Eliezer’s Return

Chapter Nine

Dawn revealed no trace of the raft and during the night somebody, presumably other tribe members, had removed any bodies that might have drifted ashore. There were high clouds overhead and all could see that the wind had shifted back to the north, though in the shelter of the inlet there was merely a gentle breeze, hardly enough to ruffle the surface of the water. Ethbaal had earlier re-lit the cooking fire and thrown chunks of salted meat and more root vegetables into the pot. He looked questioningly at Eliezer, who nodded towards Itthobaal.

“Should I give the crew some stew, Sailing Master?”

“Yes, but not all at once. Let those who stood the last watch be fed whilst those who have rested prepare to get the ship underway.” He turned to Eliezer.

“I presume you wish to leave as soon as possible, Mister Eliezer?”

“Indeed, Sailing Master. Please make it so.”

“Prepare to raise anchor. Unship the oars and we’ll row out whilst making sail.”

There was a flurry of activity accompanied by a rhythmic chant as the anchor stone was heaved up and stowed in its appointed place. The four large oars soon had the ship making way, and once the main had been set it filled and began to accelerate the ship.

“Stow oars. Cook to serve the remainder of the food. Stay alert, men, we’re not in the clear yet.”

Prophetic words. At the entrance to the inlet, a mile or so distant, a line of curraghs was forming up.

“Lay out the sharp rope, look lively now.”

Men rushed to redeploy the rope with the cutting edge that they had removed in order to use the oars. It ran along each side of the ship, positioned along the rails where those attempting to board would most likely seek a handhold.

“Arm yourselves. Put on jerkins and helmets.”

“Anything I can do, Eliezer?”

“Not really. Here, put this jerkin on. It’s not really much protection but it would ward off a slingshot; it might just stop a spear or an arrow, if they have them, from penetrating too far. Same for the helmet, really, it’s some protection against a glancing blow. I suppose the most useful thing is that they make us look warlike and prepared. Some of the boys have pieces of armour that they strap either to their arms or as a sort of breastplate but to be honest, I think it gives them more comfort than protection. If you like, we have time to make up a plate or two for you. It’ll probably come to a hand-to-hand scuffle, Dan. I don’t propose to use the mortar, it’s more effective against bigger targets and to be honest, there’s the possibility of us having to put out a small fire just when we’re otherwise engaged fighting off boarders. The plan will be to use the bows at longer range to try and pick off as many of them as we can – and I’m sure Mapen will use his fire arrows to good effect, as well. They’ll most probably have tied lines between each curragh so when we try to crash through the line we end up dragging them after us, allowing them to be drawn to our side without having to paddle, and free to try to board. We’ll use our long spears to keep them at bay whilst we continue to shoot at them. I suspect that they’ll be using javelins and slingshots in the main, then short swords or axes if they actually manage to get on board. You and I will act as a sort of reserve, taking over a long spear if a man goes down and killing any who succeed in boarding. Arm yourself with either an axe or a sword, as you prefer. I’m sorry I haven’t taken the time to give you some training in the use of either; there’s a bit more to it than just trying to hack your opponent to pieces but, generally speaking, a decent stroke with either will put a man down, whether it’s delivered with any finesse or not. Stay by me and let me do most of the fighting if you can.”

“Right. It goes against the grain, but I can see the sense in it.”

“Good. Do you want me to rig up some sort of armour plate for you?”

“No. I think I’d prefer to have freedom of movement rather than a makeshift bit of armour swinging around as I move. The jerkin and helmet will do fine.”

“Dan – remember what I said about not being stupidly brave. Do what you have to, but don’t seek out battle. Let your opponent come to you. I know you’ve been in hand to hand combat before, but I hope you don’t have any misplaced ideas about chivalry or fair play? If you can, stab a man in the back before he even realises you’re there.”

“Don’t worry on that score. I have few misplaced ideas about anything to do with hand to hand combat.”

“Good, now arm yourself and stay close by me.”

