Lost in Time

By J.D. Rogers

What happens when people believe you've become too powerful? Lila Marie Haran won the thirteenth round of the Princess Wars and now rules as Queen of Adah. But some people think she's become too powerful and decide to do something about it. They send a time walker to Lila's palace. The time walker tricks Lila into traveling back in time with her, thirty-three years into the past. Then the time walker abandons Lila, on the day her grandmother died, on the day her mother began her own version of the Princess Wars. Lila has to find a way back to her own time without changing history, but as she quickly learns, some things are easier said than done.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.D. Rogers
• Release date: Jan 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370354092

J.D. Rogers

J.D. was born and raised in Montana. He studied history at Montana State University, before attending Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. He returned to Montana where he set up his own practice. He started writing fiction to improve his writing skills as a lawyer, discovered he enjoyed it, and has never stopped writing. J.D. still makes his home in Montana.

Book preview

Chapter 1

It was the middle of the night. A pounding on my bedroom door woke me. I sat up and pushed my hair out of my eyes. Enter.

Vomeir Nardis, co-commander of the queen's guard stepped into the room. There's a woman here. She insists on seeing you. She claims it's a matter of life or death.

Whose life are we talking about?

Yours, Your Majesty.

If my life was in danger, I would've had a vision warning me. After all, I am a seer. I fluffed my pillow, rolled onto my stomach, and laid back down. Send her away.

Most of my guards would've bowed and left, but Vomeir wasn't just another guard. He was the first soldier to support me for queen. He had been with me from the night my mother died, when I was the youngest of the queen's four daughters, the one known as Lila the Insignificant, the one least likely to win the Princess Wars.

I really think you should see her.

I didn't bother to sit up, or raise my head. Maybe if I ignored him long enough, he would take the hint and leave. Why?

She claims to be your aunt.

You know as well as I do, I don't have any aunts. My mother's sisters died before she took the throne.

What if I told you that she looks just like you?

That opened my eyes. It must be my Aunt Sester.

Sester was the youngest of my father's nine sisters. The only one left alive. She lived in Sorea, one of two countries that lay on the eastern border of my homeland of Adah. My father had been the King of Sorea. He died trying to kill me, but that's another story. I refused his crown, partly because it had a curse on it, partly because I knew very little about his homeland, mostly because I was already the ruler of four countries. I didn't need a fifth.

I knew very little about my Aunt Sester. I had been told that she looked just like me, but had never actually met her. If she left her homeland, something Soreans rarely did, then it must've been for a good reason.

I rolled over and sat up, tossing the blankets off me in the process. My red silk sleep shift, which was just long enough to cover my bottom, had rode up to my waist, revealing the red silk briefs I wore beneath it.

Vomeir didn't bother to avert his gaze, like most of my guards would have. He just stepped back, so he wouldn't be in my way. Not that I cared. When you're queen, you get used to people staring at you.

I vaulted out of bed and strode into the adjoining dressing room, tugging my shift down as I went. I grabbed an ankle length red silk dressing gown out of one of my wardrobes and donned it, along with matching silk slippers. I moved to my dressing table, sat, and brushed my hair. Does my Aunt Sester bare a strong resemblance to me or just a faint one?

You could be twins, but for the fact that she looks closer to fifty than twenty-three.

Did she ask to speak to the queen or to her niece?

What difference does it make?

If she asked to speak to the queen, I'll meet her in the throne room. If she asked to speak to her niece, I'll meet her here, in my suite.

She asked to speak to her niece, the queen.

Sounds like you should bring her up here.

Five minutes later, Vomeir escorted Sester into my sitting room. To say she looked just like me, was an understatement. Looking at Sester was like looking into a mirror, albeit one that aged you thirty years. Even then, she carried the years well. If I looked that good in thirty years, I would have nothing to complain about. She had the same long black hair, the same emerald green eyes, the same angular face as myself. Like me, she was short and slim with pale skin. I was a bit taller, not to mention bigger in the chest, which meant I inherited that part of my anatomy from my mother.

