Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
It was well after supper and past point where Mary ceased to be angry with her two sons for being absent during the evening meal and had transcended into parental fear for their safety. They were not disobedient children by nature, either of them. Even though they tended to get into trouble, what child did not? They never went out of their way to seek it out. If there was one thing that the family demanded of its members, it was their presence at supper. If Chris who spent his days working out on the Lucky 7 ranch could make it back to town to sit at the head of his table, Mary felt that there was no reason on earth why anyone else in the family should be remiss.
As she sat in the parlor glancing anxiously outside the window at intervals of a few seconds, she knew that she had good cause for worry. Mike knew how important dinner was to the family and if he was not here, then there had to be a good reason. Even though she tried focussing on the dress she was making for Sarah, it was no good. Eventually her mind kept drifting back to the absence of her sons and Chris who was seated on his favorite chair, trying to read his book was in even worse condition than she. After all, he had lost a child before and though he had a rather relaxed attitude to child rearing, nothing made him tense more than their safety.
Sarah was playing with her dolls in the corner of the room, noting the strange behavior of both parents with growing curiosity. She watched her mother's gaze keep shifting to the window while her father could not seem to keep his eyes on the book that was splayed open before him.
"Mommy, where's Kyle and Mikey?" She finally asked.
The question made Mary sit up in her wing chair with a deep sigh laced with tension. "I don't know darling."
"They had better have a good reason for being this late," Chris grumbled.
"I'm sure they do." Mary replied, always defending her boys, even when they were in trouble and deserved it. It was the journalist in her she supposed, always playing devil's advocate.
Suddenly the door knocked and Mary forgot about everything she was saying and glanced anxiously at Chris, the hope in her eyes apparent. Chris however, was not so deluded into believing that whomever was at the door was either Mike or Kyle. If it were the boys, he thought, they would not knock. They would come bounding into the house as they always did or during instances when they were in trouble, slinking in quietly, trying not to draw attention.
Mary went to answer it and Chris could not help listening closely as he heard her footsteps approach the front door followed by the creak of the door being swung open. The voices that filtered through did not indicate Kyle or Mike but were nonetheless just as familiar. Mary returned a second later, giving his aural recognition and visual confirmation.
"Ezra." Chris rose to his feet. "This a social call?"
The one time gambler appeared clearly disturbed even though to all except Chris he was calm and deliberate as ever. Very few people could see through Ezra Standish's façade, Chris was one of them.
"As much I would love for it to be so, alas it is not." Ezra responded. "I was wondering if Masters Kyle and Michael were here?"
"No," Chris shook his head seeing the fear in Mary's eyes double and then quadruple. It almost matched the cold fear in his own heart. "They haven't come home yet. Missed supper too."
"As have Penelope and Peter," Ezra answered automatically, displaying a very visible frown. "Julia is worried and I have to confess feeling some trepidation myself. They are children after all and inclined to embroil themselves is as much discourse as possible but the hour is late even for that kind of indulgence."
"Well they all went to the creek together." Mary suggested. "Maybe we better find out if the other children have come home yet."
"Yeah," Chris agreed with that course of action. "Mary, you stay here in case they come back. Ezra and I will go see Nathan. If Tommy isn't home, then we'll split up and head out to Buck's, JD's and the ranch."
Mary hated being left at home for such a purpose but she knew Chris was right. If this was just a false alarm and her children were simply late home, then she wanted to be here when they arrived and let them know just how much fear they had put into their parent's heart before their father got a hold of them.
"Alright," Mary nodded. "The minute you hear..."
"I'll let you know." Chris returned as he and Ezra were already making their way towards the door.
Mary watched them go and prayed that this was nothing to be worried about. She heard the door slam as they left the house and felt singularly chilled until she turned her attention towards Sarah and swept her little girl up in her arms.
"Mommy needs a hug." Mary replied as she carried Sarah and wished the warm embrace she received from her golden haired daughter were enough to allay her fears.
It did not take Chris and Ezra very long to find out after arriving at the Jackson residence that Rain and Nathan were in a similar stare of worry regarding their eldest son. Deciding that it was best that they split up in order to cover more ground, Chris was soon riding towards the ranch to let find out if Samantha was home with Alex and Vin, while Ezra did the honors with Buck and Nathan with JD. Despite the explanation they were giving themselves that their children had found something of interest beyond the creek whose exploration had reached this late hour, none of them could shake the feeling something sinister was at foot. After the lives the seven had led, there were enemies who could still surface and shake them out of the complacency instilled by years of domesticity.
Chris dismounted his horse in front of the Tanner home, just as the front door swung open. Vin Tanner paused when he saw Chris but the expression the former gunslinger had seen in the tracker's features was enough to indicate that something was troubling his best friend. Nowhere could he spot any remnants of that unflappable expression as Vin strode towards him, securing his gun belt around his waist as he completed the journey.
"Chris."
"Vin."
"What brings you out here at this time of the night?" Vin inquired, even though he had a rough idea. Chris was wearing the same worried expression as he was.
"Is Sam home?" He asked, in no patience to waste any time and in truth, Vin did appeared in pretty much the same mood.
"No." Vin said tersely. "She missed supper and she still ain't back yet. What about Mike and Kyle?"
"Not a sign." Chris retorted just as abruptly and had confirmed the suspicion that wherever their offspring might be at this time, they were not alone. "It's same with the others too."
Vin peered at him from under the brim of his slouch hat. "Others?"
"Penny and Peter are missing, so is Tommy." Chris explained. "Ezra's riding over to Buck's and Nathan to JD's but I think its safe to assume that they're all together."
