2 May 1875, Sunday
(continued)
Another adventure without my husband.
No sooner had I fallen asleep than I awoke to find myself in a tavern
in a very different mode of dress than my usual daywear. It was
of an older shabbier style than I have ever worn.
Apparently I had just ordered tea, as some was brought to me
directly. I had no time to wonder about my changed circumstances
as I overheard a most interesting conversation between a Commander
Turner, Major William Mercer, Sir Ephraim, and a German speaking man by
the name of von Rekenburg.
Sir Ephraim was mounting an expedition to the South China Sea and was
pressuring Commander Turner to join as the navigator for the
expedition. Commander Turner having experienced some
embarrassment to his Naval career was stuck in London awaiting orders
while his wife was awaiting his return in Bombay.
A part of the offer to Turner was Sir Ephraim's promise that he would
take care of Turner's wife (she was expecting at the time) if anything
happened to him on the expedition. Given that Turner's twin sons
wound up in an orphan asylum, I have grave doubts that the promise was
kept.
About this time Ruth came in to the Tavern. She was dressed in
much the same mode as myself. I induced her to join me at my
table and she joined me in listening to the conversation between the
men. After Turner took his leave of them, the switched to
speaking in German and mentioned the name “Rimbaldi” several
times. That caught my attention. The men were also certain
that the inducements offered would be enough to capture Turner's
interest and mentioned that he was essential to the voyage because his
family history is linked to the legend of the Flying Dutchman.
About this time, Wilhelmina put in an appearance as our serving girl
and delivered a treat to our table as a gift from another woman in the
establishment. I went over to thank the woman Wilhelmina pointed
out and noticed that she had the potent aura of a goddess about
her. A closer look revealed her to appear to be the same Mother
Earth as Mrs Cuthbert and I had seen in one of our previous
visions. She said something to us about being careful not to
change the past.
In the way of dreams, Ruth, Wilhelmina, and I were suddenly standing on
a beach. It was the same beach as the one where we had met the
retired god Ignazel-- and now we appeared to be ladies of his retinue
in different clothing and of different appearance, though we could all
still recognize each other. The retired god was there and offered
us some more tea. Not long after Turner, Mercer, and von
Rekenburg were washed up on the beach after a terrible storm.
They made their way to the god's hut. We served them tea. I
spoke with commander Turner briefly, but then Mr Voach appeared and
said that we all had to move away from this place, as he was about to
run into himself coming and going.
Apparently, when Ameratsu gave Mr O'Flaherty the shield it created a
rift in the already unstable magical field around the Island and
several members of the League were travelling through time. Mrs
Cuthbert had managed to catch several people before their soul's
slipped loose, but Ruth, Wilhelmina, and I all had wandered off.
Apparently, though we felt solid to ourselves and could interact with
others, only our spirits were travelling.
Mr Voach moved us a little way of in both space and time, so we were
able to observe the tragic end of Commander Turner. He was killed
by Mercer, as was von Rekenberg, once Mercer spotted the rescue ship
that Sir Ephraim commanded.
Mercer seemed to feel that Turner and von Rekenburg were no longer
necessary once they had found the island. I was not surprised by
this outcome, given that in our present Turner's grown sons were raised
as orphans-- one tot he Navy and one to piracy (not by his own choice
apparently) and Sir Ephraim has already demonstrated a willingness to
use any tool that comes to hand (thus my ex-husband's presence in these
matters).
Mr Voach was taking us home when we encountered three women. The
aforementioned Earth Goddess, an adult version of the Sun Goddess we
had met in our earlier adventure, and a Moon Goddess who was new to
us. Mr Voach introduced us and they bickered with each other (the
moon and sun taking the position that the earth was manipulating events
to suit her own desires, and the earth suggesting that we take another
road home-- one that would take us through some part of Mr Voach's
'painful' past. The Earth goddesses thought he needed to face
whatever-it-was while the other two attempted to reason with
her). It was all very confusing, but Mr Voach decided to take us
by the other road regardless,.
We saw the three goddesses we had recently met call the five horsemen
to the crossroads. They gave each horseman an object to
hide. War took the sword, Famine the shield, Pestilence the Star,
Death the book, and Havoc the Path.
We had not previously know that there were five objects of power.
Only four had been referred to in the various poems and prophecies in
our possession.
As they gave the horsemen the objects they chanted:
“The five objects of power must be hidden and the five winds and the
lords of the five quarters not be brought back again until it is time
for the king and his court to rise again.”
As we left that solemn scene behind, I asked if we might see how my
former husband became the Fist of Shiva. Mr Voach allowed that we
could and took us to a fortress in the Safed Koh mountains.
Captain Forrester and another man were imprisoned together in a cell in
the fortress. They were both wounded and were the only two
survivors of their regiment. Mercer appeared and told them that
he could get one of them out of the prison with the help of some local
religious men, but only one. After he left, Captain Forrester
killed his cell mate.
Mr Voach kindly did not make us watch the entirety of the murder.
He then transferred us to another part of the fortress. Mercer
and a strange hermit-priest were there along with Forester and a
massive ruby. Mercer told Forrester that he would have to cut out
his heart to escape the fortress. Forrester scoffed at that, but
when he looked into the jewel as instructed he reached for a knife and,
with a powerful blow cut open his own chest. He removed his own
heart and set the jewel in its place. I noticed that Mercer,
rather carefully made certain to collect the discarded heart.
Knowing that it had already come about in my present did not make the
horrifying spectacle any easier to bear.
What was left of my former husband began tearing down the walls of the
fortress . Mr Voach said that in less than an hour much of
fortress place would be nothing but rubble.
Time stopped again, only this time the Comte de Brabant appeared with
his son. Apparently they use their ability to move through time
to rescue priceless artifacts from the past. He mentioned that he
might be joining us later.
Ruth had noticed that one of the walls of the room we were in was
painted over and she asked if we could return to a time when it was
intact. Mr Voach obliged us and we were treated to a work of art
that depicted the actions of the Fist of Shiva-- unfortunately it was a
piece that celebrated the works of Shiva and thus did not include any
useful instructions on how to dispose of the Fist once it had
manifested.
After viewing the mural, we agreed to return home. We climbed
back up in the milk wagon and Mr Voach set us on the return path.
As he drove along, he was suddenly speaking with Mrs Cuthbert.
All members of the League now were accounted for except Mr
O'Flaherty. Mr Voach told Mrs Cuthbert that he could locate our
wayward pugilist and so we set off down another road.
Mr O'Flaherty was located and joined our merry band aboard the wagon.
Somehow it came up in conversation that Mr Voach had a library in the
back of his milk wagon and, it transpired, one of the books in his
library was an unexpurgated copy of the “Traveller Codex” by
Rimbaldi. I received permission to enter the library and do some
research. Wilhelmina and Ruth joined me and I took the precaution
of showing Ruth the notes that I made-- as I was translating Rimbaldi's
text as I went-- and as Mr Voach had explained that physical objects
would not return with us. Ruth's memory is prodigious and I hope
it will serve me in this matter.
I awoke in my own body to find my husband staring down at me.
Once again, I was not gone very much of his time but that he had
noticed even so brief an absence of my spirit was very comforting after
all of the horrors I had witnessed.
Now I am going to try to get some proper sleep. I had hoped to
have time to pen a letter to Shiva to take him to task for his part in
the fall of Captain Forrester, but I am suddenly too tired to hold a
pen any longer...
Proceed to A matter of
great concern
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