Free Dreams of Stardust by Lynn Kurland

do
we get him home?"
    "We'll put him on my horse and I'll ride back with you, Montgomery,"
Amanda said. "Your mount will never feel my weight."
    "And what," asked John as he pulled the man up into a sitting
position, "are we going to do with him once we get him home?"
    "We'll worry about that later," Amanda said as she watched
Montgomery take hold of the man's lower half.
    "Dungeon," John said with a grunt.
    "Solar," Montgomery suggested as he helped John heave.
    "He might be an outlaw," John said through gritted teeth.
    "He's too clean to be an outlaw," Montgomery huffed.
    Amanda had to agree; the man was, outside of a bit of dirt in his
hair and some blood here and there, remarkably clean. She stood by and
watched as her brothers got their quarry settled over her saddle. She
hesitated, then looked at the lads.
    "I think I should ride behind him and keep him balanced. We'll offer
him the courtesy of our hall when we return, but watch him carefully,
lest he prove to be false."
    "I don't think Sir Walter will like this," John warned. "He'll
demand that we lock him away until we know who he is."
    "I daresay that's true," Amanda agreed, but chose not to think about
it. She had far more overwhelming things to think on.
    Her ride that morning had produced two moments of complete
giddiness, when she thought her soul had crossed from joy to madness.
    The first had been at the peak of Jasper's speed, when she thought
he might fly if asked.
    The second had been when the man had opened his eyes and looked at
her.
    She rubbed her hands over her face, took a deep breath, and accepted
Montgomery's boost onto Jasper's back. Perhaps she had traveled fully
to madness, leaving good sense and caution behind. Perhaps she had been
trapped in her father's keep for too long.
    Perhaps she should have continued her flight and ignored a stranded,
obviously in-need-of-aid traveler.
    She put her hand on his back and felt a shiver go up her hand, as if
she'd touched something she shouldn't.
    "Dungeon," John said, to no one in particular.
    "Dungeon," Amanda agreed, though she was having second thoughts
about who should be going in.
    Considering all the impossible things she felt just looking at the
man, it just might be the safest place for her.

----
Chapter 6
     
    Jake woke up with a start. He sat up just as
suddenly, then realized that that was an extraordinarily bad idea. He
clutched his head in his hands until it stopped pounding long enough
for him to think straight. He'd been in the car. The last thing he
remembered was the spinning that had gone on endlessly. In fact, the
spinning was still going on, only he was quite sure he was sitting on
something solid.
    So out of a very strong instinct for self-preservation, he kept his
eyes closed, his fists pressed over his eyes, and decided to take his
time figuring out where he was.
    He simply sat for a moment. He was in a farmhouse, probably. An old
stone one, likely. There was no offensive smell, but there wasn't
anything that smelled like dinner on the stove either, which didn't
bode well for his growling stomach. He should have taken advantage of
Worthington's traditional English breakfast earlier that morning and
downed some fried tomatoes and sizzling sausage.
    He gingerly felt the bench he was sitting on. It was wooden, quite
smooth, and gave no indication of either its origin or ownership. He
put his hand back over his eyes and slowly swung his feet around to the
floor, where he could rest his elbows on his knees and let his head get
used to the idea.
    And as he did, images began to come back to him.
    One image in particular.
    Eyes. Turquoise—no, aquamarine. Or perhaps a soft, pale sapphire.
No, aquamarine, he finally decided. Blue-green eyes in a face that
could cause angels to weep.
    Man, could he ever conjure up a hallucination when he had to.
    He would have shaken his head, but he knew where that would lead, so
he remained still until the pounding in his head subsided a bit and he
thought he