Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
I apologise for the lateness in posting this chapter. I'm currently posting them as I write them, and I'm working on my degree again now, so I don't have as much time as I did before. Still, I'll try and update as soon as I can.
Thank you very much to all those who reviewed, it really makes the effort that goes into writing a story worth it.
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Chapter 4 – The Truth Please
January 15th 1559 (Authors Note: Sorry, I got the date wrong in the last few chapters. It's not very important, but historically this is accurate.)
Lizzie looked up at Queen Elizabeth I, feeling a mixture of emotions, including gratitude that she had been proved right in that they had travelled back in time, but also a feeling of despair. What would her parents be thinking about her prolonged absence? Would they have called the police yet?
"Well?" Elizabeth said. Looking closer, Lizzie saw an usual combination of amusement and anger on the new Queen's face. Taking heart, Lizzie took a gamble on her answer.
"We're the complimentary jesters," she said. She looked at Gordo and gave him a look that told him to play along, "Ta-da!"
"Hmm… We are most amused. Your clumsiness was very realistic," Elizabeth said in an undertone to Lizzie, "though one has to wonder why you are both in dresses?"
"That's part of the humour, your majesty," said Lizzie, curtseying and giving Gordo urgent signals to bow.
"Please, take a seat in my coach and join me on the way back to St. James's Palace. Then you can tell me the truth." Lizzie was shocked. They had learnt in their history lessons that Elizabeth I was a cold and calculating woman who was considerate only when it pleased her, or when it suited her needs.
"Lizzie, do you think this is wise?" muttered Gordo when they were out of earshot of the Queen. His face looked ashen, and more worried than Lizzie had ever seen him before.
"What other choice do we have?" Lizzie said back. They followed Elizabeth down the purple carpet back outside the main gates of Westminster Abbey. Still between the guards from earlier, Gordo and Lizzie exchanged a glance and linked hands. "It's okay Gordo. We'll make it through this, after-all, we've survived Kate."
The pair clambered into the back of the coach drawn by two magnificent horses, each with enormous white feathered plumes on their heads. Lizzie almost squealed with delight when she saw them, but managed to hold back. They sat opposite the Queen, each with their hands in their laps and heads down so as not to provoke her famous rages if they said something even slightly amiss.
"Well now. What shall we do with a couple of teenagers who intrude on my coronation?" Elizabeth mentioned after a few minutes of silence. The reply 'Please don't send us to the tower' was on Lizzie's lips, but again, showing restraint she held back and said,
"We just want to go home. You probably won't believe this, but please trust us. We're from the United States of America, in the year 2004".
"Oh," said the Queen "is that all? I don't know why you looked so shocked. You're not the first people to travel here through time I must admit. Though, you are the latest. All the others have been from a couple of centuries after you. This time of my reign is apparently very popular with the future".
"What?" Lizzie and Gordo both had shocked expressions on their faces.
"Now where did you put your time-travel device? The others all managed to put theirs in a barn. It seems to be one of those things that time travellers can always find a handy barn to hide devices, even in the middle of London."
"We don't have one." Gordo replied, "we somehow got transported by, and this is going to sound silly, a chest."
"Then you have a problem. You can't go home, and I can't possibly let you stay here at this time."
To be continued…
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I wasn't too pleased with this chapter, but I couldn't think of a way to make it more interesting. I'll do better on the next.
