He faced me, and I stopped. He wore a leather mask over his features, and a familiar sword was sheathed at his side.
It's not possible. I shook away the sense of familiarity, knowing the man who saved my life in the eighteen forties, who chopped my governess in two when she went to shoot me, couldn't be here in the Mongol Empire with me now. The two men were dressed similarly, yes, but that may have been coincidence and perhaps, a little paranoia.
"Sorry," I murmured. "Do you know where Ghoajin is?"
He held out a pouch in response. I checked my cloak pocket and found the bag full of pills gone.
"Um, thanks." I drew near enough to grab them then stepped back quickly, not liking the fact he was wearing a mask and dressed like the man who helped Carter send me back here.
He tossed me a water bladder. It landed at my feet.
My stomach began to sink. "Thanks. Again," I said and picked it up.
"Swallow them."
I shook my head and moved away from him, the sense of danger making my heart race.
The stranger with a voice barely above a whisper drew his long, curved sword slowly. The sharpened metal gleamed, and I stared at it.
"You don't know what these are," I said. "It's not the time to-"
"Now." He smacked the flat of the sword against the leather armor over his arm. The sound made me jump.
Reaching for my cell phone, I froze when he started towards me.
"Swallow them. Now," he repeated. "Or I kill you here."
My mouth went dry, and my mind wildly sought some sort of reasoning behind this. "You saved me at the well," I managed.
He gave a nod.
"Carter sent you?"
"I can force them down your throat, Moonbeam," he replied.
Shit. I had no idea what was going on, who this guy was or what happened to me during the poor man's cryogenics. I didn't even know if I was ever going to wake up and if I did, what happened if someone dropped me over the next hundred years, and I woke up with my limbs missing?
The man started towards me again.
"Okay," I whispered. "I'm taking them." Fumbling with the bag, I manage to tug it open and pull out one large, black capsule. "All of them?"
"All of them."
I hope this doesn't hurt. Praying silently to wake up in one piece, I began to swallow the inch long pills. I felt nothing as they went down my throat and settled into my gullet, except for a mild bloating caused by the amount of water pills that size took to choke down.