The Mask of Destiny

by Richard Newsome

Before Gerald could continue, a bright glint of light flashed across Ruby’s face. The afternoon sun was reflecting off something, from down near Nico’s house. ‘What’s that,’ Ruby said, shielding her eyes from the glare.

  Then, carried on the still summer air, came a voice on a megaphone. ‘STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!’

  Gerald looked at Ruby. ‘That sounds like—’

  ‘THIS IS DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JARVIS OF THE LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE. STAY WHERE YOU ARE!’

  ‘How did he get here?’ Sam said.

  ‘Helicopter,’ Ruby said. ‘That vile woman must have woken up.’

  Gerald scrambled to his feet and shouldered his pack. ‘I’m not hanging around to find out.’ He set off up the path at a jog, scrabbling over the loose scree. Sam, Ruby and Nico followed close behind.

  ‘Nico,’ Sam panted. ‘You don’t have to come.’

  The boy set his jaw and soldiered on. ‘Twenty dollars an hour,’ he said.

  They reached the brow of the hill before they heard the megaphone again.

  ‘STOP!’

  Gerald looked back but couldn’t see any sign of the pursuing police.

  ‘STOP. THERE ARE POLICE MARKSMEN WITH ME AND WE WILL SHOOT.’

  Ruby looked to Gerald. ‘Surely they wouldn’t shoot.’

  A rock above Sam’s head exploded out of the cliff face, showering him with shrapnel. A sharp crack echoed up the hillside.

  Everyone ducked. ‘Or maybe they would,’ Ruby said.

  ‘Quick!’ Gerald led a crouching retreat over a boulder. They landed in the dust on the other side just as another shot cracked overhead.

  ‘What are they shooting for?’ Ruby said. ‘We haven’t done anything.’

  Nico sat wide-eyed in the dirt. ‘It’s the local police,’ he said. ‘They excite easily.’

  ‘What do we do now?’ Ruby asked, her back flat against the boulder.

  ‘Nico, how far are the caves?’ Gerald asked.

  Nico thought for a second. ‘Five kilometres,’ he said. ‘Maybe six.’

  ‘That’s a hike,’ Sam said. ‘But it’s got to be better than sitting here.’

  ‘We’ve got a good half hour’s head start,’ Gerald said. ‘Let’s not waste it.’

  A long gentle slope ran ahead of them, boxed on either side by rocky cliffs. After the climb up the mountain they made good ground. The country was barren and supported only the scrappy trees and scrub that lined their way. They raced around a cairn of rocks and past a low-set concrete bunker with a steel manhole cover on top. They could hear rushing water bubbling deep underground.

  After running for a solid thirty minutes without any more megaphone warnings or gunshots, they scurried up a dry creek bed and tumbled through a cleft in a rock face into an open expanse. The grass was littered with boulders and cowpats. Hills rose on either side. The trail continued along a gully for another fifty metres before turning to the left.

  Ruby made for the shade of a gnarled olive tree by a rock wall. ‘Time for a break,’ she said. ‘Jarvis didn’t look that fit. They’ll be well behind.’ She dropped into the grass under the tree and fished in her pack for the water bottle. She drank deep and long.

  ‘It’s a shame Lethbridge wasn’t leading the charge,’ Sam said. ‘We could have taken all day.’

  Gerald’s face burned red. His cheeks were streaked with sweat salt. ‘How much further Nico?’ he asked. His hands were on his knees and he was sucking in deep breaths.

  Nico looked around, getting his bearings. ‘Another hour, maybe.’

  Gerald took the bottle from Ruby and took a generous swig. He went to hand it to Sam, but—

  ‘Sam?’

  They spotted him on the far side of the tree, near a pile of rocks that must have slid down the cliff wall. He was on his hands and knees, poking around the base with a stick.

  ‘Sam?’ Gerald said. ‘What are you doing?’

  Sam poked his head up and beckoned them over. ‘Check this out,’ he said. He prodded the stick into a gap between two large rocks, then dropped to his stomach and shoved his arm in, up to the shoulder.

  ‘Careful,’ Ruby said. ‘There could be snakes.’

  Sam writhed around for a second, then, ‘Gotcha!’

  He pulled his arm back and in his hand he held a tortoise-shell kitten, only a few weeks old. He bundled the mewling ball of fur into his lap.

