Silk and Sapphires

Silk and Sapphires: Chapter 1

Another packet of information was dropped onto the ever-growing pile of paperwork on Katherine's desk, causing the plastic organizer to bow from the weight. 

Typical, she thought; drop the paperwork on the newer girl instead of delivering it yourself.

Katherine subconsciously scratched the back of her head as she yanked the thick manila packet from the top of the pile, causing loose paper to flutter to the floor; she would pick it up eventually. The packet wasn't marked with any department she was familiar with.

"Hey...Vivian?"

A short yet stout woman with long, auburn hair popped her head over the cubicle wall beside Katherine.

"What's up, Kate?"

Katherine waved the envelope in the air, making a face of confusion.

"Thick manila ALWAYS comes from the lab department."

"It doesn't say 'lab department'."

"Trust me, it's the lab. I'll take it over if you want."

Katherine shrugged, turning down her friend's offer,

"Nah, I'll pop by on my way to the cafeteria. I’m starving!"

***

Katherine munched on a bag of nacho chips as she headed back to her cubicle. Vivian had been right about the department, but Kate was still unsure what the department did; AnTech labs didn't process any medical equipment or specimens. Tossing the bag into the wastebasket under her desk, she wiped her nacho-dusted hands on her slacks.

Vivian was unimpressed with the habit, and shook her head as she watched Kate from her cubicle.

"Todd is looking for you."

Katherine's fingers stopped typing, and she turned around to look up at Vivian with a tinge of anxiety.

"Did he mention why?"

"Nope. But I'd go see him; he didn't look happy."

Vivian tossed her bouncy curls over her shoulder as she disappeared behind the cubicle wall. Kate shakily stood and started for Todd's office. Everyone knew when Todd wanted to see someone, it was always to fire them. She hadn't been here for a year yet, and knew that she was easy prey.

Her feet had carried her to his office door, but her hand wavered before finally knocking gently on the glass pane. Katherine watched through the glass as Todd Lacey looked up from his computer and motioned for her to enter.

"You wanted to see me?" Kate's voice was steady, but her heart was fluttering an anxious dance.

"Yes. Have a seat. Coffee?" Kate nodded and Mr. Lacey phoned his assistant.

“What can I do for you Kate?"

"What?" Katherine was confused. Was this a rhetorical question?

"Kate...I'll be frank with you." Mr. Lacey's assistant handed Kate her coffee.

"You get your work done faster than most of the employees here."

"And this is a problem?" Kate poured several little cups of creamer into her steaming paper cup.

"Not usually. Usually an employee who works hard gets their work done efficiently. However, your effort is around the one percent mark right now."

"Mr. Lacey...I get everything done before it is due, even with the large pile left on my desk. You can't fire me for doing my job without having to work hard at it..."

Todd laughed; there was irony in Kate thinking she was getting fired when she was getting promoted.

"I don't see how this is funny." Katherine scowled and prepared to dump her steaming coffee on her boss.

"I'm not firing you Katie. You are being promoted to Lead Field Data Collector in the Lab Department. Your cubicle days are over; I hope you can survive without them."

Katherine stopped the coffee cup just inches from her mouth, and slowly lowered it back down.

"What does the Lead Field Data Collector do?"

Todd pulled a packet of paper from his desk drawer and handed it to Katie as he spoke.

"You will be collecting outside data. AntechLabs, as you know, studies historical data and antiquities.” Todd moved some papers around on his desk for Katherine to see.

“Your research would be field based."

Todd outlined several features of her promotion in the paperwork, and had Katherine sign the contract.

Katherine stepped out of Todd's office half an hour later, carrying her unfinished coffee and a box of field tools to her cubicle.

“How'd it go?"

Katherine placed her things down and went into the abutting cubicle. Katie was always envious of her friend, who now perched daintily on her office chair eating a healthy-looking salad. Though short and stout, Vivian had curves that made most men weak around her, and she knew it too. Her dark curls bounced against her shoulder as she turned towards Katie,

"That bad?"

Katherine shook her head, "great actually. Todd offered me a position in the Lab Department."

Vivian's painted red lids curved upward, "that's great Kate! We should celebrate tonight."

Katherine nodded indifferently and went about the task of clearing her cubicle; she wasn’t sure this promotion was going to be a good thing quite yet.

Silk and Sapphires: Chapter 2

Blue. All he ever saw was the blue of her dress. Her golden-brown hair flowing down her back in smooth tendrils. She would not leave his mind; and yet he had never met her before. 

With a guttural sound, Rannulf Lebret plunged his sword into the straw-filled sack in an attempt to rid himself of her image. He slid the sword from the sack in one fluid motion and began a series of steps and swoops, mimicking a battle. And yet, even as he wiped the sweat from his brow, the woman would not leave his mind.

"Rannulf!"

He turned, staring out across the pond whose edge was becoming sheathed in a thick mist. Gareth was walking briskly towards him with an expression unreadable to most, yet not so to Rannulf.

Rannulf sheathed his sword, "What news have ye? Have they arrived?"

Gareth shook his head "Yes my Lord, your betrothed is here. Her Father and Mother preceded her only an hour’s time before."

Rannulf's lips curved wryly; he had almost forgotten, as his mind was consumed with his blue-dressed maiden. Would his betrothed be anything like the woman in blue who invaded his dreams whether asleep or awake? Rannulf turned and began the long walk back to Castle Lebret with Gareth by his side.

"My lord?"

"What is it Gareth?" Rannulf knew what his right-hand man was going to say.

"For years you have sworn you will only wed the Woman in Blue. Why have you now decided to take a wife that is not her?"

Rannulf pondered this for a moment as they crossed through a small copse of trees. Yes, why was he going to wed a woman he hardly knew? It was not for politics, as he had nothing to gain by marrying her. Well, perhaps a new title; a title he cared little of if he was to be honest with himself. 

No, there was not a reason he could think of to marry this woman except to produce himself an heir and continue his family name; though at only eight and twenty, he had plenty of time before that became a problem. Perhaps marrying Claire would rid his mind of the woman in blue who haunted his dreams and captured his heart. As if he could sense Rannulf's thoughts, Gareth began,

"What about the woman you see?"

"She does not exist in our world. She cannot bear children, run a castle, or do anything I would need from a wife. My mind created her out of need, and once I marry Claire there will be no need of her anymore."

Gareth didn't believe this, though. He knew as well as Rannulf in the moment, would any maiden come before him, she would never compare to the woman he visits in his dreams. The woman in blue would always be there with him, for she held a chunk of his heart. She was a part of him now.

***

Kathrine sped into AnTech Labs, her arms loaded with boxes whose lids barely sat upon the edges.

"Katherine! Larry is waiting for you in his office; do you know what time it is?"

Katherine ignored Larry's assistant, Betty and continued her hurried pace through the entrance. Of course she knew she was late! Why else would she be scurrying about like a frantic mouse?

She rounded a bend in the corridor, nearly tripping on the carpeting of the hallway. If Larry had given her a smidgen more time over the past week, she wouldn't have had to stay up all night finishing the final details of her trousseau.

To think, not three weeks ago, Tod had offered her the position and she took it happily without knowing what it entailed.

In thirty minutes time, she would be in the nineteenth century. Of course, that all depended on her making it to Larry and his team in time. She sped up, rounding another corner and nearly tripping up a half flight of stairs.

She passed the Cafeteria before finally reaching the lab entrance. She stopped, out of breath, and kicked the door several times in mimicked knocking.

The door opened, and a tall middle-aged man with a lab coat chuckled.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming, Kate."

***

Lebret Keep was built on a cliff overlooking a rounded loch. Not yet fifty years old, its stones held no stories or battles. Several towers graced the rhombus shaped keep, rising with conical points. Grotesque monsters did not guard the roofs, instead wildlife depictions of foxes and deer were set upon the walls. It was indeed a castle built to be defended. Though lacking in Gothic appeal, it boasted a long trek up a steep crested hill being the only means of entry on horse. Rannulf Lebret smiled with pride every time he rode into his family's new legacy; though no such smile graced his lips today. Rannulf and Gareth were in no rush to enter the keep, choosing to take the footpath on the opposite end of the castle in hopes of calming Rannulf's nerves.

"If ye keep your betrothed much longer she may fear the worst."

Rannulf sat on a piece of ledge jutting out from the cliff not more than twenty feet from the entrance of Lebret Keep,

"A lady shall not hasten her lordship."

"No need to be bitter, Ran. Perhaps Claire is in fact the woman in blue."

"We both know she is not. I must have described the woman in blue to ye a hundred times. Where she is dark, Claire is fair."

"Alas, you have. A young lady with dark hair, fair skin, and the bluest eyes. Ye are infatuated with a dream. She does not exist, and yet ye cannot bring yourself to believe it."

Rannulf rose from the rocky edge, "I cannot rid myself the feeling that she does exist. Gareth, she owns my heart. I feel as though I am pulled to her, as though she is calling me to her. At moments, when fog becomes too dense to see past, I swear I see her walking in the mist searching for...for something."

Gareth stood, placing his hand on Rannulf's shoulder. Though he was not titled nor wealthy, and he served Ran, they were close friends and he stood by him always.

"Ye can still call it off; after all, tis the first time ye will officially meet."

Rannulf offered no audible response, and instead shook his head. How could he call it off? The woman in blue was a dream. She was only a dream, was she not?

Gareth began towards the entrance to the keep, "Well, let us greet ye betrothed. Mayhap ye will enjoy her company."

Rannulf grudgingly agreed, and the pair followed the last few feet of the foothill to Lebret Keep's sole entrance.

***

Katherine rubbed her head in an effort to stop the spinning. Larry had not told her it would make her feel this sick. In fact, after she had dressed in her blue silk walking outfit, and twisted her hair into a simple eighteen-nineties knot, Larry did little more than wish her luck. Once she had stepped into the glass dome and took her place on the platform, the room began to spin as though pulling her into a vortex. She had not been alone, though. Dan and Tom had accompanied her, standing on opposite ends of the platform.

It felt like hours had passed since the vortex pulled Kate to her present time. Her head throbbed, and her skin was cold and damp. Kate winced when she opened her eyes to look around. The damp cold that clung to her had soaked from the ground, deep into her undergarments; the blue silk of her gown spattered in the mud she now lay in. Katherine looked up, a dreary sky greeting her. She was surprised to find that the nineteenth century had such old forests. It was dusk, but she was able to make out the canopy of trees above her. Where were the others? Katherine remembered that AnTech Labs had sent her with a telecommunication brooch. She tried to sit up and have a look, but her body wouldn't budge. It took several minutes for her to pull it out of her reticule with the only arm that she could manage to move. Her finger found the button, and she pushed it shakily.

"Larry? I..I'm here." Her voice was hoarse. Talking made her head throb. Why did her head hurt so bad?

There was no reply. Katherine attempted to get up again, and managed to push herself up from the muddy ground to lean her back against a tree. The earth was spinning, or perhaps it was her; she couldn't tell.

"I'm here Katey. Where are you? We have been trying to reach you for hours."

It was a relief to hear Larry's voice come through. Kate's head lolled back onto the rock behind her.

"I'm in a forest... Lots of old growth; I don't think...it has...ever seen a human's hand."

Larry nodded, something he hadn't realized could not be seen by Kate, "hmm."

Kate could barely make him out, "please...speak up. I'm so dizzy... Tom... Dan... Not here."

"Something...went wrong. Katie, we aren't sure exactly. Tom and Dan made it to the Inn safely in eighteen ninety-six, and they noticed right away you were not with them. However, we are not exactly sure where you are either."

Katherine managed an expletive, and winced at the throbbing in her head before lowering her voice.

