TimeBomb: The TimeBomb Trilogy: Book 1

by Scott K. Andrews

  ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to go out the back door? Or do you enjoy shooting people?’ replied Kaz, feeling the anger rising at Jana’s glib assuredness. ‘We’ve been here an hour. We were going to keep a low profile, remember? Sneak about under the radar, work out what was going on before showing ourselves. And what have we managed to do? Kill a bunch of soldiers by dropping a burning tree on them, and turn a fourteen-year-old girl into a mass murderer. Stop looking at that gun.’

  Kaz snatched the weapon from Jana, dropped it to the floor and stomped on it hard until it cracked, sparked and spilt a foul-smelling liquid.

  Jana, astonished and horrified by what he had done, pushed him in the chest aggressively. He staggered backwards.

  ‘You moron,’ she yelled, fists clenched, visibly restraining herself from punching him in the face. ‘What did you do that for? That was our one advantage.’

  ‘Enough killing,’ he replied, feeling as though he were about to boil over with rage.

  ‘Great,’ said Jana, sarcastically. ‘Let’s hope those soldiers feel the same way, yeah? ’Cause if they don’t, we’re screwed.’

  A particularly guttural sob from Dora’s dad interrupted the escalation of Kaz’s temper long enough for him to force a few deep breaths. He clenched his fists, turned on his heels and stalked away from Jana. He had to get away from her.

  ‘I’m going to climb the tower,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘See what’s happening outside.’

  Dora was also fighting her feelings. They were too confused and powerful to make sense of. She found herself bouncing between joy, shame, fear, anger and guilt moment to moment. She took comfort in the strong warmth of her father’s embrace, but after a few seconds she unfolded herself and set her feet back on the ground. Then she gently took his arms and prised them open, holding his hands as she stepped back and smiled up at him.

  ‘I’m back. Do not fret. All will be made clear to you, I promise,’ she said, amazed at the sight of her strong, silent father tear-stained and sobbing. He was beside himself. Dora swallowed her sobs. Her feelings didn’t matter, she had to take care of her father. ‘But not yet,’ she said. ‘Our situation is perilous and you do not yet apprehend the full seriousness of it.’ She was about to tell him about James, but looked into his eyes and found she could not bring herself to quell his joy with such horrible tidings. Not yet.

  ‘Where have you been?’ he asked. ‘Look at you. You haven’t aged a day. And what are you wearing?’

  She saw no suspicion in his eyes, not like in James’. Her father felt only wonder and joy. Dora squeezed his hands and smiled reassuringly. ‘Later. First, we must evacuate this church. Get the women and children from the crypt, it’s no longer safe.’

  The father she knew would never have taken instruction from a woman, let alone a girl, least of all his daughter. But this man, his personality broken and reassembled by five years of grief and loneliness, saw the wisdom in her words, composed himself, took back his hands and ran to the crypt without even asking how Dora knew the villagers were there. Dora watched him begin to usher the women and children out of the vestry door and into the woods.

  ‘You shouldn’t have gone running off like that.’ Dora turned to see Jana regarding her coolly. ‘Could have got yourself killed.’

  ‘I know,’ said Dora, bowing her head. ‘I am sorry.’

  It looked to Dora as if Jana tried to reward her apology with a smile, but she was so tired and stressed that it came out as more of a grimace. ‘’S OK,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘This whole day’s been a headtrip, can’t blame you for freaking out. Please don’t do it again, yeah?’

  Dora nodded.

  ‘Look, we really need to get out of here,’ said Jana. ‘So we … hang on, who are they?’ She pointed to the crowd of villagers filing out the back door.

  ‘The women and children of the village,’ explained Dora. ‘They were hiding from the soldiers, hoping they would pass through if the village was empty. But now I fear this church will be put to the flame and they must flee for their lives.’

  ‘Hey.’ Dora turned to see Kaz, breathless and wide eyed, in the door of the church tower staircase. He was gesturing for them to come with him. ‘Quick, you need to see this.’

  Jana ran ahead of Dora, and together they hurried up the narrow circular stone staircase as quickly as they were able. Ascending past the bells, they emerged on to the roof and joined Kaz at the crenellated battlements, looking down at the village green.

  The bisected oak still burnt fiercely but the soldiers were no longer trying to free their friends from the flames; they were long dead anyway. Instead the soldiers were mustered in a line before the flames, facing towards the village. Dora squinted to see what they were doing, trying to see whether James was amongst them. She could not see him, and for the first time she realised he might have perished in the fire. She was glad she had not told her father of his return. Better he believe his son long gone than learn he had lost his soul to zealotry and then been burnt alive.

  ‘What are they doing?’ asked Dora, as the soldiers appeared to raise their pikes and muskets.

  ‘Look,’ said Kaz, pointing.

  ‘Oh no,’ said Jana.

  What Dora saw chilled her blood. Ten men in black, their heads and faces a riot of colour, were walking in perfect formation, advancing slowly towards the soldiers. ‘Who are they?’

