The Quest of Time

Chapter 5

Lizzie was scared when Darcy followed her out of the house and grabbed her arm to stop her. She panicked and the adrenaline rush made her remember all the self-defense training she had years ago and she placed a very hard and strong punch right on his face. She could feel the stinging pain in her fist but it subsided the moment she saw his nose bleed. She tried to free herself but his hold on her got even stronger. In the midst of all that, other people from nearby gathered around and started to ask 'what was wrong', there was panic and confusion all around.

"Miss Bennet, stop. I am not trying to hurt you. I am only trying to prove to you that I am telling the truth" Darcy said in assertive tone in midst of all the confusion and shouts of his servants and a terrified woman desperately trying to free herself from his hold. He was thinking what would take to make this woman understand the truth.

"Let me go, I don't want anything from you. Just let me go, I want to go back to my car" Lizzie shouted, she was panicking and cursed the moment she decided to trust this man. She actually never trusted the man but still against her better judgement came with him.

Few people around the stable, who watched the unfortunate incident, were hovering near Lizzie and Darcy trying to help and understand what was happening. Some more people from inside the house also joined the scene and were staring from Darcy to Lizzie. Lizzie could here loud sighs and gasp when they saw Darcy bleeding through his nose. She just wanted to disappear from the scene and be alone.

"I will take you there. You do not know the way back and might get lost. Allow me to take you back to the place and I will prove to you that I am telling the truth", Darcy said ignoring all the people, still holding her arm tightly, forgetting all the chivalry and propriety.

"I don't want to go anywhere with you. I just want to leave this place right now." Lizzie hissed desperately trying to free herself from his iron grip.

Darcy looked intensely into her eyes, trying to make her see that he meant no harm "I will show you the way and prove my point." He so desperately wanted Lizzie to calm down and trust him. He could not understand why he was doing this, why it was so important for him to prove himself correct to that woman but he was trying his best to get an opportunity to make Lizzie understand his actions and reality.

Lizzie could feel the sheer pressure of his piercing blue eyes, he was neither taking his eyes off her, nor takings his hand off her. She wanted to shout but saw all the people were staring at her and accusing her for Darcy's injury. They were offering him help with his bleeding nose, no one was objecting the way Darcy was forcefully holding her hand. She realized that even if she shouts, no one there will help her, all these people were working for him, they were loyal to him. Panicking and fighting him will only make things worse, so she calmed herself down and stopped fighting to release his grip on her.

"Master Darcy, you are bleeding. Please come inside and let me get you a clean cloth and mend your injuries." Lizzie heard an old woman squeal at Darcy, but he didn't notice her, he was still staring at Lizzie, waiting for her answer.

At that very moment Lizzie felt so lonely and scared like a small child. She wanted her father to be there, hold her in his arms and tell her she would be safe and everything will be alright like he used to do when she was little and hurt herself playing in the park. However, she realized she was all alone, she put herself in that situation and she had to get herself out of it. She had to do it all by herself, there was no one to help her, not her father, nor Chris; she had to do it by thinking clearly and rationally, there was no room for panic and despair.

"Alright, you can take me back to my car." Lizzie finally gave up and agreed with Darcy. She was shocked by her own reply, why was she agreeing to go with this crazy and controlling man, she was clearly scared of him, but still she consented to go alone with him. His powerful gaze made her say yes, it was like he performed some Jedi mind tricks on her. As soon as she agreed with him, he nodded curtly, released her arm and crossed his own hands behind his back and looked down at his own feet as if he was embarrassed of his actions.

Darcy felt relieved and happy when Lizzie agreed with him. He was more ashamed that the servants saw him act that way, the way he treated a woman but he was relieved. He could not make sense of his own actions and reactions to this woman. He dismissed all his feelings regarding Miss Bennet as mere curiosity, nothing else. He accepted a clean cloth provided by Mrs. Reynolds, wiped blood off his face and asked Andrew, his valet, to arrange for a small carriage. He was not looking at Lizzie fearing she was angry at him, he was trying to avoid the gaze of all the people present there too. They were certainly scrutinizing both of them, wondering what had happened to make their master act so irrationally. All Darcy could do was to look at his own feet trying to avoid everyone.