As they were speaking, they walked aft. Itthobaal had had the sail trimmed to give the best speed and was discussing the situation with Sikarbaal, who was on the steering oar. At Eliezer’s approach he turned and spoke.

“We can’t miss the line altogether, Mister Eliezer, and I’m sure they’ll leave a tempting gap for us to go through which would put us straight on the rocks! We’ll go through at the far end because that angle will give us the best boat speed.”

“A good plan, Sailing Master. Have all other preparations been made?”

“Yes, Mister Eliezer.”

“Then all we can do is wait. Any stew left?”

* * * *

The line of curraghs was about a mile distant, spreading across the entrance to the inlet and still well out range of the bows. Less than ten minutes. Mapen fired off an arrow from the stern, where it was unlikely to be noticed by those in the curraghs. It arced out about two hundred metres before exploding, and he nodded thoughtfully.

Itthobaal surveyed the approaching line. He raised his voice so all could hear.

“Steersman, count along the line from the right hand side and aim directly for the third boat. We’ll sink those buggers, then deal with the rest.” Cheers and shouts from the crew.

Sikarbaal nodded and adjusted the steering oar slightly. Mapen was now standing in the bow, a burning taper in a tub at his feet to light the fire arrows with, Hanno and Luliya standing slightly behind him with their own bows.

“They’ll concentrate their fire on the two inside boats, hoping to kill or disable the crew. That way, when we snag the line we only have to worry about being boarded from one side.”

Ben Asher nodded. All the crew were outwardly calm now; patiently waiting for battle, confident in their preparations and each other, knowing what the plan was.

“There is a saying in my time, Eliezer. A battle plan doesn’t survive initial contact with the enemy.”

“We have a saying which expresses a similar thought. The key, I have found, is teamwork. Whatever happens, work together – each man guarding the other’s back. There is a tendency for men to act singly in battle; heroic, no doubt, but generally fatal. I want no dead heroes, I want live winners.”

Mochus standing close by and handling a long spear, understood his words and smiled at them.

“You remember that, Mister Danny. We’ve got used to having you on board now. You make sure you’re a live winner.”

“I’ll do my very best to make sure we celebrate this victory together, Mochus, and let’s hope I still have more hair and teeth than you at the end of it!”

Mochus convulsed with laughter and shouted out a translation of their exchange; the others responded with more cheers and waving of weapons. The ship drew ever closer to the line of curraghs.

On the right hand headland people, mainly women and children with some old men, shouted and jeered. Some capered about making gestures, some threw ineffectual rocks but most just screamed what must be insults and abuse; cheering on the home team. The crew ignored them and concentrated on the task in hand.

* * * *

Mapen conferred with Hanno and Luliya, then Hanno shot an arrow. Its aim was off but the range was good. All three now commenced shooting, concentrating on the first two curraghs in the line. Two fire arrows exploded over the curraghs, causing visible confusion and fear, then Mapen scored a direct hit on the second in the line. The burning arrow buried itself in the hide covering before exploding. Both men in the curragh were hurled into the water and neither came to the surface. Cheers from the ship, howls of rage from the curraghs. Slingshots flew from the curraghs and Hanno was struck on the shoulder. Abibal came forward and picked up his dropped bow, taking his place whilst Hanno flexed his arm for a few moments and then stepped back, taking up the long spear that Abibal discarded. Teamwork. No individual heroics, just a united purpose and a cold determination to win. A fire arrow hit the first curragh, now about fifty metres away. The two occupants wasted no time but dove over the side. Abibal and Hanno switched their aim to the curraghs on the other side of the ship. Javelins in the air above them; a scream of pain from someone on the ship. Ben Asher gripped the axe tightly; watching out for missiles, calculating angles. With a splintering crash the ship destroyed the third curragh, Abibal and Hanno shot the two occupants just before impact. Javelins and slingshots came from the left side next, but Mapen kept up a steady stream of fire arrows, which continued to have an unsettling effect on their opponents. The ship momentarily slowed as the line connecting the curraghs was pulled taut. The wind strengthened slightly accelerating the ship again, and the whole line of some twenty remaining curraghs was jerked forward; making the aiming of javelins and slingshots difficult. Several curraghs came alongside the ship. The crew jabbed at the occupants with their long spears. Several men quickly tried to clamber up the side of the ship, two made it to the deck. Eliezer stepped forward and despatched one with a thrust of his sword; Itthobaal stabbed the other and threw him back over the side. Men down on the ship, and more men trying to board from the curraghs. Ben Asher saw that if the line attached to the curraghs were cut, the fight would be ended quickly as the curraghs were left behind. Rushing forward, he cleared a path with his axe. The three archers were now repelling boarders with swords left ready at their feet. A bloody, vicious, mindless brawl. Ben Asher, leaning over the right side of the ship’s bow, couldn’t reach the line with his axe. He climbed over the side, one hand bloody where, unnoticed, he grasped the sharp rope. The axe swung, the line parted and he pivoted, throwing himself back over the rail. Blood and bodies on the deck. A final few javelins and a scattering of slingshot; cheering, howls of rage and pain. Sikarbaal leaned hard on the steering oar and the ship turned to the southwest.

