Chapter 11

We walked a few hundred yards out of the camp. We could still see it and they could see us, but far enough to allow for a little privacy.

“Sit.” He motioned to a tree. I did.

“How badly are you hurt?” Cayden lowered himself to the ground as well.

“I’m fine. Just sore.”

Cayden picked an apple off the ground and tossed it just a bit over my head. I instinctively reached up and caught it. The motion caused me to gasp in pain.

“Must I ask again?”

“Ok, I think I cracked a rib and my ankle is swelling a little. But I’m fine. I heal fast.”

“You would have continued to walk for miles without telling me you were hurt, wouldn’t you?”

I gave up and lay down on the soft grass with a little groan. Oh…yeah. That felt good. “Probably.”

He lay down beside me and looked up at the clear blue sky. I had forgotten the sky could be that blue.

“By the way,” I asked, “Did that make you grow an inch?”

He thought about it for a minute. “I don’t understand.”

“Telling them you were fucking me.”

He grinned. “I’m reasonably sure they figured it out based on all the noise coming from my tent last night.” He rolled to his side and looked down at me. “You speak very strangely”.

“I’m aware of that”.

“Who are you?”

“I told you, I’m from the same place as San Martin. I was sent to take him back there.”

“I’ve spent my adult life traveling the world. I’ve seen fighting styles from everywhere, and I’ve never seen anything like that. You knew exactly where to place each blow to take advantage of your opponent’s weakness. You had three men rushing you, yet you still landed every strike with precision. You fight better than any man I’ve ever seen. And you enjoy sex like a man. And worse yet, you speak your mind like a man.”

I was still staring at the bright blue sky. He wouldn’t have been the first person I’d told the truth to. And he probably wouldn’t be the last. There was absolutely nothing he could do with the knowledge I gave him, even if he believed me. Time travel wouldn’t be available to him just because I told him about it. And nothing I would say would give him any useful knowledge about the future. But if I could get him to understand my urgency, and how it matched his own need to get his kingdom back, maybe we could help each other.

I turned to look at him. “OK, but remember you asked for it. It’s not so much about where I come from as when.”

He didn’t blink.

“I’m from several centuries in your future.”

He blinked.

“I’m a sort of sheriff from the future. I hunt down people who have traveled into the past and caused changes in the natural timeline. San Martin is one of those criminals. I came here to catch him and send him back to his own time.”

He blinked again. “So you’re not going to tell me.”

I smiled. He returned it. Then I saw it. He believed me. At least a little.

“Well, if you’re telling the truth, you’re going to be an incredible ally in this battle. If you’re insane, I’d still rather have you fighting on my side.”

“Excellent logic.” Had to give him credit.

“I thought so as well.” He picked a piece of grass and began to chew. “What time are you from, exactly?”

“2164. I live in the . It’s a little west of here. It’ll be 200 years before Europeans even discover it’s there. The world isn’t flat, by the way.”

“I know that. I’m well educated in sciences, you know.”

“That would be 13th century science right? Where demons can invade a body if someone sneezes?”

“I am a king now, you know. You continue to speak to me with that disrespectful tongue and I’m going to have you tied up and tan that exquisite bottom of yours”.

I gave him the evilest of my grins. “Is it wrong that I’m a little turned on by that?”

“I’m thinking restraints might be in order tonight.”

“Oh, baby.” Cracked ribs or not, I rolled over and had my way with him.

After we got back to the camp, I asked Cayden if I could talk to his battle planner, discuss what had and hadn’t been tried, what recon they’d done. I stopped at recon. There was a somewhat blank look on his face.

’What?” I asked.

“You have to appreciate that despite all the…entertainment you’ve provided in the last few hours, I still don’t know you. Now you’re asking me if you can learn our weapons arsenal and battle plans?”

He had a point. I was on a clock, but he wasn’t. He had no way to judge whether or not I was here for the reasons I said or if I was actually one of San Martin’s people who had been planted to gather information. So I didn’t kill him while he slept, that didn’t necessarily mean I could be trusted. And the fact that I’d told him the truth wouldn’t weigh in, considering “the truth” made me sound like a lunatic.