In few minutes Andrew brought the carriage, it was small and open, pulled by one horse and was suitable for two people to ride in it. Darcy took hold of the leash dismissing him saying he will drive it himself. He hesitantly asked Miss Bennet to join him and when she awkwardly sat next to him, he pulled the strap and the carriage moved forward slowly. He was silent, unable to decide how to start the conversation, what to say so that Lizzie would not act rashly and start shouting at him. He decided he cannot drive the carriage the same way as he rode the horse, so he took the carriage through the main road and later took a small path to the woods. He was looking at her through his peripheral vision, she seemed confused and was looking around the grounds of Pemberley, small houses and establishment nearby and the people on the road. He realized it was going to be a long and uncomfortable ride in awkward silence. He sighed and moved the carriage forward a little faster.

Lizzie sat next to Darcy uncomfortably, she could not believe she was still stuck with Darcy and was on her way back to her car with him. She wanted to ask which way they were taking but saw Darcy pull the horse forward through the main gate to a large road. She fell silent just looking the front garden of the Pemberley which was as large as a football field and very beautiful; full of trees, flowers, fountains and statues. Ahead on the way she saw old fashioned houses, people (men, women and children) wearing old fashioned clothes and hats, riding horses, carriages and mostly on foot. Lizzie was desperately searching for things which would make sense to her, she was looking for nice tarmac road, street lamps, cars, bicycles, shops and cafes, electric cables and phone lines, street signs and traffic lights, anything which would assure her that she was still in 21st century England, but she could not find anything like that, she felt like she was in an old Amish country. Suddenly she saw Darcy directing the carriage to a small path into the woods, he was concentrating on the path and trying not to look at her. The whole ride passed in silence.

They reached to the grounds near the lake. Darcy stopped the carriage, stepped down and put his hand out for Lizzie to step down, but she already jumped down from the other side and walked towards her crashed car.

"Here, Miss Bennet. I brought you to the place you wanted. What do you want to do now", Darcy asked following Lizzie to her car, looking at her curiously as if measuring her intention.

"Thank you. I can handle from here. You can go now", Lizzie said trying to keep rudeness away from her voice.

"But you are back to the same place where you started. You certainly do not intend to stay here in the woods", he asked unable to stop himself and most certainly incapable to leave her alone.

"I'll trace back my steps back to the highway and maybe hitch a ride from there" she said irritatingly.

"But there is only hill there, there is no other road" Darcy objected.

"There is a highway there, I know it. My car slid down from there and crashed here in the lake. What do you think, I fell from the sky?" she said rolling her eyes and started to move uphill.

Lizzie looked around to find the tire tracks, it was prominently visible in the mud because of last night's rain and storm. She started to walk parallel to the tire marks, she must have taken ten steps and then saw Darcy follow behind her.

She stopped on her way, looked at him angrily and said in stern voice, "And where do you think you are going?"

Darcy looked quizzically at her and answered coldly, "Escorting you through the woods, Miss Bennet. It is not safe to wander in the woods all by yourself."

"Thanks for your concern. But I don't want you to come. You have done enough already" she said sarcastically thinking what a waste of time it all was.

"I cannot allow you to wander alone in here. You might hurt yourself. And I know these woods really well, I come here for hunting. And do I need to remind you that you are on my land." He added annoyingly. Darcy could not understand why Lizzie had a problem with accepting his help. It was foolish to roam alone in woods, it was his duty to make sure she was safe and that what Darcy was telling himself; the reasons for coming after her, his curiosity and sense of duty.

"You never listen when someone says no to you, do you", Lizzie said dryly and increased her pace leaving Darcy behind.

Darcy stared at Lizzie in disbelief, he could not understand why someone could be so rude to him. He had never met anyone in his life who spoke to him like that. He wanted to say something equally rude to her but saw she was walking very fast following the marks made by wheels of the strange metal object crashed in the lake. He wanted to go back and never talk to her again but followed her nonetheless, he himself wanted to see where that thing came from.

Both Lizzie and Darcy walked up the hill for more than twenty minutes in silence. The trees and vegetation grew lighter the higher they ascended. Now, Lizzie could clearly see the top of the hill, the sun was getting higher on the sky, she took out her cell phone and checked, there was still no signal, she irritatingly checked her watch and it was half past nine. She increased her speed anxious to find the road, she almost broke into run. Darcy ran after her seeing her so excited. They both reached the top of the hill. There was flat ground on the top; it was more like a plateau than a steep peak.

Lizzie uneasily looked around eager to find the highway. She could clearly see the tire marks disappear in the middle of the ground, like the car was dropped from the sky to that spot and it slid down the slope from there. There was a clear burn mark on the ground; she could see the depression on the earth caused by sudden impact by her car, burnt grass around and the clear beginning of the tire marks.

