Dresden: Time Warp

Elli shook her head gently.

"I don't know. It... shouldn't be possible. God knows I've looked for a way..."

Holland shook his head, and as he did, caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see three figures approaching from the next hill over. One of them looked like it might be Nomei, one he could swear he recognized from somewhere, but he had no idea who the man might be. "I think some of the others have found us." He said to Elli.

"Greetings travellers!" the woman called down, "it would be best not to linger long in this area, as it is not safe!"

"Elli!" Nomei shouted and rushed toward her friend and knelt at her side, "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

Nomei looked around them and asked, " I guess Juliet and Inigo aren't with you either?"

"I'm... okay," Elli said, which was only slightly less than a blatant lie, "I... don't have the Fall mantle anymore."

The woman made her way over to the group, bow out and ready to use.
"If there are more companions on their own it would be best to find them with haste. This area is dangerous for humans."

"What's wrong with humans being here? Are we in the Nevernever?" Holland was still trying to remember why he recognized this woman, but he pushed that to the back of his mind for now. "I'm very curious as to where the heck we've landed ourselves. And reason for the haste would be nice." He sighed. "Questions, questions, questions, and no answers. Not a big fan."

"There is no issue with humans per-sea, however humans are generally the target of the monsters that dwell here." the woman answered, "As to location, we are currently in the region of Cotswolds. Does your companion require healing?"
She knelt next to Elli and looked her over.
"I am blessed with healing abilities if they are required."

"She just needs rest," said Holland, "perhaps food as well. I happen to be a healer myself, so I've already given her a once over. Thank you for the offer, though." Holland stood up, and offered to help Elli up as well. "Now, you mentioned a town, did you not? Shall we?"

"The town is a fair distance," she said, "I have a shelter not far from here. Were there any other companions with you?"

Holland shook his head. "Elli was the only one I could find. There are others, we just haven't run into them yet." He slowly helped Elli up whilst looking at the others. "Would anybody happen to have magic senses of one kind or another, by any chance?" He said with doubt. "Even rudimentary ritual magic would do."

"I can get a feel for who the owner is, if I have something of theirs," John supplied, doubting it'd be of any assistance. "Not useful for tracking, though... or fighting... Really, all it does is help me know when to run away."

Nomei finally took her eyes off Elli and rose to her feet, stretching muscles out as she did and letting the stress of worrying about her closest friend fall off her(and trying to hope against hope that J.J. was with Inigo). Declaring as she did so, "Well, if this place isn't kind to humans, I guess it's good we've got something not human with us..."

"By the way... uhm..." Nomie turned to the two strangers sheepishly. "I didn't catch your names? Sorry, I guess I was in a bit of a rush. You can call me Nomei."

"I can track them easily enough once the injured and vulnerable are safe." the woman said, "My god granted me many useful skills. My name is Lynnette."

She looked at Nomei and asked, "you are inhuman? In what way?"

Realization suddenly snapped into Holland's mind. "You! From the hall of the mountain King!" If he'd had a hand free, he would have smacked his forehead. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere."

Lynnette stared at Holland for a moment before replying, "I'm afraid I do not understand this reference. We have never met."

Holland stopped short at that.  How could she...  he thought,  stating hard at her.  Wait... Never met...  He looked more closely at her garb,  then back to her face. Suddenly, an idea clicked,  fuelled by all that time spent watching Doctor Who.  "Maybe..." he mumbled,  the more loudly, he said to Lynnette,  "What year is it?"

"I know not what you mean by asking of the year," she began, "however if you wish to know of the current events, King Ceolwulf of Northumbria was deposed and reinstated to the throne while his cousin Ecgbert has been made duke of York."

Suddenly getting a distant look on her face, Lynnette stopped moving and spoke-her voice suddenly soft and dreamy "In the lands of faeries and monsters shall we meet, the time as distant as the stars. The swordsman and the fire-bringer, the crazy and the strong shall meet with gods and fight for the light."

Blinking rapidly, she looked around at the group. "Strange," she said, "my visions normally have less clarity."

Why does the name Northumbria sound familiar? And what is she talking about? The crazy and strong? John thought, confused. Upon realizing that he should probably listen to the earlier instructions, John decided to answer "I'm John Smith, I deliver pizza. Have you seen an I.C.Wiener? No? Didn't think so. I guess this prank call is better than all the ones that end up with me in the middle of a crime scene. I swear, if I end up in the middle of another burning warehouse I'll quit."

"Well, it sounds like Inigo is here to then. Not sure about the 'crazy and the strong' bit, though. Your vision only lists four, yet if the Inigo thing is true, then that makes five." Holland sighed. Visions...so helpful. At least we now know we're probably in medieval England. Probably.

At John's mention of warehouses, Holland cringed despite himself. He had a funny feeling that they may have almost met this man on several occasions.

"So... Holland..." Nomei said, dreading any possible ideas Holland might have on the situation.

Elli took Holland's proffered hand and got unsteadily to her feet. Once standing, she wobbled slightly, legs aching as though she had just overworked herself doing lunges. Her eyes widened in alarm.

I thought I might be overdoing it, but I never thought it was this bad. Please, let me be able to walk.

"My vision was not of here, but of another place," Lynnette said, "where there are strange horseless wagons and stone towers. The crazy one was running through a dark place singing and the strong one is with us now."

Seeing Elli's shaky attempt at standing,  Holland decided to try something.  "Hold still,  Elli,  I've got an idea."  He drew on the lantern's power,  and tried to focus it on Elli's legs.  He was trying to replicate the effect he had accidentally managed on Inigo at the Renaissance fair. He'd been practising it with Inigo, but was still unfamiliar with the power.

Nomei started to move to help Elli, but stopped herself and instead moved in from of her.

"Elli, how are you feeling?" Nomei asked, looking into Elli's eyes, her tone thick with worry.