  ‘Trust you to find a cat in the middle of nowhere,’ Ruby said.

  ‘What is it with you and cats?’ Gerald said.

  ‘Simple,’ Sam said. ‘Cats means no rats.’

  ‘We really don’t have time for this,’ Gerald said. Then, out of the gap between the rocks, came a cat’s head. The kitten’s mother slinked into the open, boxed its child around the ears with a paw then clamped her mouth around the scruff of the kitten’s neck and dived back through the opening.

  Sam laughed and set about loosening some of the rocks at the base of the pile.

  ‘Come on, Sam,’ Ruby said. ‘We need to get going.’

  Sam widened the gap and squeezed his head and shoulders through. ‘Hold on a sec,’ his muffled voice came back.

  ‘Stop being an idiot,’ Ruby said, pounding his back with her fists.

  Sam pulled his head back into the daylight, blinked, then grabbed a headlamp from his pack and dived into the rock pile again.

  The space around Sam’s head glowed from the lamp, then his shoulders slid through the rocky opening. And then he disappeared altogether.

  ‘Sam!’ Ruby cried. ‘What are you—’

  A single shout of surprise echoed out of the gap. It was followed seconds later by a colossal splash.

  ‘What’s the idiot done now?’ Ruby moved towards the hole, but Nico beat her there. The boy threw himself into the gap between the rocks, kicking up a plume of dust as he wriggled through. Gerald watched speechless as his shoes disappeared.

  He stared at Ruby, unsure what to do. The sound of another splash came out of the hole.

  Ruby didn’t hesitate. She grabbed a torch from her pack, strapped it to her head and slithered through the opening.

  ‘Ruby!’ Gerald called into the hole. ‘Can you see anything?’

  There was a pause, then Ruby’s voice came back, ‘I can’t see them. Hold on.’ There was another pause. Then a cry of surprise.

  And an enormous splash.

  Gerald was alone.

  He had no choice.

  He had his torch out and on his head just as the first of the policemen charged into the clearing behind him.

  Chapter 25

  Gerald spun his head to see three more policemen stumble into the broad expanse of grass and rocks. A second later they were joined by a sweat-covered Inspector Jarvis.

  Gerald froze where he was, crouched low to the ground. The gnarled olive tree gave him some cover but he knew any movement would give his position away. The policemen were looking straight ahead, towards the far end of the gully, and hadn’t looked his way…not yet.

  Gerald’s eyes locked onto the sniper’s rifle that was slung over the shoulder of one of the local police. Nico was right—this one looked particularly excitable.

  Gerald held his breath. Jarvis was barking orders to keep moving. They were barely twenty metres away. If he kept completely still, didn’t flutter an eyelid…

  A furry head appeared between Gerald’s knees.

  The kitten looked around, its eyes darting left and right, in search of mischief. It spotted a beetle shuffling through the grass, and pounced.

  Gerald stifled a gasp of panic. His eyes shot back to the policemen. They were advancing up the slope, eyes still straight ahead.

  The kitten launched itself into a scrubby plant, rustling among the leaves. Gerald slid out a hand and scooped it up. It wrapped itself around his fingers, then sank a mouthful of tiny teeth into his thumb. Gerald clamped his lips together, swallowing the cry that he wanted to bellow out. The kitten meowed in protest at its game being cut short.

  The p
oliceman with the rifle was thirty paces away— almost at the turn out of the gully. He stopped, pulled a water bottle from his belt and took a long drink. If one of his colleagues looked back at him, Gerald was sunk.

  The policeman drank and drank.

  The kitten released its bite on Gerald’s thumb, and started licking the wound. Gerald let out a silent sigh of relief. A second later eight needle-like claws dug in as well.

  The policeman with the rifle holstered his water bottle and set off after his companions. Jarvis was the first to reach the turn out of the gully and take a step up the rocky culvert.

  Gerald released his grip on the kitten; his shoulders relaxed.

  Then a distant shout of ‘Gerald!’ echoed up out of the gap in the rocks.

  All of the policemen stopped in their tracks.

  Jarvis spun around.

  ‘Wilkins!’ he bellowed. ‘Stay where you are!’

  Gerald’s brain stalled—but only long enough to notice the policeman swing the rifle from his shoulder and point the barrel right at him.

