"No! I cannot leave my father!"
He struggled to his feet and pulled her, trying to get her to flee into the forest with him. Once they reached the protection of the woods, there was still a chance that, on foot, they might elude the more encumbered mounted men, but Rebecca resisted him with all her strength.
"No, I cannot abandon him, I tell you! You run, Poignard, and save yourself!"
"Hold!" cried Bois-Guilbert, riding up to them. They were quickly surrounded. "You," he said, pointing to Hooker, "what is your name?"
"I am called Poignard, my lord," said Hooker.
"You are a bondsman. How is it that you travel with this Jew?"
"He has been left with my father as a surety for the repayment of a loan," Rebecca said, "along with some possessions belonging to his master, a Norman fallen on hard times."
"What is your master's name, Poignard?" said Bois-Guilbert.
"Philip of Doncaster, my lord," said Hooker, improvising quickly.
"I do not know him. These three men," he pointed at the corpses, "you killed them?"
"He fought to protect his master's goods, my lord," Rebecca said. "He saved them and the mule which bears them and was wounded in his efforts."
"Your master is fortunate in having such a faithful bondsman," said the Templar. "Take his goods and go. Tell your master that Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert has released him from his obligation."
"Wait, Brian!" called De Bracy. He came riding up to them with two young men beside him. He turned to his and the Templar's squires. "Are you certain this is the man?"
"There is no doubt, milord," said De Bracy's squire. "I recall that scar upon his face."
Bois-Guilbert's squire nodded. "It is the same man," he said. "The white knight's squire."
Bois-Guilbert leaned down, reaching out to the sole remaining mule and ripping away some of the rough cloth that was lashed over the load. The nysteel armor was revealed. He tore away the cloth and there was the shield with the uprooted oak upon it.
"A Norman fallen on hard times, you said?"
Rebecca looked away.
Hooker's heart sank. All he could think of was that vision of himself lying dead upon the ground, his head nearly severed from his shoulders.
Chapter 9
Hunter poured Lucas a cup of tea and himself a glass of bourbon. "I'd offer you some of the good stuff," he said, "but you'd best take it easy for a while."
"This is amazing," Lucas said, slowly sipping the hot tea. "You've got Chinese tea and Kentucky bourbon, recordings of Bartok, Vivaldi, The Rolling Stones and P.J. Proby, Castello and Mastro De Paja pipes, Senior Service cigarettes, vintage Margeaux wine...."
"I've always had a taste for the old-fashioned things," said Hunter with a note of pride, unable to conceal his pleasure at having a guest who could appreciate his acquisitions. "Would you care for a pipe?"
"Thank you, I would."
Hunter selected one for him, passing it to him along with a pouch of English blend tobacco, a mixture of the finest Oriental and Havana leaves. Lucas examined the pipe. It was a briar, a billiard shape, perfectly straight grained. He checked the stamping.
"This is a 1917 Dunhill," said Lucas. "It's almost brand new!"
"Picked it up in London not too long ago," said Hunter.
"How did it happen?" Lucas said. "What are you doing here?"
"Okay, I'll give you the abridged version," Hunter said. "I was floater-clocked into this time period with the 82nd Airborne."
Lucas nodded. He should have guessed as much when Hunter said he had a chronoplate. The 82nd Airborne had a long and extremely colorful history, dating back thousands of years. Once a crack division of paratroopers, the 82nd was now a floater division. They were para-time cartographers, pathfinders, without whom the time wars could not be fought. In the early days of time travel, there had been disastrous accidents with people materializing inside walls, clocking back into the same location occupied by another person. Such accidents were still possible and they occurred from time to time, but to minimize their possibility, there were the floaters. These soldiers always preceded any fighting unit sent back into the past. They charted the geographical locations and the time periods in which the soldiers from the future would do battle, making extensive surveys of terrain and construction, population density, climatic conditions, in short, everything that would affect a soldier sent back into that time and place.