John Sargent knew that something major had gone wrong; with alarms ringing all around all he could do was stare at the empty spot where the apparatus had stood, then with an almighty flash the machinery was back where it should be, minus technician Jones and its cargo of historians.

Over the ensuing days and weeks the whole unit at the Midland Time Unit was checked and re-checked, calibrated, tested and repeated again, but no fault could be found. A rescue party was despatched from the London Time Unit, but all they could locate was the mobile unit, no sign could be found of the human cargo. The official report described the four victims as ‘Missing In Time’. But John Sargent was sure that there was or perhaps would be a way to find them, his sense of loss over Elke certainly didn’t hinder his research into the possibilities.

Six months had passed since the disaster before he came up with an idea that might throw some light on what happened. So it was that he booked himself a trip to the next century, he managed to wangle it on expenses. Once there he had some extensive research to do. For a couple of weeks he studied all the available texts on time travel, he even checked the records to see if there was any mention of the lost souls but, as he realised later, they would only appear after the time of their disappearance if they were rescued, up to now they hadn’t been just one of the time paradoxes. He was on the verge of giving up when he came across an article on time and plane vertices. To cut through the jargon, it suggested that so called ‘time bandits’ could be located through their time eddies which research had shown were different through the ages.

After returning to the twenty first century, Sargent continued his research and had soon located by trial and error the eddy frequency he needed to search for. That was the easy bit, now he only had to find a way of checking back through the centuries, and perhaps even the planes of reality.

They finished eating and Cherryh and M’lenie led them through the rear of the inn and out through the garden into the woodland beyond. This time without a nocked arrow at their back, their guards turned them along the trails away from Streines, but after about fifteen minutes they came to a cottage amongst the trees.

Cherryh indicated that this was Cam’s house and they were to wait for him. They all settled down to wait; the Elder however was but a few minutes behind them carrying a small packet. He urged them into his parlour and despatched the inn keep’s daughters with instructions to return later. Mark was starting to get an inclination of the language; a mixture of Latin, some Scandinavian features with what he guessed was some kind of Old English.

Cam had decided on a crash course in the language of H’llam and so he dashed around the house collecting objects before starting his lessons for the strangers, the first stage in discovering why they were here. The others watching his antics realised his intentions and so were prepared when he settled down to start. They worked their way through his larder and furniture using the tried and tested method of him naming an object and his pupils repeating the name. By late afternoon they could name most of the objects around them and were just starting on more abstract ideas when M’lenie arrived with a crock of beer and another of stew, at which point they broke the lesson to eat.

They were at the point now of stringing together simple sentences, the Elder was surprised at how quickly they picked up his language. His own attempts at what they called Inglish were less successful; they seemed to use strange intonations that he couldn’t get to grips with. His pupils by late evening were leading the ‘teach-in’ by asking specifics. When Cherryh and Adrie arrived late on they were trying, it had to be said with some great success, to explain that they were lost and didn’t know how they came to the area.

Cam P’gnole decided to call a temporary halt and with Adrie and Cherryh helping soon had sleeping accommodation organised for his, village’s guests. After he had retired to his own bed and the others had returned to the inn, the time travellers discussed the day’s happenings before dropping off into an exhausted sleep.

Next morning they awoke to find Cherryh and M’lenie preparing breakfast for them, Cam had evidently risen early and gone out on some errand or other. The two girls were today dressed much as the other village women they had seen which set Sarah to thinking and suggesting to the others that it might be wise if they could obtain local costume. When their host returned later in the morning, the good doctor voiced their idea, which Cam heartily agreed to.
The girls were dispatched to see what they could find for the women and Mark; the Prof was soon outfitted by the Elder in one of his floor length tunics. They practised their newly learnt language throughout what remained of the morning, gradually getting across a more cohesive story, but it was becoming evident that Cam felt they were holding something back, and so with a concerted effort they did their best to explain how they came to Halum. Rather than outright disbelief he listened with great interest and surprised them all when he said that he had heard of other time travellers. They urged him to expand but his knowledge was limited. Their captors arrived with both lunch and clothing at that point, so that conversation was temporarily halted.

A vegetable broth and fresh bread were followed by some of the small, tart forest apples and more of the sour brew favoured hereabouts. Afterwards they changed into the garb that had been found for them. Mark was a problem with his height, but they had gotten around that with a woollen shirt and a knee length kilt since no one had breeches that would fit the man. The doctor was helped into a shirt and long skirt of the coarse wool cloth they used for everyday garments, Elke came out perhaps best being of a size with Cherryh she was soon wearing one of her dresses which of a finer material did not a lot in covering her bosom, but with her hair in a single braid she could almost pass for a local.

Now that Cam knew more of them he was more willing to answer more of their questions. The afternoon was taken with explaining the local political situation, they soon realised that they were now embroiled to some degree in the local power play. They also quickly realised that they would be in some danger if the local Baron, one Sho G’lyte, were to discover them. It was Elke who realised what even their hosts had missed, or at least not mentioned, even in native costume they stood out by their lack of facial markings.

