Lost in Time by Inge Blanton

Author:Inge Blanton [Blanton, Inge]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

It did not take long for gossip to travel. Eliana had only been two days at Das’s hut when two men came early one morning. They stood in front of his house and informed him he was expected at the overseer. The overseer lived several villages away.

Eliana, coming from the back of the hut, heard voices and stopped to investigate. She was standing in the shadow of the doorway when Das turned to her with a short nod of his head and said, “Eliana, we are invited to see the overseer. These gentlemen are here to escort us.”

“Oh, how very nice. Tell the men I’m honored,” she told him, piqued.

“You want me to translate that?”

“Of course, but keep the sarcasm out.”

He gave another nod. While Das translated, Eliana moved from the door’s shadow and walked into the sunlight. Her white complexion and blue eyes caused a shocked expression and a sharp intake of breath.

Ignoring their reaction, Das turned to Eliana and asked, “What else do you want me to tell them?”

Eliana thought the headman, whoever he was, was rushing them a bit. Leaning her head to one side, she looked at Das, “I don’t think we want to go with them right away,” she told him. “Let’s stall and tell them I need time to prepare for this journey. Do you think we could go in your boat? Just us?”

“My idea exactly,” Das told her, already deciding to take his own time and pace. “But what explanation should I give them?”

“Tell them I’m an emissary . . .”

“You don’t say,” Das interrupted her, startled. That unexpected remark could present unsuspected trouble.

Eliana only shrugged.

After Das translated, he told Eliana, “They want to know an emissary of whom?”

“Of the Goddess, of course. Also tell them I wish to travel with Beket, since she is a priestess.”

“Beket is at the temple.”

“Tell them to send a messenger. That should give us more time, plus Beket can advise me.”

Beket was summoned. When she arrived, Das was waiting to brief her before Eliana could talk to her.

“Why would she make a statement like that?” Beket asked after Das finished relating Eliana’s remark.

“She surprised me when she said it and I didn’t know what to make of it.”

“It could be true, you know.”

“Well, I never heard of an emissary being thrown into the river before,” Das said, amused.

“She said something about being caught in a fold in the flow of time. I couldn’t find anything about it in the temple. Ptah Kefer also said he never heard of it. But since she fell out of the sky and you fished her out of the river she had to come from somewhere.”

“Maybe her Goddess has a weird sense of humor,” Das said, chuckling.

Beket ignored his witty remark and searched for Eliana. She found her in the orchard sitting on the bench underneath the fig tree.

Beket approached not with her usual welcoming smile, but with a serious demeanor. Eliana suspected somehow she had landed on the wrong side. She rose slowly from her seat and made a graceful bow.

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