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Lucie and the Captain and Lucie of Greystone Cottage

by Katherine Lange

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Thank you for your attention, please enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Three

Somewhere In Time

"I do hope Madame Tibaldi will be all right," Carolyn remarked to her husband in a serious tone. "I would hate to hear that anything had happened to her because of us. She has been so good in warning us of the dangers."

"I think you'll find that old ghost-caller is very well protected," Daniel reassured her. "Too well for the likes of measly Turner. But I've asked the admiral to have a word with those of my old crew who still follow her. They will alert me if the demon turns his unwanted attention in her direction."

He smiled grimly. "The old boy jumped at the idea. He was rather taken with the chance to be useful again after over a century of inaction and kicking his heels by the domestic fire."

They were sitting close together on the living room couch, watching the flames dancing in their own fireplace. The hour was late and the house was quiet.

"If you think that will help, then I'm grateful. But then what must we do now?" Carolyn asked anxiously, watching her husband's brooding expression illuminated in the flickering firelight. "How will we find this magical knife of yours? It's been over a hundred years. Will it truly put an end to Turner trying to hurt you?"

"We will do nothing," Daniel replied grimly, taking her tightly linked hands between his own to soften the blow. "This is a quest I must go on alone. It would be too dangerous for you. I cannot risk anything happening to you, not now. I promise I will be back before you have a chance to miss me."

Carolyn gripped his fingers urgently. "No! I cannot risk losing you. Who knows what might happen. It would be better for everyone if we just make a big bonfire and burned all those blasted journals! They have been so useful but can be so dangerous."

"I'm afraid it's too late for such a drastic action even if I would allow it," Daniel replied calmly. "The damage has already been done and Turner is back on this plane seeking revenge for imagined slights. We must undo what has been done and see him on his way back to his old haunts."

Carolyn sighed roughly. "I still say we should just burn all those journals and be done with them. Burn Lucius's too. But I will not allow you to go anywhere without me. If anything should happen to you because of me, I could not bear it. Not now."

"You will not allow?" Daniel's dark eyebrows rose.

"Oh, don't you dare go all nineteenth-century on me," Carolyn accused strongly, shaking his hands between hers. "I won't have it. If you're going anywhere, then I'm going too."

Her worried gaze hunted the shadowed corners of the room. "What if Turner comes back while you're not here? I will not let you vanish on me and go alone."

Her husband sighed. "As stubborn as you are beautiful. Lucius and his spirit screen will protect the house for as long as we need it. No harm will come to anyone inside these walls on his watch. You will be far safer here than with me. Where I must go, only spirits may pass."

"But I want to be with you. I want to help," Carolyn pleaded helplessly.

Her husband shook his head. "Even if you could, the Bey's world is very different to anything you will have ever known."

He sighed grimly. "Women are mere playthings to be adored and admired. They are also strictly forbidden to set foot in his inner sanctum where I'm sure he keeps the knife."

He shook his head. "He's a wily old fox and it will take all my concentration to secure it from him. Your safety would be a distraction I cannot afford. One wrong word to anyone and it would not be Turner you need worry about. The Bey's guards are brutal and always spoiling for a fight."

"Oh, I do so hate this! All of this need to hide and try to keep ahead of all those who want to harm us." Carolyn tightened her grip on him, resisting his attempts to pull away. "Why can't we be left in peace? Why is that so hard to make happen? We have everything we could ever need, right here."

"It will happen," Daniel reassured her. "We must have faith we will prevail in the end."

"I wish I had your certainty." Carolyn frowned. "You told me this afternoon that there's no time in the world of the spirits. That it flows endlessly onwards."

She pulled him closer. "A day or a month can pass in what is no more than the blink of an eye in this world. Surely we would only be gone a few minutes if the knife is still in the possession of the old Bey as you think it is. We can fetch it home and use it to our advantage."

"There you go again, using my own words against me," Daniel complained with a sigh. "I must beg you to remain here where I know you'll be safe. You cannot stop me from going. I must travel back in time and be in spirit in that place. There is no other way."

His lips tightened. "I will need to play the old Bey at his own game and do my best to beat him without him guessing I am no longer a man as he once knew me to be. Getting into his palace will be the easy part. I will not leave until I have reclaimed what was mine."

"I still don't like it…" Carolyn shook his hands. "But, please be very careful. Without you, I would have nothing at all and Turner will have won without touching either one of us."

