#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 109 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus

#Wss366 liquid #TimeTravelAuthors 06/13. rich/poor)

I bowed to the Copts assembled around the table. “It is my honor. I am Henrietta Bijou, and you have my humble apology if I have desecrated your robes.”

Georgina conferred with the others in what sounded like Greek, then returned to French to speak with me. “We understand your need. Please sit and break bread with us. Tell your companion she may join us if she is able.”

“She can’t,” I said, sitting down on a rough stool.

The priest broke off pieces of a loaf of coarse brown bread and handed them around. Set within easy reach was a dish of olive oil and another of salt to accompany the bread. He then poured a heavy red #liquid into our cups, and we all sipped the contents: a Greek wine laced with resin that was not to my taste. The fare was #poor, as the prior dinner had been #rich, but the meal was no less hospitable.

Emily took a small piece of bread and a sip of my drink. “A token of my friendship,” she said.

When I translated, Georgina nodded and spoke to the wide-eyed guards. The priest protested, and I made out just enough to tell he was saying something about magic.

When they were done, our guide said to me, “He thinks you’re a sorceress, but I’ve assured him you’re not. He’ll be guided by me. I hope you will as well, for what I need to speak of is grave. The true sorcerers and spawn of Satan hold a conclave on the morrow, and we must know what devilry they plan. The Holy Spirit has sent you to us to be our ears. Do not fail us.”

#TootFic #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri

#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 108 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus

#Wss366 skate #TimeTravelAuthors 06/5. A relationship you love in your story

I followed Emily’s gaze across the shrine’s courtyard to the priest who was now approaching. I dematerialized the mask. The Coptic robes were going to be problematic enough without the mask adding complications. I might have #skated by fooling Byzantine Christians, but these were real Copts.

The man stopped a few paces away and examined me. Then, in barbarous French, he said, “Come, she awaits you.”

“Who is ‘she?’” Emily asked.

I didn’t answer, of course. Not only didn’t I know, but the priest was too close not to have noticed me speaking.

He led me to a room off to the side of the courtyard. At a glance, I could tell it wasn’t the main shrine. Instead of an altar, icons decorated the bare walls. Their lamps shed a faint light over the chamber, scenting the air. Cowled figures rose from where they sat around a table.

I recognized the bodyguards who had accompanied us earlier. Their scowls remained unchanged. To them, I was still an outsider. There were two other people present: a priest in finer vestments and our original guide. Her (And I do mean her) cowl was thrown back, revealing the face of an Egyptian woman with dark hair and darker eyes.

“Two can play at that game,” Emily said. “But she does a better job.”

As much as I like Emily, it wasn’t the place for that. Had she forgotten that our guide could see and probably hear her?

“I bid you welcome, travelers. I am Georgina of Alexandria,” the woman said. “Will you sit and refresh yourselves? You are safe here, and we have much to discuss. The Illuminated Ones are meeting tomorrow, so we have little time.”

#TootFic #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri

#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 107 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus

#Wss366 stake #TimeTravelAuthors 06/3 raise/rise)

The evening had cooled, and the streets were nearly empty. Mosquitoes had replaced the daytime flies. The stench was unchanged.

The servant hurried us along. His glances around him revealed his nervousness.

Emily scouted ahead. This was an occupied city, temporarily ruled by the iron-fisted Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. We had yet to learn what their link was with the Lapin Cabal, though it seemed clear one existed. Why else would the Templars be hunting us?

The Shrine of Saint George was nearby, and we soon arrived there unharmed. The servant took his leave as we entered a torch-lit courtyard.

Emily and I stopped just inside the arched opening and stood in the shadows to talk. A priest across the yard glanced my way but made no move to investigate.

“What occurred back there?” my partner asked. “Did you really create a relic?”

“Yeah, I think so. Don’t ask me how. When I tried manifesting one a second earlier, I couldn’t, but when I broke off that piece of the crown, it was magical. I didn’t ask for that; it just happened.”

“I lost my faith a long time ago, but I have to ask: Are you a saint? You’re not like any ghost I’ve ever heard of.”

“Absolutely not! I’m not even a Christian. That whole idea makes me very uncomfortable.”

“What if the priest were right?”

“I wouldn’t #stake my ‘life’ on it.”

“Ha ha. A holly #stake, no doubt.”

“I’m #rising in the world,” I thought. “My bad jokes are getting a response.”

“Furthermore, I would ask, which priest and about what? You just saw a Buddhist impersonating a Copt perform a miracle: a fraud, a flagrant liar, and most would say an unredeemable heretic. How does that fit into any conventional theological framework?”

She nodded.

“Regardless, it means something, but what? Why could I manifest a relic?”

She nodded again and turned toward the sound of footsteps crossing the courtyard.

#TootFic #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri