Guess Who! Part 1

Who is the Visitor?

           

            It was a drizzily March day for the city of Exmoor in the country of Zuriel. The Giant Tea House, a vintage style café with a touch of medieval rock and mortar structure,   had a steady stream of customers. Everyone seemed to want to get in out of the rain.

            Prince Marko Renata and his bodyguard George Valentine, sat in the corner both, enjoying some cherry flavoured tea with honey and heavy cream, and crispy turnovers covered in icing, on the side

            “I can’t believe all the rain,” Prince Marko muttered. The young prince in his early 20es, hated how people stuck with politically correct conversation when around him, which consisted mostly of the weather, and so he normally avoided the topic like one would avoid the mud, but on this particular day the constant dripping from outside had taken it’s toll on him.

            “Yes, it’s a bit wet out there, wouldn’t you say?”

Sir Valentine gave a slight amusing smile.

            “Everything’s soaked! I mean I went out to check on the horses this morning and the ground is simply saturated!”

            “I haven’t seen rain like this in over 15 years,” Valentine reminisced, covering his mouth with his hand to hide the smile.

            “Why are we talking about the weather? You know I hate it,” Prince Marko finally came to himself.

            “Pardon me, your highness, I couldn’t help myself,” laughter spilled out of Valentine’s lips.

            Marko realized his error and laughed, shaking his head. His expression turned to one of curiosity as he watched a young man, about his own age, standing out in the street. Most young men in this area of the country, dressed in jeans, T-shirts and windbreakers, and walked with a swagger of `coolness’; but this young man stood erect and tall, wore a fedora hat, trench coat and bowtie.  He shook out his umbrella as he entered the tea house and seated himself in the booth next to the prince and his body guard.

            Presently the waitress came over to take the stranger's order. “How may I help you today sir?”

            “Green tea, with a spoonful of honey, and I’d like a foot long bologna sub sandwich, if I may.”

            “Excellent. Will that be everything?”

            “Quite, thank you.”

            The stranger nodded with a politeness rarely seen in young men, and then proceeded to make himself more comfortable by removing his trench coat and gloves. His hat, however, he did not remove. He was dressed in a three piece suit and checked a silver pocket watch for the time. He seemed so out of place. Young, but not dressed as a normal young man would dress, and his air was that of another time in history entirely.

            “Something bothering you, your highness?”

Valentine’s gaze turned to the stranger in the next booth.

            Prince Marco caught himself and shook his head. “No, no, not at all. Everything is fine. Just curious, you know.”

            “Yes, I can see why.”

            “He talks with an accent, you know, like American or Canadian or something of that sort, and yet does it seem to you he could be… royalty or nobility of some such?”

            The Prince tapped his chin with his index finger, and tried not to stare at the stranger.

            “Yes there is something odd about that fellow,” Valentine agreed. “I can’t quite make it out myself.”

            “I’d like to meet him,” Prince Marco declared.

            “Very well,” Valentine nodded.

            The body guard rose and approached the stranger. “Excuse me, sir.”

            The stranger looked up in a slow manner and nodded. “Yes?”

            “I am Sir George Valentine, body guard to his royal highness, Prince Marco Renata.”

            With a sweep of the hand, the body guard bowed and motioned to the prince, who sat with head held high and acknowledged the stranger with only the slightest smile.

            “A pleasure,” the stranger nodded.

            “His highness wishes for you to join us at our table.”

            Though spoken as an invitation, it wasn’t meant as an option and the stranger sensing this was a command, stood, gathered his things, and moved to their table.

            “Please, sit here,” Prince Marco waved to the extra chair.

            The stranger sat down in a stiff sort of way and folded his hands neatly on his lap. There was a hint of a smile on his lips. “I didn’t expect anything like this.”

            “The prince is curious and would like to make your acquaintance.”

            “What would you like to know?”

            Prince Marco leaned forward. “What’s your name? Where are you from?”

            “Forest, is my name, and I was born in Canada.”

            “Ah! Visiting our country then,” Valentine’s eyes lit up. “Tell us what is your business here in Zuriel?”

            “Traveling.”

            The stranger’s answer was so abrupt that the moment following seemed awkward.

           

            “Your first time?” Marco fished for more information.

            “No, I’ve been here before. It’s a very fascinating country you have.”

            “Glad you like us,” Prince Marco smiled. “Where else have you been?”