Sester Barr, Vomeir said. May I present Her Royal Majesty, Lila Marie Haran, Queen of Adah, Queen of Vassa, Queen of Dunre, and First Consummate of Landish.

Sester curtsied. It's an honor, Your Majesty. I just wish we could've met under more pleasant circumstances.

You look just like me, I said.

Sester smiled. You think I look just like you, you should see my daughter, Calista. She could be your double.

I motioned for Sester to sit. She did, taking the divan that faced the one I was already sitting on. I'm told you think someone wants to kill me.

Not kill you, Your Majesty. More like erase you from existence.

Explain.

There are people in Sorea that believe you are a greater threat to their existence than your late sister. Not surprisingly, they've decided to do something about it.

My oldest sister, Bedonna, tried to invade Sorea. She would have succeeded if I hadn't stopped her in a duel to the death. Why people considered me to be a bigger threat than Bedonna, I'm not sure, perhaps because of my powers, perhaps because their last king, my father, was an evil man.

They've developed a plan to erase me from existence?

Yes.

How would they do that?

Through the use of a time walker.

A time walker? I had never heard of such a thing. What exactly is a time walker?

Time walkers are born with the ability to move forward or backward through time.

I looked at Vomeir, who was standing guard beside my divan. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Vomeir shook his head. Never.

That's because time walkers don't exist outside of Sorea. For as long as we can remember, certain people in our country have been born with certain powers. That's why we've remained a closed society.

You've feared what could happen if you bred with the rest of the world and passed those powers onto them.

Sester nodded. Yes.

So, people in Sorea believe I'm dangerous because I possess powers that I shouldn't possess.

Some people believe that.

Vomeir looked at Sester. The fact that she saved your country from an invasion makes no difference to them?

Sester shook her head. No.

How can a time walker erase me from existence?

She plans on traveling back in time, to the day your grandmother died. If she can prevent your mother from assuming the throne, you will not be born.

Wouldn't it be easier to just chase my father out of Adah before he can sleep with my mother?

They considered that option, but decided it wasn't their best course of action.

Why? Vomeir asked.

Because it wouldn't get rid of Bedonna, I said. She would still be born and would still want to invade them.

Sester nodded. They decided the best thing for them, and Sorea, would be to prevent your mother from assuming the throne of Adah. That way they would eliminate both you and Bedonna.

Who is they? I asked.

The National Council of Elders. Specifically, the head of the council, Emperia Leon.

The people of Sorea created the National Council of Elders after my father, their king, was driven from power. The Council spent the last twenty years running Sorea. Despite the fact I rejected my father's crown, despite the fact I stopped Bedonna and her twenty thousand man army from invading them, they still wanted to get rid of me.

I looked at my aunt. Why are you telling me this. It's not like I can travel through time and stop this time walker from killing my mother.

Sester smiled. Fortunately, I can.

You're a time walker?

I am.

I thought our family was all seers?

Our clan has produced many powerful seers, but some of us, myself included, have been blessed with other gifts. In Sorea, we are known as the gifted clan.

Vomeir turned to Sester. You're telling us that you can travel back in time and kill this other time walker before she can kill Lila's mother?

I'd rather not kill her.

Because?

Because she's my daughter.

My cousin is going to travel back in time and stop my mother from assuming the throne of Adah?

She's in your country right now, researching your mother's rise to power. When she's learned enough, she'll travel back in time and help one of your late aunts kill your mother, so your aunt can take your mother's place on the throne.

There's no guarantee Sorea would be better off with one of her aunts on the throne, Vomeir said.

True, Sester said. But Emperia's primary interest is in stopping my brother from producing offspring that have his powers. She believes the best way to do that is by preventing Lila's mother from taking the throne.

I leaned forward and focused on Sester. What exactly is your plan?

Aside from how to speak the language, I know very little about your country. As such, I thought it would be best if I travel back in time with someone that knows the intimate details of how your mother came to power.

I pointed to myself. Me?

Can you think of anyone that knows more about your mother's rise to power than you?

My big sister, Iderra, but she was on the other side of the continent. Not anyone that's nearby.

