chapter Eight

“ A traveller can cross over to a different time, to a different place. The most experienced ones can do this at will, with where and when they want to go in mind. But sometimes, most times, the travellers are taken to a place and time they do not know, and this could be fatal.”

“ Like the places I kept going in these past few months. Some not safe,” she said thinking of that pitchy sardonic voice, “ some safe and even good.” She finished thinking of her friend, rose.

“ Exactly.”

Hannah let out a deep sigh, as she reflected on the months past.

“ In the begin, when they started…” martha nodded for her to keep talking, knowing she needed to say what rested heavily on her heart, what had weighed her down, but hadn’t talked so much about. She much appreciated that

“ they didn’t come often, and i could wake up, because i could always say to myself, ‘this isn’t real, this is a dream.’ that realisation comforted as well as encouraged. But then, as time went on, it never really occurred to me I was sleeping, I would be so steep in that dream- or vision- so there, so present… so afraid. I would fight back, but i was so afraid.”

she rested her head on martha’s head, and let herself be embraced by her grandmother,

“ it got so scary i could no longer speak of them. And then I had one about Rose. She came as a friend, she’s beautiful, rose is.” she said with a smile, thinking about her friend.

Martha’s heart ached, she didn’t know the measure of all of this child’s struggle, but she knew she did, and it hurt her. She had always known that the woman she embraced was a special one, right from her infancy. Always known she would carry so much on her shoulders, but she still ached for her. Her Hannah, Her child.

“ what if i can’t do it?” she asked, her voice cracking at the end

“ what if i can’t be the woman God is calling me to be? What if the dark takes hold of me?”

“ that’s a lot of ‘what-if’s?’ dearest.” Martha said gently.

Hannah let out a soft laugh.

“ you aren’t alone in all this, honey nut. I’m here, your parents, cephas, Jasper. God. Don’t feel like you aren’t surrounded by people who would rather hurt than see you hurt.”

“ I don’t want any one of you getting hurt because of me.” Hannah said fiercely, raising her head to look at her grandmother.

“ i don’t want you getting hurt because of me either.” Martha said firmly.

“ so what do we do?” Hannah asked, resting her head once more on her grandmother’s shoulder.

“ we can’t help but look out for the ones we love. Fight for the ones we love. So we do just that. In love, we do all that. And pray to God to help us.”

“ May God help us. Amen.”

“ Amen.” Martha said in turn.

~

“ Good day Jasper of moline,” cephas said in greeting when he met Jasper on the training ground.”

Jasper turned around, sword in hand, sweat dripping down his skin, the sun against his bare back.

“ Hello, Cephas.” he called back in greeting. He covered the distance between them and offered him his sword free hand.

“ How do you do?”

“ i’m well.” cephas replied, nodding. “ I was just walking around and spotted you from a distance.” Jasper nodded, listening.

“ Well, this is where the king’s guard train.” Jasper said, his hand stretched wide.

“ But no one except you trains now.” Cephas said, his head tilted. It wasn’t a question, it was more of an observation.

“ No, it seems not.”

Cephas walked to a pillar and took in the sight of the place, while Jasper watched, waited. As a child, He -cephas- would come here, when it was empty, a stick in hand and wield it as though it were a sword. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory.

He looked up, remembering he had company,

“ Care for a duel, moline?” he asked, an impish smile in place.

“ Make my day.” was Jasper’s reply.

****

One hit his sword against the other, the sounds rang clear in the quiet morning. Sweat ran their backs, and yet they went at each other. From time to time, one would best the other and they both would grin. They were having their fun.

When cephas and Hannah were younger, they would both have a go at each other, but as time went on, cephas had to take it easy on Hannah. Hannah noticed it, although Cephas never agreed when she called him out on it, she didn’t like it, but she understood it. Her cousin had been a seasoned warrior, she was not. She understood then. Although, years had passed and she was becoming a warrior in her own way. A warrior princess, he liked to think.

And so here he was he was, with another warrior, one who tested his strength, reminding him, it’d been a while since he’d trained.

“ you’re good.” Jasper said, breathing heavily, sword in one hand, a fist on his waist. Cephas took a seat on the ground and looked up.

“ safe to say, you whooped my arse.” Jasper barked out a laugh, while cephas chuckled.

“ but you sure as hell didn’t go down without a fight.” cephas nodded, reached for his sword, got up and dusted his bottom.

“ Another go?” Jasper asked, with his hand stretched out.

“ Ah, what the hell?” Cephas said in reply, and shook his greeting hand.