"Alex is going crazy," Vin glanced at the house and appeared especially annoyed because he did not wish to leave his pregnant wife when she was worried like this but Alex would hear none of it. Their daughter was out there and until she was found, nothing would appease the lady doctor. "She's mighty worried. Sammie can be a pain in the ass but she knows better than to stay out this late."
"Yeah," Chris agreed with a slight nod. "Mike's the same." He did not want to assume the worst but at the moment, there was little evidence that indicated the contrary. "We're meeting up in town once everyone is rounded up," he continued speaking. "Assuming that we are right and none of the kids have come home."
"I'm going to the creek." Vin replied. "It's a place to start."
"Alright," Chris nodded, thinking that this was a good idea because it might give them some idea of where to begin when they returned to the others. "It's on the way."
It did not take them long to arrive at the creek, which was only a mile or two out of town. It was the kind of distance children could cross without taking their horses and of this fact Chris was extremely grateful because if they had gone wandering off somewhere, they would have had to do it on foot. This narrowed the margin of where the seven should start looking, considerably. The creek sat on the outskirts of the Dunne place and the creek where the children enjoyed their summers was an extension of the one that ran past Nettie's old home. When JD and Casey had married, they had built a new house mostly to accommodate the children that would someday arrive and Nettie remained in her own home until the day she died.
Vin had not been back at the creek since.
However, fear for his child made this an exception and both men dismounted their horses, hearing gentle sloshing of water against the embankment and the sounds of nightlife in the form braying of bullfrogs and chirping crickets. There were no sounds that might indicate children. Fortunately, it was a full moon out so there was enough radiance for them to see with some measure of clarity. Chris was more familiar with the children's habits here to know where they normally set down their belongings when they came here to enjoy the day. With Vin alongside of him and terribly reminiscent of old times when they were peacekeepers in this town, they began scouring the terrain almost immediately. Both armed with their unique sense of vision.
"Someone else was here." Vin said spotting enough signs in the dim light to know that someone on horseback had been here recently. "On horseback." He continued to study the tracks, seeing the children's most prolifically but there were fresher prints.
"Look," Chris pointed at what appeared to be a piece of paper struck to the side of a tree. The contrast of white paper in the dark was stark indeed and Chris had seen it almost immediately. Without wasting time, he crossed the space between it and himself in a matter of seconds, with Vin following closely behind.
"What is it?" Vin asked.
Chris recognised the knife that had pinned the paper to the tree. It was the same penknife he had bought Billy for his birthday when the boy had turned seventeen. With a surge of hope that the children were with Billy, Chris immediately grabbed the handle and dislodged it from the bark. "Its too dark to read it," Chris retorted as he struggled to make sense of the words etched in the paper. "Vin you got a light?"
Vin wasted no time producing the added illumination that Chris needed with the matches he carried on him to light a cheroot when needed. The light from the match cast an amber glow over Chris' face as Vin held it close enough for the man to read what was on the note. Chris' eyes moved steadily across the page and the entire process took no more than a few seconds before the match had burned itself down and Chris crumpled the paper in his hand.
"Damn." He said under his breath, uncertain whether or not he ought to worried or furious. At this moment, he could not say for sure.
"What?" Vin stared at him, needing to hear something about the welfare of his daughter.
"Our children," Chris said barely containing his anger. "Have found themselves what they think is a treasure map and have gone hunting find it. Billy and Lilith have gone after them because it seems the damn thing belongs to Hank Young."
"Hank Young of the Young gang?" Vin was almost afraid to ask.
"The same." Chris growled. "Billy is hoping to get to them before Hank does."
"Shit!" Vin swore as Chris started back to the horses. "I'm gonna kill her..." He started muttering furiously, unable to imagine what was in Sam's head that she would embark on such foolishness. Oh who was he kidding? She took after her parents and that was all that needed to be said on that subject.
"Not before I have a few choice words to say to my son," Chris retorted. "Assuming that the Young's don't get to him first."
Despite their verbal claims of anger, both knew that if their children were found unharmed, they would probably be too grateful for that alone to be concerned about how events had led to the kids being in such danger.
"What does the map say now?" Tommy asked Penny once they had cleared treacherous walkway that had hugged the cliff they had just left with Sam barely making it out alive to join them. Like the rest of the group, the need to reach the end of the quest did not seem nearly as important as it had been when they had first set out. Tommy suddenly wished he were home. He wished he was where it was nice and safe, where there were no such things as rooms filled with traps, slippery slides that took you deep into the earth or where there was little danger of being falling to your death from a cliff the size of Everest.
They had left the ledge were still walking down the narrow walkway but somehow the walls were luminescent, glowing with the same powdery substance as before. It looked in its own way, very much bathed in sunlight coming from some unknown source. The walkway was surrounded by water on either side and as they paused for a moment, the atmosphere of playful adventure had all but vanished for fear and a potent desire to go home. Although none of the younger children had started to complain, Mike could see the fear in their eyes and hoped that wherever this led, it would also provide them with a clue on how to get out of this place.
"A way to go home." Elena Rose grumbled, deciding that she did not wish to see what else this place was going to throw at them. After seeing how close Sam had come to dying, she was of the opinion that their luck would not know protect them indefinitely and eventually someone was going to get hurt seriously or worse yet, they were going to find themselves faced with a challenge they could not overcome.
"I hate to say it Mike," Peter met his gaze. "I don't want to sound like a wet blanket but I think we should try to get out here."