            “Oh all over, I’ve been to so many I’ve lost count. Most of Europe, the Middle East, the West Indies, Asia, South America…”

            “A well traveled man.” Marco nodded his approval. “But I don’t understand how someone so young, well, the same age as me, could be to all those places in his short lifetime. What are you? Does your vocation take you to all these places? I mean if you are from Canada, you couldn’t be a rich duke or earl or something.”

            The stranger laughed. “I can understand your curiosity.”

            Just then the waitress returned with the stranger’s tea and sandwich.

            “Here you go sir,” she placed the food before him, hesitating a moment when she realized she was at the prince’s table.

            “Put it on my bill,” the prince told her.

            She nodded nervously, feeling self-conscious with royalty right in her tea house, but curtsied and left.

            The prince nodded back to her and then turned his attention back to his guest and was startled. The tea and sandwich were gone and the stranger was rising. “You’ll pardon me, I don’t mean to be rude, but I must run. Time is of the essence.”

            Sir Valentine rose and put a hand on the stranger’s shoulder. “Proper etiquette would be for you to wait until you are dismissed by his royal highness.”  

            “Oh, well, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, it’s just that…. I can’t stay,” the stranger pulled out his pocket watch once more and checked the time. “It’s most urgent that I go, and I’ll pay for my dinner…”

            He edged away. Panic flashed in his eyes for an instant.

            “Let him go Valentine, perhaps he has a meeting to get to.”

            “Yes, yes I have a meeting I must keep. It was most exhilarating meeting you, your highness. But I must…” he pointed to the door and continued to back up.

            Sir Valentine took a few steps towards him, a worried frown crossing his face.

“Are you in trouble of some kind?”

“No, no, nothing like that, but I will be if I don’t go.”

The stranger nervously put on his trench coat, the sandwich protruding from his pocket, uneaten. “It was so nice to meet you…” his voice was lost in the rain as he hurried out into the storm.

“That was the strangest thing ever,” Prince Marco shook his head and frowned. “I almost wonder if we should have that man followed.”

“Why not us, sire?” Valentine suggested. “We’re done eating and he won’t get very far in this rain.”

“Why not indeed,” Prince Marco nodded.

The two men hurriedly put on their long rain coats and hurried out into the cold March air. Squinting through the sheets coming down, they spotted the stranger up ahead rounding the corner. They sprinted after him, but when they rounded the corner, all they saw was an empty street and an old red telephone booth.

“Hey, where did he go?” Valentine immediately reached for his shoulder holster, his protective instincts kicking in. “I do not like this, sire, not one bit. I say we turn back this instant and return to the safety of the café.”

Prince Marco hesitated, not sensing any danger. “What did he say his name was?”

Valentine tugged on the prince’s arm. “Come on, back we go, before something unsavoury happens.”

Later that day, sitting in the library of the royal manor by the coast, Prince Marco was interrupted from reading his newspaper when Sir Valentine entered and rushed into the room.

“Sire!”

“What is it?” Marco put down the paper.

Valentine waved a paper. “This! You won’t believe this, but there it is, in black and white. I couldn’t believe it myself, but there it was. You know I thought there was something strange about the whole thing, so I investigated… never expected there to be anything in the archives…”

“What are you blabbering about?” Marco snatched the paper from the waving hand and studied the small print.  “What is this?”

            “Journal entries from the royal archives, King Canty... and this one was during the second world war by one of our spies in Europe. And another from the 1800s by a well known duke of Exmoor.”

            “I don’t get this. These dates are all over the place.”

            “Precisely!”

            Marco sighed and looked up at the older man. “I still do not understand.”

            “Read the descriptions!” Valentine waved his finger at the paper

            “`He was the most peculiar man I’ve ever met. Long coat, with a bow at his throat and the most funny looking hat I’d ever seen.’”

            “And read this one!” Valentine pointed further down on the page.

            “ `Dressed in a trench coat, bow tie and fedora hat, he came out of nowhere to help me. The strangest man I’ve ever met, but came in the nick of time. His name was Forest, I hope to meet him again some day.’”

            “There it is! Forest. That’s the man’s name.”

            “But this is outrageous!” Marco shook his head. “You’re suggesting… time travel, which is impossible. This man couldn’t be from the past.”

            “What about the future?” Valentine laughed.

            Marco shook his head in disbelief. “Valentine, really? This is crazy.”

           

            “I know, sire, I know, but what other explanation do you have?”