Portals

She gripped the mane of her horse and urged the beast to go faster. This wasn’t her time and if she didn’t get to the portal fast, she was going to be stuck in the Regency Era for the rest of her life. The sure-footed stallion beat a trail across the English countryside trying to match the pace Tabitha set.

She had one job: prevent the Duke of Kennison from killing his wife. When Tabitha received the mission from her handler, Joshua, she hadn’t questioned it. It wasn’t an unusual request from The Order of Ùine. She opened the time portal with the red amulet she wore and stepped through. How she accomplished her mission was up to her. It all started very routinely. If you could call ‘changing history’ routine. She had 37 operations under her belt as a Traveler and was considered a veteran among her peers. The Order was comprised of 52 Handlers, 26 Travelers, 38 Researchers, and 15 members on the Board of Directors. There were offices and safe houses all over the world working on the clandestine mission to alter history.  

Tabitha entered Kennison Manor, silently, through the library window on the ground floor. Her favorite blade was slung over her shoulder. She dressed in men’s breeches and soft-soled boots making her movements quiet and stealthy. Her dark red hair was tied up into the intricate knot she favored. She’d considered a wig but only briefly. She needed her movements unencumbered for this mission. The blade was just insurance. Most of her jobs required very little bloodshed and a significant amount of subtly. As a graduate student, she’d studied archeology and history at The University of North Carolina. Now she got to live history thanks to a professor who’d referred her to The Order. Now, at 32 years old, Tabitha had seen and done more than most people could imagine.  

She made her way along the wall in the main hallway. The butler was leaning against a table talking to the housekeeper. The first rule of the Order was no direct contact with anyone, so she stayed in the long shadows of the setting sun. She stopped once she rounded the corner to the stairs. She closed her blue eyes and waited, listening intently. She could hear voices beginning to rise above.

She planned to slip the Duke a bit of belladonna to put him to sleep; just enough for him to sleep through the night and most of the next day. If her research proved to be correct the Duke was a heavy drinker. Most nights he could be found in his study, drinking strong Irish Whiskey. He was often violent with his wife and tonight he would kill her. Unless she stopped him. The Duchess was 8 months pregnant with the Duke’s heir. His son would serve an important purpose to the Order though she hadn’t been made aware of what that would be.

Tabitha put her hand on the doorknob of Duke and Duchess’s adjoined chambers. She would enter through his and slip the belladonna into his whiskey decanter. The couple could be easily heard arguing in the Duchess’s room. She slipped silently inside the dark room. The lone candelabra sat flickering on a small table near the hearth. The shadows in the room danced in front of Tabitha’s eyes. She spotted a crystal decanter next to an overstuffed leather chair next to the table. As she made her way over, she heard a woman scream and glass breaking. Had she mistimed the event? She was always so careful and thorough in her research. A bead of sweat trailed down her forehead.

Tabitha pulled open the large oak door that separated the two rooms. The Duchess lay on the floor, blood oozing delicately from the wound on her head. The Duke stood over her breathing hard and holding a broken silver hand mirror. When Tabitha withdrew her blade from its sheath, the Duke turned and met her form with wild, glazed eyes. He growled like an animal and lunged his large body at her. Tabitha stepped to the right and followed her body with a quick swipe from her sword. The blade came down with a sickening thwack into the flesh between his shoulder blades. The Duke of Kennison crumpled into a lifeless heap before her.

She sheathed her blade and went to the duchess. The cut above her left eyebrow bled freely as Tabitha ripped a long piece of the Duchess’s chemise and dabbed at her forehead. She let her fingers find the pulse at her throat. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the strong beat of her heart. She took another piece of linen and wrapped it around her head. The footsteps pounding violently down the hall shook Tabitha’s soul. Would this be the time she’d get caught? The clock on the mantle chimed, mocking her. She rose and squared her shoulders as 5 men with pistols drawn shoved their way into the bedroom. Their eyes moved over the scene laid out in front of them and Tabitha groaned.

“You!” The tallest of the men pointed and yelled at her. She turned and jumped through the large glass window behind her. Tabitha didn’t know what lay below this window, but it would be better than the alternative. Her feet met the shrubs below first. Her tall body followed in painful succession. She tried to bring air into her devastated lungs. Breathe first, Tabitha thought. The yelling from around the other side of the manor was getting closer. She had to move. A ball from the pistol pointed out the second story window ricocheted off the stone walkway she was clawing over.

She picked herself up and out of the bushes. The pain from her right arm and shoulder darted through her like a fast wave. She’d broken her wrist in the 8th grade and a bone had stuck through her skin. Until now, nothing had been as painful as that. She pushed the discomfort from her mind as best she could. Another shot rang in her ears as a fragment of a statue shattered near her head. She needed a horse. She looked across the vast lawn and saw the mews 150 yards away. She was running out of time and the shouts were moving closer.

She wrenched open the stall door and clutched the first horse she came to. She silently thanked God that it was not a slower carriage horse. She swung her leg over the side of the horse, held tight with her good arm, and kicked him into a fast gallop. She looked at her watch, she had 5 minutes to get to the portal. Tabitha was sure she wouldn’t make the opening.

She reached the coaching inn, leaping from the horse before it skidded to a halt. She ran up to the room she’d rented, her feet pounding up the two flights of cracked wooden stairs. The amulet at her neck thrummed against her chest. She heard shouts from the tavern below. Tabitha slammed her door behind her as the portal whirled open. Without any consideration for her arm, she bounded through it at a full sprint.

Three days later she sat in Joshua’s sparsely furnished office in Portland, Oregon. She hated coming to Portland. She preferred the azure coastline of Greece where she spent most of her time. She shifted, trying to get comfortable in the stiff chair. She had a separated shoulder and a broken rotator cuff. She would be out of work for weeks. She was frustrated by the injury. She’d never come that close to death in her tenure with The Order. She’d never even been hurt. This felt like a sort of failure for her. She’d decided she needed a break. Tabitha thought maybe she might spend some time with her younger sister in Oklahoma. She missed her nieces and nephews. After all, they were the only family she had.

Joshua motioned to the file she was holding in her left hand. “You did it again, Tab.” He steepled his long fingers and beamed. “Jonathan, the Duke’s son, is an important person to The Order.” Tabitha adjusted the sling around her neck. There was no way she was going to be able to stay this way for 6 weeks. “Jonathan, 7th Duke of Kennison, was a scientist interested in time travel; an interest that was passed down from his mother.” He smiled a toothy grin. “He figured out the formula for time travel without the constraints of portals.”

Tabitha smiled back at him. “Thank God.” No more portals to almost miss.