Praetorian Series [4] All Roads Lead to Rome (44 page)

I wasn’t sure how to proceed.  I’d never interrogated anyone before and I didn’t even really like talking to people much.  Most of my professional life was spent doing research, constructing experimental devices, and performing tests.  Not much room for interpersonal skills to develop, and usually I came off blunt with people, perhaps childish and immature.  I was aware of the problem but thought most people thought it cute, so didn’t work to fix it.

But I didn’t think that would work now.

It seemed best to start with the simple questions.  The obvious ones.

“Who are you?”

He lost his smile but still looked jovial.  “I’ve gone by many names,” he said, his English astoundingly impeccable, “but as you are only somewhat familiar with Arthurian lore because of what your friends have been able to piece together from their own vague understanding of the material, just call me… Tim.”

“Why Tim?”  I asked.

He smiled again.  “A reference to a movie Jacob adores: a comedic take on Arthur by a troupe of British actors and comedians that should be memorialized for all eternity, if fate is at all kind, that is.”

I felt a breeze over my head and looked up to see John whack Gaius on the arm, saying, “I know what he’s talking about.”

I glared up at him, and he looked away sheepishly.

“All right…” I said, turning back, “…Tim.  Or Merlin.  Or Faustulus.  Or
whoever
you are.”

He nodded.  “I see you are as clever as Jacob seems to think you are.  That is good.  Let me summarize then what you know, what you think you know, and what I think you know.  Luckily, I already know what I know.”

“Convenient,” I responded, folding my arms.

“Quite.  Now, you know that Jacob and I encountered each other some months ago in Britain.  We met, we bonded, we hugged it out, and I sent him on his way with instructions to find the red orb and go home.  A quaint enough story, one that is quite true enough, but what you don’t understand is how a seven hundred years younger version of myself could know all this.”

“Well, Tim, you must understand how unbelievable it all is,” I said casually enough.  “In fact, we were just discussing how little help you would be earlier tonight, yet, here you are… but you must have already known that since you apparently
know everything
.  Right?”

He shook his head.  “Wrong.  Different circumstances.  All I know is what I’ve seen in Jacob’s head all those months ago.  Everything after that, everything that’s happening now, is just as new to me as it is to you.”

“But you’ve never even met Jacob before!”  I countered, knowing that to be true.

“Quite complicated,” he said as he leaned back uncomfortably, sighing.  “Explanations, that is.  They’re
quite
complicated, especially without visual aids.  Jacob knew that.  He’s a teacher at heart, you know.”  He paused, and without seeming to think much on it, stared me dead in the eye, and said, “Bring me the orb.”

“What?”

“Your blue orb,” Tim/Merlin/Faustulus said.  “Bring it here.  Do not worry.  The exposure will be minimal.  Days are needed in constant contact for an effect to even just take hold.  You will be fine.”

I leaned forward and placed my hands on my knees.  “How do you even know about the other orb?  Jacob thought it was destroyed.  He never knew about it, still doesn’t.”

He leaned in as well, as far as his bound hands would allow.  “Do you honestly believe I cannot tell when my own orb is about?  I can feel it, my dear.”

Silence blanketed the room for a moment, but then John leaned down.  “Should I get it?”

I didn’t know why, but the answer came immediately.  “Yes.”

He nodded and started to leave.

“Don’t let her touch it,” Tim instructed.  “Not yet, at least.  Simply bring it here, Funny One.”

John hesitated for only a second, but then he was gone.  And he was gone longer than expected, probably because he had to find Archer first, but when he returned, he held the shining blue orb in a gloved hand, as though he had any way of influencing it.  It radiated its blue nature intensely, and I jumped from my chair and backed away, not remembering it ever doing that before.

“What’s going on?”  I demanded.

Tim remained silent while John shook his head, holding it out and away from him like a baby with a horribly soiled diaper.  “I don’t know!  Archer said he’s never seen it do this before, but says he hasn’t checked on it in weeks.  Who knows how long it’s been like this.”