Mike let out a deep sigh and nodded in agreement. "You're right. We should get out of here. I'm sorry I dragged you all into this. I thought it would be an adventure. All it's been is one death trap after a number."
"Michael," Elena Rose let out a sigh and came to him. Placing her hand through his, she offered him one of those smiles that were always capable of melting his insides like honey. "You didn't drag us, we came along with you because we wanted to know what was at the end of the rainbow too. I know I complained a lot but I wanted to know."
"So did I." Sam added her voice to the mix. "Mike I wanted to know too. We all did. Just because it's turned out to be more than any of us imagined doesn't mean we hated it. In a weird kind of way it was fun."
"Yeah Mike," Kyle said to his brother. "And you let me come. You never let me come before."
"Me neither." Annette said eagerly. "I always get left at home but this time, I got to go. I don't care that we didn't find any gold."
Mike had to swallow the lump in his throat because he was coming entirely too emotional for his own good. "I don't know who's crazier. Me for talking you into this or you for following me."
"Hey," Penny who had been reading the map while they had been engaged in this discussion suddenly spoke up over their attempts to salve Mike's guilt for bringing them to this place. "I think we don't have to worry about giving up."
"What do you mean?" Tommy looked at her since it was he who inspired her to assess their current situation as far as that ancient piece of parchment was concerned.
"I mean," she met their gazed. "I think we're at the end."
"End?" Adam said looking around him trying to ascertain what that meant. As far as he could tell, there was still something of a cavern ahead and not to mention any signs of treasure or gold or anything that might indicate a purpose for the arduous journey they had made. "I don't see any signs of goal."
"Read what it says," Mike said enthusiastically, fired up with the anticipation of knowing that their trials and tribulations had been for something.
The children gathered around Penny as she cast her eyes back on the words preparing to recite in that alien language that had guided them throughout this journey.
The test of mind has been proven
The test of courage has been fought
Now lies the test of faith in the cavern of twin lakes
Believe in the water and be shown the prize
"Twin lakes?" Jimmy looked to his older sister who was much more clearer about such riddles. "What does that mean Ellie?"
"This." Sam pointed to the narrow vein of water surrounding them on both sides.
"This isn't a lake." Penny said dubiously. "Its not even a pond. More like a little stream."
"I don't think its meant to be so literal," Adam replied, frowning at Penny who read the words and yet could not understand the meaning. He hoped she surpassed that flaw if she wanted to become a real life actress someday.
"Besides," Mike retorted. "That things is ages old, once upon a time, this might all have been apart of a lake." He pointed out.
"But what about the rest of it." Tommy asked. "A test of faith."
"A test of faith in the water." Elena Rose repeated, walking to the edge and staring at the pool of water. She could see the bottom and thought it was not very deep, it was still very clear. Her reflection stared back at her and Elena took a deep breath before dropping to her knees.
"Rose," Mike demanded. "What are you doing?"
"Don't you see?" She said with complete understanding and no traces of fear. "It's a test of faith, our ability to believe enough so that we can see the prize."
"So how do we do that?" Peter asked. His was a world of science, of fact and figures. Conquering the natural world was simply a matter of understanding, though he was still young enough to toy with the idea, he was fast growing into an age where the world of fact was taking the place of the one steeped in fiction and fairy tales.
"Easy," Elena grinned, cupping her palms and dipping both hands into the water. "You drink it."
"Wait a minute!" Tommy exclaimed, having a real problem with that. "You can't just drink the water, you don't know what's in it."
"That's why it's a question of faith Tommy," Elena Rose answered and she never sounded more like Inez Wilmington than at that moment.
Mike did not want to stop her from continuing, not when he saw the light of understanding burning so fiercely in her eyes. He had never seen her so passionately determined a thing and Elena Rose had been born the world's greatest doubting Thomas. However, she was also practical and not easily moved and anything that could touch her faith to such an extend had to be given its proper due. On that alone, Mike believed her.
"Are you sure?" He found himself asking even though nothing would stop her if she was determined. He loved her but she could be damned stubborn sometimes.
"Yes," she smiled at him just before she scooped up the water and took a mouthful.
It was surprisingly fresh despite its present location so far under the earth. There was a just enough tang in the taste of it to indicate that there probably some of minerals present in its texture. Elena Rose felt the cool run down her throat and found herself singularly refreshed by the initial sample. Inspired by the fact that she had not fallen over and died from poisoning, she took another drink and noticed the anticipation on her companion's faces as they watched her.
"Well its good water." She shrugged and leaned down to take another scoop when suddenly she caught sight of her reflection once again. For a moment, Elena Rose thought her mother was behind her and turned around sharply, only to see Mike staring at her in concern. Confusion rising, she glanced at her reflection again and then realised that it was not her mother that she was seeing but herself.
As a grown woman.
She was taller than Inez and it appeared that she had something of her father's height. Although she always wore her hair in a pony tail, the reflection in the pool saw her hair flowing loosely around her shoulders, appearing wild and tousled. She sought for a word to describe herself and could only bring one sentence to mind.
Pretty. She was pretty.
Swallowing hard, Elena Rose trembled as reached for the water again, allowing her fingers to send ripples through the surface and feeling her soul draining out of her fingers into the reflection in the pool.....
"Rose!" Mike's voice cut through her consciousness.
Elena could feel his words slice cleanly through her disorientation, lifting the veil of mist over her mind. However, clarity did not return to her upon opening her yes because she found herself in an entirely new place.
