The Flames of Time (Flames of Time Series Book 1)

by Peter Knyte

  ‘Well Robert,’ was Jean’s uncharacteristically impatient enquiry, ‘what did you see?’

  ‘It isn’t good news I’m afraid,’ he replied wearily, ‘it seems Selene and her friends are considerably more numerous than we’d anticipated… There are at least four cars and two other trucks parked around and about the lodge and its outbuildings, which doesn’t include the one we saw go past us, or any that may be parked out of sight from where we were hidden.

  ‘As for the occupants,’ he continued, ‘they could almost be sisters to Selene, Thea and Miriam, some older or younger perhaps, but all with the same manner. We saw at least ten, maybe fifteen, with a similar number of male servants. We couldn’t see them very well, but from what we could make out they’re well-armed and equipped for the outdoors. Having said all that though, there was also one older woman from whom they all seem to be taking orders, though what she was organising them to do, we couldn’t discover.’

  ‘Perhaps thirty people! Are you sure it is so many,’ asked Jean.

  ‘At the very least,’ responded Peter. ‘We didn’t see them all at the same time, they were that busy. But we watched them going about their work for long enough to be sure there are at least that many.

  ‘I don’t know what they’ve got planned,’ Marlow added, ‘but they’ve got all the equipment and supplies they could want. That includes horses and by the look of it guides, weapons, camping gear, food, they seem to have brought everything with them.’

  There was a moment’s silence, as we tried to absorb what Marlow and Peter had said, and then Marlow continued.

  ‘We’ve clearly underestimated the resources these people have at their disposal, and for all we know this could just be the tip of the iceberg. But with the equipment and people they’ve clearly already got, bearing in mind there are at least another eighteen that we know of in the bush that will soon be on their way back, they could easily track us down before we got anywhere near Nyrobi. Even if they just sit on the hilltops with binoculars, like Selene and her group did before, it wouldn’t take them long to corner us.’

  ‘Well if we cannot disappear into the bush, ‘asked Jean, ‘then what do you think we can do Robert. Have you another option?’

  ‘I’m not ruling anything out yet, and I certainly don’t think we should just hand these artefacts over to them.’ was Marlow’s response, ‘but… there is another option, one which while risky, might just work…’

  ‘I think we’ve made it back here before they were expecting us,’ he began, ‘ so they’re preparing and setting up a perimeter without realising we’re already inside it. They’ve got more than enough people and vehicles to do it, but it looks like they’re either expecting to catch us on the way in, or they’re getting ready to head out into the bush to hunt us down. Either way they don’t seem to be paying that much attention to their flank.

  ‘Now I’m far from having thought this through, but it occurs to me that right now we have a window of opportunity, a window that might close as soon as Selene’s group gets back. But in the meantime… well, we might be able to take one of their cars without them noticing. It’s a full day’s drive to Nyrobi, but with a car we could travel through the night, and if we could get away clean, then they might not have another vehicle quick enough to catch us.’

  ‘That could land us in a whole pile of trouble with the police Rob,’ threw in Harry. ‘If we were to be caught, they might even be able to make the case that we’d stolen the artefacts along with the car!’

  ‘You are quite right Harrison,’ Jean interjected, ‘but the worst thing we might expect from the authorities here is a delay, is it not?’

  ‘Quite so,’ added Androus, with a suddenly mischievous glint in his eye. ‘And let us not forget that the majority of these artefacts have been recorded in our possession by our friends in the Greek police!’

  It was far from perfect as a plan. But we knew we didn’t have much time to decide what to do, so after a few minutes of planning, we prepared as much of our equipment and possessions as could quickly be loaded into a car. We also settled our account with Mkize, Nbutu and the other guides, and then carefully started to make our way around toward the cars.

  We wouldn’t be able to take the horses very far, so decided to just leave them where they were, with a couple of the men, who would return them for us the following morning.

  Carefully then we started to make our way forward through the bush, toward the cars, Mkize and Nbutu going ahead to scout the way for us.

  The afternoon was beginning to get on a bit now, and it wouldn’t be long before that chorus of insect voices would once more begin its song of sunset celebration. Right now though, and more concerning, there was still more than enough light for us to be easily seen.

  We carefully made our through the all too sparse trees and scrub, back to the vantage point that Peter and Marlow had found. We were still a good sixty yards from the lodge, and maybe twenty to the side of the nearest car. We all knew the lodge and environs well, but it’s amazing how you don’t really see a place when you’re living with it every day. It was a big old place, with verandas all round, a few scattered out-buildings laid out in no particular order, presumably where the land was easiest to clear. Wilderness veritably crowded in around the place, and within a few hundred yards, unless you had a view of the place, you’d have been oblivious to its presence. Having said that though, there were still some wonderful panoramas where the trees thinned or disappeared and the long grass or bare soil took over. The one possible exception to this was the road or track leading up to the rear of the lodge. It wasn’t really a place designed for cars. But the continual progress of carts and horses or other livestock had not only kept the route clear, but also widened out an area near the stables and rear of the place, that was now littered with more vehicles than I suspect it had ever seen before in total. There was no real order to the way in which the vehicles had been parked, the drivers had just drawn up where there was space, and inadvertently formed a bit of a pyramid. A couple of trucks and smaller cars at the front, then another car and truck behind, and a couple of larger saloons right at the back, so that the cars a little further back were partially obscured from the view of the lodge by the vehicles in front.

