The Lost Knights. William Speir

If we can make those meetings fit into the plans, I think it’s a great idea.”

      “Is that what Edison wanted to see you about this morning?” Tom asked.

      “Yes, but I was worried about it at first.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I didn’t want to leave you and Jamie here by yourselves for that long, and I didn’t want to put too much of a burden on your parents,” Emily replied.

      Tom leaned back and nodded. “We need to see if they’ll be willing to keep Jamie for us while we’re away. I don’t think we could take her with us unless we had someone with us full-time to take care of her while we’re both in our meetings.”

      Emily frowned. He was right. There was no way they could take Jamie with them – not with all of the meetings and traveling they’d be doing. But they could be gone for almost a month, and that was a lot to ask Tom’s parents to take on. “Do you think they’d be willing to take Jamie for several weeks?” she asked.

      Tom shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we can ask them tonight when we go to pick her up. Maybe Sophie could help take the burden off of them.”

      They finished eating their lunch and discussing the details about their trip until they were satisfied that they knew how to broach the idea with Tom’s parents. When they were done, they decided to take a quick walk around the club before heading back to work.

      After about ten minutes, they headed back to the parking lot. Tom held Emily’s car door for her as she got in, giving him a kiss first. Tom smiled at her and closed her door before getting into his own car. When Tom looked over to wave good-bye, Emily was already on the phone to fill Edison in on her conversation with Tom so SignalCorps could begin arranging the meetings in Europe.

      Once on the road, Tom pulled out his phone and called Ralph. When Ralph answered the phone, Tom filled him in on the conversation.

      “That’s great, boss!” Ralph said when Tom was done speaking. “When you and Emily get your meetings scheduled, let me know so I can set up the training sessions. Are you heading back to the office now?”

      “Yes, I just left the club. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”

      “See you when you get here,” Ralph said as he hung up.

      Emily left the parking lot and drove to the dojo. Even though the dojo’s primary focus was Tae kwon do, the owner, who was a good friend of Emily and Tom’s, had also opened a fencing studio on the upper floor. Rather than traditional fencing, which was about touches and scoring points, this studio taught combat fencing, which is how swords were used to fight for centuries. Emily was good enough to teach classes, but she preferred to spar, either with Tom or with the owner.

      She changed into the proper attire for Tae kwon do, and after her warm-ups she sparred with one of the senior black belts. For an hour she and her opponent fought each other to a stalemate. When the hour was up, they bowed to each other and shook hands. It had been an excellent session.

      Emily changed and went upstairs to fence with the owner. Most people would be too exhausted, after sparring for that long, to start working out with the heavy rapiers, but Emily felt energized by the sparring. It wasn’t just a purely physical activity. It involved reading the opponent’s body language, anticipating and countering the opponent’s moves, and delivering an attack past the opponent’s defenses. Emily loved the feeling of not knowing what would be happening next. It excited her.

      The owner was waiting for her, and as soon as she had put her bag down in the corner and grabbed her sword, he attacked. Emily anticipated this and rolled out of the way before bringing up her sword to defend against the next attack. The owner smiled. Emily always managed to mix fencing and martial arts together into something all her own, which made her such a formidable opponent. He studied her stance, noted an opening, and attacked again.

      For the next hour, they parried, thrust, cut, and deflected until they finally realized that neither was going to get the advantage over the other. The owner saluted Emily with his rapier, and she returned the gesture, acknowledging that the duel was over and was officially a draw.

      “It’s amazing how you’ve developed such a unique style of fighting,” he commented and they put away their gear. “I watched you sparring downstairs, and I’d swear you had a sword in your hands when you fight hand-to-hand, just like it seemed you were fighting hand-to-hand when we were fencing just now. You know how to fence in the traditional manner that I teach, but when you’re fencing alone with me or your husband, your style is incredibly unique. I wish we could document it and teach it as its own martial art!”

      “That would take away my advantage,” Emily said, smiling at the compliment. “If other people learned to do things my way, I’d have to come up with another way of doing things.”

      The owner laughed. Emily shook his hand, grabbed her bag and equipment, and walked down the stairs and back to her car. She wanted to get home, take a shower, and get ready for dinner with Tom that evening before the meeting.

      9

      “Fellow Knights and Dames of the Order,” the Grand Master of the Order of the Saltire stated near the end of the meeting as he addressed the assembly. “As you know, Sir Ralph Gardner has accepted the newly-created position as Chief Training Officer of the Order, and he will be responsible for all intervention training for all Commanderies to ensure consistency throughout the Order.”

      The members at the meeting applauded as Ralph was recognized. The Grand Master raised his hand, and the assembly fell silent as he continued. “I’m also pleased to announce that Dame Emily Anderson has accepted the newly-created position of Chief Surveillance Training Officer, reporting to Sir Ralph, and she’ll be responsible for teaching surveillance techniques and technologies for all Commanderies throughout the Order. In the past, she has declined to accept the higher ranks she has earned from years of outstanding service, but she’ll be elevated to the rank of Dame Grand Cross as part of this new role.”

      The members at the meeting applauded again as Emily was recognized.

      The Grand Master informed the assembly that he’d be visiting a number of the European Commanderies later in the month and would be hosting a meeting of the European Priors to keep the European members from feeling too isolated from the rest of the Order. He asked if there were any additional items of business to come before the assembly. No one spoke up, and the Grand Master ended the meeting in the traditional manner.

      As the members of the Grand Magistry left the dais and made their way back to their private offices, Emily and Ralph were thronged by several members of the assembly offering their congratulations. Several minutes passed before Emily could make her way back to the Grand Magistry offices. She passed the door that said “Lt. Grand Master” and went to the door at the end of the hall, which said “Grand Master.” She knocked on the door and waited for the Grand Master to answer.

      “Come in,” she heard him say.

      She opened the door and entered the Grand Master’s office. The Grand Master was sitting behind his desk at the end of the room, and another gentleman was sitting in front of him with his back to Emily, sipping on a glass of Scotch. “Hi, Honey,” Emily said to the Grand Master.

      “Hi, Gorgeous,” Tom replied, standing up and coming around his desk to give his wife a hug. As Emily crossed the room to meet him, she noticed that the man in the chair with his back to her was Tom’s father.