Unbroken in Time Read online

  Unbroken in Time

  The After Cilmeri Series, Volume 15

  Sarah Woodbury

  Published by The Morgan-Stanwood Publishing Group, 2020.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  UNBROKEN IN TIME

  First edition. March 28, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 Sarah Woodbury.

  ISBN: 978-1393692942

  Written by Sarah Woodbury.

  Table of Contents

  Dear Reader

  Cast of Characters

  Map of France

  Map of Paris

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  A novel from the After Cilmeri series

  Unbroken in Time

  by

  Sarah Woodbury

  Copyright © 2020 by Sarah Woodbury

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  In 1282, David and his sister Anna crashed through time to save the life of their father, the last Prince of Wales. Thirteen years later, David is a grown man—husband, father, and High King of Britain. He is also the Duke of Aquitaine, a fact which King Philippe of France appears to resent.

  So when Philippe summons David to Paris to bend the knee for the right to remain Aquitaine’s duke, David is the first to suspect treachery. And when he learns Philippe is taking advice from Guillaume de Nogaret, mastermind behind the annihilation of the Templars, the expulsion of the Jewish community from France, and the assassination of the pope, he’s sure of it.

  With not only Aquitaine on the line but all of Europe as well, David must call upon eight hundred years of history only he knows to ensure Avalon’s past doesn’t become Earth Two’s future ...

  Unbroken in Time will be followed by Outcasts in Time.

  Complete Series reading order: Daughter of Time, Footsteps in Time, Winds of Time, Prince of Time, Crossroads in Time, Children of Time, Exiles in Time, Castaways in Time, Ashes of Time, Warden of Time, Guardians of Time, Masters of Time, Outpost in Time, Shades of Time, Champions of Time, Refuge in Time, Unbroken in Time, Outcasts in Time. Also, This Small Corner of Time: The After Cilmeri Series Companion.

  www.sarahwoodbury.com

  For Carew & Beth

  To a lifetime of adventures together ...

  Dearest Reader:

  While many of you will have a better recollection of the events of the previous books than I do, some readers might be joining us only now or be struggling to recall some key events from the previous books. If that’s you, read on!

  The After Cilmeri series begins with Meg, a young, troubled modern American widow, who, at a moment of catastrophic danger, falls through time and into the life of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of Wales. A strong and charismatic leader, he saves her, and she in turn saves him, thanks to her knowledge of future events. Although powerful forces seek to divide them, by working together, Meg and Llywelyn navigate the dangerous and shifting alliances that constantly undermine his rule and threaten the very existence of Wales.

  But before they can create a future which avoids Llywelyn’s predetermined death at Cilmeri, Meg is ripped from his world and returned to her own—in time to give birth to their son, David.

  In Footsteps in Time, David and his older sister, Anna, as teenagers, return to the Middle Ages to save Llywelyn yet again. As Meg warned him they would, Norman lords have lured Llywelyn into the fateful ambush at Cilmeri in eastern Wales. Without warning, David and Anna are thrown into a world they do not understand, among a people whose language and customs are totally unfamiliar. Ultimately, David is recognized as Llywelyn’s true son, and he and Anna begin to make a life for themselves in the Middle Ages, culminating with David’s crowning as King of England (Children of Time).

  Over the course of the series, it becomes clear that the medieval world is actually an alternate universe at a different point in the timeline, and Meg, Anna, and David (and ultimately their children) time travel there when their lives are in danger. In the process, many new characters, both medieval and modern, are introduced. These include Math, Llywelyn’s nephew, who marries Anna (Footsteps in Time); Ieuan, David’s captain, who travels with him to the modern world, also known as The Land of Madoc or Avalon (Prince of Time); and Lili, Ieuan’s sister, who becomes David’s wife (Crossroads in Time).

  From the modern world comes Bronwen, an anthropology graduate student who marries Ieuan; Callum, an MI-5 agent suffering from PTSD, who attempts to prevent Meg and Llywelyn from returning to their world (Children of Time); Cassie, a Native American woman, who was plucked from the mountains of Oregon in the wake of Meg’s plane crash (Winds of Time) and must survive on her own in medieval Scotland (Exiles in Time); a busload of twenty-firsters, who make the mistake of traveling on the same bus as Meg and Anna and end up in their alternate universe (Ashes of Time); Meg’s family, including Christopher, David’s cousin (Masters of Time and Outpost in Time), and more twenty-firsters, who travel to the middle ages in Refuge in Time, which precedes this book. These characters are: George, Andre, and Sophie, who work for David’s new ally, Chad Treadman, and Michael and Livia.

