The Perfect Sun Read online

  “Ahhh, yes!” The Djinni nodded agreement and leaped to his feet. “That is a wonderful idea. We will record his words and make scrolls so that future generations may read of the great Prophet.”

  The Djinni was gone and Lucio was alone with the great Prophet.

  The Knight turned on him at once, disengaging his grip on his arms and taking his face in both hands.

  “Omar! Snap out of it! Omar, can you hear me? Do you know who I am?” Lucio plied him with rapid fire questions and commands. “You are bound by your oath as an apprentice to the Order of the Red Cross of Gold. You must obey the lawful orders of the Knights and officers of the Order.”

  Omar smile and nodded, but he still looked the same.

  “Now, listen, my friend,” Lucio lowered his voice, “I’m going to ask you some questions.”

  Omar nodded again.

  “Did you see Mark Andrew in your travels?”

  “I have seen the heights and the depths of God’s creation. I have seen wonders beyond man’s imagination. I have seen cherubs upon the wings of seraphim, praising God and giving glory to Him on high. I have seen…”

  “Stop!” Lucio held up his hand and Omar fell quiet. “I mean, have you seen Mark and Sophia? They are lost, Omar. I need your help.”

  “Ask and the door shall be opened. Seek and ye shall find. Lo even in the farthest depths, the Light of the World still shines forth for those willing to see it. The Abyss yawns before them and they nod in their ignorance. They know not where they are, nor do they know themselves.”

  “Omar! You’re speaking in riddles! Tell me in plain language. Have you seen Mark and Sophia?”

  “Ahhh, my beautiful wife,” Omar’s eyes left Lucio’s face and Lucio turned to see who, if anyone, had entered the room. Nicole stood just inside the door staring at Omar.

  “Come and sit with me, Nicole,” Omar held out one hand to her. “I have so many things to tell you.”

  Lucio signaled with his eyes for her to comply, and she approached the couch hesitantly. As soon as she was in reach, Omar grabbed her hand, dragged her down beside him and covered her face and neck with kisses before imparting an extremely embarrassing, but passionate kiss on her lips. She made an attempt to fight him off, but Lucio twisted her free arm behind her and she allowed the kisses to go unchecked even though Lucio felt as if he were committing a great crime.

  “My love!” Omar smiled at her when he finally let her catch her breath. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you!” He caught a glimpse of Lucio behind her and his face turned bright red.

  “Sir Dambretti, I’m sorry,” he coughed and sat up straighter. He looked more awake now. “It’s just that…”

  “I understand completely. Believe me.” Lucio had to field another of Nicole’s scathing looks. “And such a beautiful reunion should not have been witnessed by strangers. It is I who am sorry. I will leave you two alone, if you will answer just one more question for me, Mister… ahhhh, Your Grace.”

  “Anything!” The Prophet beamed at him and continued to caress Nicole’s hand.

  “Have you… did you happen upon Sir Ramsay and Miss Cardinelli in your travels to the Abyss?”

  “Ahhhh,” Omar’s expression turned thoughtful. “I believe they would be in the Seventh Gate.”

  “The Seventh Gate?” Nicole forgot her anger and frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “Pretty sure, but not as pretty as you” he turned his attention to his ‘wife’. “Why? Isn’t that where he hangs out when he’s bored with the world?”

  “Bored?” Nicole’s frown deepened. “Oh, yes, well. He goes there some time. Did you see him there just recently?”

  “Fairly, yes,” he answered and then his eyes seemed to glaze slightly and the muscles in his face relaxed.

  “How long ago is fairly?” She asked.

  Omar looked at her, but he no longer recognized her.

  “He’s gone again,” Lucio touched her arm. “Let him go.”

  “Omar!” Nicole shook him slightly and then looked into one eye and then the other. “My God! He’s catatonic.”

  “Si`.” Lucio pulled her away from her former husband. “It is very sad.”

  Nicole allowed the Knight to pull her completely out of the room into the corridor, while she looked over her shoulder at the eerily still and silent Prophet.

  “But he kissed me like he meant it,” she said inanely, when they were in the hall. “I loved him, Lucio, but he… well, it just didn’t work out. You know his father and all.”

