Chapter 4 – Fast Forward
Ryna could already tell before she opened her eyes that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She was taking deep breaths, focusing hard on quelling the pain that again wracked her body. She expected to feel the hard, solid, cold tiles of the MultiVerse Authority headquarters beneath her body. Instead, the ground beneath her was damp, soft and mossy. She considered not opening her eyes ever.
But she did when she heard the unnatural rustling of leaves and twigs in the distance. She took another deep breath as the last of the pain disappeared and concentrated.
* * * * *
“Just leave me here, Two Hatchet!”
“Not leaving you, little brother,” Two Hatchet replied breathlessly as he pulled the younger scout along. An arrow protruded from his thigh, slowing them both down. Under normal circumstances, those barbarian archers would not have a chance to keep up with them. But with Running Antelope’s injured leg, it was hopeless. Except he wasn’t one to give up hope that easily.
Two Hatchet felt the force of an arrow as it whooshed by just inches from his ear. It struck the trunk of the tree just up ahead.
They were getting close! He dared not look behind him. Instead he heaved and lifted Running Antelope over his shoulders much to the surprise of the younger man. Two Hatchet ran as fast as he could with the added weight.
“We’re both going to die unless you leave me!”
“I won’t leave you! Now stop talking!” Two Hatchet was already panting. Two arrows, whooshed by on each side and struck the trees up ahead. He had the distinct feeling they were merely toying with him now. His tracking skills told him that it was over. The twelve barbarian archers were just behind him, not even bothering to run. He was within easy range of their arrows.
He stopped and then gently laid Running Antelope on the ground. He turned around. The archers formed a half circle around him, jeering at him. Even more so when he whipped out the machetes he had hanging on his sides. He felt the fear of death crawling up his back like a many-legged creature and he fought to quell it. If he was going to die, he was going to die with honor.
The archer directly ahead of him drew out an arrow from the quiver on his back, fitted it on his bow, pulled on the taut string and aimed at him. This was it. He spared his companion a glance. Running Antelope was pulling on his leg coverings, urging him to get down. He merely shook his head and glanced back up at the archer. He could see the fingers slowly releasing the string.
All of sudden something struck the archer in the head, destroying the face in a way he hadn’t seen before. He couldn’t tell what it was that hit him but it was fast…too fast for his eye to see. All jeering from the other archers abruptly stopped as they instinctively crouched, looking warily at each other.
One of them gave a yelp and fell. His face had been smashed in as well! The remaining archers drew arrows and began aiming everywhere, trying to find their attacker.
Two Hatchet just stood there, shocked into stillness, not understanding what was going on except that he wasn’t being attacked. The barbarians, on the other hand, were on the verge of panic, shouting in their strange language at one another.
Once again, an archer went down with a cry and a bloodied face.
What was going on?
And then he saw her. She was several paces in front of him, behind the archers. She was wearing what looked like the same garment the women in his city wore. The barbarians must have seen where his eyes were looking for they turned as well and suddenly aimed their arrows at her. Again, shock stole over Two Hatchet and he could only watch as first one and then all the archers let loose their missiles.
What happened next was something he would never have believed had he not seen it with his own eyes. Instead of dodging, the woman charged at the arrows. She was extremely fast as she weaved and bobbed, always at the last instant before she would have been struck by an arrow.
And then she let loose with her own missiles. They were stones! They flew straight and true from her hands and struck home with deadly accuracy. Three more archers went down. The six remaining barbarians began to run. The woman paused by a fallen archer, bent and took his knives, twirled them in her fingers and then looked at him and gave him a smile. And then she took off in pursuit.
“Did you see that?” Running Antelope said, pointing at the direction the woman went as if Two Hatchet would have missed it.
The older scout merely nodded mutely. And then a quiet resolve stole over him. He glanced down at the younger man. “You stay here!”
“But where are you going?”
Two Hatchet was already running in the same direction the woman went but he shouted back: “Just stay there!” And then he was gone.
* * * * *
Just like any scout, Two Hatchet was fast. As a matter of fact in all of Saratoga only Running Antelope was faster than him in a flat out run on a plain field. But no one was faster than him in the forest. And yet the woman was even faster. Just when he thought he had caught up with her, she would put on another burst of speed and then disappear.
He saw the results of her work though as he jumped over the body of another fallen archer. There were five left.
He slowed down a bit when he saw the backs of two barbarians running flat out, obviously in panic. But where was the woman? The question was immediately answered when he saw her swoop down from above him onto the two archers. All three rolled on the ground once but only the woman rolled up and was instantly in pursuit once more. As he passed he saw the two archers twitching in their death throes. Three more left.
