Left to 'our own' Devices

"Hey!" Lizzie shouts at me. "You're supposed to be looking after that thing!"

She frantically points in the direction of the weird thing that showed up in the living room this morning.

"We need to see what this thing is first, Liz before we make shifts to look after it."

"You're not getting my point!"

Standing at 4 feet 11 inches, Liz sure had a loud voice. Where all that loud was stored, I didn't know, but it came in handy sometimes.

"What is your point? This thing shows up, looking like a shiny bucket with a lid, and you think it’s something that needs to be monitored," I retort. "Besides, I just went to get a glass of water."

"W-whatever. We still aren’t supposed to leave it alone, in case it’s something dangerous."

We haven't touched that thing all day, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

I grabbed the thing that looked like the handle of a bucket and tried to lift it.

Click.

My eyes lock with Lizzie's.

"This is why I told you not to touch it!!" She wails as the room spins.

~~

My eyes hurt, my head hurts, my whole body hurts.

There's noise here. What is it? I've never heard anything like it.

Music, but old-timey, like Medieval or some shit.

I open my eyes to see bright sunlight filtering through the trees.

Groaning, I sit up.

"Lizzie?"

"I'm here, but everything hurts."

"Yeah, me too, but you need to get up."

"I tried," she whines.

"Fine, I'll go look around."

What a pain in the ass.

"Hey, Liz, you need to see this."

The landscape was beautiful, too much so for even words to describe. The grass was greener than anything I'd ever seen, and the sun was brighter, the sky bluer, and a lot more.

"Whoa," Lizzie breathed. "This is better than any movie or anything we've seen in the city!"

There were galloping sounds in the distance, growing closer.

"We might need to hide, Liz," I tell her. "Since, you know, we are wearing jeans and shit."

"Good idea, I don't feel like dying today."

We hid in the trees until the knights passed our area.

"Knights?!"

"If you haven't caught on yet, we're in the Medival times. Honestly, with all your straight A's, I'd expect you knew this."

"Hey!"

"I’m not lying, am I?" I shrug.

"Quiet, listen," we heard a voice say. "The trees speak."

It sounded like a child, or maybe someone around their early teens.

"They are not speaking, you're lying!" another voice says, this time, like a young girl.

"Liz, we need to talk, but quietly," I whisper to her.

"You want to help this kid?" She thinks for a moment. "You always do shit like this."

I smile.

"Get that smug look off of your face!" She hisses.

"The trees were not speaking, Brother." The little girl's voice is now right under our tree. "It was those two, in the tree!"

The little girl was now pointing at us.

"Lizzie, time to scram!"

We jumped out of the tree and booked it to the metal device that got us here.

"Hey! Stop running!" The boy yelled at us.

"Brother! They're elves! Or Gods!" the girl says with wide eyes. "They are wearing fine clothing, and they are uninjured from the jump!"

"We aren't elves!" I yell back. "Or gods for that matter," I mutter afterward.

"Lizzie, we need this thing to work!"

She frantically tries pushing things, but it didn't work.

We turn to the two kids.

"Take us to the Baron, or the Duke, Earl, or whatever you have here."

"The Baroness, Lady Dawn, is currently not accepting visitors."

"Do what you need to to get us there!" I snap at the boy. He flinches. "Many apologies, I did not mean to shout."

"The guards will take you to her if you are caught committing a crime. You need to look more like the townspeople, however."

"Cloaks. You have them here right?"

"Alix, why are we doing this?"

"Lizzie, I have a hunch, so I'm following it. Just go with it."

“Whatever,” She sighs. “Just don’t get us killed please, and thank you.”

The two kids look terrified at our speech because we’re literally from two thousand years in the future.

“Brother, these two ladies are Goddesses, we will be punished if we do not respect their wishes.”

“They are Elves sister, not goddesses. They are cruel, dark ones, and they will punish us regardless.”

“These two are terrified of us,” I smirk. “Should we use this to our advantage?”

“Alix,” Lizzie says, with a warning tone. “We shouldn’t exploit them too much. Besides, They look like serfs.”

“Looks can be deceiving.”

The Baroness’ place was huge. Bigger than Buckingham Palace, and more beautiful than Versailles. There were armed guards all over the wall, and cavalry knights as soon as the gate was drawn. 

“Visitors to the Baroness!” shouted one of the guards, clearly a general. 

“Clear the way!” All the guards shouted in unison. 

“Alix, this might be my last time seeing you,” Lizzie told me when we walked into the palace of the Baroness. “You’ve been a great twin sister.”

“Lizzie, don’t say things like that! I might get emotional.”