  “You don’t have to apologize to me, Nicole,” Lucio said as he walked her along the corridor toward the banquet hall. The sounds of voice and laughter drifted down the spacious hall and their boots clicked loudly on the colorful tiles. “I think we may need to check on his story. He might have really seen them in the Seventh Gate.”

  “It didn’t look like the Seventh Gate.” Nicole shook her head. “It looked more like the outer realms of the Abyss between here and the Abyss proper.”

  “The Abyss proper,” Lucio shook his head. “Santa Maria,” he muttered and then smiled as they entered the dining hall again.

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  “Mark? Maaark?” Sophia called softly as she heard someone enter the barn.

  Soft footsteps answered her call and she fell very quiet. Her heart began to pound and the blood roared in her ears as she tried to make herself very small. The stall was spinning in front of her. Whatever Mark had put in the milk had not only eased her pain, it had sent her to another universe and made her feel tipsy. Just what she needed in her condition.

  She drew a sharp breath and clutched the ruffled white gown to her throat as a woman dressed in an evening dress stepped into the lamplight in the stall. She wore a velvet, floor-length cape with a hood of either dark blue or green. Her face was hidden under the hood. Only a few curling black strands of hair peeked from under the hood.

  “Who are you?” Sophia demanded as if this stall were her home.

  The woman pushed back the hood and Sophia did not need to hear the answer.

  “I’m Lily Ramsay,” the woman told her as she eyed her solemnly. “You know my son… Mark?”

  “I know him… of him,” Sophia answered, but corrected herself. “He’s a very nice boy… man.”

  “Yes, he is,” Lily agreed and then pushed a milking stool across the stall, arranged her dress properly and sat down. “I’d like to talk to you about him.”

  “Mark? You want to talk about Mark? You’re his mother, aren’t you? I’ve seen your portrait in his parlor,” Lily’s head swam. She felt very drunk and somehow carefree. “You’re very beautiful. Just like Mark.”

  Lily cleared her throat and Sophia drew a deep breath. She knew she had made a faux pas, but was not sure what it had been.

  “You are with child?”

  “Very much so.”

  “I see and you are a prostitute? From Edinborough, perhaps?”

  “A what?!”

  “He has a large heart, miss,” Lily said ignoring her outburst. “He is constantly taking in strays.”

  “Strays?”

  “I can see by your attitude this child is his or else you believe it to be his. Am I correct?” Lily, quite please with herself, leaned forward slightly and the stool creaked. Her eyes were as penetrating as Mark’s and Sophia felt very confused. She wanted to tell her everything. She wanted to blurt out everything she knew, but instead, she simply stared at the woman. “You need not be afraid of me, lass. I can be understanding. I am after all a mother and a grandmother, and I was once young myself. If you think my son is going to marry you, I believe that you may be setting your sights too high. You see, he has a medical practice in Edinborough, or you may already know that. He has a reputation to consider. Such a scandal could put his at risk. You understand what I am saying, do you not?”

  “I understand it, but I can’t believe it!” Sophia blurted and then covered her mouth with her hands.

  “
Believe it, young lady. We will help you with the birth, and then I will gladly take the child off your hands, if Mark tells me it is his child. I think that is more than fair, and I believe that Mark would be most generous. He can help you. He has money. Would you like to go to Londontown? Or…” her face lit up a bit, “how about Paris? I have always wanted to go to Paris, myself.”

  “Then go and leave us alone!” Sophia almost shouted at her and caught herself again.

  “I understand how upset and frightened you must be,” Lily said, refusing to be put out by Sophia’s attitude. “Rest assured, lassie, you could do no better for your child than to leave the babe with us.”

  Sophia had begun to struggle up in the straw, holding onto the rails shakily.

  “I’ll tell you what frightens me, Miss Lady Ramsay!” Sophia’s temper flared. “Seeing you frightens me. I don’t know how we came to be here, but Mark will take me to our home. He promised.”

  “I know. And he will take you home.” Lily stood up and held out one hand. “There is no need to overexert yourself. I will send a message to Edinborough… oh, my… I’m not sure where in Edinborough I might find Mark. But never mind. Just allow me to worry with it. John will know. He knows where Mark and Luke live.”

