Read Online Out of the Ashes by Lori Dillon - Free Book Online

it was our fault.”
    “Not your fault?” Smithers’s bushy brows rose so high on his forehead that Marsha thought they were going to disappear into his scalp. “How is it not your fault? Please explain it to me.”
    “Well, first there was the volcano incident.”
    “I know, I know. You missed the natural disaster memo. We’ve been over that one.” Smithers picked up a paper from the stack in front of him. “It says here that you then sent them back to the fifth century. Ah, I see that Female 5923 did get married.”
    Marsha nodded in agreement.
    “Yes, as a matter of fact she did.”
    “To Attila the Hun! Exactly how did that mix-up happen?”
    Marsha placed her hands on her knees, trying to stop them from shaking beneath her navy wool skirt.
    “Well, it was all planned that she was to be betrothed to Attila, but Male 2028 was supposed to save her before the actual wedding took place.”
    “Yes, I’m listening.”
      “Apparently there was a typo on the relocation application for Male 2028.”
    “Really?”
    “You see, he was supposed to return as a Hun on horseback.”
    “And he was sent back as…?”
    Marsha and Hershel glanced nervously at each other.
    “A monk with a hunchback,” Hershel mumbled as he sank lower in his chair.
    “I see. And did either of you proof the relocation form before it was sent down?”
    “I thought Hershel had done it.”
    Hershel looked at Marsha as if she had just implicated him in a murder.
    “Me? I thought you did it.”
    Smithers held up his hand, effectively halting what could have turned into a full-blown spat. He glanced down at the paper in his hand and then back at the two of them.
    “So, Attila died on his wedding night.”
    Marsha raised her finger in the air. “Now, that was planned.”
    “Yes, I know. However, he was supposed to die a brutal warrior’s death. It was the least he deserved. After all, he wasn’t called the Scourge of God for nothing.”
    “Yes, well, things got a bit out of hand.”
    “A bit out of hand? The girl clobbered him in the face with a serving tray. She knocked him unconscious, and the man died of a nosebleed in his own marriage bed.”
    “Could you blame her?” Marsha huffed. “I certainly wouldn’t want to see that filthy, drunk barbarian coming at me with lust on his mind.”
    Smithers closed his eyes and shook his head.
    “It doesn’t matter now. At least Attila reached his final destination on time. So what went wrong with the two of them after that?”
    “Well, Male 2028 did rescue her as planned.”
    Drumming his fingers on the desk, Smithers looked expectantly at each of them.
    Marsha and Hershel exchanged wary glances. Finally, Hershel spoke.
    “His mule trampled him to death while they were trying to escape.”
    “How unfortunate. Not altogether surprising, considering you two, but unfortunate nonetheless. So, what became of Female 5923?”
    “It seems she spent the rest of her life hiding in the Caspian Mountains from the Huns, who wanted to execute her for killing Attila.”
    Smithers breathed a heavy sigh.
    “I supposed that’s understandable, given the circumstances.”
    He picked up a second piece of paper. If it were possible, Smithers’s scowl deepened even further.
    “I’m not sure I even want to go into the Middle Ages episode. Why, they didn’t even manage to meet each other that time.”
    Marsha shuddered, the memory of that past life still fresh in her mind.
    “Well, they might have if it hadn’t been for that nasty Black Death thing going around.”
    “Yes, sending him back as a rat catcher during the plague wasn’t the brightest of ideas, was it?”
    Marsha cast her eyes down to her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Hershel tried to look anywhere else but at Smithers .
    Scanning further down the page, Smithers read on.
    “I see while I was on vacation, you two managed to send them back for a third time.”
    “Yes, well, it didn’t seem like it would hurt.”
    “No, at this point