Who was that woman?
Two Hatchet ran on…then tripped on something, which turned on to be the legs of one of the barbarians. He landed hard on the backs of two more. With a groan, he raised himself on all fours and was about to stand up except when he raised his eyes he was once again stunned by the vision that was in front of him.
Directly before him were eyes of a color that was greener than the grass of the fields. Her face was so fair and it was framed by red hair that against the sun streaming through the trees looked like they were on fire.
“Are you hurt?” The woman was down on one knee with a concerned look on her face.
He could only shake his head mutely, his throat suddenly dry. He swallowed dryly and then said the first thing that came to his mind: “Who are you?” Although, he was almost sure who she was.
* * * * *
“Who are you?”
Ryna knew this question was going to be asked of her sooner or later. She wasn’t quite sure whether the way she disappeared the last time she was around—more than 500 years in their past—made a lasting impression. She decided there would a lot of time to find out later. “It does not matter who I am. Are you from Pennacook?”
The man shook his head. “I’m from Saratoga. I know who you are.”
Uh oh. Looks like she did leave behind a lasting impression. “Do you really?” she responded and then stood. “Where’s your friend?”
The man’s eyes widened. “Running Antelope!” he exclaimed and then took off into the forest leaving her behind.
Ryna’s eyes narrowed.
Not even a thank you. Hmph! “Well, you’re welcome!” she hollered in English. She shook her head and then looked down first on her hands and then at her buckskin dress. There were blotches of blood and dirt everywhere. She really needed to get cleaned up. She thought about it hard for a few seconds and then finally threw her arms out in defeat. She stomped through the forest in the same direction of the scout.
* * * * *
Funsch paced the floor in front of his desk. The Quantum Tunnel, it turned out, was still broken contrary to what Park initially reported. It meant that anybody they sent through the wormhole would end up at another time instead of the in another universe. It meant that any Inter-Universe Outlaw already in the other parallel universes cannot be pursued. Finally, it meant that anybody with an illegitimate Quantum Tunneling Device (and he knew that there were still some out there they still haven’t confiscated) could do some real damage to the time stream.
Gardner messed things up really bad. From initial reports, the timeline of the Charis Universe was already changing. Funsch had Park’s team perform a research on any historical records around the 1500 BC period to see if there were any references to someone fitting Gardner’s description.
True enough, it appeared that the Native Americans during that time encountered someone they called Red Sun, said to be the fulfillment of the Red Warrior Prophecy. After that, accounts became vague and hyperbolic. Red Sun appeared briefly and then suddenly disappeared in “a flash of light as bright as the sun, turning night into day…”.
The Chief shook his head and exhaled heavily. His priorities had suddenly changed. He could no longer afford to spend any more time or resources on Gardner’s retrieval. What she does from this point forward only affected Charis Universe…theoretically.
Those, on the other hand, non-sanctioned tunneling devices needed to be found and destroyed. Or multiple universes could be affected. Nothing could be more important than preventing that.
* * * * *
“Are you sure she’s the Red Warrior?” asked Running Antelope for the umpteenth time as he limped along, watching the back of the woman he was referring to who was walking several paces ahead of them.
“Yes!” hissed Two Hatchet, showing that he was getting quite annoyed by his repeated questions. “You should have seen her three days ago when she dispatched the barbarians who tried to run away.
“Besides, have you seen anyone with red hair like she does?”
“Well, I’ve seen some of the Slavic with hair like hers,” the younger scout insisted.
“Have you seen anyone with green eyes though?” the older one challenged. “Or for that matter, anyone, whether man or woman who could fight like her?” Running Antelope had nothing to say to that. “That’s what I thought! Now we need to get her back to the Chief. She could be the answer to the barbarian problem we have.”
Both men stopped when they saw that the Red Warrior had stopped abruptly and whirled around to face them. “How much farther?” she demanded. It was clear she was getting impatient. Both men had to swallow the lump of fear that suddenly appeared on their throats.
“About two more weeks,” answered Two Hatchet hesitantly.
“What!?” Her hands turned to fists at her sides.
“I-it’s because of Running Antelope’s injury. We could be there in half that time if it was completely healed.”
“And when would that be?”
Both men looked at each other. “About two days,” the older scout replied hastily after a moment’s pause. The woman narrowed her eyes showing clearly how much she believed them. She seemed about to tell them exactly how much so when her eyes went wide for an instant and then she quickly lowered herself so that the tall grasses concealed her. Both scouts instantly followed suit.
