“That’s it? I was just an unlucky part of some thread that brought some demon back together with his daughter?”

“Not exactly.” Rubikyan moved to the window and looked out. “Part of the bargain was a serum that would destroy the vampire curse. The demon twisted it so that it killed any human host we tried to put it in. What he didn’t count on was that human resistances have changed in seven hundred years.”

“What are you not telling me?”

“Roxaleene treated you with the serum and you didn’t die. Resistances of your time are much higher than they were in ours. Only she and I knew of this. A few days after you returned and we had secured your safety, she took several vials of your blood to administer to the blood supply of her master and others.”

“That was her part of the deal? What was yours?”

“I simply asked for immortality. I jumped seven hundred years into the future to help a friend take her revenge in the process. The demon got his daughter back and you survived the trip.” Rubikyan leaned back against the wall and folded his arms. “The serum is in your system and has shown no ill effects. Applied to Vampire blood it is devastating. Look at it this way, you are now Vampire-proof.”

“I suppose that I should consider that a good thing.” Freely said with sarcasm. He brought a hand up to his forehead. “And what happens now?”

Rubikyan smiled. “We wait and find out if she was successful. In the meantime you will recover and heal. I doubt anyone would believe this story unless they had lived through it as we have.”

Freely laid back and closed his eyes. “I need to sleep and think about this.”

Rubikyan nodded and rose and extinguishing the light. Closing the curtains he crossed the room to open the door.

“Rubikyan?”

“Yes?”

“Next time, ask someone else to do your stitching.”

The Wizard’s laughter rolled down the hall as he walked away.

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