Blown Away
"Aghh… Oh, Gods, my head hurts……what hap…pened…?" Artemis clutched his aching forehead and squeezed his eyes shut in a futile effort to keep out the bright light blazing down at him. His sore head felt as if a thousand iron-shoed stallions were galloping through it and there seemed huge patches of missing memories from his jumbled up mind, the last thing he could remember was being hit by a hurricane spinning at near six hundred miles per hour in the dim, shadow shrouded school dormitory. And well, now, this glaring, piercing effulgence? It just didn't seem to fit in, how, how could it be?
Just then, as Artemis was deep in thought (well, as deep as possible if one can practically feel his brain throbbing within his skull that is), his train of thought was suddenly interrupted as a soft, oddly accented voice came down at him. "Ah, lad there, why is thou lain upon thy ground? Wouldst thou require my assistance? Come, come , I shall bring you back to thy village, 'tis but a short way."
Then, two soft, yet work roughened hands slipped behind Artemis's neck and knees and carried him up. He was even more confused, the mellow yet firm voice was speaking archaic speech, and besides, there was no village near St. Bartleby's, not for hundreds of miles around, but he was just too relieved at being taken out of the blazing sunlight to resist the voice and let himself be carried off.
The Village
When Artemis awoke again, he was lying on soft loft bed of sweet-smelling straw and he could feel a cool, water-soaked rag on his forehead where the pain was fast subsiding. He got ready to furl his eyelids tightly again when he found that the room hidden from the light but for a weak yellow beam emanating from a candle, tall, cool and white, like a marble pillar with a spray of bright gems atop it.
"Thou is awake and better now, I presume." There came the voice again from the other side of the room. Artemis turned and opened his eyes a crack, then slowly lifting his lids up to take in a full view of this strange, strange place. The room was shrouded in a quiet calm within the darkness, at the far left, lit with gentle light streaming in through a small, round window, was rows and rows of neat flasks, filled with a rainbow of different, wonderously hued bubbling liquids, some blushing warms shades of roseate sunsets, others seemingly containing fluid jewels and still others glowing gold and mercury silver. But what most caught Artemis's eye was the slender, black silhouette amongst the flasks and bottles. The shape was slight, lithe and looked barely more than a boy little older than him.
"Who are you?" Artemis asked in a desperate bid to dispel the curtain o f confusion that had descended over him.
"Ah, I see thou art a slight bit disorientated. My name is Edgar Knight, apprentice to thy Alchemist Alaric Morlan. I came by thou as I was out to fetch water from thy well yonder, thou was lying upon the road and delirious with fever. I brought you back here, two days and two nights have passed since. I trust thou is feeling better now."
"What is the year, may I know?" Artemis asked.
"Why, 'tis the year 1440 since the birth of Our Lord." Edgar answered quickly.
Then it hit Artemis, he had traveled back in time---- all the way to the Middle Ages.
More is coming soon, thanks J