Lizzie and I were fraternal twins, her with light hair, dark eyes, and the short gene. I, on the other hand, had dark hair, pale blue eyes, and I was 5’ 7’’, a little on the taller side. 

The Throne room was as grand as I’d imagined, with a beautiful woman sitting in the middle of the room on a gilded throne. 

“What brings you two here?” She asks with a voice of ice, cold and sharp. 

“Baroness, we come a long way and were stranded here. Would it be a bother to stay here a while?”

“Pray thee, what are the names of those asking?”

“Elizabeth of York,” Lizzie says coolly.

“Alexandra of Avon,” I say right after. 

“And you two, by chance, are not related?”

“Not at all, I have never met this one in my life,” I point to Lizzie. 

“Likewise.” Lizzie points out. 

“Maids!” The Baroness shouts to the air. 

Five girls around our age and one older woman materialize out of nowhere. “Yes, your majesty?”

“Get these two ready for dining with me. Make sure they are presentable, the Earl of Grey, and the Countess of Grey is dining over at my hall today.”

“Understood, Majesty.”

We were whisked off to the baths first because we were grimy from our arrival and the tree thing. 

“These look cool, don’t they Alix?”

The baths were like a large sauna, complete with barrels for washing, and faucets for drawing water for the barrels. The whole place was made of stone, and there were fireplaces underneath, for heating the floor.

“It looks vaguely Roman, you know?”

“Now that you mention it, it really does.”

“Lady Alexandra, this bath was drawn for you,” one of the younger girls says.

“Lady Elizabeth, this one is for you,” one of the other ones says. 

“Thank you, what is your name?” I ask my maid.

“My name is Mary, Lady Alexandra.”

“Thank you, Mary.”

Lizzie looks at her maid. “What is your name?”

“Myla, Lady Elizabeth.”

“Thank you, Myla.”

After the baths, we were taken to the dressing rooms, and I was dressed in a pretty green and gold dress, and Lizzie was put into a purple with silver dress. Next was our hair. Since we kept it long, the maids decided to braid it with lace matching our dresses and adorned us with jewelry. 

“Are we done yeeeett?” Liz whined. “I’m tired and hungry.”

“Probably almost done. Just wait it out.”

“There!” Mary says. “All done, Lady Alexandra.” She bows. 

Myla does the same. 

The older lady looks at Mary and Myla with approval. “You two have passed the examination. Good work.”

“Congrats you two.”

Both of them look at me, puzzled. “What does ‘congrats’ mean?”

“It’s a shorter word for congradulations!” Lizzie intervened. 

“Alright.”

Once we were presented to the Baroness, she looked at the maids with approval.

“Well done girls, they look presentable now. The Earl should be along any minute now. Follow me to the dining hall.”

“The hall is beautiful, Baroness.”

“Call me Lady Dawn, Alexandra.”

“Alright, Lady Dawn.”

A page walks into the hall as soon as we sit, and announces the arrival of the Earl and Countess. 

I didn’t see them at first, but the Baroness looked really stunned for a second. 

“My, my, Alexandra, you look just like the Earl.” She clucked. “And you, Elizabeth, have an uncanny resemblance to the Countess, along with your height.”

My head snaps in the direction of the two other guests. My eyes nearly fall out of my head. 

“DAD????!!!!”

Lizzie does the same, but she stays silent, looking at the Countess.

“Alix, good to see you!” The Earl says nervously. “How are you?”

“None of that, Dad. I thought you were dead.” I sigh. “After 15 years of living with you, you vanish, leaving me to go to Mom’s place. When I got there, I found Lizzie alone. Mom vanished too.”

“Honey,” the Countess says quietly. “We left the device for you, I see you’ve found it.”

“After six years!”

We were four months old when parents divorced. Fifteen, when we moved in together, when parents went missing. I got a job to pay for rent, and dropped out of school. We were now 21, and we didn’t know that our parents were alive after all. 

“Excuse us, Lady Dawn, but Elizabeth and I need to leave.”

“So you are sisters, Daughters of the Earl no less. Feel free to stay in my home as long as you need.” The Baroness says, clearly surprised. 

“Thank you, but we need ot leave this time for now,” Lizzie says quietly. “Your hospitality is really appreciated.”

We left to the woods where the device first took us, and found it in the same spot. 

“Time to leave this place.”

I did the same thing I had when we were thrown into this time, and it worked. 

Click. 

We were finally on our way to when we belong.

~~ 

“Lizzie, does that sound like a good end to the novel?”

“I don’t know, what do you think?”

“I think it is.”

“Then submit it to get published already!”

“Okay, okay.”