A Birthday Gone Wrong Part 4
From Time to Time
By Dave Church
Blackness was all that Crono knew as he regained consciousness.
Then, he felt a dull, throbbing pain in his head. His first instinct was to grab his head. Unfortunately, he swung it too hard, and smacked himself in the head. He groaned.
He then heard a high pitched feminine giggle, and recognized who it was.
"Nice to see you're enjoying my misery," Crono said, opening his eyes. He slowly sat up as a swirl of colour dissolved into images. He recognized Marle, the King, and a few of his Majesty's guests from the previous night. They were like him, just getting up, or awake already. What the heck happened? He thought, scrolling through the previous days' escapades. The king was going to announce something, forgot what it was, and…
Crono turned to look at Marle, and stood up straight. "What happened?"
Marle shrugged. "Whatever it was, it happened to everyone. A lot of people have headaches, or are dizzy now."
Crono nodded, feeling quite a headache of his own. He thought he remembered something about what caused it, but he couldn't place it. Of course! The punch!
Crono was deep in thought as Arlan, the knight captain, came up beside him. He looked worried. "The Queen is missing! And so is Glenn!"
Crono forgot what he was thinking and whirled to face the distressed knight. "You sure? They aren't anywhere?"
Arlan shook his head. "I'm organizing a search party. If word of this gets out…" he walked away, deep in thought about how to search for the queen.
Crono turned back to Marle as he thought of something else. "Where are Magus and Robo?"
Marle responded, "I sent them to check the area for Glenn and Queen Leene. They've been up for about an hour."
Then Robo and Magus came in the entrance and came up beside Crono and Marle.
Magus looked around to see if anyone was listening, and then said, "Epoch is missing."
Crono's eyes widened. "This is bad," he said, which was an understatement.
Robo beeped. "No trace of it anywhere. But…"
Marle turned toward him. "But what?"
No expression was readable on Robo's face (or what passed for his face) as he replied, "I analyzed the area where we left Epoch. Some trees were knocked down, and there seems to be some tracks of some sort on the ground."
Magus made the point for him. "Which means whoever took it decided to travel through time, because you need room to do that."
"Must have been a pretty sloppy start, too," Marle said, "If that person left tracks on the ground."
"As if they were intoxicated," Crono said, making his point. He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I think there was something in the punch."
Magus shook his head. "The king has people test everything. They would have caught it."
"Unless they were in on it," Marle replied.
Magus looked at her. "Perhaps it was added after the party began," he said, looking for possible ideas.
Crono rubbed his head. "Am I the only one here with a headache?" he asked.
Robo bleeped. "It depends on how much you ingested. Other guests have some symptoms, but none as bad as you appear to have."
Crono closed his eyes. "I had 4 glasses of that stuff," he declared, still rubbing his head to try and ease the pain. It didn't work. "How's everyone else?"
Marle shrugged. "I'm a little dizzy, but ok."
Magus whipped out his scythe, and swung it around as well as he ever had. He then sheathed it, and declared, "I am feeling no ill effects."
Robo bleeped. "I am functioning normally."
Crono nodded. "Of course you would."
Magus, seemingly impatient with the process, said, "Nothing is being done here. Let us check the site where we parked Epoch."
He led the way out of the castle…
.
Glenn wasn't sure where he was, as he became conscious. He felt a plush seat underneath him, and realized that he somehow got into Epoch. He looked to his right, and saw the slumped figure of Queen Leene. Suddenly memories of the previous night's episode came back to him.
He looked at the controls on Epoch and tried to warp to 600 AD. He heard it charging up, but then suddenly, it stopped. He tried again, with no luck. "'Tis in need of repair," he said.
He then jumped out of Epoch, and surveyed the surroundings. He was in a forest, and he could hear birds chirping and sunlight coming down on him. He could also feel snow under his feet.
We're in 12000 BC....
Glenn then heard a small cry of pain from what had to be Queen Leene. He jumped back into the vehicle, and noticed a snake had bitten her. He then proceeded to chop the snake's head off with his broadsword. He cursed himself for not noticing the snake.
"Sorry, your Majesty," he said, noticing the bite wound. It had swollen already. "Can thou walk?"
Leene stumbled, but managed to get a decent footing, and limped around. "Yes, I believe so," she replied.
Glenn noticed a clearing nearby, and started toward it as Leene followed…
.
End of Part 4
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