"You better figure...this out Larry. We agreed...the nineteenth century."

 Kate heard him sigh through the telecom brooch.

"...you can't...get me back?"

"For now, no. I’m sorry Katie. Give us a few weeks to pull some data together. Until then, let yourself rest; a jump isn’t easy on the body.”

Katie sighed, mumbled an agreement, and closed the communication link. She let herself slide to the ground, numbed by the icey mud beneath her. Two whole weeks? How would she survive two weeks in an unknown time?

A branch cracked off in the distance. Katie thought she heard giggles

"Larry?" She asked the brooch. The telecom link had been disconnected. Who was giggling? She thought.

"Gareth.." A woman sighed.

Kate dared not to breathe.

           The crackling of branches and leaves got closer. This time, a man chuckled seductively.

Katie's head was throbbing, the world was spinning, and it took everything she had to keep herself awake despite the threat; despite her eyes refusing to reopen.

The shuffling got closer, before coming to a halt just before her. Had they seen her?

She felt a delicate hand take hers.

"Yee will be fine. Gareth here will help ye to stand." Katie looked up as best she could to see the outline of a woman's face beside hers. Katherine tried to pull away, but her strength eluded her.

Gareth crouched beside Katherine.

"Rannulf would not believe this."

"What would he not believe?"

Gareth wrapped his arm around Katherine and slowly pulled her to stand.

"Tis nothing, love. His cousin I believe; that is all."

The woman nodded, finding his story believable enough, and helped support Katie’s weight.

Katie's eyes closed as she whispered, "I... I don't feel so good..."

Gareth caught her limp body as she lost consciousness.

***

"Your cousin?" Claire asked, confused at Gareth’s hurried tone. Rannulf and Claire were sharing a trencher of pottage and slices of venison while enjoying the music in the large hall. Claire’s parents, Duke and Duchess Portinger, sat beside the couple sharing tales of Claire’s youth. Rannulf tried his best to ignore Gareth’s jests; Rannulf had no cousins who would wish to see him.

"Rannulf, I must ask you again for a moment." Gareth implored.

Rannulf sighed, and finally gave in to Gareth's prodding.

"Forgive me my lady. Gareth seems set on making me a joke. I may be gone a while and bid you goodnight." Rannulf nodded towards Claire’s parents and left the Great Hall. 

As soon as they were out of Claire's range of hearing, Rannulf let his best friend hear it.

"What the hell are you carrying on about Gareth? My cousin? I expect not to see my cousins, considering their advanced ages and their dislike of me.”

"She is here."

Rannulf frowned. "I have not a mind for your jests, Gareth. I would it be over."

"Nay, my lord, tis no jest. Follow me."

Gareth led Rannulf through the castle and stopped at the Solar.

"I was not sure where else to put her."

He swung the door open and walked to the bed, gesturing for Rannulf to follow him. They stood beside the bed, staring at the drawn drapes. A young servant girl curtsied, and left the bathing tools where they lay before taking her leave. 

"I thought to fool you when I stumbled upon her in the Eastern forest, but when we got back she opened her eyes as I laid her a-bed. It cannot be coincidence. Her dress, such an odd style, yet the deepest of sapphire."

Gareth picked the muddy dress up off the floor and handed both candle and dress to Rannulf.

"See for yourself."

Rannulf ran his fingers over the dirtied fabric before dropping it to the floor and shoving back the bed curtains. It was her. He had seen her so many times in his dreams that he could have recognized her anywhere. Rannulf let the curtains fall, his face blank as he stared into the drapes.

“Tis her. Tis my Lady in Blue."

"It is as I have said."

Gareth bid goodnight and left the solar.

Rannulf pulled the drapes back and could not tear his eyes away from her. Her deep golden hair tumbled across the pillows. Dark lashes brushed her cheeks, and he let his gaze go lower. Her lips. He could almost taste them, as if those kisses in his dream had been just as real as she was here right at this very moment. 