* * * *

“I told you not to do anything heroically stupid but did you listen to me? Did you hell! Thanks anyway, you bloody idiot!”

Eliezer beamed at him, leaning back expansively, at one with the world and the tavern they were celebrating in, as Paltibaal unsteadily placed yet another amphora of wine in its ring on the table in front of them. He waved his now free hand around, obviously searching for words. The young woman around whom the other arm was proprietarily draped whispered something in his ear and led him away. Ben Asher solemnly regarded the wine.

“The won, woun…”

“Wounded?” Eliezer, laughing at his difficulty.

“Yer, yersh.”

“Will recover. Some may take longer than others to heal but we all live to fight another day.”

Ben Asher smiled broadly in an unfocussed sort of way, then his head fell not so slowly to the table and he passed out.

“Here’s to you, my friend. When you wake, the time will be right.”

* * * *

“And that’s what you call fine wine, is it? God, what I’d give for a strong black coffee right now!”

“If I recall correctly, you’ll have to wait about two thousand eight hundred years for one. Slightly longer, if you want a burger with it.”

“Don’t try and be funny, you might make me laugh…and I just know how much that would hurt. Get me some water, would you?”

“To drink or wash in?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you’d be better off not drinking the water. Try a beer.”

“You have got to be joking.”

“No. This is a day beer. Not as strong as the beer we drink in the evenings. Its main attraction is the fact that the water used in making it has been somewhat sterilised, not its taste. Try it. I can’t promise you’ll like it but if you’re thirsty, it’s safer than water.”

Ben Asher regarded the leather tankard suspiciously.

“Oh hell, hair of the dog.” He raised the tankard with slow deliberation and tried a sip.

“Not too bad, provided you ignore the taste and the bits floating in it. You not having one?”

“As a gesture of companionship in suffering I’ll take a sip or two with you.”

Ben Asher raised his tankard in mock salute. With a slight shudder, he took another mouthful. Eliezer raised his own tankard, took a mouthful and swilled it around in his mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out.

“God thish ish strong. You not drinking? Not to your taste?”

“I said I’d take a sip or two with you, I never said I’d actually swallow any.”

“I see. So you wanna tell me about the Egyptian Priest an’ the map or tell me whatever it was you wouldn’t tell me about before?”

“Which do you think your head could stand?”

“The meshage.”

Eliezer smiled across the table.

“You do leave this time. I didn’t tell myself where or when; nor, apparently, will I ever know if you return to your time or not.”

“Apparently?”

“At the time I wrote the message I apparently didn’t know if you returned to your time, and whether I will ever know, I don’t know. I only know that you leave this time, presumably in another Time Storm; but I didn’t tell myself that, either.”

“And jus, just remind me why you wouldn’t tell me thish before?”