"Mike?" She sat up terrified as she saw the plains of open desert surrounding her. It was desert, the likes of which she had never seen in her entire life. It ran on forever in every directions, the dunes were like water in their textures, smooth and rippled as the wind blew. Heated air rose from the burning sand, creating waves of shimmering in the distance that earned the name mirage for those who mistook the illusion for water. The pure white sand glared back at her almost as sharply as the prevailing heat. When the flow of the desert did come to a respite, Elena Rose could only gape in open wonder and astonishment at what she was seeing.
The Great Pyramids.
She knew what they were because Miss Audrey had shown them pictures in school. The Pyramids of Giza, her mind reminded her as she continued to stare at their monolithic splendor. The pictures had done them no justice. Whether or not this was a dream, Elena Rose could not say for certain but they were as magnificent as the civilization that had built them thousands of years ago. Towering edifices stood against a pristine blue sky and seemed to capture the soul with an ancient song that spoke of great kings in a time when the world was young and there was achievement in every human endeavor.
"Rose, talk to me. Are you alright?" She heard Mike's firm but tender voice in her ear a second before she felt his hand around her waist and shoulder helping her to her feet.
"I'm fine," she nodded mutely, her eyes still too filled with the sight of the pyramids stretching across the Giza plain to pay much notice to him. "Where are we?" She asked somewhat dazed.
"Where are we?" He exclaimed looking at her incredulously.
It was at this point that Elena Rose had blinked long enough to take a good look in his direction and what she saw was even more astonishing than even the pyramids. For a moment, Elena Rose thought she was staring at Chris Larabee. The man before her and he was a man there was no doubt about that in any shape or form was the image of Chris Larabee. However, while he looked like the Chris Larabee she remembered, a man who never ceased to look like anything but the ruthless gunslinger that had drifted in town so many years ago despite the years or how settled he became, Elena could see something different. It was most telling in the eyes.
He who was before her was a different man altogether. One who had not suffered unimaginable loss or seen the things that Chris Larabee had. Looking at the person before her, especially into those familiar green eyes speckled with gold, she realised that this was the Chris Larabee her father had known, before the years had changed the man. The entity before her was young, confident, exuding raw sexuality with such potent force that even though Elena Rose did not understand its nature, could certainly feel it. As he smiled at her with the face of a god, she felt her knees weaken.
"Hey!" He caught her again as she started to stumble. "I think this heats getting to you." He said squinting instinctively at the noon day soon a brief second before he bent down swept her up in his arms. "I think you need to rest in our tent. I knew this was a bad idea. You should be in Cairo, getting pampered with luxury at one those fancy English hotels not be out here on a dig with me, especially this close to the baby coming."
Elena almost fell out of his arms.
"What? Baby?" She stuttered and then took a look at herself and noticed that under the loose fitting cotton dress she was wearing was a swell on her belly not unlike that of her mother's when she was close to delivering Jimmy. The shock robbed her of speech for a few seconds as Mike continued to talk.
"Yeah I know that you've been with me on digs ever since I come out here but Egypt is not home. You can die of a dozen different things before the sun goes down." He said gently. "Look, I'm almost done here. All I need to do is uncover one last cartouche and then we can go back to Cairo and I can start cataloguing for the university. I promise you Rose," he kissed her gently on the forehead. "After the baby is born, we'll go home and I can take up a teaching position in one of the local universities. What do you think? Wouldn't you like to the wife to a Professor Larabee?" He grinned at her.
Elena felt her head swim and as she closed her eyes and felt the world spin around her once again. She vaguely heard Mike calling her but his voice grew distant once again....
"Rose!" She heard Mike's voice again only this time it was not the concern call of a man worried about his (god she could not even imagine at this point) pregnant wife but the childhood friend that she had known all her life. "Talk to me Elena!"
Elena realised she was being shaken when she opened her eyes and stared at him. He was her Mike again, the one she had always remembered. In fact, all her friends were around her, staring at her in concern. "I know what this is." She managed to say. "I know what the treasure is!"
"I don't care about the treasure!" He shouted. "I care about you? Are you alright?" Mike had to hear it from her before he dared to believe it. For the briefest instant of time, she had faded away and he had no idea where she had been, even though her body was staring aimlessly into her reflection in the pool.
"But you have to care." She smiled at him, images of what she had seen imprinted in her mind and strengthening her with the hope of all possibility. "Its not gold Mike, or anything as stupid as a mine. It's the future."
"What?" He looked at her confused. "What did you say?"
"I saw us." She beamed even wider, no longer as frightened now that it had sunk into her. "I saw us and our future and that we have a future together, you and I." On impulse, she embraced him hard and smiled radiantly. "When I drank the water, I saw our future. That's what it is, some kind of window that lets us see ahead."
"Really?" Mike said with a hushed whisper. "What did you see?" He saw the wonder in her eyes and burned to know.
"Enough," she embraced him again. "Why don't you try?" She gestured towards the pool. "You need to see it Mike."
Mike looked at the pool uncertainly and then stared into Elena's eyes. What she saw in that place it had taken her radiated from her as powerfully as the glow inside the cavern. Behind him, the others were waiting on in anticipation, wanting to know but still too afraid to try for themselves. They had come all this way and Mike would not rob them of the pleasure he saw in Elena's eyes if it meant him trying it out for himself.
"Okay," he nodded and was quickly rummaged through his satchel and produced a cup he had with the things his ma had packed for lunch during their visit to the creek. Mike let his gaze sweep over the others once more before dipping the cup into the water and filling it to the brim. He stared at it for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and deciding to himself that if Elena could manage it, he sure as hell could to. Holding to his lips, he began drinking quickly. By the time, he had drained it of its contents, his mind swirled and he was gone....