He kneeled on the bed and leaned forward, placing his arm by her side for stability. Claire and her parents were only a few rooms away, and yet that did not seem to matter anymore.

Rannulf bent down and claimed her lips with his. Moments later, he released her and rose up. Katherine was staring up at him. Her blue eyes were a dark gray in the candlelight; a gray Rannulf had become accustomed to seeing.

"W… Who are you? Where is Gareth?"

"You do not know who I am?

Katherine shook her head.

"Get off of me! Where has Gareth gone? Gareth!”

Rannulf covered her mouth with his hand, "Hush now. He bid me goodnight only moments ago."

Katherine frowned, "That does not explain why you are on top of me. Who are you and why are you here?”

He smiled "lots of questions ye have. I am Lord Rannulf Lebret."

Katherine didn't like his teasing manner; he acted as though they were acquainted. Why was this man leaning over her to begin with? Did he know she awoke just as his lips left hers? She looked back into his eyes, an odd shade of hazel with browns and greens and a hint of gold. His features were not chiseled nor rounded, but somewhere in between. His hair was nearly black and cut short; but those lips. They seemed familiar...She wanted to reach up and pull him down to her for another kiss.

As if reading her very thought, Rannulf lowered himself slowly to steal her lips once again. This time Katherine kissed back. He moaned and leaned in closer, wrapping his arm under her body and pulling her against him. Katherine felt his hardening member push into her belly as she raised her hips closer to his. She pushed back, grinding against him.

"My lord?" A woman's voice sounded through the doors.

Katherine jumped in surprise, and the movement caused the thin sheet that had been covering her to fall away. Heat built in her face, and her heart drummed hard beneath her ribs; how had she not noticed that she had been naked this whole time?

"What is it?" Rannulf ground out, vexed that he was being interrupted.

"I'm sorry to bother you my lord. I wanted to take a stroll and observe the stars. Would you like to join me?"

It was Claire, Rannulf realized with a frown. He looked over at the girl he had very nearly ravished, who was putting in a great deal of effort into covering her nakedness with a sheer linen.

"I must go. My squire is just outside shall you need anything."

He reluctantly left the bed, and Katherine sat there staring after him as though she was being left behind.

Rannulf left as quickly as he could before he changed his mind. Not but an hour before he had announced his and Claire's betrothal; it was too late now; he could not have this woman.

She knew not why, but Katherine found a paign of jealousy for the woman Rannulf left her for. Why had she let a stranger kiss her like that? Hold her like that? He had made the world melt away as though they had known each other for a lifetime.

Katherine climbed out of bed and rummaged through a large chest, which she had noticed earlier, hoping to find something to wear.

Her search gained her nothing but silks and wools, and she stopped when her hand found a linen shift dress.

It was not long later that Katherine had also found some soft leather shoes, and was fully dressed. She found it odd that a woman of her height and size had to roll up the sleeves several times. Katie was nearly drowning in all of the fabric, and yet the thing barely passed her calves.

She sighed under her breath, knowing her appearance wasn't great, and slid through the solar doors in search of some food.

"Ouch!" Kate rubbed her nose.

"Where is my woman in blue going?" Katherine recognized the deep, drawling voice and looked up into his questioning eyes.

"I'm hungry"

Without a word, the man grasped Kate's arm roughly and hauled her back inside the solar.

"What are you doing!?"

"I shall ask you the same, girl."

Kate knitted her brows, "What have I done to make you so mad?"

"You are wearing my tunic."

Kate's brow furrowed, and she swore under her breath. She looked back up, realizing that the man was staring at her, his eyes dark.

"What?"

"I'll have food and clothing sent in the morning. Until then, you are not to leave this room.”

She growled under her breath and turned on her heel. If he was going to boss her around, she wasn't going to just sit there. With a huff she climbed into the large bed and pulled a wool blanket over herself, thankful for the extra clothing layer.

Rannulf left as she climbed into his bed, wondering where he could sleep without raising suspicions of his guests. He had little trust in himself keeping his distance were he to sleep with his woman in blue.