“So you wouldn’t do anything even more stupid than you did a few days ago. Obviously the future me knew you’d play the hero in the fight. If you knew that you were supposed to survive, maybe you’d have done something totally insane and just maybe you’d have changed the course of time by getting yourself killed. We wouldn’t want that, now would me?”

“Not making shense. Wouldn’t want what? Which? Me being killed or changing the course of time?”

“Both. Admittedly one is closely connected with the other, but I would miss you if you’d been killed. I miss you after your return, apparently.”

Ben Asher was surprised to find his head was clearing slightly.

“Again with the apparently.”

“Reading between the lines, I harbour a certain affection for your time, or at least some of the people in it. I spend many of my remaining years wondering what happens to you and Rachel, Saul and Rifka; and to Israel in general. Apparently.”

“How long will we remain here?”

“Since this is something of a pleasure cruise for me, I’ve promised the crew that we’ll wait until we’re all fit to sail together. Another couple of weeks or so, I think. If I’m lucky, there won’t be another ship and I’ll be able to load a cargo of silver and some more tin.”

“Didn’t we bring tin?”

“Yes, we did. This place is a sort of repository for goods. Some of the tin is used for metalwork here, whilst more is shipped back home. All the tin that arrives is unloaded and then reloaded after assessing, if it’s not used here. I pay for the tin I take back with various things, in this case the gold we obtained in Ireland. Coming the other way, I brought cloth, olives and some, oh, what you would call crockery. Finished goods from back home for the settlers here to enjoy. I kept sufficient goods on board to trade for the tin, and what I unloaded was accounted for so I can load tin and silver to the correct value for our return trip. Usually a ship would not do what we’ve done, sailed across the Mediterranean and then onwards to Ictis.”

“You’ve lost me in the finer points of accounting. Right now we’re in the Caserides, yes?”

“Cassiterides. The islands in what is, in your time, known as the Bay of Vigo, Northern Spain. Vigo will be built at the end of that large inlet over there. Further to the right, you can’t see the bay from here, that will become Bayona. There’s a small settlement there now. It’s a very pleasant stop and a good anchorage, but for security we remain in the islands where the goods for shipment are stored. The historians of your day got this all slightly confused.” Eliezer smiled.

“Ictis is a place known in your time as Penzance. Your historians have authoritatively located it in various places and the Cassiterides are not the Isles of Scilly as some seem to think. I think that’s enough of a geography lesson for now.”

“Yeah; and the message? That’s all you want to tell me?”

“Pretty much. You now understand why I wouldn’t tell you before?”

“I can see your point. I forgive you for lying to me – but please level with me from here on in.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. It means time hasn’t been changed, because I told myself you’d both understand the reason why I wouldn’t tell you and forgive me for lying to you.”

“I suppose if you know for a fact, or think you know for a fact, that you can’t or won’t be killed the temptation might be to do, as you put it, something heroically stupid or even totally insane. Yeah, I understand. Now what happens?”

“I really don’t know, Dan.”

“No more secrets?”

The thought of the ring and what he had told himself about it crossed Eliezer’s mind.

“What are you going to do with the ring? Do you still have it?” He asked.

“Don’t you know?”

“I gather, reading between my own lines that we spend some time discussing the hope that it will be a suitable wedding ring for Rachel.”

“We do?”

“Yes, we do, so maybe we’d better make a start now. Do you think she’ll like it?”

Ben Asher took out the ring from inside his shirt. He’d threaded a double length of hide through it, then around his neck. It hung close to his heart, although most people think that the heart is situated a little further over to the left.

“It’s certainly different. It might be wiser if I keep schtumm about how or where I actually got it.”

“Where you got it is safe enough, why you were given it…”

“Don’t start with that again. Yes, I think she’ll like it. The design is almost hypnotic, very intricate workmanship. I’d read that jewellery from this time was much more refined and artistic than might be supposed.”

“You know, you’re really going to have to change your opinion of this time, Danny. Things are not as rough and ready as people of your time suppose them to be.”

“Sorry, that probably sounded insulting.”

“Condescending, more like.”

