The Time Traveler Adventures

EPISODE 2 - THE GOLDEN ARROW

This was a side effect of the Time Machine, which I never expected! Reality has become all twisted and I’m afraid I don’t know what is right anymore and what isn’t. I have only used the machine twice but the repercussions of those events echo to this very day!

The first time I used it was to go into the past and get Emily and Anna Marie from their time just before the Civil War. I thought about dismantling the machine before it fell into the wrong hands but then, when Anna Marie came down sick with something medical science had no name for, I traveled deep into the future and came back with a cure!

I was hooked. I could no more dismantle it than I could not breathe but I made myself a promise! To use it for emergencies only! Emily and I thought we were able to keep the existence of the machine a secret until one day we awoke in a strange house. Physically, it looked like our home but the furnishings were different and the feel of it was all wrong. Emily and Anna Marie were terribly frightened for they too could see the change.

I looked outside and the University was still there but it too had changed in subtle ways. The buildings were in different places, the street was narrower and the cars, well the cars that drove by looked like something out of an HG Wells novel! And there were soldiers! Soldiers in black uniforms! That couldn’t be good!

I didn’t understand what was happening, until Emily screamed. I raced to the back room. There was the Time machine and it was obvious that it had been used because a man, unknown to us, lay slumped over at the controls. He was older, his hair was very gray and he wore a style of clothing unknown to us. I reached over and felt for a pulse at his neck. It was very faint. The man was alive but barely!

Emily pointed at the man. He was clutching a cloth bag on his lap and I gently pulled it out. I placed it on the floor and we opened it. Inside there was a book and something long wrapped in a bundle. The book was a history narrative, which I picked up and opened. There was a chapter marked, which had to do with an English Outlaw by the name of Lady Rosie of Ixer. I was well versed in English History and that name rang a bell but I just couldn’t remember. My thoughts went to Robin Hood and King Arthur but couldn’t quite focus on the Outlaw Rosie of Ixer.

Fascinated, I read a bit of the story. It seemed like Lady Rosie had a difference of opinion with a powerful Lord of the realm over possession of a Golden Arrow. This arrow was said to have magical properties. A person holding the arrow could tell truth from lies, friends from enemies, fact from fiction! The person who possessed this arrow could hold sway over anyone and everyone they came into contact with. It was certain that this powerful Lord would use this arrow for evil and the Outlaw Rosie of Ixer could see that, so she stole the arrow and took it into hiding. She and the Arrow were never heard from again.

Then I remembered that name. The Outlaw Rosie of Ixer. I put the book down and went to my own bookshelf in the front room and selected a similar volume of history. Quickly finding the chapter, I read a completely different story. Yes there was a Golden Arrow and the powerful Lord possessed it, but in this reality, the Outlaw Rosie of Ixer was not able to steal the arrow. The Lord became thoroughly corrupted by the use of the arrow and molded an evil empire, which existed until this very day.

I was stunned! My reality had turned from one where the Golden Arrow was successfully hidden from the powerful lord to one where Rosie failed and the world was changed. In my heart, I knew that the first story was the correct one for my reality! What had happened? Somehow this man sitting in my Time Machine had changed the past. Somehow, he had prevented Rosie of Ixer from stealing the arrow and saving the world.

But what could I do. I looked at the Time Machine and noted the date for which it was set. April in the year 1042. I had to go back to that date and set things right! But how? I looked at Emily but she wasn’t looking at me. Instead she had opened the long bundle and held, in her hands, a Golden Arrow!

My mind raced. Was this the Golden Arrow of the story? What was it doing here? I looked at the man sitting in my time machine and I pushed him to a sitting position. I got another nasty shock. The man was ME! Much, much older but definitely me, right down to the mole on my neck.

Then he opened his eyes and coughed. “I have made a mistake” he said in almost a whisper. “You must get that Arrow back to the past! The Outlaw Rosie must steal it! There is no other way!” And then the most amazing thing happened. My future self just vanished. One moment he was there sitting in the time machine and then the next, he was gone. I heard Emily cry out and twisted around. The Golden Arrow was fading into nothingness. I grabbed for it but my hand went right through it. Then it too was gone!

But his warning echoed in my mind! ‘You must get that Arrow back to the past’! But how? The arrow has disappeared along with my future self. Unless the designers at Cool Tool can recreate the arrow?? There’s a thought. Recreate the magic Golden Arrow and post it here. Perhaps I can use that to repair the disruption in time.

Golden Arrow by Lady Bladecroft

The arrow looked perfect! I ran my hands across it, feeling it’s texture. And I could feel the magical properties as it tingled in my hands. Emily stood in the doorway holding a crying Anna Marie in her arms. She looked so beautiful and so afraid. I almost felt as if I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to leave them and head back to the past. I wanted to stay here and hold my family but then I heard the soldiers outside and I knew they were coming. I kissed Emily and Anna Marie, seated myself in the Time Machine and pulled the lever for April, 1042……

Because of the knife wound to my side, I was barely able to crawl into the Time Machine and set the dials. In the distance I could hear the pounding hooves of the warhorses as the pursuing knights closed in on me. The powerful Lord was furious! I had returned the Arrow to it’s place in the castle and I had been there when the Outlaw Rosie of Ixer stole it. Our eyes met for a moment and I saw her smile just before she disappeared into the deepening mists. Now, I prayed that I had been successful in righting the disruption in time. I had left Emily and Anna Marie in a house surrounded by soldiers. That thought had haunted me over the last few days!

I set the Time Machine to return me to the future and I quickly pulled the activating lever. For an instant I was blinded by the kaleidoscope of whirling lights and I felt that lurch in my stomach as the Time Machine pulled me out of the moment and into the next. I heard myself cry out Emily’s name and then I was home. Emily was standing in the doorway, just as I had left her, holding Anna Marie. One look at the smile on her face told me I had succeeded and then the loss of blood caught up with me. I lost consciousness.  

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