“All right. Then I need to go do my own recon.”

“You want to go to the castle? By yourself?”

“When it comes to recon, yes, I think I’m better of alone.”

“Out of the question.” He turned and continued to his tent.

“Excuse me?”

“I can’t let you go. Not alone. And I’m not risking my men to protect you.”

I walked closer to him. I didn’t want to have a screaming match in the middle of the camp. Not good for morale.

“Ok, first, your men protecting me. How would that work? And second, you know if I wanted to I could go. I’m being polite asking. I need information if I’m going to get San Martin. You’re not willing to give it to me and I understand why. But I have a job to do. And if I do my job, you win, too. You can either work with me or I need you to stay out of my way.”

I could see he was getting angry, but damn it, so was I. We had the same freaking agenda! He stared at me as he took a couple of deep breaths. Whatever was on the tip of his tongue didn’t come out. Probably best for both of us. He turned and started walking back to his tent.

“San Martin has more men than I do. They’re all over the estate. And they seemed to be reasonably well trained. You wouldn’t get past them. It’s out of the question.”

“It wouldn’t take much to beat your men. I beat your men, remember?” Oops, that did it. He spun on me so fast I had to take a step back.

“No, Ashlyn! No, you didn’t beat my men, remember? They caught you and they brought you here. They brought you to me. And if I hadn’t found you interesting enough, you’d be naked and tied up with the horses waiting for the next soldier to come along and do what he pleased.”

Well, that certainly took the wind out of my sails. God I hate it when I’m wrong.

We stared each other down for a second. I quieted my tone a bit. “I need information, Cayden. I need it fast.”

He took another breath. “You want my trust? Earn it. Teach my men how to fight as you do.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve been training since I was four years old! I can’t take your big ox soldier boys and teach them to be martial arts experts in a few days! And I can’t wait that long than that to get moving. I’m on a pretty strict timetable here.”

“Fine, then teach one. O’Greer. He’ll be a motivated pupil, since I’m sure he’d be delighted to be able to...what’s the phrase you used? Kick your ass? You teach him, he teaches the others”

“Oh, come on, you can’t be serious. That big oaf wouldn’t be able to get my stretching routine down –“

He grabbed me by the shoulders. I started to react, but wanted to see where this was going. Pissing his royal highness off in front of the men was one thing. Bringing him to his knees with an ill-thought out move would have been something else entirely. See, sometimes I actually do think before I act.

“That big oaf has been with me for more than ten years. He’s loyal and he’s smart and he’s a damn good soldier and an even better friend. I respect him and you damn well better mind your tongue when you talk about my men.”

All right. So he had a good point, but I still didn’t have the time to teach Shitface how to fight in Keysi. It would take months to teach him the basic moves. I had days. Five of them to be exact. And I knew deep down Cayden wasn’t being unreasonable, but there simply wasn’t enough time to teach O’Greer, no matter how good a soldier he was, and that was assuming he would even be willing to let me teach him in the first place. Taking fighting lessons from a girl couldn’t have been high up on his wish list.

In a much softer tone, “I’m sorry. That was thoughtless. I didn’t mean to insult you or your men.” Cayden’s face softened a teeny, tiny bit. His grip on my shoulders eased up. And my brain started to function again, mellowing out my emotions. That’s when it hit me.

“I can’t teach him enough to beat me. But I can teach him enough to beat any of your other men. Will that do?”

Cayden nodded slowly. “That would be fine. When he’s learned enough to beat any comers, I’ll share what information I have about San Martin and the castle with you.”

Without taking his eyes off me, he called to the two guards that were standing in front of his tent. As they approached, he explained. “You will stay here, Ashlyn, whether as my guest or as my prisoner is your choice.” To the guards, “Make sure my guest doesn’t wander off unattended. See if you can find her a small tent for the rest of her stay.” He turned and walked away.

Aiden is right; I’ve got a big mouth.