Page 80 of Once upon a Summer Night

They continued in silence for a few more minutes, until they’d walked a good distance away from the main keep and towards a break in the inner bailey wall.

“The lists,” Colin informed her, as they stepped through to the other side. Blessedly empty, as training was finished for the day, though he suspected the night training Nioclas required his guards to do would begin soon. He watched Ellie, trying to imagine what she was thinking. He’d seen the lists countless times over the years; while they varied slightly from century to century, the basic function was still the same—war training and clan competitions.

She glanced at the large dirt field in front of her; surrounded on all four sides, extending upwards, were rustic bleachers. Each side had a large box in the center containing additional benches; they looked like an early version of box seats. Blue and silver flags hung limply from each of the four boxes, waiting for a breeze to make them dance. A low barrierran down the middle of the entire length of the field. On the far ends, other breaks in the bleachers stood gaping, empty dark spaces filled with shadows.

“That’s where the jousters wait,” Colin remarked. He pointed towards one end and moved his hand all the way toward the other end. “When the horn blows, one jouster from each side charges toward the other on his horse. Then, their helmets are clapped over their heads, lances are dropped into place, and they try to unseat the other for a victory.”

“Sounds violent.”

“Sometimes is.”

She pointed to a contraption from which an empty rope hung. “What’s that?”

“Oh. That’s only for training. They hang a dead pig in the rope. Then one guy stands over there—” he pointed to the opposite side of the rope “—and swings it toward a man with a sword.”

“What’s the purpose?”

“To sharpen your reflexes, strengthen your swing, and understand what it feels like when your sword pierces flesh.”

Ellie’s eyes widened, and she stole a glance at the sword strapped to his back. “Have you, er, felt a sword pierce flesh?” She blanched a little when she said it.

He nodded solemnly, his heart racing. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it was my life or theirs.”

She stopped cold and spun towards him. “Are you quite serious?”

“I am.”

She glanced around. “What is this place, Colin?”

He didn’t blink. “The MacWilliam keep, in the year 1481.”

“What kind of game are you playing? Who are you, really?”

He remained still. “The same man you met in Ireland.And the one you met in England, and the one you stayed with in Massachusetts.”

“So many sides,” she replied, her voice betraying her. She was angry. Or perhaps confused.

Maybe both.

“I’m all those things, Ellie. But first, and most importantly, I’m an O’Rourke Protector. A time traveler.”

“You understand how ludicrous you sound?”

He gave her a self-deprecating smile. “I do. Yet here we stand, in a medieval training field, a bit more than five hundred years in the past.” He motioned for her to follow him onto the benches, and, thankfully, she did.

He hadn’t had to explain himself to anyone, ever. Once his training was complete, he’d been given orders—always through Reilly—and off he went. On his solo missions, he made the decisions, sprang into action, and did what needed to be done. On joint missions, he followed directions without question and trusted Reilly’s intuition and skill.

And never, in all the years he had been time traveling, had he ever explained anything other than a simple, “It’s done.”

Because it always had been done.

“I think it’s time you start explaining,” she said quietly.

He leaned forward, folded his hands, and rested them on his knees. Instead of looking directly at her, he stared sightlessly at the lists as dusk began to fall around them. “Reilly spoke the truth. You are in 1481. You and Gwen wandered off the path in Reilly’s woods, and something went wrong. Reilly, James, and I saw the lightning, and we all had a feeling the two of you were sent somewhere. Luckily, you ended up here—as did we.”

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