Hearts Across Time (The Knights of Berwyck: A Quest Through Time Novel ~ Books 1 & 2) (25 page)

“It’s just a hunch, but it would make sense,” Katherine added as she ran to keep up with her husband.

“Just a hunch? You people are all friggin’ nuts,” Emily yelled. “Do you actually mean to say we would have been hurdled back even further in time just now?” Emily said in a state of panic, and Tiernan’s lips met hers again in a hasty kiss to, obviously, shut her up.

“God help us,” Juliana prayed.

Katherine was attempting to calm her friends, when Riorden came to a screeching halt as his boots slid across the smooth stones. She could see the tower stairs, and how the future awaited her friends to return back to their own time period. They had but one obstacle to get through that rapidly turned into two, and then three.

Riorden drew his sword as shouting from the corridor brought another into their sight. A total of four obstacles now stood in their path. From the look of things, the king’s guards were just as surprised to see the man who they considered an enemy to the crown. The sound of steel being released from the scabbards of Danior and Tiernan echoed in the air as they looked to Riorden for their orders.

“Do not kill them,” Riorden commanded. “I will not have their blood on my hands when I must needs answer to my king.”

He pushed Katherine behind him, and stumbling, she grabbed Juliana and Emily’s hands as they huddled near the entryway to the tower. She could almost feel the pull of the future, trying to urge her into the stairwell in order for her to return to her proper time. But she ignored the prompting and further distanced herself from the steps.

Her gaze traveled to her husband and she swore she held her breath while he engaged first one guard and then another. The three men fought valiantly as the sound of steel clanging against steel resounded loudly in their ears. True to his words, one by one, the guards were knocked senseless and landed in a heap on the floor. Then a fifth guard began running down the passageway, coming to aid his fallen comrades. Riorden again brought up his blade.

“Go,” he yelled at Danior and Tiernan, and they grabbed their ladies.

Katherine was torn between watching after her lady friends and keeping an eye on her husband. She saw Riorden stumble and land on one knee upon the floor. Sounds of the footsteps of yet another guard were heard, fast approaching. With her decision made, she gave a quick glance of goodbye to her friends before hurling herself forward. She began pounding her fists on the sixth guard’s back, despite the pain she felt from his chainmail underneath his tabard. He stood and began moving backwards, trying to disengage Katherine from around his neck.

“Katherine! Nay!” Riorden yelled as he engaged the newcomer with his blade of steel.

All at once, everything seemed to Katherine as if it occurred in slow motion. She saw how her friends, along with their men, stood in a glowing haze on the steps of the tower, as if they were between two worlds. She could actually see the electric lamps shining brightly on the walls of twenty-first century Bamburgh.

She heard Juliana and Emily, as if they were in a tunnel, call out her name in warning at the same time the guard at last gained his freedom by pushing Katherine off his shoulders. She lost her footing and began toppling backwards to fall inside the turret.

“Riorden!” she screamed out his name with an anguish born of desperation, knowing
Time
was pulling her forward and away from him. She saw his fists swinging at his two adversaries, pelting them until he knocked the guards out, one at a time. He turned and immediately leapt towards the portal.

Reaching out her hand, she felt him firmly grasp it, and yet his face strained with all his might to pull her back to his side. Those unwelcoming tiny lights that originally brought her happily back into the past began to brighten before her eyes. The floor beneath her feet began to tremble. And then she knew without a doubt, while she stared for the last time into her husband’s beautiful eyes, what she had dreaded all along would happen. Only another miracle could save them.

R
iorden watched
the
horrified look on his wife’s visage and felt a force beyond his ken attempting to rip Katherine from his life. He continued to hold tightly to her hand, even whilst he felt her slipping from his grasp.
Merde!
No one or thing would wrench this woman from his side. She belonged to him, and he would be damned if
Time
would take her. He tugged harder, hoping to bring her back to him, once more.

He watched her mouth moving and was frightened for the first time in his life when her words whispered inside his head, as if she was a ghost, yet again.
Bloody Hell!

“I love you, Riorden. Throughout all time will I love you…”

“Nay, Katherine. Do not leave me," he bellowed and reached out with his other hand to take a firmer hold upon his wife. “God, I pray, do not take her from me. I beg of You!”