  “John? Luke?” Sophia’s eyes fluttered and consciousness threatened to leave her.

  “Yes, John is Mark’s father. Luke is his brother. Surely, he has told you of his family. He is quite proud of us, I believe.” Lily smiled. “You must rest, lassie. Oh! And yes, please do not curse the servants if you see them. These are dangerous times. One cannot be too careful.”

  Sophia leaned against the railing and watched in disbelief as the woman swished out of the stall and left her alone with her dizziness. There was no reason why she should not have been able to simply walk out of the barn. The accelerated advancement of her pregnancy was a problem, but not an insurmountable obstacle… or, at least, it shouldn’t have been. She was very healthy… or, at least, she had been when she’d followed Captain Galipoli upstairs. She turned around and held onto the top of the divider between the stalls as she steadied herself and prepared to try a few simple exercises to test her condition. She raised her left knee slowly and then her right. That worked fairly well and she did it again several more times with each knee. So far, so good. She rolled her head around on her neck clockwise and then counterclockwise. This helped her tense muscles to relax, but made the dizziness increase. When the spinning stopped, she let go of the rail with her right hand and tried to balance herself above her feet. That accomplished, she let go cautiously with her left hand and stood, swaying slightly. It was the first time she had been up since finding herself in the barn and it felt good to be up.

  With grave determination and great deal more foolhardiness, she took one step backwards. Success. She attempted to turn and a wave of nausea followed quickly as more dizziness blind-sided her. The rail was not where she thought it was and then she was falling. It seemed she fell forever and then she was caught just inches from the floor.

  Mark set her down in the hay and then knelt in front of her.

  “Whattar ye doin’?!” He asked when her eyes found his face.

  “I’m tired of sitting here, Mark,” she told him. “I want to go home.”

  “I know, I know,” he sympathized as he helped her scoot back to her makeshift bed and then covered her feet and legs with the blanket. “Did the elixir work? How is the pain?”

  “It’s gone, Mark, but Sophia needs love.” She frowned at him. “I’m afraid out here all by myself. Can’t you do something?”

  “I can’t do much of anything now for Sophia.” He straightened her blankets and stuffed more hay behind her.

  “Stop with the hay! It’s itchy and smelly.”

  “It’s nae smelly, lassie,” he assured her. “And it’s th’ best I can do fur ye roight now.”

  “Mark?” Sophia frowned at him. He’d changed again.

  “Aye?” He stood up and looked down at her. “Now look,” he said a bit more gently. “I know thot Lily ’as been out ’ere t’ see ye. Dunna be shootin’ yur mouth off aboot things t’ ’er thot she need not know. And fur God’s sake, woman, don’t be startled or surprised by anything she says. There’s a great deal o’ enchantment ’ere and I’ve nae solved th’ puzzle yet. Give me a bit more toime.”

  “Mark, I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying.” Sophia began to cry. “Why are you talking like that? You sound like Lily Ramsay’s servants. What is happening to us? I want to go home!”

  Mark’s expression changed and he sat down beside her.

  “I’m sorry,” he told her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He held her close while she cried it out. When she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, he had to get away from her.

  He would be in a world of trouble. Lily was already suspicious, demanding answers. He was neither Lily’s John, nor Sophia’s Mark at the moment, though he was both, neither and more than the sum of them put together, he still had to remember which was which. And now Sophia, who definitely did not need to have her head lying on his shoulder, who did not need to be kissing him in such a manner had no idea what was going on. Of course, he hardly knew what was going on, himself. He’d had very little opportunity to read any of the archives before he had found himself thrown here. What was worse was that he had a new guilt to add to a long list. He’d already made the spiritually fatal error of taking advantage of Sophia’s ignorance while they had been in Lothian. Now he understood more than he wanted to know, and his search for simplicity had taken another turn for the worse. He disentangled himself from her as easily as he could and tried to reassure her everything was going to be just fine, but the harder he talked, the more depressed and hysterical she became.

  “Sophia! Sophia! What am I to do?” He asked in frustration and began to rock her back and forth like a child. When she finally settled down, he realized she was asleep. The elixir was working very well.

  When he had her tucked into her straw and blankets, he kissed her lightly on the forehead and stood up.

