Timeline

And for the first time, he was in it.

Totally in it.

When the troops had gone, Marek returned. "Did you understand all that?" he said.

"What?"

"The soldiers are searching for three people from Castelgard: two men and a woman."

"Why?"

"Arnaut wants to talk to them."

"Isn’t it nice to be popular," Chris said with a wry smile. "Everyone’s after us."

Marek gave them each a handful of wet grass and leaves. "Field greens. That’s breakfast. Eat up."

Chris chewed the plants noisily. "Delicious," he said. He meant it.

"The plant with the jagged leaves is feverfew. It’ll help with the pain. The white stalk is willow. Reduce your swelling."

"Thanks," Chris said. "It’s very good."

Marek was staring at him in disbelief. He said to Kate, "Is he okay?"

"Actually, I think he’s fine."

"Good. Eat up, and then we’ll go to the monastery. If we can get past the guards."

Kate pulled off her wig. "That won’t be a problem," she said. "They’re looking for two men and a woman. So: who’s got the sharpest knife?"

Fortunately, her hair was already short; it took only a few minutes for Marek to cut away the longer strands and finish the job. While he worked, Chris said, "I’ve been thinking about last night."

"Obviously, somebody’s got an earpiece," Marek said.

"Right," Chris said. "And I think I know where they got it."

"Gomez," Marek said.

Chris nodded. "That’s my guess. You didn’t take it from her?"

"No. I didn’t think to."

"I’m sure another person could push it far enough into his own ear to hear it, even if it doesn’t really fit him."

"Yes," Marek said. "But the question is, who? This is the fourteenth century. A pink lump that talks in little voices is witchcraft. It’d be terrifying to anyone who found it. Whoever picked it up would drop it like a hot potato  –  and then crush it immediately. Or run like mad."

"I know," Chris said. "That’s why every time I think about it, I can see only one possible answer."

Marek nodded. "Those bastards didn’t tell us."

"Tell us what?" Kate said.

"That there’s somebody else back here. Somebody from the twentieth century."

"It’s the only possible answer," Chris said.

"But who?" Kate said.

Chris had been thinking about that all morning. "De Kere," he said. "It’s got to be de Kere."

Marek was shaking his head.

"Consider," Chris said. "He’s only been here a year, right? Nobody knows where he came from, right? He’s wormed his way in with Oliver, and he hates all of us, because he knows we might do it, too, right? He leads his soldiers away from the tannery, goes all the way up the street, until we speak  –  and then he’s right back on us. I’m telling you, it has to be de Kere."

"There’s only one problem," Marek said. "De Kere speaks flawless Occitan."

"Well, so do you."

"No. I speak like a clumsy foreigner. You two listen to the translations in the earpiece. I listen to what they actually say. De Kere speaks like a native. He’s completely fluent, and his accent exactly matches everybody else’s. And Occitan is a dead language in the twentieth century. There’s no way he could be from our century and speak like that. He’s got to be a native."

"Maybe he’s a linguist."

Marek was shaking his head. "It’s not de Kere," he said. "It’s Guy Malegant."

"Sir Guy?"

"No question," Marek said. "I’ve had my doubts about him ever since that time we were caught in the passage. Remember? We were almost perfectly silent in there  –  but he opens the door and catches us. He didn’t even try to act surprised. He didn’t draw his sword. Quite straightforward, shouting the alarm. Because he already knew we were there."

"But that’s not how it happened. Sir Daniel came in," Chris said.

"Did he?" Marek said. "I don’t remember him ever coming in."

"Actually," Kate said, "I think Chris might be right. It might be de Kere. Because I was in the alley between the chapel and the castle, pretty far up the chapel wall, and de Kere was telling the soldiers to kill you, and I remember I was too far away to hear them clearly, but I did."

Marek stared at her. "And then what happened?"

"Then de Kere whispered to a soldier. . . . And I couldn’t hear what he said."

"Right. Because he didn’t have an earpiece. If he had an earpiece, you would have heard everything, including whispers. But he didn’t. It’s Sir Guy. Who cut Gomez’s head off? Sir Guy and his men. Who was most likely to go back to the body and retrieve the earpiece? Sir Guy. The other men were terrified of the flashing machine. Only Sir Guy was not afraid. Because he knew what it was. He’s from our century."

"I don’t think Guy was there," Chris said, "when the machine was flashing."

"But the clincher that it is Sir Guy," Marek said, "is that his Occitan is terrible. He sounds like a New Yorker, speaking through his nose."

"Well, isn’t he from Middlesex? And I don’t think he’s well-born. I get the impression he was knighted for bravery, not family."

"He wasn’t a good-enough jouster to take you out with the first lance," Marek said. "He wasn’t a good-enough swordsman to kill me hand-to-hand. I’m telling you. It’s Guy de Malegant."

"Well," Chris said, "whoever it is, now they know we’re going to the monastery."