Chapter 34 Magellan #2
“Yes.” At least she hoped so. It was a leap of faith, but Magellan had to believe the ring and the Ley Lines had brought them here for the same reason.
Rhys considered everything a long moment.
“I think it’s wise for us first to figure out where we are and find shelter before it gets dark.
” He held out his hand to help her stand.
He was acting stiff and formal, or maybe he was distracted as he took in their surroundings.
He shielded his eyes from the sun, squinting.
“I think that’s a road in the distance. Are you able to walk? ”
“Of course.” She bent down to get the satchel, but he beat her to it.
As they began walking into the unknown, her own anxiety returned full force. She had no choice but to hum.
Rhys asked, “Are you truly singing? At a time like this?”
“I’m humming. It calms my nerves.”
“Humming,” he clarified, as if he hadn’t heard her right.
She hummed a bit more. “The sound resonates throughout your body like a tuning fork and calms your—” She almost said vagus nerve but didn’t have the energy to explain what it was.
“That is the reason you hum sometimes?” he asked, as if a great mystery had been solved.
“I have a lot of anxiety,” she hesitated, admitting, “and fear.”
“Truly? I think you’re the most courageous woman I’ve ever met.”
She turned to him in surprise. “You do?”
“And reckless with no thought for your safety.” He waved his arm at their view. They walked on in silence toward the road, a thin ribbon in the distance. Rhys kept stopping to turn a full circle and look at the sky.
“What are you doing?” she had to ask.
“Keeping track of our direction so we can make our way back. The standing stone might be the only way out of here.”
She hadn’t thought about that.
He added, “We find out where we are, find this composer of yours, and then get back to the stone.”
“I’ll need an instrument.” But first, she needed to figure out who she was meant to meet.
When they reached the road, they saw travelers up ahead, a group of men and women with a horse and a wagon.
The women’s colorful gowns with decorative metal belts looked like something from a Renaissance Fair.
The men wore long tunics or shorter tunics with boots.
From afar she could see metal glinting in the sunlight.
“Are those swords?” Magellan asked breathlessly. One man had a spear as well. “What century did people stop walking around with swords and spears?”
“Apparently not this one. Bloody hell.” Rhys started to hum under his breath.
She was so surprised she had to ask to make sure. “Are you humming?”
“You said it helped with anxiety.” Then he announced, “But I find it is not minimizing mine.” He stopped walking and pulled them behind a tree. He worked quickly to take off his cravat, vest, and coat and stuffed it into the satchel.
Baffled, she watched him. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to blend in with those medieval chaps up ahead.” He untucked his shirt from his pants, letting it hang down long to slightly resemble a tunic.
Then he stared at her, his eyes sweeping her from head to toe.
She had dressed smartly in a plain blue gown and travel cloak.
“Your skirts are too full and will call attention. Take off whatever is underneath them.” A blush bloomed on his cheeks as he waved an imperious hand at her skirts.
Then he about-faced and shielded her from anyone who could see. “Quickly now.”
She reached under her skirt to slip off the voluminous petticoat.
The skirt immediately flattened to resemble the other women’s up ahead on the road.
“You can look now,” she said. Rhys turned and flushed even more when he saw the petticoat on the ground.
She wadded up the fabric and put it in the now bulging satchel.
“Better. Take your hair down too like the other ladies.”
Magellan started pulling out the countless hair pins, but she was making a knotted mess.
“Here, let me.” Rhys stood in front of her and worked all the pins out with a gentle hand.
She stared at his chest, watching him breathe.
He was being infinitely careful finding all the pins, until she felt the knot of her hair give and tumble down her back.
“I think I got them all,” he said, his voice husky.
Then his hands were in her hair searching for any stray pins. He found two.
She looked up at him. The wary hurt in his eyes pained her. She tried to explain herself again. “You don’t know how much I wanted you to come,” she pleaded softly, wanting nothing more than to kiss him, but he took a step back, deftly slipping the pins in the satchel’s side pocket.
“As you said.” He still sounded distant and busied himself with his coin purse, fishing out a handful of coins and putting them in the pocket of his pants. She hadn’t even considered she would have come alone without any money.
“Will your coins work here?” she wondered.
“Silver and gold will always be in demand no matter what year it is.” He took her hand in his and briskly set off. “We need to follow them and hope they’re going to a town. Let us stay close, but not too close. We don’t want them noticing us.”
They trailed behind the traveling group for over an hour.
After a while Magellan was too tired and hungry to hum anymore but refused to complain.
Especially not when Rhys was still upset.
His hurt was legitimate. If he had left her behind intentionally, she would have been devastated.
They didn’t talk and instead focused on following the group. The men spoke loudly and were laughing.
She whispered, “Can you understand them?”
He shook his head. “Only a few words. It’s definitely an offspring of German, most likely its earlier form.”
They crested another hill and finally saw the town. A huge, sprawling medieval metropolis with bridges connecting the city on both sides of a river. Relief hit her hard upon seeing it. At least they weren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Up ahead the road merged into a bigger one with more travelers, more wagons, and more swords and spears all heading to town.
Before she and Rhys got onto the main road to join the others, he said quietly, “Don’t stare anyone in the eyes, and try not to speak.
I will speak only German. With luck they will think us foreign travelers with a heavy dialect.
It will be better than English. Just answer ja for yes and nein for no. ”
Magellan nodded, beginning to panic. Rhys gave her hand a tight squeeze, and they merged onto the main road.
She could feel the stress oozing from him.
He was the only man without a sword. She tried to keep her eyes downcast but couldn’t help peeking up at all the people.
Aside from the colorful robes, heavy jewelry, and weapons, everyone looked filthy, as if they hadn’t bathed in weeks.
The pungent odors of sweat and oil wafted in the air alongside the stench from livestock.
The smells only increased as they made it over the first bridge to the outer wall of the city.
Boys in a nearby field were playing with what looked to be an ancient soccer ball.
An enormous market loomed ahead, crammed with rows of vendors selling a dizzying array of fruits, vegetables, livestock both alive and strung up butchered, spices, fabrics, pottery, and glassware.
They passed by booths selling foods being cooked in the open, and she eyed the grilled sausages and giant pretzels, her mouth watering.
Rhys stopped at a popular booth manned by two industrious women at an oven.
He tried his hand at buying a round of rye bread and fresh cheese spread by paying with copper pennies and speaking slowly in German with hand signals.
Then they were off again. Rhys seemed to have some kind of destination in mind.
It’d been hours since they woke up at the standing stone.
Magellan was about to ask if they could stop and rest when they rounded a corner and entered a small square.
Rhys tried to block her view but wasn’t fast enough. A man hung from a scaffold, his back a patchwork of torn flesh and blood. “Don’t look.” Rhys’s arms came around her, and she fought not to throw up as he led them back the way they’d come. “Just keep moving,” he whispered. “Don’t stop.”
Soon they were back at the market entrance where they passed by several wooden pillars with pieces of parchment nailed to them. Rhys stopped to read one. Magellan looked up, still woozy, and saw the public notice with the date written on top.