Struggling to maintain his grip, he watched in alarmed fascination as Tiernan and Danior disappeared afore his very eyes while Juliana and Emily stared in shock at their now empty hands. They were at least still with his Katherine, and yet they seemed not of this world whilst they earnestly attempted to reach their friend.

Suddenly, the two women frantically dove forward and gave Katherine a mighty push, causing his wife to momentarily teeter on the edge, between the present and the future. And then… miracle of all miracles,
Time
released her, as if against its will, and Katherine violently slammed forward into his arms. He crushed her to him as they stumbled onto the floor from the sheer force of power that had held her captive.

“Thank you, God,” Riorden whispered whilst he held on to his wife as if he would never let her go.

Katherine swiftly regained her senses and turned, staring for the last time at her friends. The two women became more and more transparent afore her eyes until they were but shadows. Together, they blew her a kiss in a final farewell, took each other by the hand, and vanished into thin air.

Just as quickly, the time gate rapidly diminished with fading, glowing lights. Abruptly, they were cast back into the dimness of the castle and life in the twelfth century. The torches began to sputter, giving off smoke, and all appeared as it should, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.

There was not much in this life that could cause Riorden to lose his composure, and yet holding his wife as she turned and cried on his shoulder was almost more than he could bear. He swore he was shaking almost as much as Katherine whilst she began to mutter incoherent sentences of what he assumed was gratitude to a higher being. They had much to be thankful for, and he could spend the rest of his days humbly praying and still ’twould not be long enough to show his undying love for this woman God had given back to him.

The guards roused from their stupor upon the floor, quickly rose brandishing their blades, and looked for the threat that was surely surrounding them. In a daze of confusion and seeing nothing unacceptable, they put their swords away and turned to stare at the couple, who stood there, silently waiting to be put under arrest.

“Is the lady not well, my lord?” one of the guards questioned.

“Excuse me?” Katherine whispered as her gaze flew to Riorden, who only shrugged his shoulders.

“Did you perchance fall?” the guard asked again, looking more befuddled than afore.

Riorden watched in surprise whilst the king’s men turned as one and began to leave the passageway. The only knight remaining was still looking around, as if some form of trouble was about to sneak up on him.

“There is nothing amiss,” Riorden proclaimed whilst tucking Katherine under his arm and holding her as she wiped away her tears. “’Tis just a minor misunderstanding that has been resolved.”

The knight nodded, as if at last understanding why the lady had been in tears. “’Tis best they know their place early on in the marriage, my lord. Made the mistake of letting my wife have her way from the start, and now I have a most vile mother-in-law meddling in my affairs, day and night!”

They watched as he nonchalantly turned and strode after the other knights, calling for them to wait up. Stunned, they could only stand in numb silence, wondering what had just occurred and why they were not being led away in chains. ’Twas difficult to comprehend the significance of such a matter and what the outcome would mean to their future.

“I don’t get it,” Katherine said as her breath left her in a swift rush.

“I am most bemused, as well, Kat,” Riorden agreed with a shake of his head. Reaching down, he pulled his wife back into his arms. He felt her shudder until she took another calming breath and raised her face to his. ’Twas the most beautiful sight he had ever beheld in his entire existence.

Her eyes widened, suddenly, and she turned slightly to glance down the corridor where the knights had just left. It was empty now, with no one in sight.

“We changed history,” she whispered breathlessly.

“Impossible!” Riorden gasped as he, too, followed her gaze. “There must be another explanation.”

“Didn’t you see their faces, Riorden? They had no idea they had been chasing Danior and Tiernan before the time gate swallowed them up, or even fighting with us, for that matter.”

“An interesting concept and one we can discuss behind the privacy of our locked door,” he declared and began ushering her away from the turret he never wished to step into again. “I swear, you shall be lucky if I ever let you out of my bed after the scare you just gave me.”

“An interesting proposition and one, I think, deserves further consideration,” she said quietly.

Riorden was at a loss for words, so he said nothing, even when she inquired where they were going when they walked past their chamber door. When they came abreast of Aiden’s room, the door squeaked open and Patrick poked his head out.

“All went well, my lord?” he asked sheepishly.

“Aye, Patrick. Our friends are where they belong,” Riorden answered, bringing Katherine closer to his side.