Daniel sighed again, deeply and with true regret. "That blasted demon lurks ever closer and I have no more time to waste arguing with you. He will only be emboldened by any delays. I must find the knife tonight and secure it."

He took her by the shoulders. "I will return as soon as I can. The old boy is stubborn and does not give up his secrets easily. Please do not be afraid for me. The old man does have a soft spot for me and would not do me harm unless he truly lost his temper. Which is always possible."

"Well, I'm petrified for you," Carolyn admitted honestly, stretching up to kiss him swiftly. "I can't help it. Staying here and waiting for you to come home again, knowing the risks you may be facing alone. We faced Turner before, together. We can do it again this time."

"I do not know what I have ever done to deserve your love…" Daniel drew her closer, resting his cheek against her hair.

"I wonder the same thing every day…" Carolyn responded, hugging him. "How will you do this? When will you go?"

"Soon. Close your eyes and hold me…" Daniel instructed her softly, his arms going around her softly-rounded body to draw her tightly against him. "Close your eyes and understand that nothing can truly hurt me. I have your love to guide and protect me."

Carolyn choked back her tears as she did as he asked, desperate to keep him with her. She reached up to kiss him, hoping he would relent and see her point of view. But all too soon her love began to dissolve, leaving her clutching at the air and holding onto nothing of any substance…

※※※※※

"By the sacred beard of our beloved Prophet!" Ali Bey, the irascible, absolute ruler of his small Tunisian state, swept his hand among the exquisitely carved, ivory chessmen in a fit of pique, sending some of them tumbling from their marble board and onto the chamber's thick Persian carpet.

"I could swear you've been cheating me these last hours!" he complained in heavily accented English. "But I cannot see how! I should order you to be boiled in oil and get to the truth!"

"But you won't." Daniel shook his head at the accusation. "Because you know that I always play an honest game. You lost the last five games, fair and square. Maybe you are getting too old for the intricacies of the game."

"Old, is it you say? You surprised me, that's all." The old man glared balefully at his opponent seated across the low table from him. "At first, I thought you were a Jinn or a bad spirit come back to haunt me, so quietly did you appear at my bedside. Now the sun will soon rise and you are still here. I want to know why."

Daniel shrugged. "Why does there have to be a reason?"

"Because there does!" The Bey waved an impatient hand. "I do not see you for years and yet you walk in as if you own my palace and once again you manage to beat me! I should order you to be dismembered and fed to the sharks!"

"But you won't do that either," Daniel replied quietly, as he bent to retrieve the scattered chess pieces and reset the board. "Then you would have no one left who would be willing to play against you for fear of incurring your wrath. And you are curious about why I've returned after so long."

"Christians…" the Bey muttered darkly into his combed and perfumed grey beard. "You're all too devious for a frail old man and you speak in riddles. You seek to confuse me with your stealth and guile."

He slapped his silk-clad knee. "I swear, the benighted Frenchmen lurk, trying to steal my lands and people from me! At least, the Ottoman Turks are good Muslims and have been honest thieves!"

He scowled as he picked up his silver-filigreed glass of mint tea and drained it of the remaining hot liquid. He stared at his unexpected visitor as Daniel resettled himself on his cushions.

"So you came back when I told you not to. I thought I'd finally seen the last of your miserable hide when you sailed from my harbour that long ago summer. Yet, you appear in my private chamber like a thief in the night. And my guards swore they know nothing and did not see your arrival. How is that even possible?"

"They are lazy and good for nothing but fighting and womanising." Daniel shrugged his unconcern, keeping his expression neutral. "I wished to see you again. Your guards were looking the other way when I entered. I thought it best if we meet in private away from prying eyes. You have often been in my memory."

"Do you seek to mock me?" Ali Bey grunted his disbelief as he signalled for one of his attentive servants to refill his glass. "You had nothing but women on your mind when last I saw you. Or the endless hunt for that one elusive woman you said you never found."

He waved his servants away, brusquely ordering them all to leave his chamber. The fawning attendants bowed and shuffled backwards, closing the ornate doors behind them. They could be heard talking in urgent whispers on the other side of the stout wood.

"Ahh…" The Bey settled down with his refilled cup. "Now we can be comfortable and know we are not being overheard. My servants will be hurrying to report everything to my wives. They pay well for any interesting news. Your sudden arrival will garner some good coin. It relieves their boredom."

