AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He poured a second goblet of the wine and handed it to her. She sniffed the bouquet, which was fruity and spicy, and sipped. The drink warmed her all the way down and Dianora knew she’d better be careful not to imbibe too much. “We can trade advice for answers then,” he said affably. “Are you from the realm of the gods?”
Choking on her second sip of the wine, Dianora laughed and set the goblet on the table, the analytical part of her mind thinking this elaborate item would be a priceless artifact in the future. “Hardly. I’m from the future. Far in the future.” Would he believe her? “The ring transports me through time to here.”
Garren gazed at her with narrowed eyes and shrugged. “What is the future but another realm? And what does the future say about my current dilemma? Will I prevail over the Craadil and retake my throne?”
Comets and stars, he had to lead off with the most difficult question, didn’t he? Fortifying herself with a third, bigger swallow of the excellent wine, Dianora said, “To be honest, I don’t know. The historical record stops with you and your civilization ends. By the time my people come along, there are no more Belmane and no Craadil either. I’m thousands of years ahead of you.”
Head tilted, he continued to study her. “Belmane?”
“You. Your planet.” Too late she realized he might not even know he lived on a planet. “My people are from the stars and Belmane is what we call this place.”
Garren appeared to accept the explanation. “Our myths and legends speak of travelers from the stars, but only in the ancient past. So your people come again and find us gone?”
“You’re calm about it.”
“I don’t believe fate is preordained. A man or a woman has the power to change the world around them and I’ll never rest until I do. The Craadil won’t bring ruin and death to my people while I live and breathe.”
She wanted to offer him hope. “It may be we’re changing things already. I mean, for all we know you were supposed to die the day I first came and helped you get out of the dungeon. What do you call your people?”
“We’re the Argorn,” he said, toying with a quill pen lying beside the maps. “And your name, my lady?”
She blushed. “I’m sorry—I’m Dianora Devlin. I’m an archaeologist.” She heard the implant translate her profession as ‘seeker of ancient artifacts’. Not too far off.
“You search for relics of the past? Or my present?” He smiled and took another drink. “Odd my ring came to you after so many eons passed. I have to wonder if there isn’t more to it than simple coincidence.”
“Your ring? It was in a box when I found it.” She held out her hand and admired the glinting stones, which showed off well in the illumination he had.
He reached over and folded his hand gently around hers, his touch warm and oddly sensual. “The ring has been in my family for generations upon generations. I was to have presented it to the lady who would become my wife and share my throne but apparently—in your account—I never had the chance.” Giving her hand a small squeeze, he released her and reached for his wine, eyeing her over the lip of the cup. “Would you like to hear the story? The ring originated in the stars, as you claim to do.”
Eagerly she sat on the edge of her chair. He was about to give her the answer to the question which had inspired the entire expedition she was working for and she couldn’t believe her luck. “Absolutely. Tell me.”
“As I told you earlier, we Argorn have been visited by people from the stars before, practically before the beginning of recorded time, when my people were barely risen from savagery, scratching out a few crops and hunting to survive. The noble Lir’taray and his court descended upon the village from the stormy skies in a glowing star of their own and stayed for a year, teaching my ancestors much, which made us the blessed and anointed us to rule forever going forward.”
“Is there anything besides ancestral memory and family histories to back up the story?” she asked, slipping into professional mode. "Any written records?"
"The visit from the gods predated our written language I'm afraid. All the accounts which exist were written generations later, to preserve the knowledge as best we could. Much had been forgotten or twisted by then. The physical gifts Lir’taray left behind were certainly all gone, lost to time. Except these lamps you see around the room, which continue to burn when darkness falls, although we’ve no idea how and certainly can’t construct more. They’re precious and only for the use of the royal family.” He grinned. “There may be cave paintings at Batonnemi, which is where he arrived.”
Dianora committed the name to memory. Dr. Soren would certainly want to dig there. She’d been taking the lamps for granted, which was a rookie mistake. Of course a medieval civilization wouldn’t have powered illumination. There should be torches and candles or perhaps oil lamps. Making another mental note, she planned to examine one first chance she got. The expedition hadn’t found any at the dig site. So much to be done.
Garrin was staring at her, eyebrows raised. “You went off into your own world, my lady. What perplexed you so?”
Nervously she brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’m sorry—I was thinking about the lamps. And uh my work in my own time. Please go on with your story. You were telling me the Ancient Observers left?”
“The stone remained, however, for it was jealously guarded by the women of the family line.”
She pointed at the large gem set into the ring. “This stone?”
“Legend and lore state Lir’taray fell in love with a maiden of the village and they became as married during his stay, although no children resulted.” With a self-deprecating chuckle he added, “I claim no rights of divinity or even the much diluted blood of a god.”
“What happened?” She was impatient for the rest of the story. The details reminded her of other incidents recorded on farflung planets where AO had visited. Dianora would be researching all of it as soon as she set foot in her own time.
“When the year passed, Lir’taray said his time here was done and he’d never be returning. He wanted to take the girl with him but his own people said no to him, because she wasn’t blood of their blood. So he gave her the stone in secret, telling her to hold it and wish to see him and she would be brought to wherever he was for a brief time.”
“Stars and comets, did she use it?” This was like a fairy tale or a really good myth but here she sat, thousands of years in her own past, wearing the gem in a ring so there must be a strong element of truth.
“So the legends say. But the last time she tried to travel to see him the stone refused to take her and she believed he was dead. It was said the stone had other powers, which she’d learned to use, becoming a mighty and feared sorceress. Since that time the ring has been passed down in the family, usually to the oldest son or daughter of the previous holder. At some point it was set into a ring. No one else was ever able to use the stone to work magic, much less to go visit the gods but it’s tradition for the new owner of the ring to either wear it themselves if female or for a man to gift it to the woman he loves.”
A wave of disappointment swept over her, remembering the box and the statue of Garrin offering the gift to an unknown woman. Of course a man like him would be married. Scientific thoroughness drove her to ask her next question, although her heart didn’t want to know. She was getting in over her head with this guy. “Is there a woman here you planned to give it to? Or did give it to? What happened to her?”
