Kingdom Come (64 page)

“He’s breathing,” he announced. “It’s faint and slow, but he’s definitely breathing.”

Everyone seemed to crowd around even closer, trying to gain a look at a dead man coming back to life. There was something mystical and magical happening in that ancient cathedral, none of which could be readily explained.  Reverend Hogan had collected a Bible and now stood next to the crypt, repeating the book of John, chapter eleven verse twenty five; I am the resurrection and the life….

“We should probably get the helm and the hauberk off him,” Rory said. “Those things are heavy and uncomfortable.”

Bud shook his head, feeling Kieran’s pulse again and noting that it was stronger. “Let’s not move him around,” he replied. “Everything will come off in good time.”

“Should we call a doctor?” Reverend Hogan blurted, genuinely concerned and fearful about the entire circumstance; he had no idea how he was going to explain this to his superior.  “Perhaps the man needs a doctor.”

“And tell him what?” Dan wanted to know. “That he has an eight hundred year old patient? I don’t think that….”

A sound abruptly cut him off; it was low, mournful, growling. It was as if the Gates of Hell had just opened up and the Devil was issuing a beckoning call; everyone looked at each other with wide-eyes, startled by the frightening sound, slowly turning to the source. They knew where it had come from; the knight lying supine in the crypt had emitted the noise.  Rory was back on her knees beside him, trying to gain a better look as Bud nearly crowded her out of the way.  Standing at the side of the crypt, the Reverend suddenly shoved one of the teenage boys sideways.

“Go!” he cried. “Go and get the man some water! Hurry!”

The boy fled.  Everyone else remained rooted to the spot, waiting and watching.  Like something out of a low-budget horror movie, Kieran’s mouth began to work very slowly and his eyes, closed for eight hundred years, began to twitch. The red-headed teenager standing next to the crypt started to bolt with fear but the Reverend held him fast; he didn’t want the lad running from the church, screaming.  It would attract too much attention to what was going on inside, and he didn’t want any attention on this very mystical, very historic moment. Truth be told, he was as swept up in the wonder of it like everyone else was.

“Kieran?” Bud gently tapped the man on the cheek. “Can you hear me? It’s Dr. Dietrich. If you can hear me, lift your hand.”

Bud scooted back so they could all have a good look at Kieran’s arms.  Rory was in the crypt, wedged in next to his right hand, when it suddenly twitched.  After a few seconds of pause, it moved again and began to lift. Dan smiled, the lawyers gawked, and the Reverend began to pray in earnest.  Rory, however, saw the hand moving toward her and she clasped it tightly.

“I’m here, baby,” she leaned over him, kissing him on the cheek again. “I’m right here. Everything is going to be fine.”

It took her a moment to realize that his eyes were half-open, the dry eyeballs beginning to glimmer with a slight amount of moisture now that his heart was pumping and his lungs working.  She knew he could see her and she smiled at him, tenderly kissing his dry lips.

“Good morning, sunshine,” she whispered. “It’s good to have you back.”

Kieran’s mouth worked and very slowly, very laboriously, he licked his lips with his dry tongue. But the raised hand was moving to Rory’s head and as the group watched, an enormous mailed glove grasped her gently behind the skull and pulled her down to him.  But he didn’t try to kiss her, not yet; he was attempting to speak.

“Bu…Bud,” he breathed.

Rory looked at Bud just as the man moved up beside her, planting his face right next to hers.  But that apparently wasn’t what Kieran wanted; he managed to lift his left hand and, putting his dusty gloved palm on Bud’s face, weakly shoved the man backwards.  That brought laughter from Rory and Dan.

“So you don’t want to see Bud?” Rory was leaning down, trying to make heads or tails of his halting speech. “What about Bud, then?”

Kiernan struggled to take a deep breath, clearing his lungs of centuries of inactivity.

“I… I did not want Bud’s face… to be the first one I saw,” he whispered. “I wanted it… to be yours.”

Rory smiled broadly, kissing him again and feeling him weakly respond.  “Here I am,” she murmured against his mouth. “I’ll be here forever. I can’t believe you had Kaleef put you to sleep again.”

He grunted, coughing weakly as his lungs gained strength. “It was… the only way to be with you. And I would do… anything to see you again.”

Tears stung her eyes. “So you voluntarily let him put you to sleep again, knowing I might not even figure out what you had done? God, Kieran, you took such a huge chance. What happened if your letter was destroyed over the centuries somehow? What happened if…?”

This time, Kieran pulled her down to his mouth for another kiss, cutting her off. “I had faith that you would receive my letter and come for me,” he murmured; it was becoming easier to speak. “Whatever Fates have brought us together will not let us be separated. I have always had faith in the power between you and I, Lib. Always.”

By this time, Dan had moved to the front of the crypt, watching with amazement as a man, his ancestor, believed dead for over eight hundred years gradually came to life.  And the manner in which he was holding Dr. Osgrove told him everything he needed to know. He was watching a modern-day fairy tale; Sleeping Beauty as the tale had never been told or Lazarus in the most romantic sense. The man had put himself into some kind of suspended animation simply so he could be with the woman he loved. It was the most astounding thing he had ever witnessed.

Rory caught sight of Dan next to the head of the crypt and she looked up, smiling when their eyes met.

“Now do you understand everything?” she asked softly.

Dan’s gaze moved between Rory and Kieran. After a moment, he shrugged. “Maybe I’m not supposed to understand everything,” he gave her a wink. “I can take a few things on faith.”

As he watched Bud and Rory very carefully remove Kieran’s helm and eventually pull off the hauberk to make him more comfortable, Dan began to remember the words from the parchment that had been in his family for eight hundred years. 

As he gazed down at the archaeologist and her crusader, the meaning of the words ran over and over in his head. He still didn’t understand all of it.

But he believed.

My Dearest Libby;

       We did wonder of our greater purpose in returning to my tyme. Though you were taken from me I know our journey is not yet complete. The diadem will be kept with my family and perhaps its only purpose was to bring you and I together and nothing more. Perhaps the greater reason is our son Tevin as he grows and becomes a great man. Perhaps he will change history for the better and right wrongs that have been committed. Perhaps he will make my family stronger and commit great deeds. For now, I only know that I myss you with all my hearte and soul.  I will be with you again someday I sweare.

       Kaleef came with us from the Levant for the greatest reason of all. He was meant to put me to sleep again as he did before so that you may once again awaken me with your kyss. I await you in my crypt, sleeping until such tyme as you will once again awaken me as you did before.  Know this is true.  We are meant to be together, you and I.

       With my never ending love I await you.

       Kieran