  The combined efforts of Anna, David, and their family and friends are transforming the medieval world, but not everyone appreciates the burgeoning equality, universal education, and democracy, and throughout the books, the twenty-firsters face threats both from outside their inner circle and from within it.

  Continue the journey in Unbroken in Time ...

  Cast of Characters

  The English Court

  Those you know:

  David (Dafydd), Lili, Christopher, Elisa, Ted, Bronwen, Ieuan, Cassie, Callum, Livia, Michael, Rachel, Darren, Mark, Aaron, Samuel, William, Huw, Robbie, James, Thomas, Henri, Venny, Constance, Cador, Mathew, Peter, Bridget, Rupert, Rhys, and Matha

  Those you don’t:

  Hugh de Lusignan—Lord of Angoulême

  John Jr.—heir to the Duchy of Brittany

  Matthew Norris—Master of the Paris Temple

  The French Court

  Philippe—King of France

  Joana—Queen of France

  John Sr.—Duke of
Brittany, Earl of Richmond

  Guillaume de Nogaret—adviser to King Philippe

  Pierre de Mornay—adviser to King Philippe, Bishop of Orléans

  Pierre Flote—adviser to King Philippe

  Robert—Duke of Burgundy, Lord High Treasurer

  Map of France

  Map of Paris

  Chapter One

  Dover Castle

  June 1295

  Elisa

  Elisa dropped her notebook on the table in front of her with a bang. Sometimes overseeing so many intelligent and competent people wasn’t as easy as it should have been. More like herding cats. “Okay everyone. Settle down.” She looked around the room. “Who are we missing?”

  “George, of course.” Andre leaned back in his chair and spoke laconically. He had been the pilot of the plane that had brought Elisa’s family to Earth Two and would pilot it to Paris, along with much of the equipment they would need over the next two months. That David had decided to bring the plane at all indicated how important this mission had become to him.

  Elisa made a dismissive gesture. “Last we heard, George was still in Italy. I don’t expect to see him before this is over.” George was one of Chad Treadman’s employees who had also come in the plane.

  “Bronwen isn’t here,” Lili said. “Cadwaladr wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Dad,” Christopher added, “some last-minute issue with finance, which I pretended to understand but didn’t.”

  “Go ahead, Aunt Elisa,” David said from his position at the opposite end of the table. We’re ready.”

  She looked around her gathered friends and family, feeling a sharp stab of love for them, for their enthusiasm, and their willingness to put their lives on the line for something as crazy as what they were about to attempt.

  “Callum,” she said, “let’s hear about Aquitaine.”

  Callum straightened in his seat. “We have set the date for the vote for their parliament. It will be in mid-September.”

  “And our defenses at Angoulême and Château Niort?”

  “They’re in place.”

  “Target practice with cannons isn’t quite as much fun as it’s made out to be,” Cassie said dryly from beside him, “but they’re getting it.”

  “When the time comes, you’ll have my archers as well,” David said. “I won’t be needing them where I’m going.”

  Elisa put out a hand to him. Most of the time, she was able to ignore the fact that he was the King of England rather than just her nephew. “We’ll get to that.” She looked again at Cassie and Callum. “How’s our source within the court of Robert d’Artois?”

  “Safe and undetected, so far as we know,” Callum said. “She will get word to us when his army has gathered and he begins moving on Aquitaine.”

  “Excellent.” Elisa indicated it finally was David’s turn. “Are you ready for what you have to do?”

  “Are you asking if I’m ready to give up Aquitaine to King Philippe?” David laughed. “Of course not. But I will do it.”

  In 1295, France didn’t exist as a country the way people in Avalon knew it to be. The country of France itself had originally been a much smaller entity, with power centered on Paris, but consisting primarily of Chartres, Orléans, Champagne, and Burgundy. The French king’s only access to the English Channel had been at Calais. In the last hundred years, the French crown had conquered Normandy outright, giving the King of France control over most of northern France, with Brittany as a last semi-independent outlier in the northwestern part of the country. Throughout, until now, Aquitaine had remained in the hands of the English king, in this case, David.

  Over the last year, David had been laboring to add Aquitaine as a fifth state to his newly constituted Confederated States of Britain (CSB), which included Wales, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Each had their own government, but David himself was High King. Unfortunately, the King of France was looking upon the changes in his vassal state with uncertainty and fear.

  In the Earth Elisa knew, of all the medieval European kings, it had been Philippe, even more than Edward I (if that could be believed), who’d worked relentlessly to accrue and centralize as much power as possible within himself. On the way to total power, Philippe had temporarily wrested Aquitaine from English control, murdered a pope, exiled France’s Jewish community, and destroyed the Templars.