  “Mr. Ramsay!” Lily’s voice made him freeze. “What do you think you are doing with that child?”

  “Ahhh, Lily, now…” he turned around and gave her his best smile. “The lassie is distraught and she’s confused and in pain and…”

  “And ye’ll be keepin’ yur ’ands and yur lips off ’er if ye know wot’s best fur ye,” she eyed him closely. “I’ll tell ye wot ye’re goin’ t’ do, John. Ye’ll be takin’ yurself off t’ Edinborough straight-away t’ foind Mark Andrew and thot’s th’ long and short of it. Ye’ll nae be coverin’ up fur ’im. He’ll come ’ere ’imself and take care o’ this situation before it gets out o’ hand.”

  “Of course, Lily,” Mark agreed with her wholeheartedly as he escorted her quickly from the barn. “I’ll go straight-away. Just have Sean fetch a horse for me and I’ll ride out tonight.”

  “Oh, no ye won’t, Mr. Ramsay,” she locked arms with him. “Have ye furgot wot ye promised?”

  “What? Of course not. What exactly did I promise?” He asked and glanced over his shoulder. Sophia was sleeping peacefully. She would sleep until the next morning, and he’d have more of the honey elixir cooked up… no, he had to go to Edinborough. No, he had to ride out and see what lay beyond the forest. This could not be real!

  “Ye promised to marry me, John. Tonight. Father MacBride is comin’ t’ supper and afterwards, he’s going t’ do th’ propar ceremony.”

  Mark’s mouth fell open and he squeezed her arm tightly.

  “Ohhhhh, that promise. Aye… o’ course,” he said and the color drained from his face as the younger personality in his head began to protest loudly within the confines of his head. “I’ll roide out directly after th’ ceremony. We canna have th’ lassie waitin’ now, can we?”

  “Ye can wait until a decent hour, mon!” She laughed. “She’ll be foine.”

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br />   Konrad lay very still upon the stone bier. Apolonio approached the slab of black rock with the reverence of a priest approaching a sacred altar. His father’s sword was still strapped to his broken leg, but his clothes were no longer filthy. His beard was combed and his silky black hair lay smoothly on the rock beneath him. The Knight of the Apocalypse looked as if he had been laid out by expert hands, ready for a nice funeral, but the surroundings were not exactly what one would expect to see at a funeral parlor. Furthermore, Konrad was not dead. He was sleeping.

  Apolonio had been walking for what he imagined to be hours and still he had found no way out of the bizarre place in which they had fallen. Perhaps fallen was not the correct term. They had been running or rather, loping along, trying to outrun the pack of wild dogs that had found them in the rocks. The dogs, through the hand of Providence, were not much better off than their prospective prey and were obviously close to starvation, hobbling along, some with obviously mangled legs and mangy bodies.

  Apolonio had been able to stave them off with rocks and shouts and wild waving of his arms. They had been skittish, weak and slow. Too slow even to catch the severely handicapped twosome. But they had been persistent, expectantly waiting for them to make a mistake or become exhausted. Apolonio had half-dragged his father across an open stretch under the merciless sun, to another clump of dark rocks, protruding from the desert floor, and the dogs had followed. After a while, the dogs had given up and laid down in the shade of the rocks, panting and foaming at the mouth, near death while the two Templars had climbed into the rocks, slowly, painfully, searching for shelter and protection from the sun.

  Apolonio had helped Konrad into a crevice in the rocks, placed his father in the most comfortable position possible under the circumstances, and then went back to check on the dogs. To his horror he found the dogs were no longer a threat. A strange creature resembling an overgrown hyena with huge tusks and claws had made a meal of the mangy dogs, slinging bits and pieces of them hither and thither over the rocks. He’d made his way back to his father as quickly and quietly as possible, but the monster’s appetite had not been satisfied by the scrawny pack of canines. It had come snuffling and grunting up the rocks and there was nowhere to go. Digging out huge boulders with its claws was no problem for it as it searched for more food. There was nowhere to run. At last, Apolonio had bid his father a tearful goodbye and gone out to face the creature armed with a dagger and a sharp rock. That was when their fortune had changed dramatically, quietly and quickly.