Back in the village rumour upon rumour had followed their arrival, people although curious were nervous of strangers and Cam had realised this soon after their arrival, but he was devious to say the least. Only the innkeeper’s family and himself knew any different but he leaked slowly that they were traders from afar who had been waylaid and their possessions seized. As in any community there were those that did not believe the general wisdom, usually for their own reasons, but most of the village readily accepted Cam’s story as plausible and indeed tales of such attacks were often to be heard from visitors.

The doctor and professor were compulsive researchers and even in their current predicament they hadn’t lost the desire for information and so they swapped information with Cam, being careful not to give too much information regarding twenty first century technology, even though it would be of little use to this society. Mark and Elke meanwhile spoke with Cherryh and M’lenie across a variety of more mundane subjects, food, clothes, the village, the significance of their tattoos, even religion. By the time they retired for the night again they were quite fluent in the language and had a good grip on the life and times of Streines.

Elke again voiced her concerns about standing out through not having tattoos, but the professor had been thinking on the subject since she had mentioned it earlier.

“Well I think I have part of the answer.” He retrieved from his gear a jar of almost black powder. “Ink, or to be more precise a waterproof synthetic ink, it doesn’t wash off skin very easily, I know, I’ve tried. I was supposed to write down my observations but I think it would work great for ‘temporary tattoos’.”

“Spot on Prof,” Elke admitted, “Mark and I asked the girls about the whole tattoo thing. They get them during a coming of age ceremony, they don’t have any particular meaning, they pick their own designs usually in agreement with the Elder, so if we’re all in agreement I think that’s our next step in the morning.”

None of them were exactly overjoyed at the idea but all realised that if they were to survive long without endangering their hosts it was a wise move. When they spoke with Cam next day on the subject he was surprised that they had given so much thought to it and even had the solution worked out. He willingly set to with pen and parchment producing ideas he thought suitable for each of them.

For the professor they settled on an oak leaf design that, Cam explained, was a quite traditional design. For Mark a somewhat more geometric and graphic design, for Ballantyre a floral design which would be coloured with vegetable dyes but would be which would be easy enough to freshen the colour as needed, Elke was to have a more contemporary design which bore a resemblance to Cherryh’s but with a more complex border of vines. When the girls arrived later in the morning they were quick to lend a hand to the face painting efforts, so that by early afternoon the travellers all wore convincing face decoration.

The one thing they had been putting off was the question of what now? They couldn’t remain in Streines indefinitely, although return to their own time seemed unlikely they had to at least explore the possibility, and their point of arrival seemed as good a place as any to start. After considerable discussion on the subject a plan of action was arrived at. Cam, Adrie and the three historians would return to the ‘arrival zone’, they would check out the area thoroughly and return a couple of days hence. Elke as the one easiest to integrate into the village would remain as ‘hostage’ and would join D’mecks and his daughters at the Moorcock. That part of the exercise was put into action that evening, the rest would proceed at first light.

Having had only a chance to look at the bar room on her previous visit, Elke was not quite prepared for the rest of the building. After breakfast the elder sister showed the guest around. The ground floor was taken up mostly by the barroom with its booths and great fireplace, the bar itself stood along the back wall and served as much as a stand for the kegs of ale as aught else. The local tipple was the sour beer they had sampled, but also available was strong mead and Cherryh explained fruit wines dependent on season. They also served meals, what they had eaten the last couple of days was the usual fare.

Behind the bar, as seen from the front of the building, were the kitchens, a good size area with everything one might need at hand – spits, cauldrons, a bread oven and a roasting pit, to one end was the well stocked larder and next to that a rudimentary water-supply. Between bar and kitchen the main stairway, built onto the side of the chimney, led to the upper floor.

Upstairs was divided into a confusing tumble of rooms on a couple of sub-levels. The family’s rooms lay furthest from the stairway, D’mecks had a room of his own, Adrie likewise, the girls shared a large room in the apex of the roof from which led from a stairway that exited through the larder below. Elke had been allocated a small room next door; the other rooms were used as dual guest or storerooms as required.

Outside was a washroom and next door was the privy. Water was piped to most of the village using stone channels and a siphon affair a little west of the village. As with the rest of the village, some fowl and crops occupied the yard, with a large quantity of stacked firewood. The inn itself was stone built with smallish windows, shuttered but also glazed with fairly primitive glass, the whole roofed with neat shingles.

After the tour, Elke joined the sisters in their chores. Their mother had died not long after Adrie learned to walk and so they had for several years helped their father run the hostelry. From around noon a steady stream of customers came and went. Elke, especially wearing clothes borrowed from Cherryh, was ignored. Interest in the visitors had subsided greatly when Cam left the village with them; no one counted how many went. So it was that by the evening when the place was bustling with the folk of Streines, Elke found herself as assistant kitchen maid and barmaid, her grasp of the language was well enough for the job and she found herself enjoying the work.

Day two went much the same way as the previous one; Elke found herself slipping easily into the routine. The women talked as they worked, Elke picked up more of the language, her hosts some welcome change of company. However when a third and fourth day went by without Cam’s party returning Elke started to become concerned, those around her too although they tried to hide it.

Late on the fifth day Cam returned without the others.

Maddy Bell © 1998, 2004, 2010