Elena was screaming.
"Rose!" He cried out.
"Calm down!" He heard the calm voice of a man with a decidedly foreign accent telling him. Mike blinked twice and three times and found himself inside a tent, just seconds before a hand tightened around his with a powerful surge.
"Mrs Larabee," the man spoke. "We're almost there."
"God it hurts!" Elena Rose Wilmington screamed in agony. Her cries of pain snapped Mike's attention to her and for a moment he did not recognise the woman beside whom he was kneeling as she lay on the cot. Covered in perspiration, her belly heaved and her face was contorted in pain but as he stared into her eyes, he knew without doubt she was his Elena Rose, just older. He guessed she was somewhat older than Lilith but not quite as old as his mother. The curve of her belly told him immediately why she was wracked with such agony.
She was birthing a child.
The doctor did not seem American and as his confusion mounted as to why he was here and why Elena Rose was delivering a child in a tent when suddenly he was struck with the realization that it was his child, she was giving birth to. Mike could not breathe but he did not have a chance to descend into blind panic because he was reminded of the situation when he heard her scream again. Mike stared at her, at the hand fisted around hers and saw the band of gold that matched on his finger and on hers and knew that she was his wife. Strange how he had always known that she would be even as a child and then to see it for himself in this reality.
The doctor, a man of obviously foreign extraction was working hard beneath the blanket that covered her and Mike could only stare at Elena Rose in wonder, thinking that she had become more beautiful then he had ever imagined she would be, even like this.
"You can do it." He whispered softly. "I know you can."
"Oh Mike!" She started to weep. "I'm trying!"
"You can do it." Mike said with absolutely. "You're my Rose, you can do anything."
"Push, Mrs Larabee." The physician ordered once again. "Just one hard push!"
"One more baby," Mike continued to speak, unaware of where this strength was coming from but knowing that for her, he would learn anything, be as strong as she needed. "Just one more."
She nodded and blinked, tears running down her face and sweat glistening across her skin. Mike noticed a cloth in a basin of water in the corner of his eye and reached for it. He squeezed it the best he could with one hand and toweled the moisture of her face cooled he brow.
"I love you," she whispered.
Whether he was eleven or all grown, there was never any doubt in his mind about that and Mike answered without hesitation. "I have always loved you."
With that, she bore down and started the exhausting exercise of pushing, her hand clenched around his in a singular effort as she forced her body to do what was required. Eventually even that was not enough and she had to let out a scream of determination that was long and guttural, torn from her with so much agony that Mike thought his heart might shatter because he could not stand to hear her cry out like that. However that scream ended abruptly with one that was weaker, a little more strained and the first one made by he who uttered it.
"Congratulations," the physician grinned broadly as he produced a small wet form, wrapped up in a blue blanket, whimpering plaintively following its sudden arrival into the world. "Professor and Mrs Larabee, it appears you have a son."
Mike could hardly breathe when he saw the tiny creature that was placed in Elena's weary arms after she had recovered a moment later. "Oh god Mike," she looked up at him with tear filled eyes after regarding the precious life she was cradling. "He's beautiful."
Mike smiled because he was.
"Hello," he heard Elena coo into the babe's ear. "Hello Christopher."
Somehow to Mike, it made perfect sense.
Sam was next.
She did not fear the future, she was dying to know about it. To have all the questions answered that she had been pondering of late so when she chose to drink next, it was not just a glimpse into her future, it was the question answered on how she would get there.....
"Sammie!" She heard Peter's voice screaming behind her. "Slow down for god's sake!"
The first thing that Sam realised when she had some semblance of coherence was that she was not on the ground. How this was achieved was beyond her understanding but she knew this was so as evidenced when she looked around herself and realised that it was not land around her but rather clouds and air. Her eyes widened upon seeing nothing but the wide expanse of blue sky far closer than anyone had any business seeing. Though they were high, it was not warmer the closer they got to the sun but rather colder. She wondered briefly how it was Icarus could have plunged into the sea when the sun burned less in the sky instead of hot like that ancient fable once claimed.
Below her, she could see the landscape. Tracts of green and brown, stretching across the horizon like a sea that had no end. There were no ships on this ocean but rather the tops of houses, peaks of mountains, the apex of tall green giants and herds of cattle and other livestock that moved across grazing land like a swarm of insects moving in unison. It was beautiful in a way she had never imagined it could be. On the ground, things seemed tiny and insignificant but seeing it from this vantage point, with all things placed in a tapestry of design rather than in separate pieces as people had always expected it to be, she understood so many things.
"Ease back on the throttle!" Peter called again.
She looked over her shoulder and saw not a boy her age, but a man speaking with Peter's voice. She could not see his eyes because they were hidden behind the kind of goggles that Will Jefferson, the blacksmith, wore when he was working hot iron. However, Sam had no doubt that it was indeed Peter because the hair, the voice and the manner was all his.
Sam dropped her eyes and saw the strange lever she was handling.. When she pulled back, the strange contraption with the spanned wings, which had allowed them to make this incredible journey in the sky, it would twist one way and another depending on how she guided the lever. Although she was terrified out of her mind of bringing them crashing to the earth, she could not deny that there was nothing less than exhilaration journeying through the sky in this manner. If this was her future, then Sam decided she could do worse.
"It's not quite as good as a Heath Parasol!" Peter shouted over the roar of the wind and the sharp drone of the engines that powered the propeller in front of the machine. "I used their design but I'm sure I could do something better. I just need to get back to the workshop again!"
