Finally, he spoke. “So. Did ye come to watch me show off too?”
“I...uh..”
I came to say goodbye.
The words lodged in her throat. “I’ve never seen archery before. Not like that, anyway,” she said instead.
Emeric turned to watch the archers practicing their shots. His expression turned pensive as it flicked across the assembled crowd and then back to his sister.
“Aye, well, perhaps we can hold our own in the games. I know that would please Aislinn, not to mention my uncle.”
“Your uncle?”
“Aye,” he said, turning back to her. “My father’s elder brother. He’s the laird of Clan Mackintosh and lord of this castle and its lands.”
She guessed a laird meant some kind of wealthy landowner. “Right. And these games. Are they a competition?”
“Aye. Part of the celebrations for Aislinn’s wedding. There will be archery and wrestling and blade work and ax throwing and others besides.”
“That’s a strange way to celebrate a wedding! What’s wrong with a hen party like normal?” She grinned, meaning it as a joke, but Emeric didn’t smile.
“A hen party? Is that one of yer twenty-first century customs?”
The grin died on Anna’s lips. Why was he still continuing with this ridiculous time travel charade? Did he not realize when a joke had gone far enough?
She opened her mouth to tell him so, but the words died on her lips. Her gaze fell on the people beyond him and she looked, really looked, for the first time.
She noticed the absence of synthetic fibers in everyone’s clothes and the prominence of natural materials like wool, cotton and linen. She saw no zippers or buttons. Instead clothes were fastened with brooches or laces. And then there was the horse, not a car, that had brought her here. There was the way the keep was lit by candles rather than electric lights. There was the maid that had brought hot water in a jug rather than just turning a tap. There was the way weddings were celebrated with games of archery and wrestling.
And there was Emeric’s claim that this was the fifteenth century.
Anna swayed on her feet as the world tipped abruptly.
“Are ye alright?” Emeric asked, noticing her sudden change in demeanor. “Ye look pale.”
“I’m fine,” she lied quickly, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. She swallowed a few times before she could speak. “Emeric, what year did you say this was?”
“I thought ye didnae believe—”
“What year?”
He watched her for a moment. “It’s 1497, lass.”
Oh no. Oh, no, no, no.
Anna felt her stomach drop, her heart racing. 1497? That couldn’t be right. But as she looked around—properly looked—the signs were all there. No electricity, no watches or smartphones, people using horses for transportation.
Time travel wasn’t real. Yet here she was, standing in what Emeric claimed was the year 1497, surrounded by people who knew nothing of antibiotics or space travel or the concept of democracy, or the million other things she took for granted every day.
She had walked into this thinking it was some eccentric country way of life, but now...
1497?
Emeric stepped closer, his green eyes as clear as the open sea. “Anna, lass, are ye sure ye all right?”
“Yes,” she mumbled as the ground tilted beneath her feet and her legs began to buckle. “Just need to...sit...down a minute.”
Then the ground rushed up to meet her and everything went black.