Tim smiled, and gestured for me to sit down.  “It’s all right, Diana.  Just because it’s shinning doesn’t mean it’s irradiating you at a higher degree than when it’s opaque.  You will be fine.  It is merely sensing another active orb.”

I returned to my chair cautiously.  “So is that how it turns people crazy?  Irradiates them?  How exactly?”

“Through a series of uninteresting technobabble followed by incomprehensible exposition.  Nothing gripping, believe me, especially without a few specific visual aids that would blow your mind.”

I traded glances with John, and we both looked at each other with confused expressions.

Tim ignored us both and held out his hands for the orb.  “Please, Johnathon.”

With obvious reluctance, John held out the orb.  Tim snatched it up with his hands and dropped it into his lap.  He peered into, frowned at what he apparently saw, and lifted his head.  “Tim is a suitable name for two reasons.  First, I like to think that I’m an apt comparison to the character from the movie.  But second, it is because I am technically neither Merlin nor Faustulus.  At least not anymore.  A few days ago, I was quite happily Faustulus.  Seven hundred years later, I would have been Merlin, but now… I am both.  So Tim shall suffice.”

“Both?”  I asked.

He sighed and set his face.  “I will keep this explanation short.  For all our sakes.  When Jacob and I met in Britain, he brought his orb with him.  He didn’t need to, but I wanted him to bring it.  I’d… sensed his presence the second he and his friends arrived in Rome years ago and knew he’d come.  If he was ever to put serious effort into returning home, he was destined to seek out Merlin.”

I shifted in my seat, and nodded.  “How did you know?”

“Let’s leave it at magic, okay?”  He asked, a condescending smirk on his face.  “Now, when he arrived in the cottage, I had access to the orb without his knowledge and…” he trailed off and looked at me quizzically before lifting a hand to cover his mouth, “…golly gosh, this is going to sound complicated.  Well, let’s just say this then.  The consciousness and memories that belonged to the Merlin Jacob knew is now inside of me, the former Faustulus.  Transferred from Merlin to Faustulus via the orb.  Now I am Faustulus
and
Merlin.  Thus… Tim.”

Only Santino could think of something to say.  “Whoa.”

Tim nodded.  “Quite right.  Now, imagine
my
surprise when Remus suddenly arrived, seconds after I’d just banished him from our reality, with some simpleton named
Jacob Hunter
in tow, who had somehow managed to use both red and blue orbs to free Remus and take him back to the point in which he’d left.  It wasn’t until later, when all of Merlin’s knowledge came to me, that I understood his plan, but by then it was too late…”

“Too late,” I said, leaning forward again.  “Too late for what?”

He frowned.  “For Jacob…”  He held out the orb, and I could see now what he’d seen earlier.  There was Jacob, struggling, trapped in what appeared to be a loop that lasted maybe five seconds.  He seemed in great pain, and I could see that his leg appeared severely broken, and there were hundreds of armed men rushing toward him.  All this happened and then it repeated.

I jumped to my feet again.  “Where is he?”

“Where we left him.  In the past.”

I shook my head frantically.  “Well, let me go get him!  I have to save him!  I can use the orb, you know that!  Just give it to me!”

“Just wait, child.  Please do not be as impulsive as your brother.  Think.  What happened to the orb when last you used it?”

“It…” I searched for answer, “…it came back with me?”

“Right.  A one way trip.”

I fell into my chair.  “Then there’s nothing we can do.”

“On the contrary, my dear,” Tim said cheerily.  “We simply need another orb.”

“But… we don’t have another one.”

He smiled.  “We don’t now, but we can make one.”

“How?”

“Same way you meddlers always have.  Now, Johnathon, Gaius, if you will be so kind, please step out of the room.”

He spoke Latin perfectly, unlike Remus from the day before, but my friends didn’t immediately do as they were told.  They both looked at me for further instruction.

“Artie?”  John asked.