Can you transport someone through time? Vomeir asked Sester.

I can.

What if I travel back in time with you and something happens to you. Would I be stranded there? Not that I considered that to be a bad thing. I never wanted to be queen. The idea of living in a time when no one knew who I was, a time when I could go where I wanted, do what I wanted, be who I wanted, had a certain appeal to it.

If something happened to me, you would go back to your own time.

Why?

The power keeping you in that time would die with me.

Vomeir looked at me. I'm not sure we can trust her.

If I wanted to get rid of Lila, I could've done nothing. I could've stayed in Sorea and let my daughter do what she intends. Instead, I came here to warn her, under the threat of banishment.

I straightened up. They banished you from your homeland?

When I protested what they were planning, they tried to imprison me, to prevent me from warning you. Sester smiled. Of course, they failed. It's virtually impossible to imprison a time walker. That's when they told me that if I came here to warn you, I need not bother to return home. That I could consider myself banished for life.

Part of me wanted to trust Sester, believe everything she said. Probably because she looked so much like me. Another part was wary of her, probably because she looked so much like my father, who had gone to great lengths to try and kill me.

If she was telling the truth, then I had to do something, otherwise I might cease to exist. Whatever that meant. Here one second, gone the next, I guess. If she was lying and had come here to get rid of me, then I had to find out. I needed to talk to someone inside Sorea, find out if Sester was telling the truth. I only knew three people inside Sorea, but that should be enough.

I stood and turned to Vomeir. Take my aunt to one of the guest suites and make her comfortable. It's late and she must be tired.

Sester stood. You will give my proposal serious consideration?

Let me make sure I've got this straight. You want to take me back in time, to the day my grandmother died, to try and stop your daughter from killing my mother.

Exactly.

Why?

Sester wrinkled her brow. Why what?

Why do you want to help me? I know we're related, but until now, we had never met. And I am kind of responsible for your brother's, my father's, death.

My brother died the day he allowed his lust for power to corrupt him. And you did save my country from invasion. Sester paused for a second. And I want to stop my daughter from doing something she might come to regret. She's young and doesn't understand the responsibilities her powers carry. Just because we possess the ability to change the past doesn't mean that we should do it. Unforeseen consequences can occur.

Sester curtsied. Vomeir opened the door and they headed out of my suite. Left alone, I closed my eyes. I pictured one of the three people I knew inside Sorea. My cousin, Ganno Barr. He looked a lot like Sester, a lot like myself, short with black hair and green eyes. A second later, I saw him, in bed, sleeping. I pictured myself looking as I looked now, my hair down, dressed in a red silk dressing gown. When I did that my point of view shifted, from that of someone floating above Ganno's bed to someone standing beside his bed.

Ganno wake up. I said the words inside my head then imagined them coming out of my image's mouth.

I must've scared Ganno because he bolted to a sitting position. He was shirtless, which wasn't surprising. Men didn't wear shirts in Sorea, just knee length wraparound skirts and matching hats that looked like upside down volcanoes. He slept alone, which wasn't surprising. Men and women didn't marry in Sorea. Sorea was a clan based society and people didn't jump from clan to clan. When a woman became pregnant, the child became a member of her clan. If a non-Sorean woman became pregnant, the child, like me, became a member of the father's clan. As far as I knew, I was the only non-Sorean to have a Sorean father.

Ganno rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and squinted at my image. Sester?

Look closer, I said.

He studied me harder. Lila?

I have some questions.

Ganno pulled himself to the edge of his bed and used a flint to light the teapot shaped oil lamp on the bedside table. He wore a purple silk wraparound that stopped just short of his knees. His short black hair was tousled. I take it you've talked to Sester.

She claims that she can take me back in time, to the day my grandmother died.

Ganno nodded. She's a time walker. She has that ability.

She claims a woman named Emperia Leon has talked her daughter into traveling back in time, to try and prevent my mother from assuming the throne of Adah.

Emperia tried to get Sester to do it, but Sester refused.

Do you know why she refused?

Sester is reluctant to use her powers.

Why?