  If David and the rest of them had their way, none of that would be happening in Earth Two.

  Ieuan, who was sitting to David’s right, put up a hand. “I am still not convinced our families should be coming with us.”

  “Not you too,” Lili said, somewhat despairingly. “Queen Joana invited the boys and me personally. If she and Philippe are sincere about wanting us to visit, it could even be fun. Besides, I could hardly refuse such a heartfelt request so soon after the deaths of their daughters.”

  Tragically for Philippe and his wife, they’d lost both their daughters to illness earlier that year. They also had two sons similar in age to David and Lili’s Arthur and Alexander. It was a strange coincidence that not only had David and Philippe been born a few months apart, but their sons had been as well.

  “Well, you could have,” Ieuan said. “You are yourself the Queen of England.”

  “All the more reason to accept. Like you, I must do what I think is right. We need to make Philippe believe.”

  This was an old argument, and every time the issue had come up, they’d come to the same conclusion—which was to move forward as they’d planned.

  “Even if Philippe’s honor has fallen so far that he would harm our children, we have safety nets set up for every eventuality we could think of. Even if this—” she made a gesture with her hand, “—Murtaugh’s Law of yours does apply.”

  “Murphy’s Law, my love. Murphy’s Law.” David covered his wife’s hand with his own. “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. We must assume it.” Then he clapped his other hand on Ieuan’s shoulder and shook him a little. “Your sister’s right, as usual. We have reached out to Philippe through every channel we have—front, back, sideways, and underground. He would not concede a single yard to us, much less meet us halfway. If we are to avoid war with France, this is the way.”

  “You are still too much of an idealist.” Ieuan’s words were critical but without rancor.

  David looked around the room before saying softly, not to anyone in particular, “If I am not, who will be?”

  Lili was less patient with her brother. “This way we are risking only the few of us, not an entire army. With two hundred thousand people in Paris, and untold numbers of soldiers, we were never going to outnumber the French anyway, no matter how many people we brought. Smart is better than numerous.”

  “I like smart and numerous,” Ieuan mumbled under his breath, but not really arguing anymore. He had been as instrumental in designing this plan as anyone else and had volunteered for it, just like the rest.

  The one wild card in all this was what would happen if Philippe decided to execute David on the spot. Elisa herself had brought it up. Given the number of attempts on his life that had been made over the years, how could she not?

  The answer was always the same: time travel.

  Or rather, world shifting to Avalon.

  But even Elisa had to admit that wasn’t as cool a way to say it.

  None of them could control when it happened, but it had happened pretty reliably when David’s life was in danger. Philippe could have David beheaded in the middle of his audience chamber, and it might be interesting to see if he vanished before everyone’s eyes as the blade swung down. But there was a reason a king didn’t kill another king or execute an opposing power’s ministers: if he did, nobody would ever trust him again, and he could expect his own people to be killed in retribution.

  Back when David was sixteen, King Edward had taken him for an upstart bastard, not really a prince, and had tried to kill him within full view of his nobles. Edward had done so out of frustration at David’s father’
s newfound independence and power—and it wasn’t as if Llywelyn was ever going to trust Edward anyway.

  David had made it this far without dying, however, and the entire point of making himself vulnerable to Philippe was to distract from the fact that all of their other friends and companions were elsewhere, saving the world.

  “Okay.” Elisa clasped her hands in front of her and looked at Rachel. “That brings us to you.”

  “About that,” Rachel said, “some of us have been talking.”

  Abraham blinked. “Without me?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t like it.” Rachel reached for her father’s hand, but her eyes went all around the table as David’s had a moment ago. “It isn’t enough to get most of our people out of Paris. We have to free all of them, including those in prison.”

  David leaned forward. “I’m listening.”

  Because King Edward had died and David had taken the throne, the Jewish community of Britain hadn’t been evicted from England in 1290. But persecution had continued in France, its provinces, and throughout Europe. Six months earlier, Philippe had seized the possessions of all Jews in Paris and held them for ransom, giving their owners eight days to buy them back before he sold them to someone else, with the proceeds benefiting the crown. More recently, leading members of the community had been disappearing from their homes and places of work to be incarcerated in a prison on the right bank, never to be heard from again. Since the crimes were invented, they couldn’t be defended against—even if the king would allow it.

  This was hardly the first pogrom against Jews. They’d been expelled from Paris in the twelfth century and again the year Philippe and David were born, though that second time the decree had been only partially enforced. Jewish possessions and property had been seized numerous times over the years as well, though accommodation had always been made in the end, and the community returned to Paris. It appeared now, however, that things were actually worse in Europe, almost as if the kings and rulers on the Continent were trying to make up for the aberration that was David.