  The Inspector’s cry of ‘NO!’ and the shot came at the same time. An explosion above Gerald’s head showered rock splinters down on him. He didn’t wait for the policeman to reload. Still clutching the kitten, he scrambled through the opening, like a terrier into a rabbit hole, head first into darkness.

  Whether it was Gerald’s foot catching a boulder on the way through, or the policeman’s second shot dislodging a keystone, something caused a rockslide. Gerald’s eyes were peppered with grit as the opening behind him was swallowed up in tonnes of rubble. He curled into a ball and toppled to his side, trying to make as small a target as possible as stones rained down on him. He held the kitten to his chest and looked up just as an enormous boulder loosened and fell towards him. He held his breath waiting for the impact. But the rock wedged into a cleft and stuck fast, just centimetres from his nose.

  Finally, the crashing and banging stopped. An eerie stillness settled in the cave. Gerald was flat on his back, breathing hard. His shaking hand found its way to his headlamp and he switched it on. The beam barely cut through the dust, like a lighthouse in fog. Then a raspy little tongue started giving him sandpaper kisses on the cheek. The kitten crawled onto Gerald’s shoulder and nuzzled his chin, purring with delight.

  Gerald lifted it onto his chest and looked around. There was no way to tell where the opening had been. All about him were prison walls of impenetrable rock.

  He shuffled backwards to find space to sit up. But in the darkness he didn’t see the sinkhole behind him.

  He toppled in.

  Gerald hit the water on his back. The air was knocked from his lungs. The kitten was jolted from his grasp, and it disappeared into the total darkness that consumed them both.

  His torch blinked out. The rushing flow of water whipped it from his head. He flailed his arms, trying to right himself and search for the kitten. He was being carried along at a frantic pace in an underground stream. All around was dark but he could sense the roof of the tunnel whipping past not far from his head. A low-hanging rock and he would be knocked senseless. He’d drown in seconds. The stream twisted, buffeting him against the smooth rock walls as it tore along its subterranean path. Gerald was swallowing water with almost every breath, as he was jostled and pounded from side to side.

  Finally he was jettisoned over a low waterfall and he tumbled into a rock pool. He found his feet and stood up in the waist-deep water. The sound of rushing water filled the black void around him.

  Then came a voice.

  ‘Gerald!’

  It was Sam. The cry seemed to come from below.

  A soft light appeared, just enough for Gerald to see he was standing behind a natural weir; a rock ledge was holding back the stream. Water poured through a break in the rocks to Gerald’s right, shooting out in a massive arc into the darkness.

  Gerald waded up to the ledge and called out. ‘I’m up here,’ he cried.

  ‘Jump!’ It was Ruby’s voice this time. ‘It’s okay— there’s a deep pool at the bottom.’

  Gerald squinted into the darkness. A single beam swept across the surface of an inky pool about eight metres below.

  ‘Just let the waterfall carry you over,’ Ruby called up.

  Gerald had jumped from the high board at his local swimming pool only once. It hadn’t ended well: a wedgie had almost split him up the middle, like an English muffin.

  ‘Come on,’ Sam called. ‘You have to see what we’ve found.’

  Gerald took one more look over the edge, then pushed into the current that led to the break in the dam. He was swept up in an eddy that spun him in circles and spat him into the void. The flight into black air was as close as Gerald was ever likely to get to a space walk. Time seemed to stop. He had no sense of which way was up and no notion of when he might hit the water.

  He landed bum-first and disappeared under the surface, thinking he’d sink forever. He kicked hard towards what he hoped was fresh air, and made for the dancing light at the edge of the pool.

  Hands reached out and dragged him up a shallow rock shelf and onto a pebbly beach.

  He coughed out a mouthful of spring water. ‘Sam? Ruby? Nico? Is everyone all right?’

  The beam from Sam’s headlamp lit up Ruby and Nico’s smiling faces and a bedraggled kitten in Sam’s arms.

  Gerald reached around and plucked at his pants. ‘Yep,’ he muttered. ‘Giant wedgie.’

  Ruby threw her arms around his neck. The embrace took him by surprise. For a moment, he stood there, mute and awkward. ‘Uh, so,’ he said, finally, ‘clothes clean enough for you now?’