When Sester was a teenager, she had a fight with one of her sisters. She got so mad, she used her powers to go back in time and eliminate that sister from existence. Or so she claims. Since no one remembers that sister ever having existed, there's no way to know if the story is true or not. All we know is Sester has been reluctant to use her powers since midway through her seventeenth year.

Why would Sester's daughter want to eliminate me?

Ganno sighed. Calista is young and foolish. She's too quick to believe what she's told and too eager to please those in positions of power.

Why does Emperia want to get rid of me? I've never threatened her. By refusing my father's crown, I think I made it obvious that I have little interest in Sorea.

Emperia spent the last twenty years worrying about your father reclaiming his throne and wresting power from her. Now that your father is dead, she seems to have transferred her obsession to you.

Can I trust Sester?

Ganno nodded. You can trust her.

I thanked Ganno for his time and let my image fade. It looked like I was about to take a trip back in time, to the day my grandmother died, to the day my mother first took part in the Princess Wars.

Chapter 2

I wasn't sure how to dress for time travel, so I wore something utilitarian, black leather riding boots, black leather knee breeches, a long sleeved red silk shirt that laced down the front, and a black wool cloak with a hood. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, tying it with a silk cord that had carved bone handles on each end. The device could be wrapped around someone's neck, in case you needed to choke the life out of them. I used it once, to kill a powder witch.

I strapped a cutlass around my waist, the same cutlass I used when I fought my sister Bedonna for our mother's throne. It contained a solid gold blade guard and a silver scabbard. I attached a money pouch with gold sovereigns to my cutlass belt. The sovereigns contained the image of Morchesa, the first Queen of Adah, which meant they could be used in any time period without drawing attention to them.

Sester wore an identical outfit, except that her shirt was black, and she didn't carry a sword. She brought no money with her when she came from Sorea, so I gave her a pouch full of gold coins. When you're the queen of four different countries, you can do things like that because you tend to have a lot of assets, including gold mines.

All set? Sester asked.

We were in the drawing room of my suite, in the Winter Palace. The Winter Palace was in the city of Nadal. A port city on Adah's southern coast. Three people were with us. My two most trusted guards, Vomeir, a native Adan, and Bokham, a native Vassan, and Patera LaCere. Patera had been one of my mother's favorite consorts and commander of her personal guard. He had been with her from the day her mother died to the day she died. He had spent the last three years with me.

We'll have to leave the palace before you transport us back in time, I said. Otherwise the palace guard will arrest us for trespassing.

We were going back to a time before I was born, a time when my mother was one of six princesses battling for the right to sit on her mother's throne. I would be a nobody, with no right to be in the royal palace.

How long will you be gone? Vomeir asked, as we headed out of the palace.

I looked at Sester, who just shrugged her shoulders.

We'll be back when we're back, I said. Until then, Patera is in charge.

I appointed Patera my regent, with the authority to act in my place during the periods I was absent. He was well known and highly respected, having served in the Adan Army, the palace guard, and the queen's guard. As one of my mother's favorite consorts, he had advised her on all sorts of matters for over thirty years.

On the far side of the continent, across the Desert of Shifting Sands, the other three countries I ruled were in good hands. In tiny Vassa, my brilliant if quirky sister, Iderra, was serving as regent. In the larger and richer country of Dunre, my sister Salisha served as regent. Adan tradition dictated that you ascended to the throne by killing your sisters, but my mother's final words to me were, Save your sisters.

I had saved two out of three, which was the best I could do. Only a handful of people here in Adah even knew they were alive, and those people weren't talking. Most believed the one sister I couldn't save, Bedonna, had killed them.

The fourth country I ruled, Landish, had no use for women that weren't in the kitchen or on their backs. Jarvo, a counselor to the country's two previous leaders, kept a handle on things there.

How will we know if you're having any success? Bokham asked, as we left the palace.

He spoke Adan with an accent. Mostly because it wasn't his native tongue. He came from the other side of the continent, where they spoke the Common Tongue.

Patera's memories will change, Sester said. If we meet Lila's mother, he should acquire memories of us being there.

Patera looked at Sester. Will I know who you are?