He rolled his eyes and shook his turbaned head. The king's ransom of jewellery he wore at his neck rattled together. "An old man's life is constantly beset by gossiping and interfering women. I tell you I am surrounded by them! They berate me at every turn, saying I've been too soft with you Americans. Allowing you to trade with me. My first wife hates you because you spurned her requests for you to spy for her."

He grinned. "That's why I kept you around for years, just to annoy her. She hates you even more for that! At least you're not trying to steal from me. Or are you? Is that why you came here in secret? What do you really want from me?"

Daniel shrugged. "I came back to see how my old friend is doing. It has been too long. Is that a crime?"

The Bey scowled at him over the rim of his glass. "Tell me, my nautical friend. Did you ever find the one whom you sought with such fervent ardour? Did you finally meet the one woman in the world that you could love utterly and couldn't live without?"

Daniel met the old man's questioning gaze squarely. "I'll admit I didn't think she existed. I did search the world for her and always came up empty-handed."

The old man replied, "If it is not to be in this life, then maybe in the next. All you need to do is believe that true love is possible. Even for a stubborn, hard-headed man like you. Married more to the sea than the hearth and home."

He laughed ruefully. "I had thought I'd found love so many times. My numerous wives and children are a testament to that. And yet…"

He shook his head. "You should see my new wife…" He kissed the tips of his bejewelled fingers toward the shadowed ceiling and grinned. "She pleases me very much. Very much, indeed. She is a rare jewel."

"But I did find her," Daniel told him. "The one I'd been seeking. And she was closer to home than I ever thought possible."

The Bey raised his grey brows. "She waits back in your own land of America for your return?"

Daniel nodded. "She waits in our home by the sea. But our love stands in grave danger from demon forces who are bent on destroying all we have. All we have made together."

"Ah, now I understand. You come to my chamber in secret because you did not wish those forces to follow you here." The Bey put aside his cup. "I can thank you for that boon. I knew there was more to your secret visit here tonight than reliving old memories."

He folded his hands together. "You seek to repossess that which you gifted to me for the protection of my lands."

"I now stand in great need of its magical powers," Daniel admitted honestly. "I know you have it about you in here. I can feel its presence. It calls to me, seeking to return to my hand."

"Your boon was of great use to me," the Bey replied huffily, stroking the line of his moustache with one heavily bejewelled finger. "Why should I return it to you? I may yet have need of it again. It was a gift beyond price given in good faith."

"Because I am humbly begging for its return. We both know your need for it has passed. Mine is now immediate and most urgent. I will search this chamber for it if I must."

"But that evil may yet return…" The old man lowered his eyes to the set chess board and he rubbed his hands together. "I tell you what. Let us play one more game, for memory's sake. The winner may choose his prize from among my many treasures. Maybe even from among my many wives."

The Bey smiled grimly, his dark eyes glittering as he drew the side of his hand across his throat with slow and graphic intent. "While the loser…"

※※※※※

Carolyn tried to choke back her tears as she did as her husband asked, desperate to hold onto him. She reached up to kiss him, hoping he would see her point of view and take her with him.

But all too soon her love began to dissolve, leaving her clutching at the air and holding onto nothing of any substance. She sat frozen in that pose for several heartbeats, wondering and hoping her love would come safely back to her.

Swallowing tightly against the lump in her throat and the sting of tears in her eyes, she was about to drop her arms when they became filled again with the undoubted presence of her love.

"Daniel…?" Her voice hiccupped with disbelief as he became solid in her embrace once more. "I don't understand…" She tightened her grip on him, wondering if he would slip away again.

"I am here…" Her husband then put his lips to her ear to whisper, "There's no time in the world of the spirits. It flows endlessly onwards. A day or a month can pass in what is no more than the blink of an eye in this world. Did you have time to miss me?"

"Do you have it? The knife, I mean?" Carolyn whispered raggedly, ignoring his clumsy attempt to lighten her worries. "Where is it? I don't see it. Oh, tell me you got it back."

"Did you doubt my excellent powers of persuasion?" He kissed the side of her neck.

"I… no," Carolyn whispered in a small voice of relief. "So you did manage to obtain it."

"Here… Touch this…" Daniel took one of her hands and pressed it to the stout fabric of his naval belt. "See for yourself."

Carolyn's questing fingers outlined a long shape beneath the buckle of his sturdy belt that ran from his waist and down the hard length of one thigh under his trousers.