Patrick looked up and down the passageway, uncertain of its safety. “And are there any more ghosties about, my lord?” he asked, in a shaky voice.

Katherine laughed and reached out to rumple the boy’s hair. “None this night you need to worry about, my young friend,” she said happily. “Go get some sleep.”

Riorden continued onward until they began to climb upwards through another stairwell leading to the battlement walls of the keep. He pulled his wife to his side as they reached the stone wall to gaze out over the ocean as its waves crashed harshly onto the shore. Its sound gave him the soothing relief he had been in need of.

Whilst they stood there, side by side, a feeling of complete peacefulness and contentment filled Riorden’s soul and he leaned down to take possession of Katherine’s lips. He cupped her face with his hands until she at last gave him a timid smile.

“Why did you bring us here?” she whispered breathlessly.

Riorden smoothed the hair from her face and tucked a strand behind her ear. “Somehow, I thought it appropriate, my love.”

Katherine’s gaze traveled along the stones and she reached out to feel their surface beneath her fingers. “It does have a special meaning, doesn’t it?” She smiled.

“Aye. ’Tis the place where I was first able to touch you. Now that
Time
has given you to me again, I plan on keeping you nearby, Kat,” he vowed.

“That was way too close to my liking,” she said simply, since no further explanation was necessary.

“Aye, and I pray, never again shall we have a time gate try to steal you away from me.”

“I believe we’ve tempted fate enough for the rest of our lives, don’t you?” she asked, with a fleeting look of insecurity as she held tightly to his arm. “Can we do our best to stay away from Bamburgh in the future please?”

He gazed down at his woman and kissed her lips to silence her. If he had his way, they would never step one foot on the grounds for the rest of their lifetime. He would not take the chance of losing her, ever again.

K
atherine lay naked
, curled up against her husband’s side, while she ran her fingers lightly across his chest. Sighing contently from the pleasure he had given her, she moved closer to him and was in high spirits while blissfully listening to his heart beat beneath her ear. It was sure and steady whereas she was positive, just a short while ago, it had been pounding as fiercely as her own. Riorden had taken her to new heights in his love making this night as if to make a point that she belonged to him. She could have sworn they had touched the heavens, and was sure, her feet would never touch the ground again. She felt his rumbling laughter within his chest.

“With such a heavy sigh, should I assume, my sweet, you have no complaints?” he teased while he lifted her so they faced one another, side by side, on their pillows.

She touched his cheek and shivered when he placed a kiss on the inside of her palm. “If I were any happier, I’d…well…to be honest, I don’t know how I could be happier than I am at this moment.”

“I see I shall have to strive to prove to you throughout our years that each day can only get better, as long as you are by my side, sharing my life.”

“I know we’ll have many happy years together, my dearest Riorden.”

“Aye, that we shall, for somewhere in time, I have found you, and I plan on never giving you back,” he vowed, kissing her lips.

“I’ll be loving you throughout all eternity,” she said with all her heart.

“As I will love you, my dearest wife,” he declared, rolling her beneath him, and he magically began to show her just what the future would hold for her as his wife.

Hours later, as Katherine watched her husband sleeping, she could only wonder what the future held in store for them, once they reached Warkworth Castle. She could almost hear
Scarlett O’Hara’s
voice saying how she’d worry later about all her troubles another day. Perhaps, tomorrow would take care of itself.

Katherine curled up once more on her husband’s chest and felt the warmth of his arm wrap around her, bringing her closer. Reaching up, she began to twirl a piece of his hair between her fingers while still pondering the mysteries of life.

She had learned at least one lesson from her journey across time. For in between the past, present, and future, there seemingly lays a finite line where time has no meaning, and the courage to follow one’s dreams resides. Only she can know when, in the course of her own life, the right time to take those first crucial steps of making those ideas a reality will come. She smiled, thinking it was never too late to go after her deepest desires.

For Katherine had indeed followed her heart, even if
Time
had to give her a little push towards having those dreams come true. Against the most improbable odds, she had found her knight in shining armor, and he was everything she could have asked for in a husband, and more.

Riorden…even his name sweetly thought of in her mind brought a feeling of confidence, knowing forever across time, their souls would somehow manage to find one another. Only within his arms had she found the one thing she had been in search of all her life. Katherine had at last found true love, for Riorden had given her the gift of tomorrow. She was home.