“Well, I’m sorry. Yes, the general perception is that in your time most people still lived in caves and obviously that’s wrong. Some things are as I expected them to be, whilst others are much more sophisticated. People don’t change much though, do they?”

“I found that. For all the ‘stuff’ of your time, people are basically the same. The only thing I found different was that in your time you place no value on personal possessions.”

“Really?”

“Well, things are easily come by in your time. You want something you go out and buy it. If you have no money, you borrow some. The things that you buy rarely seem to be something that will last, something that you’ll pass on to your children. You have many more expensive personal possessions and seem to value none.”

“True enough. It’s called the consumer society. The makers of ‘stuff’ want you to keep on buying it, so it’s not made to last – otherwise you wouldn’t want to replace it.”

“I wonder if that will ever change?”

“I don’t think we’ll ever know. At least, I hope I never know. Me, I just want to get back to my time, to Rachel. This is a fascinating experience; all the more so, I guess, because I know I’ll be leaving. I only hope I go back to my own time.”

“I really can’t say. If I knew, I’d tell you, believe me.”

“What of Sikarbaal and Mochus? I wonder if their knowing about this has any effect on them, or on future events?”

“I doubt it. Oh, they might tell it as a story to grandchildren but what effect could it have? Their knowing that you and I have travelled through time has no effect on their lives. They can’t profit by the knowledge because neither you nor I can tell them anything about their futures. I suppose when, if, no make that when, you return to your time you could make a study of old legends and folk law to see if you can find any echo of this…but I don’t think you’ll find anything. You might be able to create a link between some fantastic stories about flying carpets, crystal balls which show the future and the technology of your time, but I doubt that you’d ever be able to prove that link conclusively. I think our travels through time will remain a secret.”

“I wonder who or what is behind these Time Storms?”

“Does it matter? Nothing can be changed. What has happened in the past must always happen and presumably what will happen in the future must always happen.”

“Interesting thought, about the future. It’s almost as if you’re saying what is written will come to pass, as if everything is pre-ordained. I wonder where that leaves the concept of free will?”

“Perhaps I’d better dig out my pegboard and rope again! Maybe your Irish seer was right and time is a river with eddies and currents, some of which perhaps double back on themselves.”

“I just wonder about cause and effect.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You went forward in time by accident, we think. Certainly, you didn’t plan to go. Now, your going forward in time meant that I was going to return with you, because Edelman told me you had told him that I did return with you.”

“I wonder if you really had any choice, about whether or not to come back with me, I mean?”

“I wonder. Edelman left it up to me although he did point out that you had told him I did, that you knew for an absolute fact that I did. He didn’t need to say any more because how could I not return with you, knowing that in a sense I already had? It was, I admit, a close run thing. I was very undecided and I’m still not sure if I was helped over the side into the water. When did you tell Edelman that I came back with you and did you say I would return to my time?”

“I rang him from Rachel’s apartment, in the middle of the last night. I told him that in the message I told myself you returned with me, and that you left my time but I had no knowledge as to whether you returned to your time. Incidentally, he has the message. I hope you read it one day. I’m presuming that because of things we had discussed he assumed that you would have to return to your time because of your World Line. That’s in the law of probability, isn’t it?”

“General relativity, I think. I wonder who or what is behind all this and what the ultimate purpose is?”

“I suspect we’ll never know, but what intrigues and gives me hope for your personal future is this, something that the woman Feidlimid said. How exactly did it go? Ah yes, ‘it will be as if you had never left’.”

“Something like that, yes.”

“What does that mean, do you suppose?”

Ben Asher shook his head. Eliezer continued.

“I wonder if she meant you’d be returned immediately after you left?”

“How does, or did, she know any of this, anyway? Who the hell is she?”

“I haven’t seen her before, of that I am certain. I’ve visited that settlement twice previously. Once we had a ceilidh and I’m absolutely sure that she wasn’t there – or if she was, I didn’t notice. None of the crew has mentioned her, you know. Actually, nobody from the settlement mentioned her, either. You’d think maybe somebody would have asked how we liked the singing, wouldn’t you?”