  It was the saloon cars at the back that we had our eye on. They were easily big enough to take us all, while at the same time hopefully a bit quicker than the trucks should we need to try and outrun them.

  There was a bit of activity around the car right at the front near the lodge, a couple of servants unloading some cases. We waited patiently, and then, when they seemed to have finished, we carefully started to steal over to the rear most of the two saloons. Jean went first, then Androus, and the rest of us one at time until we were all gathered around it, equipment in hands.

  Harry was going to be the driver, and as he slowly slid into position behind the wheel, the rest of us tried to quietly load the car with our bags and possessions.

  There weren’t many people around, but my heart was in my mouth as we made ready. Jean had gone forward to try and disable a couple of the cars in front, and I saw him stuff something into the exhaust pipe of the other saloon, and then move on to the smaller car in front of that one.

  We were ready to go, and were slowly and silently rolling the car back a bit to allow it to more easily pull away, when I heard it. The unmistakable sound of the truck that had passed us as we approached the lodge.

  There was no need for words, we all knew it was Selene and her group returning with those others that we’d almost mistaken them for.

  Jean had finished with the second car in front of us, and I could see he was just about to head for the truck beside it, when he too heard the approaching engine. Of everyone I knew, I think it was Jean who surprised me the most. He was always self-possessed and intelligent, but there were times when his complete lack of hesitation said the most about the darker, more troubled times in his past. Instantly his military training seemed to come t
o fore, and like a thought he moved forward, drawing his knife as he went. First to the tires of the truck, then those of the car in front parked straight in front of the lodge, before he turned and glided back, weaving between and around the vehicles he’d disabled, to the car we were in. At which point Harry started the engine and began to pull away.

  There was nothing sudden of suspicious about the way Harry pulled the car around in a gentle arc toward the track leading to Nyrobi. Nothing to attract attention to the hammering hearts and strained senses of its occupants. Though we could all now hear the sound of the truck as it arrived on the other side of the lodge.

  It was the perfect diversion to help us get away, but there was no way of knowing if it was going to be good enough. As soon as we went round a bend in the road, and out of sight of the lodge Harry increased our speed to as fast as our car could manage along the rough and uneven track that was now serving as a road.

  Despite not being able to detect any immediate signs of pursuit, we knew we were far from being in the clear. As the afternoon light dimmed, and turned into twilight, Harry was forced, even with the headlamps, to reduce his speed. But even with all his care we were still pushing it, and barely an hour after we’d set off into the gloom the road claimed one of our tyres and nearly sent us crashing off into the undergrowth.

  There was a good spare on the back, and in no time we had the car up and the old wheel off. But we’d obviously used up all our luck getting away from the lodge, because as Peter laboured with the spare wheel, we all turned at a word from Marlow to see several sets of lights on the road behind us.

  They were perhaps thirty minutes behind us, but we knew only too well that they were prepared to be reckless in order to gain a bit more speed. We were trying not to rush Peter, who was working as quickly as he could, but there was nothing we could do to help, so we just had to watch the lights as they came closer and closer.

  ‘Just another thirty seconds should do it,’ he eventually told us, as he worked furiously away. He barely had time to get in the car once the jack was down, before Harry was pulling away again. The jack and associated equipment just left in the road behind us as we went.

  The sun had disappeared behind the distant hills by now, leaving just a crimson edge across the horizon, which left Harry with the all-too-poor car headlamps to light the way ahead. There’d be moments as the car surged forward, when we reached a relatively level and flat bit, then hard braking as a sudden corner or obstacle loomed, all the while the headlights picking out the twin points of light of reflected eyes, as they were momentarily hypnotised by the beams.

  Harry was hunching further and further over the wheel in an attempt to see into the gloom, but no matter what he did, the lights behind seemed to just get closer and closer. We could see what looked like the lights of four vehicles behind us now, and occasionally the suggestion of others further behind still.

  We were losing the race, and we knew it. It was miles before the track would get any better, and we might be able to use the speed of the car, but right now that seemed an impossible way off, with the lights behind sure to catch us before we could get there.

  On we drove, into the night, constantly checking behind us to see how much closer our pursuers had come. Eventually we figured out it must be the trucks coming up behind, their greater height and road clearance obviously allowing them to plough along the track far more quickly than we could.

  And then it happened, though I don’t think even Harry knew what animal he’d hit. But whatever it was, it was enough to make us swerve and put one of our front wheels into a deep rut, and suddenly we were out of control. As time began to slow, I saw Harry struggling to bring us back, and for one agonising moment, I thought he might just do it. Then the car skewed to the side and tipped, and then rolled, crashing over the uneven ground beside the road, doors flying open, and glass showering around us, before finally coming to a rest.

  I clambered out of the ruined vehicle, and instinctively dragged myself away, looking back to see the headlights casting their beams askew into the night sky, as the engine roared then wheezed to a stop as it haemorrhaged oil and fuel onto the suddenly glass-littered ground.

