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Yes.
They'd travelled through time.

They
both sat there processing that fact, and it wasn’t until Nida
finally rose to her feet to investigate the house that Carson
mustered up the courage to follow.

Silently they assessed the building, and then they returned to
the same room.

They
stood there, about a meter apart, and assessed each other
silently.

“What
now?” she asked in a quiet voice as she rubbed her hands up and
down her arms.

“We
find the dimensional bridge,” he managed in an even quieter voice.
“Do you know where it is? Do you know how to find it?” He took a
step forward and looked into her eyes, trying to see past her to
the entity within.

She
stared back at him mutely, and shrugged her shoulders.

“Ask
the entity,” he suggested through clenched teeth.

She
drew silent for several seconds, then shook her head.

She
looked pale.

And
suddenly he understood why.

The
light that usually danced across her skin was slowly withdrawing
into her hand.

“It’s
weak,” she announced, “opening the time gate has left it weak. It
needs to withdraw. It can’t tax itself
or . . . ,” she trailed off.

He
nodded. He understood. If it allowed itself to grow weak,
presumably it would corrupt all the quicker.

So
instead, he stood there and took a massive breath.

“We
can . . . do this,” he promised.

She
considered him quietly, then finally nodded. “We don’t have any
choice.”

Her
words were soft but bitter, and they made him feel sick.

But
she was right.

They
didn’t have any choice.

They
were both stuck in the past with a critically important mission to
complete.

When
Nida had touched his chest and the entity had transferred visions
to him, he had seen what would happen if or when it became
corrupted.

Destruction. Destruction on an incalculable scale.

Something he could not let happen.

“We
will find that gate,” he said in a stronger, authoritative
tone.

She
gave a slight smile. It was a small and sad move, but then her lips
twitched to the side as if she found something amusing. “Is that an
order?”

“You
bet you it is,” he snapped.

That
kinked smile grew. “Well, there’s only one problem: I’m not sure if
you are still my superior.”

He
arched an eyebrow at her. It was a practised move. The kind of
surly, challenging look he would shoot an insubordinate
underling.

She
just smiled cheekily. “Don’t look at me like that; it’s a
legitimate question. The Academy has never detailed what happens to
the chain of command when you’re taken into the past. I mean,
technically, you aren’t a lieutenant any more. and I’m not a cadet,
because we don’t exist in this time yet.”

He now
raised both his eyebrows, and he clapped his hands on his hips.
“I’m still a lieutenant,” he said pointedly.

She
gave an overly dramatic sigh. “Then I guess that still makes me the
worst recruit in 1000 years.”

He
couldn’t help it—he laughed. They had narrowly escaped a Barbarian
attack with their lives. They were in the past, and they were
shouldering an impossibly difficult mission, and she was worried
that she was still the worst recruit in 1000 years?

It
took a while for him to stop chuckling, and he only laughed more at
Nida’s challenging look. Then he stopped, and he held his hand out
to her. “Come on.”

She
looked at the hand carefully. “Is that an order?”

He
shook his head.

. . . .

She
took his hand.

They
walked out of the building and into a new time.

They
had a mission, and he would do everything he could to complete
it.

He
knew that Nida would do everything she could too. And as he turned
his head to consider her, he realised that, as strange as it
sounded, he wouldn’t have anybody else by his side. Not Travis, not
another member of the Force, not the best recruit in 1000
years.

He
kept that thought to himself though.

Then
they opened the door to a new time and a new place.

They
walked out together.

The
end

This
is the first book of a four part series. The next book is currently
available.

Odette C. Bell is the author of over 40
books in genres ranging from sci fi to adventure. Her catalogue of
works is available from most ebook retailors.