"I didn't think it would be so long," she whispered, her fingers returning to grasp the hilt lying snug against his lower abdomen beneath his grey sweater.

"The old Bey didn't wish to give it up," Daniel replied as he slid his fingers beneath hers and drew the sheathed knife forth from its hiding place. "Even after I beat him fair and square at chess he still complained. He bargained and wheedled, trying to barter his way out of our deal."

His lips curved in wry amusement. "He even tried to offer me his youngest and prettiest wife in trade. He felt the loss of the knife that keenly."

He shrugged. "I said our wager was for the knife and that alone. I knew he had it about him in that room. I said I would take it and nothing else. He finally gave it up very grudgingly. He showed me where he slept with it beneath his pillows for protection."

"It's just as well you refused his offer of his woman," Carolyn whispered, shaking her head. "You only have room in your life for one wife."

She dropped her eyes to study the magical artefact he held in his hands. It was sheathed in a dark grey scabbard heavily decorated with gold and precious stones. "Is it truly magical? It looks like any ordinary knife should look."

She ran her fingers over the grey material, finding it rough, dry and strangely warm. "What is this?"

She caught her breath as a sudden charge of electricity seemed to run up her arm, briefly numbing her questing fingers. She snatched her hand away with a gasp.

"It's sharkskin," Daniel replied, half-drawing the knife to show her the dark blade with its legend written in archaic black script down the centre channel. "This weapon was forged by masters of their art thousands of years ago from the incorruptible metal of a fallen meteorite. Then they imbued it with spells and incantations against all evil. Its power is unimaginable."

The firelight glinted off the blade's sharp edge and a strange hum suddenly seemed to vibrate in the air around them. "Therein lies its magic. No demon, no matter how powerful, can stand against it. Turner will pay dearly for daring to reach for me again."

His lips curved in wry amusement as he shook his head. "At the very last moment, the old Bey suddenly changed his mind and reneged on our deal. He yelled for his guards. I would like to have seen their faces when they burst in and found I was no longer anywhere to be found in the chamber and the knife was still in my possession."

He pushed the weapon back into its scabbard and the strange humming sound ceased. "At first light, I will go out and confront a demon and shove this knife right through his blasted plans for us. He knows and uses the dark too well for me to risk doing anything more tonight."

"Well, I'm coming with you this time," Carolyn asserted, gripping his arm. "And there is nothing you can say or do that can stop me this time."

Daniel returned the sheathed knife to its hiding place beneath his belt, tucking his sweater in over it. "I thought as much."

He turned to cup her cheeks within the palms of his hands. "As stubborn as you are beautiful."

"Well, you taught me how to assert myself with Harriet and my mother. You cannot change your mind now. This is the twentieth-century and I won't let you."

"Yes, it is, more's the pity," her husband complained. "The Bey's women did everything he commanded without hesitation. Implicit obedience to the man in their lives was instilled into them from birth. A sadly mislaid trait in all modern women."

"Bah…" Carolyn turned her head to kiss his palm. "Turner has bitten off a lot more than he can chew. He won't stand a chance against us now. And I'll be happy to tell him so when we confront him."

"I swear some of your ancestors must have been Celtic warrior women." Daniel studied her closely. "You have such a fire in your eyes right now."

"If there's fire in my eyes, then you put it there with your love." Carolyn laid a possessive hand on the hilt of the knife beneath his clothing and felt its strange magic again through her fingertips.

"Well, however it got there, right now I find it very alluring." Daniel kissed the tip of her nose.

"And I'm only protecting what's mine," his wife continued simply, moving into his embrace and laying her cheek against his shoulder. "And you can be sure, Mister, that you most certainly are mine. The Bey can keep his women."

"Yes, dear…" Daniel laid his cheek against the top of his head as they went back to their contemplation of the firelight. "Go to sleep now. You'll need all your strength for the battle ahead. I'll keep watch."

"I'm not sleepy…" Carolyn asserted, settling herself closer against him. "I'll keep watch with you."

"Of course, you're not sleepy…" Daniel whispered as he sat watching the dancing flames.

He felt his wife sigh as she relaxed against him. The slow and steady lengthening of her breathing signalled she had fallen asleep after all.

"Sleep, my love…" He kissed her temple as he gathered her closer still, cradling her against his heart.

Tomorrow and the battle to be all they wished to be would come soon enough with the dawn. It would be hard fought but they would win. They simply had to because nothing else mattered now.

※※※※※