Young you won't know us, the current you might realize who the two women in your distant memories were.

We could get lucky, I said. And intercept Calista before she can change anything. If that's the case, then Patera won't acquire any memories of us.

Let's hope things go that well, Vomeir said.

The city of Nadal was located on the Bay of Nadal, on Adah's southern coast. It was warm in the winter and hot in the summer. Palm trees dotted a city constructed out of white granite. The city surrounded a thumb shaped bay with the Winter Palace sitting on the highest hill overlooking the bay.

A couple dozen ships filled the bay, mostly Adan and Gibean triremes. A couple of caravels from the far side of the continent sat in the middle of the bay. Both flew the flag of Dunre, a purple sun setting on a gold field.

The Winter Palace consisted of two stories constructed out of white granite. It was T-shaped and contained windows on the second floor, but not on the first. A white granite road lined with palm trees zigzagged its way down the hillside to the town square.

A one hundred foot statue of Morchesa, the first Queen of Adah, dominated the middle of the white granite square. A ten step dais raised the statue another ten feet. The buildings surrounding the square were all constructed of white granite, all of them rising three to four stories.

It was early morning when we reached the town square. The sun was threatening to peek over the eastern horizon, but had yet to appear, which meant the square was still empty. The late night revelers were already sleeping and the early risers were just beginning to wake.

Sester stopped at the steps that formed the base of the statue. This is as good a place as any.

She offered me her hand and I took it. The next thing I knew, lightening began to crackle around us. Vomeir, Patera, and Bokham must have noticed it too, because they all backed up. Instead of originating in the sky, the lightening seemed to be originating from inside of us. As the frequency and intensity of the lightening increased, Vomeir, Patera, and Bokham began to fade, until they weren't there. Other people appeared and disappeared as we moved some thirty-three years into the past.

Eventually, the lightening stopped. The square looked pretty much the same, but the sky was overcast and a light drizzle was falling.

We have arrived. Sester released my hand and stepped back.

A stocky middle aged man wearing a brown leather apron and a broad brimmed wizard's hat passed us pushing a two wheeled cart. The cart was empty and he was heading for the docks to pick up a load of who knows what.

What day is it? I asked him.

The seventeenth day of the eighth month of the thirty-first year of the reign of Corrine Tayla Haran. The man stopped pushing his cart and looked us up and down. You're not from around here.

We're merchants from Gibney, I said. We just arrived in town.

You picked a bad time to come to Adah.

Why's that?

The queen is dying, which means the Princess Wars are about to begin.

I wasn't sure how to respond, so I feigned ignorance. Princess Wars?

When the Queen of Adah dies, her daughters fight each other for the right to sit on their mother's throne. In these parts, they're known as the Princess Wars. Lot of people bet on who they think is going to win. My money's on Anata.

The man grabbed his cart's handles and continued his journey toward the docks.

Who's Anata? Sester asked me.

My grandmother had six daughters. Anata was the oldest.

And your mother?

She was fourth out of six.

How did she win the throne?

Anata, and Mendica, the second oldest, killed their other three sisters within days of my grandmother dying. A week later, Anata and Mendica squared off in a duel to the death. Anata was killed in the duel, Mendica was wounded, but not seriously. The people that didn't like Mendica, which was just about everybody, rallied around my mother, who had been named heir hopeful by her mother.

What's the advantage of being named the heir hopeful?

You get the Ruby Crown, which tells everyone that the previous queen thought you were best fit to take her place, and you get the support of the queen's guard.

That's it?

That's it.

Did your mother kill Mendica?

She didn't have to. When Mendica realized that she had lost the support of everyone that mattered, she took her own life by drinking poison.

Is everyone in Adah as well acquainted with the details of the Princess Wars as you?

Probably not. Adan princesses study the previous wars hoping to learn from the mistakes of their aunts and great-aunts.

What did your mother do the day your grandmother died?

Her original plan was to head for Gibney, where she hoped to live the quiet life of a shop girl.

Did she make it?