“You did hear her, though, right? Saw her as well – didn’t you? I mean, it wasn’t just me that saw and heard her, was it?”

“I certainly saw her briefly.”

“Briefly?”

“It seemed to me that as she began to sing, everybody sat down to listen to her and then…then we were all dancing and drinking and you’d disappeared. You know, this gets stranger and stranger when I think about this carefully, about what, exactly, people said. The crew knew, or at least assumed thought that you’d wandered off with a woman and that she gave you a ring for your trouble. But now I think on it, I really don’t recall anybody mentioning her singing and we both agree that we heard a remarkable voice, don’t we? If we agree on that and it made such an impression on both of us, why has nobody else mentioned it?”

“We could ask.”

“We could – but then again, should we?”

“Why not?”

“Right now, by that I mean here and now, there are four people who know that you and I have travelled through time…”

“OK, I see what you mean. Why not just ask Mochus and Sikarbaal, then?”

“We could, but suppose we were the only two who saw and heard her?”

“Impossible, you knew her name! Somebody must have told you what it was.”

“True, true. But that somebody, in all probability wasn’t one of the crew.”

“So you think we both imagined – or hallucinated – her, then?”

“You have the ring.”

“Exactly; so it must have happened.”

“Didn’t you also tell me she said she sees things as they are, and not as others perceive them to be?”

“Something like that. We’re going round in circles here; does any of this really matter?”

“I honestly don’t know. We can’t have shared the same hallucination, or can we? No, that’s absurd. Maybe we were the only two to actually see her or, wait a moment, maybe we three were the only ones who saw things as they actually were.”

“So who was she, then? A blind seer who lived in the settlement, a being that exists out of time or…” Ben Asher’s voice tailed off.

“Or what?”

“Or some sort of messenger, sent to make sure that things happen as they should, or rather as they already had.”

“Somebody sent to fulfil something that had already happened? An accidental traveller, like us?”

“Like you, you mean. I deliberately came here.”

“Yes but you didn’t cause it all to happen…and did you really have a choice as to whether or not you came back with me?”

“Maybe she didn’t, either; or maybe she was sent by those who caused all this. But if she was sent to fulfil something that had already happened by accident then maybe, just maybe, those who sent her have no control over events. Yes, yes, that’s it, of course! The whole thing is just one big accident. You, me, anybody or anything else that’s ever been transported through time, it’s all an accident – but it happened, and that can’t be changed.”

“Everything will happen as it will and as it has?”

“Yes, yes! Eliezer, that’s it. There is no ‘conspiracy,’ no plan; it’s all one big cosmic accident. If you tried to represent it with your pegs and rope you’d wind up with, with…”

“A woven rug? Dan, does it really make any difference; and will either of us really ever find out for sure?”

“Who knows?” He shook his head slowly. “Who knows? Or does somebody already know, because to them, what will happen has already happened? Ach, round and round we go! On a slightly different but related subject; how long, in real time, will it take us to…?”

“Take us to what?”

“Hhmmm. This just keeps on getting more and more complicated. Suppose I don’t go back for, oh, years, I don’t know. Suppose I’m trapped here for the next ten years then return, as you said, immediately after I originally left. Will I return ten years older? Or will I somehow lose those ten elapsed years and return a few seconds, or minutes or hours, older than when I left?”

“I have no idea, my friend. I think you’ll find out, but I don’t suppose that I’ll ever know.”

“Are you sorry about that? Never knowing, I mean?”

“Yes; yes I am. I’d like to know that you return safely and that you have a long and happy life with Rachel by your side. I would like to know that and other things as well, but I feel that I never shall.”

“And you truly have no knowledge about when I’ll return?”

“Truly.”

Except I do know you’ll never return whilst the ring is in your possession and I know that this I cannot, must not, tell you. Were I to tell you, would you discard the ring? And in discarding it, would that bring on a Time Storm, one that perhaps was not meant to occur? So many questions…and none of them answerable.