"Where the hell is that damn highway" Lizzie shouted in despair stomping her feet in anger. She could not understand where the whole freaking hundreds of miles long highway could disappear.

"I told you Miss Bennet earlier, there is no highway here." Darcy said.

"Yes, there is. I drove on it last night. Highway A6. It cannot disappear in thin air" Lizzie said in a panicked voice.

"There is no highway A6. There is the town of Lambton over there and the grounds of Pemberley there" He said pointing with his fingers in both the directions.

Lizzie looked all around, from the top of the hill she could see the town Darcy was pointing at and the Pemberley mansion. She just could not believe her eyes.

"What the hell is happening to me? What kind of freak place is it" She told more to herself than to Darcy. Nothing was making sense to her anymore, what freaking place she got herself lost and where was the highway.

"I have told you earlier Madam. This place is Derbyshire and it is 1813. Now you believe me" Darcy said cautiously pointing to his surrounding seeing Lizzie panicking and shouting again.

"What the hell ... How ... Why... Bloody Hell ...OH MY GOD", nothing coherent was coming out of Lizzie's mouth. She could not understand anything, the facts were not making any sense. Her brain had stopped working, and a strange man was telling her she was two hundred years in the past. His voice was echoing in her head but she did not understand anything. Shock had drawn her mind into complete blank.

Darcy was now worried for Lizzie, he could see her pacing left and right on the ground, cursing, swearing, talking to herself like a crazy person, pulling her hairs out and with shock and fear in her eyes. He wanted to calm her down but was unsure how to proceed.

Lizzie was in full blown panic mode. Only things she could think and was subconsciously saying out loud without even realizing was, "It is not possible... It is just not possible. What the fuck! How can this happen. This is not real. Oh my God...Oh my freaking God. This is a dream, just a dream, yes a very bad dream".

"Are you alright Miss Bennet? You should sit down. You do not look well", Darcy said ignoring her curses and the way she was taking Lord's name in vain.

Lizzie looked at Darcy as if for the first time she realized he was there, standing there watching her entire breakdown. Without thinking anything she slapped herself very hard on her face. Her cheek turned red and Darcy was shocked witnessing that, he could not think of anything to say at that moment.

"Wake up now! It's time to wake up. This is a horrible nightmare. Please God please, let me wake up", Lizzie pleaded to herself thinking she was having a nightmare.

"Miss Bennet, what are you doing" Darcy was shocked watching Lizzie's actions.

"Oh my God, I am dead and this is hell!"

"What?"

"Or maybe, I had a very bad accident and I am in coma and this is all going inside my head."

"Miss Bennet, you are not making any sense. Please calm down."

"Calm down. How the hell can I calm down? Can't you see I am dead or in coma? My life is ruined, it is all over", Lizzie was shouting on top of her lungs, she wanted to cry so badly at that moment.

"Miss Bennet, you are not dead, crazy maybe, but not dead. This is all real, it is not a trick of your mind" Darcy was shouting too.

"This is not real. Time travel is just not real. It is impossible" Lizzie was trying to explain herself and she was constantly saying to herself this same thing over and over. But in a corner of her mind she realized Darcy was telling the truth. The universe had played a cruel joke on her and she was really trapped in her worst nightmare. She was in the 19th century and the man in front of her was right after all.

As soon as the truth set into Lizzie's mind, she lost hold of herself and sank to the ground, "I need to lie down", was all she could say. She sat on the ground with her head in her hands, all shocked.

Darcy saw Lizzie in pure state of terror, she was not making any sense. She was thinking she was dead or having a nightmare. She was obviously delusional if she was thinking she travelled back in time and was from 21st century. But he was feeling sorry for her, she was lying on the ground as if she had lost all hope in life. She was holding her face in her hands as if she had lost her will to live. He wanted to assure her somehow that all was not lost but did not know how.

After fifteen minutes of panicking, babbling and complete breakdown Lizzie got her consciousness back. She took deep breaths and for the first time saw the reality with clear perspective. She was in 19th century and she had no idea how she got there, what made it possible. She stood up from the ground really angry and started to pace.

"Fuck, shit, damn, crap, bloody hell, son of a bitch..." she cursed and cursed loudly, stomping her feet very hard. She wanted to get all her rage and anger out from her mind and body so that she could think rationally for a minute. Darcy saw her like that, offended and scared he took a step back from her. He wanted to stop her rudeness and improper conduct but thought better of it, thinking of his bloody nose, he involuntarily lifted his hand, checked his nose and remembered the punch she gave him.