Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
3.11 Signs and Symbols
"You aren't in your past…"
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Cutter looked at Lester's wife sympathetically.
"You've got to understand," the Professor explained "there are too many differences, too many changes…"
"Yes, I know…," interrupted Vivian "Temporal theory… rule number one - if you go back in time, something will change."
"What?" asked Cutter. He looked at her in confusion. "What rule?"
"Nothing," replied Vivian, blinking her eyes. She sniffed. Claudia handed her a tissue.
"Oh look," said Claudia changing the subject, "Sarah and Jamal are here."
The two were walking across the grass, hand in hand. Jamal was carrying a small cooler. They were chatting. Jamal must have said something funny, because Sarah flipped back her long brown hair and started laughing.
"Where's Becker?" growled Cutter when they were close enough to hear him.
Sarah looked at him in surprise.
"Isn't he here already?" she asked.
"Yes, Becker's here," answered Vivian. She pointed into the woods. "He's got some assistants… they're all throughout the woods."
"How on earth are we ever going to get in contact with him?" asked the Professor sounding exasperated.
"I believe that's where I come in sir," replied a young female voice.
Cutter turned towards the voice. A young girl with dark hair held high in a ponytail stood in front of him. She was carrying an equipment box.
"Who are you?"
"Jessica Marie Parker," the girl introduced herself with a sunny smile. "Jess for short… I'm the new communications specialist."
"My new intern," added Vivian.
Cutter glared at Lester's wife.
"She's a child," said Cutter "we've got no business endangering children…"
The young lady in question stamped one foot.
"I am not a child," protested Jess "I'm nineteen and the best communications specialist you'll ever see."
Cutter rolled his eyes. "You see what you've done?" he asked Vivian.
"We need her Cutter," said Vivian. "Becker called in some favors. Tom Ryan sent some trainees from Sandhurst. Jess can help us communicate with everyone. Hyde Park is covered. If an anomaly opens anywhere in the park today, we'll know about it."
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Danny glared at Stephen.
"We've been through this one before," Danny said. "Last year, I'm sure of it."
"No," said Stephen "look at our rocks… the anomaly has moved a good six inches since we last went through it… it could go anywhere now."
"Fine," grumbled Danny "we'll try it again."
He stepped through the anomaly into water waist deep. Stephen followed closely, bumping into Danny. They both lost their footing and were swept downstream… through another open anomaly.
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Abby looked at Percy. She narrowed her eyes and asked one more question.
"What are you doing here Percy?"
Percy gave her a wry grin. "Later, yeah," he said "right now, we need to get back to the village. If the night watchman could see that fire, others could too."
"What others?" asked Abby "No! We need to get back home."
"Abby, no," protested Connor "we've got to go back to the Cretaceous, to follow Danny."
Percy looked from Abby to Connor in surprise.
"I've been to the Cretaceous mate," Percy said "trust me; you don't want to go there."
"Connor," asked Abby gently "both your legs are hurt. Can you even stand up?"
"But Abby…"
"Can we argue about this later?" asked Percy. "We really need to get moving! We need to get inside the village walls."
Percy turned his head and spoke to the other men. The big man, Henri, wiped his nose against his sleeve and then stood up. He looked around and quickly stepped into the forest edge. He grabbed the wrist of the brown haired woman. She had been quietly trying to sneak into the woods.
As Henri pulled her back towards the others, she turned to beat her hands on his chest. He simply picked her up and held her over his shoulder. She began flailing and kicking.
"Can't we let her go?" asked Abby "She obviously doesn't want to go to this village of yours."
Percy sighed. "I know she doesn't like the village," he said "but if we left her, the barbarians would find her. If she were lucky, they would just rape and kill her… if she weren't lucky…"
Abby blanched. "Barbarians?"
"Yeah. I've lived here for the last ten or twelve years now…," replied Percy "Folks tell me this used to be a safe enough place to live when it was a Roman Province... but that was a long time ago... before Rome was sacked… now… it's a different story."
