Return to Camelot
My dearest friend,
I'm writing this to you because I miss you so much I could burst, and I think this may be the only way to keep myself sane.
"What the hell?" Nate stared at the manuscript in complete confusion, unable to move past the first sentence. This made absolutely no sense at all! He was again tempted to call Dr. Reid and ask if this was a joke. Anyone educated enough to write at that time would almost certainly have been a clergyman or a clerk for the clergy, and they would have written in Latin. Any of the minuscule percentage of educated non-clergy would have written Old English.
Anyone savvy enough to make a hoax that could get the attention of Oxford would know all this. So why detract from their air of authenticity by writing the journal in modern day English? The oversight was so ridiculous, Nate couldn't wrap his mind around it.
Nate's phone chimed and he smiled when he checked the screen. He answered immediately. "Taneisha! Just the woman I wanted to talk to."
"Hey, Nate," she said in an equally friendly, tone. "Are you sitting down?"
"I am. What did you find out?"
"Well! You're not going to believe this, but the dating on your book checks out."
Nate blinked, and stared blankly at the wall for so long that Taneisha called his name twice before he snapped out of it. "Wait, what?"
"Told you you wouldn't believe me."
"You're right, I don't. Are you sure? The paint and ink-"
"And paper all came from the sixth century. Believe me, after what you told me, I ran both samples you gave me twice just to be sure."
Nate sat back in his chair and whistled, staring at the anachronistic sentence with renewed wonder. "Wow. I... don't know what to do now. This makes no sense."
Taneisha hummed in agreement. "I don't mind testing another sample if you want?"
"Hm." Nate thought about it for a moment. "No," he said. "No, I trust you, Taneisha. Either someone used some very advanced forgery techniques, or..."
Taneisha chuckled. "Or you just discovered the ancient nerd who invented corporate spin."
Nate laughed. "I guess a discovery is a discovery," he said. "Thanks again, Taneisha. Appreciate the help."
"Any time."
Nate hung up and stared at the apparently ancient book with the completely impossible writing. "What. The. Hell?"
With an odd sense of nervous anticipation, he turned the aged pages and read the first entry.
My dearest friend,
I'm writing this to you because I miss you so much I could burst, and I think this may be the only way to keep myself sane. I've been away for three long weeks now. I can only hope you and the others are safe. No. I know you are. If I can't hold on to that certainty, I will definitely go insane, and I can't afford to do that. Too much depends on what I say and do.
I'll explain what that means another day - maybe tomorrow if I can steal some time. I will say this, though. Spoiler alert - I landed in Camelot. You'll get a laugh out of that, I hope. But there's something much more important that I need to tell you. The climate at court is pretty volatile, and I'm not exactly sure I'll make it through the night. If I don't, I pray you will find this somehow, and that you'll know it came from me.
What I have to say is, I love you. I love you so much! I wish I could write your name down, but it might cause issues or ripples that might change you, and I can't take that chance. A few months ago, you told me I wasn't cursed. I never wanted to have to say I told you so about this, but it seems I was right. Except instead of my love being ripped from me, I have been ripped from you.
The problem is, you were right, too. I was too afraid to tell you how I felt. I was afraid of losing you like I lost everyone else. Maybe if I hadn't been afraid - if I had really believed what you said, I would have told you the truth when I had the chance. I'm sorry,
Nmy friend. If you find this, but we never see each other again, please know that I could never have hoped for a better friend, and that even though I wish I had been brave enough to reach for more, you should have no regrets when it comes to me.I love you always, and I'll explain more as soon as I can.