Sam had utterly no idea what he was talking about although she seemed to be managing quite well keeping them aloft rather than crashing rather spectacularly into a mountain or worse yet into the ground. Perhaps part of the vision that she was seeing her allowed her this one skill or just maybe this was what she was born to do and she was taking to it like duck to water.
"Its wonderful!" Sam screamed in euphoria and meaning it with every fibre of her being.
"Well I'll keep building them and you can keep flying them!" Peter laughed, clearly delighted by her expression of joy.
"You built this thing!" Sam exclaimed looking back at him momentarily in wonder. "Its incredible!"
"Its nothing compared to what I'm gonna build for you Sam!" He returned happily. "I'm going to build them until you can touch the moon!"
Somehow she did not doubt it.
"Peter," Sam exclaimed excitedly when she finally snapped out of the vision quest she had been journeying. "You have got to try it! You should have seen what I saw! It was so amazing!"
Peter could well believe it if the glimmer in her eyes was anything to go by. The thrill in her face was too overwhelming for him to refuse her desire to have him join the ranks of those that had taken a drink from this strange portal into the future and captured a glimpse of the people they were destined to be in the years ahead. Taking the cup from her hand, Peter swished it through the clear pond before raising the dripping receptacle to his lips and allowing the cool water to slide down his throat....
He did not know what he expected but he certainly did not expect this.
There was a mirror on the wall of the room he suddenly found himself within and when he stared at it, he knew he was staring at his own reflection, even if the image was contrary to anything he might have perceived. Everything was the same, same eyes, same dimpled cheeks inherited from his father but his hair was no longer dark gold but rather thinning into gray. He looked around the room and found the construction unlike anything he had ever seen. Most of the room was glass and in his office, he spied rolled up plans, models of strange objects that looked like birds but were clearly man made. At the corner of his desk, there was a picture of what he thought was Sam but like him, time had changed her too. The photograph itself was nothing like what he knew of his own time. Its presentation of the image was next to flawless and it had captured Sam's likeness almost perfectly and not just Sam but Penny's as well and a number of his friends including one of what appeared to be his father. At least he thought it was his father. It was not the image of an old man as Ezra Standish should be if Peter was old but someone in his late twenties.
My son.
If he thought the marvels of what were inside his room was astonishing enough, what appeared outside the window was enough to take his breath away. He saw them taking off a strip of dark road, soaring into the sky with ease. Fan blades whirring away as they rolled along the path before them and then finally escaping to the sky. All of them had the same words emblazoned across their polished steel sides.
STANDISH AIR
"It is such an honour to see you Sir." The voice of someone who had been speaking to him the last few seconds despite his attention being elsewhere finally filtered through his mind and Peter faced front.
The young man was in his early twenties if that. He was no one that Peter recognised from his past but he was staring at Peter with clear adoration and the words he spoke started to register even though Peter could not understand what he was talking about.
"I've read all your papers on an engine that utilises chemical propellant and I believe you are right that is the only way that we will ever leave propellers behind and create a revolutionary form of air travel. I am sure that this is the way to make rockets a reality. I know that you conferred with Doctor Jackson on much of it as you often said but the idea that escaping the stratosphere with that kind of velocity makes the mind swim. I have been working on the problem myself and I have had limited results."
He was expecting Peter to answer and the boy trapped inside a man's body thought furiously as to what he should say even though he had no idea what the visitor with the thick accent was attempting to say. Deciding that in doubt it was always best to go with something that his father was fond of saying.
"You are merely working out the details of the game, the rest will come with practice." Peter answered and hoped it would not sound too foolish.
However, he need not have concerned himself for no sooner than he had said it, the young man across the desk from him broke into a smile. "I will endeavour to practise as much as I can. Thank you Sir."
With that he rose to his feet and bade his goodbye.
Peter did not know who the young man was but gathered he would find out in the future that was to come.
However, even then there was some things that would remain a mystery to him even then and his visitor who went by the name of Werner Von Braun would on that very next day, take one of his planes back to Germany. Von Braun would work hard on his idea of rockets, given life by his conversation with famed aeronautic engineer Peter Standish. He would work out the details of the game and build the V2 rocket, which almost brought London to its knees in World War 2. All the while, wrestling with his conscience at working for the Nazis and keeping alive the dream he had shared with Standish alive for the next five years until liberated by the American army at the end of the war. When he returned to America again, Von Braun would revisit his dream of rockets and pioneer the space age for his adopted country.
And April 27th 1969, he would put Neil Armstrong on the moon.
"I know what the future holds for me." Penelope Standish declared when her turn came. She was going to be a famous actress like Lily Langtry and travel the country in a glamorous lifestyle that would leave everyone talking about her forever. With total confidence at knowing what the future had decided for her, Penny took her turn without fear because whether or not she knew it herself, despite her bold words, she would be always be someone who changed the world to suit her.
As it should be.
All was as it was when she heard the crowd cheering.
The audience before her was applauding with almost rapturous delight as she stood gaping at them in astonishment. To her surprise, Penny found that she was rather overwhelmed by the applause. She had always thought that when the time came, she would be ready for the stardom and adoring fans but now that the moment was upon her, she found that none of her fantasies was anything like the reality. Bright lights shown on her and she could see smiling faces everywhere.
In the front row, she saw her mother and father, clapping for her. Peter was there too and Sam as well. In fact as her eyes moved across the faces though older, she knew without doubt to be her best friends in the world, she felt herself swell with pride knowing that they would be in her life even when she had achieved her dreams. Given a choice between them and her ambitions for herself, Penny could not say for certain which she would choose although at this time, soaking the adulation of the crowd, it did not seem fair to ponder the question.