Henri was talking to the man with the horse. Louis brought Henri some rope. He held the rope up in front of the woman and said something. She quit kicking and glared at the man. Then she nodded her head. Henri carried her over to the boy still sitting on the horse. He helped her get seated behind the boy.
Percy knelt down by Connor. "We've really got to get going mate," he said "let me help you up."
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Connor looked at the ARC's former public relations representative.
"Yeah," Connor replied "I think I could use some help."
Percy clasped Connor's forearm close to the elbow. Connor's bare hand clenched Percy's arm.
"On three," said Percy with a grin. Connor nodded.
"One… two… three…"
The two men rose together. For a moment, they stood together. Then Connor wavered and fell flat on his back. His right arm sprawled across the ground, pointing his bare hand towards the fire. At that moment something snapped in the fire, sending a blazing flame soaring skyward. The monk crossed himself. Jean, Louis and Henri started muttering.
"Connor," cried Abby. She dropped the short sword and knelt by Connor's side, reaching for his wrist to check his pulse again.
"Oh great!" exclaimed Percy in annoyance. He knelt down beside Connor too. "Abby, Abby… he's okay, just fainted. People do that sometimes when they've lost a lot of blood."
Abby looked at Percy worriedly. "It's the third time he's been unconscious in two days," she said.
"We'll get him in the cart," said Percy "don't worry."
Abby thought not worrying was easier said than done as she looked at Connor sprawled on the ground. Percy spoke to Henri. The big man shook his head nervously. He backed up a step. Percy then called to the woman in the green dress. She searched her waistband, then shook her head no. Percy sighed in exasperation.
"What's wrong?" asked Abby.
"The men are all scared," answered Percy. "Henri doesn't want to pick up Connor, I can't lift him, and there are no more of those leaves to wake him up."
"Scared?" asked Abby. "Scared of what?"
Percy turned to face Abby. "They're scared of Connor," he answered.
Abby wondered why the big man would be scared of an unconscious man.
"He didn't seem to have a problem picking up Connor before," Abby pointed out.
"Yeah, well that was when he thought Connor was a dragon slaying warrior," replied Percy.
"He thought Connor was what?" asked Abby. "No, no… never mind… it doesn't matter really. But why is he scared now?"
Percy pointed at Connor's wrist. The black markings, strange twists and turns surrounding a stylized triangular symbol, stood out starkly on his pale skin.
"Ever since they saw the tattoo, they think he's a dragon slaying wizard," said Percy.
Abby gave him an incredulous look. "It's a dinosaur Percy," she whispered "not a dragon. And Connor's not a wizard."
Percy nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But for them… it explains the rest of the missing dragon. And the fire blazing up just now when Connor pointed at it… unconscious mind you…that removed any doubts they might have had."
Abby smirked. Connor… a wizard? "What do they think I am?"
"Dangerous."
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Percy finally got the big man to help lift Connor and carry him to the cart. Abby had the sneaking suspicion that Percy had threatened Henri with Abby's wrath. Louis and Herman the monk had yoked the ox back to the cart. Abby looked at the cart.
"There's not much room to lay Connor down."
"We put him in it before," said Percy.
"Looks uncomfortable" replied Abby. "Why did they bring the raptor's head?"
Percy shrugged. "They thought I should see it."
"Well now you've seen in," said Abby. "I've got an idea…"
The moon was just beginning to rise over the tree tops by the time everybody was ready to leave. Abby was sitting in the back of the cart, leaning on the large barrels. She had Connor's head in her lap. He stirred, and woke.
"Abby," asked Connor "what happened?"
"It's okay Connor," soothed Abby "we're just going to Percy's home. You need to rest some, yeah."
He blinked. "Yeah, okay," sighed Connor. He turned and snuggled in closer to Abby. He was asleep without another word. Abby gently brushed a strand of dark brown hair from his face. It was going to be okay she told herself. It just had to be.
As the cart started the long climb up the hill, Abby looked back at the encampment. The raptors teeth showed bright white in the moonlight. The head was mounted on Henri's heavy staff. The creature's baleful gaze overlooked the road. Hopefully a dragon's head on a stake would serve as a warning to any barbarians that might want to come up this road.
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