It was after they were already crouched when Two Hatchet heard the noise. He instinctively crept closer to the woman and beckoned Running Antelope to do the same. As much as they feared the Red Warrior, they feared the barbarians more. The woman pointed to a nearby stump that used to be a large tree and started crawling towards it. The two scouts didn’t need to be told twice that the stump provided better concealment than the tall grass.
When Two Hatchet reached the stump he looked up and it was the woman’s questioning green eyes that met his. “Barbarians,” he whispered as answer to her unasked question.
“How are you sure?” she asked as she leaned against the trunk.
“They’re too noisy,” supplied Running Antelope who finally reached them.
“That’s right. Our braves would not be making so much noise in an area they know to be infested by barbarians.”
The Red Warrior put a finger against her lips and all talk instantly ceased. The band of men drew closer. They were running, not walking, to wherever it was they were headed. She peeked from the side of stump and watched them pass by.
The two scouts were content to stay where they were until the horde passed. The woman turned back to look at them. “There were…” she began but then stopped and then her brows furrowed. “How do you say this number?” She then held out her palms at them, the fingers spread. The two men looked at each other and then back at her, shaking their heads in confusion.
The woman nodded, said something unintelligible and then turned back towards the barbarian horde who were already at a safe distance. “There were a lot of them.”
“It did sound like there were a lot of them,” Running Antelope nodded in agreement.
“Where do you think they’re going?”
“I would have to guess back to their village,” Two Hatchet replied.
“And where would that be?”
Again, the two scouts looked at each other. “We don’t know,” it was Two Hatchet who answered. “That’s why we were sent to this area of the jungle. To find their village.”
“Saratoga only sent the two of you?” the woman had her eyebrows raised in disbelief.
“No, no. There were a lot of us. Kicking Bird, Stands Alone, Dull Knife—“
“All right. Enough. I understand. Where are they now?”
Both men looked down. “Dead. All of them. Killed by the creatures of this jungle,” Two Hatchet said. “It was just me, Running Antelope and Stands Alone who were left but then the barbarians shot an arrow at Stands Alone and he died.”
“We would have died too if you had not come to save us,” Running Antelope said.
“I’m sorry to hear of your loss. Did you find the barbarian village though?”
“No,” answered the older one, “it seems to be well concealed.”
The woman nodded and then looked away, deep in thought. “I know a way to find that village,” she said, turning to look back at them.
“Really,” Running Antelope said excitedly. “How?”
“Wait!” Two Hatchet exclaimed. “You’re not suggesting we follow the horde, are you?”
The Red Warrior gave them a smile that was as beautiful as it was terrifying. “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”
* * * * *
Ryna’s heart pounded once more as she caught sight of Saratoga. Both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope had run ahead of her into the cheering crowd. Several women came out of the crowd carrying leis and formed two lines in front of the scouts. Each of them took turns bestowing the leis onto them. There were drums beating in the background and more cheers. The number of people who came out to greet the two scouts was staggering. She didn’t realize there were already that much people in the city.
They were both heroes as far as the city was concerned. Not only because they had survived the barbarian horde when everyone thought they had already died, but they also managed to locate their village, which, it turned out, was truly concealed up on a hill surrounded by thick jungle.
The memories of what they saw when they came close enough to see what was going on in the village was enough to give her nightmares for days to come. The barbarians were in the midst of a sacrificial ritual where a hapless tribesman, who both scouts recognized to be from Khmer, was hacked alive while shackled on a raised stone slab. Ryna shuddered and shook her head of the disturbing images and hurriedly walked after the two.
She was clothed in a cloak made from buckskin that both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope had hurriedly put together just the day before they entered Saratoga. She requested it of them so she could enter the village without much fuss. The plan was that later on, when things have quieted down, the two would request an audience with the Chief and present her to him.
The crowd began to press on all sides with each person trying to reach out and pat the two on the back, others were asking questions about their adventures. Ryna found herself cut off from them, which was fine. They had already previously agreed on where to meet up afterwards. She decided to leave the crowd and wandered into an empty street.
There were some marked differences between the state of the American civilization back in 1540 BC and 990 BC. The houses were much studier, incorporating better use of wood and stone. There were also signs that advertise places of business. Now that was interesting. Ryna walked to closer to one such establishment and looked up to peer at the sign posted on the wall. She couldn’t read what was written but she was gratified to know that her civilization was progressing.
She continued to walk down the stone path. Now if only there were street signs, everything would be peachy…