“What?” Paul was at his side in an instant. “A residual signature?”
“The Arch has hold of someone else! Hell, I’d better feed this baby some additional power.” Then he remembered what Maeve had told them about the men on the road close by the site of the retraction point.
“Maeve? You say men were waiting for you at the entry coordinates?”
“At least three men and a cleric, on the road, perhaps twenty yards off. By that time I was well off the road and approaching from the river side. I was able to squeak in close to the tree stump we used as a marker and dismount, but that hedge wasn’t much cover. They saw me, and one of them came running at me.”
Kelly looked at Paul. “Well someone is still in the matter stream, and coming through the Arch. You suppose this guy lunged at her and fell into the retraction? Doesn’t make sense. I would have no signature on him. How would the system know what to pull through?”
Paul nodded agreement. “It’s not an open portal,” he said to Kelly. “You’re right, the system has to have a secure mass pattern to move anything. Another person could be standing right next to you, right in the shift zone, and they wouldn’t move a millisecond in Time.”
“Then what’s going on?”
“One way to find out,” said Paul flatly. “Let’s get down there. You and Maeve better stay here and keep an eye on things. Robert? Care to join me?”
A moment later, the two men were rushing along the long tunnel, heading down to the Arch again.
“So who’s the uninvited dinner guest this time?” said Robert. “LeGrand? Graves? I thought you said they couldn’t get through the penumbra cast by Palma? That their machines were largely wiped out after that?”
“Kelly said it was a residual on Maeve’s retraction stream, Robert. That means they have to be shifting in from the 8th century… but I’ve been wrong before,” said Paul.
They reached the Arch, peering into the haze as the lights subsided and the power turbine wound down again. Both of them started when a man stepped out of the bluish fog and strode boldly into the central chamber. He was wearing Medieval clothing, burgundy felt cap, a dark cape over a brunia leather jerkin, flannel trousers laced tight on the calves and brown stained leather boots. Paul noted the short sword at his side, and a barbed javelin slung on his back.
“Who the hell are you?” Paul said, almost reflexively.
The man had been gazing up at the walls and ceiling, following the last of the glimmering lights as the Arch shift subsided, now he looked at them square on, his deep set eyes bright with fascination and obvious elation.
“Forgive me!” he said in perfect English. “And allow me to introduce myself.” He bent his tall, angular frame to make a respectful bow. “You may call me Rantgar,” he said. “Rantgar of Friesia.”
Part VIII
The Rogue
“There is no den in the world to hide a rogue… Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass.”
Chapter 22
The name immediately struck Nordhausen, and he looked at Paul as he spoke. “Rantgar? Impossible!”
“One might think so,” said the visitor. “But we’re getting very clever these days—or perhaps very desperate. I suppose the latter gives rise to the former. Or how is it Plato put things? Ah… Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Paul’s eyes narrowed. “Appearances aside,” he said flatly, “it’s clear you’ve come here from the future.” He knew this was no native of the 8th century. Anyone from that era would have been utterly terrified had they come through the Arch as this man obviously did. His swagger and jaunt, and the relaxed, cool way in which he took in the surroundings immediately spoke of familiarity. “Then you found a way to penetrate Palma’s Shadow?”
Rantgar smiled. “Ah, always juggling with the physics, eh Mr. Dorland? Well, not exactly. We haven’t been able to get anyone through at all. Actually, I was ready for a good night’s sleep after matins in Heristal when we got wind of your operation. Really splendid work, if I may say so. Simply outstanding!”
“What are you saying, man?” said Robert. “You mean to say that—”
“That I’ve come from the past,” the visitor said quickly. “The year 705, to be precise. As I say, we got wind of your operation—just another of those unlikely Pushpoints in the Meridian I suppose. Someone saw you arrive! Yes, and he was quite terrified, as you might expect.”
“The footprints!” Robert looked at Paul. “We saw other footprints near our entry point when we returned.”
“Just a simple peasant returning from the fields,” said Rantgar. “God’s will, he happened along just as you shifted in and cowered in the hedge until you left. Then he ran to the Abbot and told him what he had seen, afraid that there were angels or demons about. Well, the Abbot and I are thick as thieves, as it were. It took some time to calm the man down, but once we convinced him he would have the protection of the Saints, as well as my sturdy javelin, he led us to the place. Then we got him safely away and off to sleep with a jug of mulled wine. Of course we immediately notified the Order, and just after matins we received some rather alarming instructions. A really first order emergency appears to be in the works.”
“You’ve come from the past?” said Paul. “How is that possible?”
“Well I shifted in on your retraction scheme!” the visitor replied, clasping his chest with a gloved hand. “At least I think I’m all here. It’s very experimental, you see. We tried several times and failed before we got it right. Yes, Mr. Dorland. Palma has been a real nemesis. In fact, that was its purpose as the Assassins initially conceived it. They had to create such a cataclysm that the penumbra would become impenetrable, and hinder our counter operations into the past. So we decided to try and move someone forward, given the right opportunity. Ms. Lindford’s retraction shift filled the bill nicely.”
“Then how did you get back to the year 705 in the first place?”
“I was there before these unfortunate events reversed the outcome of Palma again. We have people posted all over the continuum now you know. The other side has men at large as well. I believe you encountered a few in your last mission to Rosetta. The Time War began the instant your initial operation concluded. Time travel was proved possible, and of course at our point on that Meridian we developed the technology as well. The other side used it to take a swipe at some events during the Crusades, and then both sides went at it in earnest. After you stopped Palma on that initial operation it became possible for both sides to send operatives to all the key crisis points. I’m posted to the early 8th century. In fact I live there, permanently. Though I’m afraid this business you’ve uncovered has complicated things for me a bit. I’ll have to be on temporary leave here for a brief spell, if you don’t mind.”
Paul had a hundred questions roiling in his mind as he gestured to the elevator. “Well, come up and meet the others,” he said, and they started the journey up to the lab again.
“What about the Assassins,” Paul asked as they walked. “It’s obvious that they’ve been conducting operations as well. How are they getting through Palma’s Shadow?”
“I’d love to tell you,” said the visitor. “But we don’t really know. The theory is that they’ve managed to devise some kind of mobile equipment that allowed them to get inside the natural Nexus Point of Palma. It opened the instant those atomics went off on the flank of Cumbre Vieja, but the Shadow doesn’t start forming until the tsunami actually strikes home in the Western hemisphere. That left a void, as it were, between the moment you first breached the continuum and the actual formation of the Shadow. We believe they shifted back in that interval and established an operational Arch somewhere, and that it may be serving as a kind of relay center for them. The instant you shifted back on the first mission, it became possible for them to use it. They can shift people in to that location because the Shadow hasn’t formed yet at those target coordinates in space-time, and then they send them on to destinations further back on the continuum.”