I shook my head. The queen's guard caught up with her just outside the city of Pipho. They gave her the Ruby Crown and informed her that her mother had named her the heir hopeful. They also informed her that Anata and Mendica had killed her other three sisters and were preparing to square off in a duel to the death.

So what happened?

Mother set up camp outside of Pipho and waited to hear what happened in the duel between Anata and Mendica. When she learned Anata had been killed in the duel, she returned to Nadal.

Why?

Anata had the support of the palace guard. With her dead, the guards loyalties were up for grabs. Mother knew that many in the palace guard didn't like Mendica and believed that she could win the support of the palace guard. Turned out that she was right. Once she returned wearing the Ruby Crown, the palace guard, as well as many of my grandmother's advisers, pledged their loyalty to my mother. When Mendica learned this, she drank the poison that took her life.

I noticed that Sester was backing away from me. I'm sorry about this, I had no choice.

I had no idea what was going on and said as much. What are you talking about?

Emperia threatened to jail every member of our clan if we didn't cooperate. If Ganno and I didn't cooperate.

Sester raised her hands above her head. Lightening began to flash around her, forcing me to back away. Then she began to fade, going from solid, to transparent, to gone.

Just like that, I had been abandoned, thirty-three years in the past. I wondered why I didn't have a vision warning me that this was going to happen, but I already knew why. My visions only occurred when someone wanted to hurt or kill me. Sester never wanted to hurt or kill me, she just wanted to move me through time, to a time when I would be a nobody.

The story about Calista traveling back in time to kill my mother had been a lie. For all I knew, Calista didn't even possess her mother's ability to move through time. If there even was a Calista.

Emperia Leon, or whoever was behind this, knew that she couldn't send someone to assassinate me. As a seer, I would have had a vision warning me about them. Instead, she came up with the idea of moving me through time, to a period in time where I would be a nobody.

I don't know if Emperia came up with the story of Calista traveling through time to kill my mother, or if Sester invented that one herself. Not that it mattered. I was foolish enough to fall for it, which was all that mattered.

The question was--what did I do now? I was no longer Queen of Adah, Vassa, Dunre, or Landish. I wasn't even a member of the royal family. As far as I knew, I still had my powers. Visions warning me when someone wanted to hurt or kill me. The ability to see and communicate with anybody I knew, no matter where they were in the world. The ability to move small objects with my mind.

Just to be sure, I decided to test my powers. I noticed a small shoe lying in the middle of the town square, a brown leather sandal made for a child. I imagined myself holding the sandal. A second later, I felt the sandal in my hand. A second after that the sandal flew threw the air and into my outstretched hand. I dropped the sandal, breathed a sigh of relief, and said a prayer of thanks to the One God, grateful that I still had my powers.

Since I was no longer queen, no longer a member of the royal family, I could go anywhere, do anything, except interfere with the current Princess Wars. I would have to stay away from my mother and her sisters, less I change their futures, and quite possibly my own. Maybe even erase myself from existence.

Having the freedom to go anywhere and do anything had a certain appeal to it. Part of me wanted to stay here, in this time, live my life in peace and quiet, bothering no one, being bothered by no one. Another part of me knew that people depended upon me in my own time. Like it or not, I had to get back to my own time.

The problem was, I only knew one time walker, my Aunt Sester, who was gone. Or was she? Old Sester was gone, but young Sester was still here. She would be about sixteen years old, living somewhere in Sorea. If I could get to young Sester, I might be able to convince her to help me, convince her to use her powers to return me to my own time.

Reaching her would be hard. Sorea was a closed country, a closed society. They allowed no one into their country. Their citizens rarely left their country. People that tried to enter their country were intercepted by seers and tossed into dungeons.

I did have a couple of things going for me. I was the daughter of their current king, Corbett Barr III. I looked just like him, which meant I might be able to convince the guards at the border that I was a member of their clan. The problem was, I couldn't speak their language. Every time I talked to a Sorean, we had conversed in my native tongue. I had to find someone that could speak Sorean and have them teach it to me. Only then I could cross the border. Only then could I convince them I was a member of their king's clan.

Problem was, nobody in Adah spoke Sorean.