  Ruby eased her grip and let her hands slip down till she held Gerald by his fingertips. ‘What took you so long?’ she said.

  ‘Jarvis turned up and started using me for target practice,’ Gerald said. ‘I only just got through the hole when there was a massive cave-in. We won’t be getting out that way.’

  Sam adjusted the lamp on his head, widening the beam as far as it would go. ‘We’re down to one light,’ he said. ‘But it should be enough to have a look around.’

  ‘A look around at what?’ Gerald said.

  ‘Well, if you can stop groping my sister for long enough,’ Sam said, spinning him around, ‘you’ll probably want to see this.’

  It took a moment for Gerald’s eyes to adjust as the light swept up a gentle slope from the rock pool. Then he almost swallowed his tongue.

  ‘What?’ Gerald managed to say. ‘This…this can’t be true.’ His mind was whirring too fast to process the information his eyes were feeding it.

  Gerald took an unsteady pace forwards and stopped.

  Stretched out before him, as far as the light could penetrate into the gloom, was the ancient city of Delphi— intact and untouched for the past sixteen hundred years.

  Chapter 26

  The spring bubbled and frothed and swirled past the stone wall at the lower reaches of the city, then disappeared into a shallow cave mouth at the far end of the rock pool. Sam’s light provided only faint illumination but it was enough to make out the lower section of an immense metropolis that stretched up a steep incline into the shadows.

  Of all the wonders that Gerald had seen on his holiday—the buried chamber under Beaconsfield, the lost city of Mamallapuram in India, the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel—the sight before him topped them all.

  ‘This is incredible.’ Gerald’s voice was barely audible. ‘What do you think, Nico?’ he asked. ‘You’re the local.’ Gerald couldn’t bring himself to ask the question: Is this the ancient city of Delphi? It was too insane to put into words.

  Nico was keeping close to Sam as they stepped onto a broad expanse of flagstones that led to the city gates. His mouth hung open.

  ‘The Sacred Way,’ he said. ‘We learned about it in school.’ He reached out a hand and grabbed the strap of Sam’s backpack for support. ‘But the pictures in our books were never as beautiful as this.’

  They walked throu
gh a marketplace that was preserved as if snap frozen in time. Stone countertops were stacked with pots and cookware, displayed as if waiting for the doors to open for the summer sales. Awnings hung over some of the shops. Gerald reached up to a section of cloth and it turned to dust at his touch.

  ‘Look over here,’ Ruby said, pulling Sam to a tiny shopfront. She grabbed the back of his head and directed the light onto a tray on a stone pedestal.

  ‘They’re silver pendants.’ Ruby picked up an oval-shaped piece with a tiny loop at the top for a chain to thread through. She rubbed her thumb across the surface, removing a millennium of grime. The trinket shone faintly in the light. Ruby squinted as she tried to make out the design engraved on the front. ‘An archer,’ she said. ‘Apollo, I guess.’

  They passed shop after shop. Everything was cloaked in dust but laid out undisturbed as if all the owners had ducked out for a lunch that had lasted sixteen hundred years.

  They clung together as they entered the main gates, and gazed along the boulevard that led into the city. Sam’s torchlight brushed across scores of statues on pedestals lining the Sacred Way. The unblinking eyes of the bronze honour guard stared down at Gerald, Ruby, Sam and Nico as they made their way forward.

  The only sound was the plashing of the spring and the crunching of shoes over the grit-dusted paving stones. Gerald’s eyes followed the bobbing light from Sam’s torch. The beam played on marble columns and towering figurines. What must have once been grassed terraces planted with olive trees now lay as dusty moonscapes, cut off from the sun for centuries. Gerald crept on, uncomfortably aware of the bronze faces either side of them; they seemed to be glaring down with disapproval.

  ‘Anyone else feeling a little creeped out just now?’ Gerald said.

  ‘It smells like Sam’s shoe cupboard,’ Ruby said, wrinkling her nose. ‘What do you think happened here?’

  No one had an answer.

  They passed huge bronze castings of ancient generals on horseback, and one of a bull. Chariots and spear-wielding warriors heralded their arrival in haunting silence. The skin on the back of Gerald’s neck crawled as if it was alive with centipedes. He couldn’t shake the feeling that every one of the statues around them was about to burst into life.