Legacy of the Dreams

Chapter 112 - Battle with the King's Men

Four-year-old Melody Abernathy stood on top of a lava rock bolder at the bottom of the vertical shaft in the Abernathy's cave, singing. She was there with her family, bringing their relatives from New York on an excursion into the furthest reaches of the cave, when Melody reached the bottom of the shaft ahead of her parents, climbed on the rocky outcropping all on her own and began to sing.

Adam and Megan stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Zack stopped to stare at them. Greg did too. The rest of the adults looked in awe at the scene, while Jessie stomped her foot and protested.

"Melody, you have to do what Mama says! You have to get down!"

Melody's song stopped as abruptly as it started and she began to cry.

"Come to Papa, Melody," Greg said and he reached up to the top of the rock to help her down.

"No come," Melody whimpered. "Be safe, Papa."

"Melody, we are safe. I'm sorry Papa Simeon wasn't able to keep you safe before," Greg said quietly. "But we are safe now."

"Papa Angel?" Melody questioned.

Greg hesitated a fraction of a second.

"Yes," he told her.

"No soldiers," Melody insisted as she allowed Greg to draw her into his arms.

"Yeah, I'll second that," Adam declared.

"Me too," Megan said. "I'm tired of running."

"I hate it when people I love end up dead," Adam added. "Especially when I try my hardest to protect them, but in the end, I couldn't do anything about it."

"Such things happen in times of war or political upheaval," Greg told him.

"Even to you," Adam told him.

Greg hesitated again. "Yes," he said finally. "By the sword of the king's guard who patrolled the road, I died too some time later. It was a violent time, one that affected many of us in a variety of ways."

"Us too," Zack said. "I heard about what happened. That's how I knew we needed to find a way out for my cousin Mary and her husband Egbert. That's what made me decide, me and Cara needed to leave too. I thought we could help them to escape, but only if we went with them. If we didn't, we knew the king would target us next."

"Your cousin ..." Liam said doubtfully. "You don't mean Adam and Megan."

Zack did a double take.

"No. We're talking about a dream ... a memory from a different time. Back then Jessie and I were related, but in a different way. Greg was her father ... I mean really her father, only his name was Harald," Zack said.

"What was your name?" Sophie asked.

"I was still Zack." He shrugged slightly. "I always seem to be. Just like Adam was still Adam ... only he was different ... newer. Sometimes it's harder to know what to do when you are new."

"Do you mean younger?" Malcom asked.

"Not necessarily," Zack told him. "I think we were pretty much the same age. I was one of the king's soldiers ... almost a knight, until I decided to quit. He was one of the guards of the Master's private forces."

"When was this?" Ali asked.

"By our best estimates, late in the 1600s," Greg said.

"I didn't think the King's Army allowed soldiers to quit ... not in any age," Liam remarked.

"They didn't, which is why we knew we had to leave. But what they were doing was wrong, so I did. We helped those we could and went into hiding after that," Zack explained.