"Brava!" Sam was clapping the loudest and calling out, defying conventionality as always.
Looking at herself, Penny realised that she was garbed in an elegant dress that seemed the costume of the some blue-blooded aristocrat and through the fake jewellery and finery, she wondered what was the role she had played. At the wings, the rest of what appeared to be her cast were also sharing their adoration for her with the crowd by the smiles and waves they were sending in her direction. She wished they would come out and join her but then supposed she was the star and this was meant to be her moment.
She was holding a bouquet of roses and the fragrance filled her lungs adding to the unreality of the moment as she saw more flowers being thrown to the stage in single stems, littering the floor after a time. Penny knew it was going to be like this, she knew she was going to be famous. None of this had been any different then how she had always imagined.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Penelope Dunne!"
Penny's eyes widened in shock as she stared immediately at the announcer who had made the statement.
Dunne? Her name was not Dunne!
As if to answer the question, the man continued speaking.
"The writer of the production 'Gambler's Fortune', Adam Dunne!"
She could only stare as Adam stepped out of the wings, waving to the audience as he came next to her and slid his arm around her waist. He looked nothing like the boy with the glasses who was utterly no good at using a slingshot. Instead, she standing to a handsome man with thin almost wire framed glasses, looking terribly dashing in his black evening suit.
"Are we married?" Penny managed to say in his ear.
Adam smiled at her, obviously assuming she was joking. "I suppose you want to divorce me now that you're a big star."
Penny could only stare and decided from then on, never to assume anything where fate was concerned. It had a habit of surprising you most unexpectedly.
"What did you see Penny?" Adam asked when she finally gain coherence enough to realise she was back in the present once again.
Penny swallowed visibly. "You wouldn't believe it even if I told you."
"I want to try!" Kyle declared and Penny was never more grateful for the distraction because her mind was still reeling from what she had seen. She had never even considered a husband. After hearing about how her mother had come to the west on her own, established her Emporium and built a life for herself well before she finally married daddy, Penny had more or less decided that she wanted her life to be that way. However, now she had learnt that not only was she going to have a husband, it was going to be Adam.
"Brace yourself," Penny advised as she saw Kyle leaning down to take a drink from the mystical pool. "Its gonna be some ride."
He heard gunfire.
Kyle almost ducked until he realised that it was not coming at him but was rather a far away sound in the distance.
Coherence to his surroundings brought with it an intense biting cold that made him hug himself in reaction. In front of him, his horse snorted its dislike of the weather. It was raining, with droplets of water dribbling over the brim of his hat. Kyle wiped the rain from his face and took in where he was.
He knew that he was not at home.
The landscape around him seemed peaceful enough for the moment but there was bodies everywhere. They were covered in mud with dead eyes that stared into the sky seeing nothing. Blood stained the earth where they had fallen and large craters had formed in some places where it appeared as if a great claw had scooped up the earth and sent it in all directions. Like the limbs that had been ribbed from the corpses, creating a macabre tapestry of death, blood and mud. In his entire life, Kyle had never seen anything so utterly terrifying.
"Poor souls." Someone said next to him.
Kyle looked over his shoulder at the rider on the other side of him and realised it was Billy. Billy who was older and a little gray but nonetheless very much the brother he adored.
"Billy." Kyle exclaimed softly..
"You haven't called me that in years." Billy looked at him with mild surprise. The uniform that he was wearing was not the uniform of a Union soldier but it was a Calvary uniform because like himself, Billy was sitting astride a horse. In fact, Billy was leading what appeared to be a lot of men in uniform astride on horseback, staring at the misty green terrain ahead of them. "I guess considering what we're going into, it does seem inappropriate."
"Its time." One of the men next to Billy announced.
"The Germans are supposed to have a division hiding out in there." Billy sighed. "They're meant to have cannons too. The Brits had this stupid idea to march a platoon of Anzacs in on foot and this is the result. Bastards."
Kyle glanced anxiously at the forest before them and tried to see the enemy but he could not. However, they had to be there. The carnage that had been created in this terrible field of broken bodies and dead corpses was proof enough of that. His heart started pounding in fear as he started to understand that he was in a war and that Billy was his commanding officer.
"Kyle," Billy met his gaze and suddenly his oldest brother looked not unlike their father, all knowing and imposing as he prepared to lead his men into battle. "Stay with me, please." His features melted into the brother he loved, not the battle hardened officer about to ride. "Whatever happens, make sure you stay at my side. We'll get through this because I won't let anything happen to you. Not ever."
Kyle wanted to ask him so many things but Billy faced front again and the moment was lost. There was only the sound of teeming rain before Billy unsheathed his saber and held it up for all his men to see before uttering that immortal call to arms of all men who were Cavalry in whatever army throughout history.
"Charge!"
The first thing that Kyle did when he regained his senses was run into Mike's arms and embraced his brother as hard as he could. Mike looked at his younger sibling in a mixture of surprise and deepening concern, wondering what could have happened to engender such a response. Judging by the way Kyle was burying his face in his chest, Mike suspected what he had seen was not pleasant.
"Kyle?" Mike pulled his brother's arms from around him and made the young boy look at him. "Its okay. It's over now."
Kyle could only respond by meeting his eyes fearfully once more before hugging him.
"Its okay Kyle," Annette spoke up coming forward. "It's not bad. You'll see." She said bravely and kneeled down to take the cup he had dropped to the ground in order to take her turn.