I didn’t respond, suddenly frightened by the prospect of using the orb again.  It had hurt tremendously last time, and there was still the possibility that Tim was manipulating us, and I didn’t want to screw this up and make things worse.  I never should have agreed to come here in the first place.  The result would have been the same: Jacob and the rest dead, only this time…

“Artie,” John said again, “you don’t have to do this, but…well, you should.  Just saying.”

I belted out a quick laugh but then bit my lip.  Leave it to John to say exactly what I needed to hear.  I glanced up at him while I gripped his hand tightly.  “Do you mind?”

He smiled.  “We’ll be just outside.”

I watched them go, and when they were gone, turned back to Tim.

“There’s still so much I don’t understand,” I said quietly.  “I have so many questions.  This is all happening so fast…”

“Time tends to,” Tim replied knowingly with a smirk as he held out the orb for me to take.  I reached for it, but he pulled it back.  “Think of nothing, Diana.  Or, better, think of anything and everything that will keep you from thinking of Jacob.  Do
not
let anything about him enter your mind yet.  If you do, we will fail, just like that.  The both of you may be trapped forever.  Keep your eyes closed until I say otherwise.  Nod when you’re ready.”

I did as I was told and allowed my facial muscles to relax, and pushed Jacob from my mind.  I thought of my work back home, of dreams to develop space propulsion technology the likes of which the Egyptians and Syrians couldn’t possibly imagine.  I thought of equations and mathematical concepts, conundrums and puzzles, things I’d enjoyed immensely.  This seemed exactly what I needed to think on, and, suddenly, I no longer even remembered what I was supposed to
not
be thinking about.

I nodded.

“Good,” Tim said.  “Stay focused.  You are strong, Diana.  Your mind always has been.  Now.  Stand up, leave the room, and ask John to come in here and take the orb.  Walk to the atrium, wait a few seconds, and think of me.  Think of me in this room, search your mind for a mental image.  It will seem odd at first.  It will seem quite literally as though a physical picture is floating around in your mind instead of a vague memory.  Seek out this picture, grip it tightly, open your eyes, and then take the orb.  I’ll tell John to vacate the room.  You’ll be alone.  Can you do this?”

I bit my lip, but responded quickly.  “Yes.”

I opened my eyes and looked into Tim’s own for just a fleeting second before I stood, turned, and left the room.  John and Gaius were waiting there, both with expectant expressions that begged for answers, but I simply asked John to bring me the orb before I walked to the atrium.  He nodded, although I was sure he had no idea why he was nodding, stepped away, and returned a moment later.  He held out the orb but I had him place it on the ground, watching for only a moment as he left the room with a worried look on his face.  When he was gone, I turned back to the orb, using its proximity to me and its energy to do exactly what Tim had told me to do, searching for the image of him in that room.  And then it was there, just as he’d described, just an odd memory floating in the front of my mind like actually looking at it with open eyes instead of processing an old memory. 

I focused on it and opened my eyes.

Looking into the orb on the ground, I saw Merlin from seconds ago, Jacob nowhere to be seen.  I smiled, took the orb eagerly, and then immediately felt a millions knives stab into me all at once, accompanied by a blinding blue light.  It was extraordinarily intense, but equally brief.  Just as the pain hit me, it was gone, and I found myself sprawled on the ground, the orb still in my hand as I gasped for air.  I looked up and saw Tim, holding his own orb.

He smiled down at me.  “Piece of cake, right?”

I grunted as I rose to my feet, leaving the orb on the ground.  “Not exactly.”  I retook my seat, shaking my head at the pair of orbs.  “These orbs… they’re so powerful.  How is it that they’re so unstable?  How is it that the act of using them creates another orb?  In the wrong hands… it’s unthinkable?

Tim frowned.  “Exactly why I imprisoned Remus.  He overstepped his bounds.  Took things too far.  Challenged his brother.  Challenged me.  So much potential… lost.”  He snapped his fingers.  “Just like that.”

“What happened?”

Tim pulled himself together, taking a deep breath through his nose.  “A story for another time, perhaps.  Much needs to be accomplished first, but before even that… there is your brother.”