  I’ve got no idea how I wasn’t seriously hurt, but as I gathered my senses, it was Jean who was leaning over me checking I was alright. I was dazed and confused, but as I scrambled around trying to help the others it became clear I’d had a lucky escape. Marlow and Jean were largely unhurt, barring a few scratches. However Androus was clearly in pain as he breathed and couldn’t put any weight on one leg, Peter was better off, but seemed to be having trouble moving his left arm. It was Harry though who was causing the most concern. One of the others had pulled him out from behind the wheel, but he was still unconscious, just lying very still beside the car, a nasty gash along his forehead and temple.

  I don’t remember the trucks arriving, or the throng of people that came out of them, as they surrounded us with guns in their hands. But my attention snapped back with a jolt when I saw Marlow unclip the flap of the holster on his belt.

  Suddenly there was tension in the air. I hadn’t heard what was said. But I saw that two of the male servants that travelled with these young women, had taken a few steps toward the wreck of our car, and Marlow who was stood in their way, had stopped them in their tracks by putting his hand on his pistol.

  While there were several of those strangely self-possessed young women surrounding us, along with their servants, it was clear that one of them was somehow in charge, and she spoke again now, the air of authority flowing from every fibre of her being.

  ‘Mr Marlow you will stand aside,’ she began, completely dispassionately. ‘So that we may remove the box of artefacts from your car, or I will order my people to kill you where you stand.’

  I could see my friends respond to this. We knew these people could be deadly, but to have the fact so casually disclosed, and to our faces! I had no doubt she was telling us the truth, and palpably felt the shock travel through me.

  But even as I registered that shock, and saw it travel through my friends. I saw it break upon Marlow like a wave upon a cliff face. Not a single atom of his being seemed moved by the force of her words. And it was in that moment I realised a greater truth. I couldn’t see his eyes and the gaze he levelled at the speaker, and for that I was thankful, because now I saw in the line of his body something I’d never noticed before.

  The dreadful calm or stillness I’d seen so often in his gaze… wasn’t confined to his eyes. I understood it now. As he stood there perhaps more motionless than he’d ever allowed himself to be before. That fathomless well of stillness, up until now so well concealed, possessed every fibre of his body. It was less visible when he moved, the idea of stillness within movement just too alien for our minds to conceive, making us see it as grace or balance. It was more noticeable possibly in those moments of natural repose or quiet, when he watched the sunset, or stopped to gaze across to the far horizon. But now, confronted by this strange group, when the pretence was stripped away, the stillness possessed and consumed him.

  On some level I knew nothing could stir that calm now, not even the guns raised against us, and I remembered that second dream-vision we’d all had when we’d tried to re-create our experience at the Singing Stones. How in my dream I’d seen Marlow step straight into the heart of that raging inferno, a fire that burned with such heat and light I could hardly bare to look upon it. What impurities that crucible must have removed I cannot imagine, but it was clear to me now that only something purer remained.

  I don’t think he even bothered to respond. In that moment he seemed to exist outside time, as immobile and immovable as the earth. But it was his antagonist I was becoming more interested in now, and as I watched I think she too caught a glimpse of what I had just understood. I don’t think anyone could’ve described exactly how that young lady changed. But to me it seemed the shining and flawless confidence within her began to crack and crumble, as doubt took hold, an
d then overwhelmed her, to leave only the hollow-eyed façade of command.

  The tension in the air gradually evaporated. Nothing was going to happen, and everyone knew it. They’d lost their will, and without it, even with their numbers they were powerless to act.

  If our car had been salvageable I think we could’ve driven away without them even trying to stop us. But our car was finished, and there was nowhere we could even try and walk to, not with Harry still unconscious.

  Our car was leaking fuel and oil all over the place, so once the tension had been dispelled, we moved the injured and a few of our things a little further away. Harry still couldn’t be roused, and the gash along his head now seemed compounded by some nasty bruising and swelling. I couldn’t see what we could do. The lodge was probably the closest point, and that was at least several hours walk. As for the track, we couldn’t rely on anyone coming this way even in the daylight.

  There was a sudden flicker and whoosh of air as the fuel and car suddenly caught alight. It was a desperate scene without doubt, now illuminated in the infernal light from our car as it began to burn.

  But the light from the fire did more than destroy some of our things, it also distracted us from the arrival of two more cars, which we didn’t notice until they pulled in behind the trucks. The young woman who had so casually threatened us was the first to move over to the new arrivals, presumably eager to explain the situation. And then I recognised them, it was Selene, Miriam and Thea, again with Luke in tow, and a slightly older woman, who I presume must have been the figure that Peter and Marlow had observed.

  To say that this strange collection of young women were all cut from the same cloth, would in many ways be to do their individual beauty and charm a considerable disservice. But as these new arrivals stepped forth into the firelight to confront us, it felt more like we were facing an army unit than a group of individuals.

  There was an obvious deference to the older woman, as she stepped forward into the light and toward us. She was tall and slender, with shoulder length pale hair perfectly framing the high cheekbones and elegant features of a still beautiful face.