Kyle watched her and hoped that what she would see was no way as bad as what he had witnessed on that plain so far away in the future...."
"Goddamn Annette, that hurts!"
Annette found herself staring at Kyle. At least she thought it was Kyle. He looked so old! She was holding his arm, putting the finishing touches on what appeared to be a bandaged. Apparently the process in which she used to tighten the wrap left much to be desired by the level of annoyance in his voice.
"Sorry..." she stumbled, not knowing what to say. Her hands were so different. They were not her hands. They were her mother's hands. Annette recognised the slender fingers she had watched all her life working on Kyle's arm, fingers that she was more accustomed to seeing brushing hair out of her face or the kneading dough to make the bread that would make her house smell so good. At five years of age, she was not certain what she was doing; aware only that Kyle did not like it very much.
"You know," he looked at her. "I wasn't this hurt in the war."
"You're such a baby." She managed to remark. It was the only thing she trusted herself to say.
"You're just saying that because you've never had to be one of your patients." Kyle grimaced as he inspected her handiwork before rolling down his sleeve. As he stepped off the examination table which Annette knew well enough what it was from her visits to see either Doctor Alex or Nathan, she noticed something else. The glimmer of a gold star on his jacket.
"Sheriff?" She stared at him perplexed. "You're not the Sheriff."
Kyle gave her a look. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Trust me, if your father wanted his job back I'd be more than happy to let him have it but apparently he likes fishing and retirement too much these days. I only got saddled with the job because I knew when to duck during the war."
"The war?" She looked at him.
"Yes the war," he rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You know the reason why you're not married yet." He gave her a sarcastic smile.
Annette frowned and knew that was not meant to be a compliment. "Well neither are you!" She retorted, not able to think of anything else to say. Actually she had no idea whether he was or not but she was certain that with his winning ways, he could not possibly be.
No woman was that dumb.
"If you're coming on to me this is not the way to go about it." He grinned adjusting his coat and reaching for his hat that lay next to him on the table.
The remark was so far above Annette's understanding that it went straight over her head and she stared at him blankly.
"Well this has been fun." He said walking towards the door and offering her a wink as he left the room. "Until next time Doc."
Annette watched him leave and thought to herself.
What a pig.
Tommy saw himself teaching at a university. There were students listening to him with interest as he faded into his vision during the middle of a lecture and realised that his audience had come to see him because he had been a chemist who was one of the foremost authorities in that field of study. However, they listened to him not because he was that, they listened to him because he was one of the few African American men of the age to have achieved such greatness and amongst his listeners was a young student by the name of King.
The man Tommy would become had told the others like himself that not even prejudice could defeat a soul that knew itself and what it wished to achieve. Without a dream in one's heart, without a purpose in one's life, a person was not quite whole and the soul would die, long before the hatred doctrine of another could do the job. King listened closely and remembered those words the day he made a historic speech about his own dreams and went to his death believing in them.
Jimmy Wilmington found himself astride a horse, overlooking the Lucky 7 ranch helping it continue even past the age of the men who had first used it to start a new life in Four Corners. He loved everything about the ranch and thrilled from the day he had first learnt to ride at the idea that he might keep their legacy alive. It pleased Jimmy to know that in the future he was being allowed to see, he had managed to do that. The ranch still lived. The home where Vin Tanner had raised his family stood and the old tracker had remained there with his wife until the end of their lives.
The ranch was home to all of them now. Whenever any of them returned to Four Corners, invariably they would converge here, remembering this place as the playground of their childhood and of the family they were apart, knowing that its bonds were stronger than blood, stronger than time. Jimmy was pleased to remain its lighthouse keeper, the one to maintain this world that would always seemed steeped in legend, no matter how much time would pass and what transpired in the world outside.
As far as destiny went, he could think of worse things.
Adam Dunne stared at the screen in front of him and saw art imitating life.
It was not the same as the book he had written and he supposed that film tended to change things a bit but it was close enough for the moment and truth had a way of surfacing in the retelling. In the age of celluloid that he was now growing too old to be involved in, Adam watched the last story he would ever tell unfold on the movie screen before him.
Yul Brynner played Chris Larabee.
Of course he looked nothing like the man Adam had remembered as a child, he did not wear the face of a worn gunslinger, scarred by grief and loss only to be given new renewal by the friend he had made in the town of Four Corners. Still Brynner walked across the screen and captured everyone's attention as the undisputed leader of the six men who rode with him.
In that much at least, he and Chris had much in common.
Vin Tanner had not survived the celluloid recreation accurately although McQueen had played him as an affable type not too different than the man himself. Buck Wilmington disappeared completely, so did Nathan Jackson for the times had not changed so much that anyone could stomach a black man being in the number of seven heroes, although his knife throwing abilities seemed to have been adopted by James Coburn in the movie. Adam hoped that someone in the future would give Nathan a better retelling. The creation played by Robert Vaughn (who bore a striking resemblance to old Judge Travis) seemed to be an amalgamation of Josiah's call of the crows and Ezra Standish's suave personality.
They picked a young unknown to play the kid.
Adam did not object to his father being portrayed as a Mexican and upon the viewing, found him to be the most faithful creation of all. Young, impetuous, striving to be a man, adopted by the six men who saw in him what it was to be young again. Adam watched the film unfold, feeling tears in his eyes, not understanding why he should weep when the men before him looked nothing like the Magnificent Seven he knew.
It was just even though he was looking in on himself in the future, Adam knew instinctively that he would feel the same way when this event unfolded itself in the proper course of time.
Because he would still miss them.