  ‘I think they’re the same guys Kaz and I met in 2014, at the labs,’ replied Jana. ‘Same build, same kind of outfit. They move the same way, too. Not natural.’

  ‘That proves it,’ said Kaz. ‘Someone from the future is here.’

  Kaz was interrupted by a deafening fusillade of musket fire as the soldiers peppered the advancing guards with shot. The soldiers briefly vanished in a cloud of smoke. Dora could only imagine how terrified they must have been when it cleared to reveal all ten of the menacing figures still advancing.

  ‘Why are they here? What do they want?’ wondered Jana.

  ‘My guess?’ said Kaz. Then he pointed to the neat angled line where the oak tree had been severed. ‘They want to find out who did that.’ As he said this, he flashed Jana a meaningful look, which Dora took as an accusation.

  ‘But how did they know? Unless they were … Oh,’ said Jana.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Dora.

  Jana pointed skywards. ‘We’re being watched,’ she said.

  Dora looked up into the sky, heavy with clouds that promised imminent snow, but could see nothing at first. Then she caught a tiny glint of light, high up, and gasped. ‘What is that?’

  ‘A drone,’ said Jana.

  ‘You’re kidding,’ said Kaz, shielding his eyes with his hand and squinting upwards. ‘How can you see that?’

  ‘ENL chips aren’t the only enhancements available,’ said Jana, tapping the side of her eye socket. ‘It looks knocked together but it’s an eyesky. Not standard issue for Cromwell’s army.’

  ‘What is a drone?’ asked Dora.

  ‘A very good reason for us to get off this roof and into the woods as fast as we possibly can,’ said Jana.

  ‘Agreed,’ said Kaz.

  They were halfway back down the staircase when terrible screaming began to drift across from the village green.

  Dora led the way down the staircase, as fast as she was able.

  17

  Dora held the strange contraption up to her eyes then recoiled in surprise.

  ‘That is wonderful,’ she said, examining it closely. ‘What is it called?’

  ‘Binoculars,’ said Kaz.

  ‘I like it.’ Dora’s voice was gleeful, making her sound like a fourteen-year-old girl for the first time since they had arrived in 1645. She was scanning the faces of the captured soldiers for her brother, but could not find him. She knew he had not been one of the soldiers she had gunned down, so he either perished beneath the boughs of the blazing oak or he fled to safety at some point. Despite what he had done, Dora found herself wishing fervently
that he was safe. If he lived, there was still a chance he could be reasoned with, saved, made again the man she’d once known. She continued to inspect the faces of the terrified captives, checking and double-checking.

  She, Jana and Kaz crouched in the undergrowth watching the green. It had been out of their sight for a few minutes as they fled the church and found cover, and in those few minutes the situation had changed dramatically. The soldiers were now all kneeling in a straight line, their wrists bound. The strange men who had overpowered them so easily were asking questions, slapping and punching, kicking and gouging their captives in search of answers.

  ‘I wish we could hear what they’re saying,’ said Kaz.

  ‘Their captain told me they had been sent here by Parliament to meet with Lord Sweetclover and find out to which party of this war he pledges allegiance,’ explained Dora. ‘If this woman, Quil, is at the hall, she perhaps thought these soldiers a threat, maybe she sent these strange blue-faced men to deal with them.’

  ‘But Quil’s goons arrive to find evidence that some other time traveller has already picked a fight with the soldiers, so now they’re trying to gather intelligence about us. Makes sense,’ said Jana.

  ‘What will they do if they get no answers?’ asked Kaz.

  The answer was immediately provided. Dora gasped in horror as the ten strange men began shooting the soldiers with their own muskets and pistols, or running them through with swords and pikes one by one. The tenor of the screaming worsened as they worked their way through the men, as those left alive realised their imminent fate and began to cry and beg for mercy that did not come.

  Jana turned to Kaz and whispered something to him in harsh, angry Polish. Dora felt certain it was a rebuke for his destroying the gun, an act that rendered them helpless to intervene in the massacre unfolding before them.

  Kaz and Jana turned away after a while, unable to watch, but Dora kept her eyes fixed on the horror, still trying desperately to pick out James.

  When the slaughter was finished, the guards released the soldiers’ bonds and scattered the weapons around the bodies, to make it seem as if they had died in battle. Next they set fire to the tree trunk, to disguise the clean line where Jana’s laser had cut through it. Finally, satisfied with their work, they made for the woods on the far side of the green.

  ‘They are finished,’ said Dora. The other two rejoined her. Jana eyed her suspiciously, uncomfortable that she alone had remained to watch.

  ‘Think they’re looking for us?’ asked Kaz, watching the guards disappear into the gloom of the woods.

  ‘I think so,’ replied Jana. ‘Good thing they’re heading in the wrong direction.’

  ‘They are not,’ said Dora. ‘That is the way we must go, to Sweetclover Hall.’

  There was a sharp crack behind them and Jana whirled around.

  ‘It is I,’ said Thomas, hands spread wide.

  ‘Not good, creeping up on us like that,’ warned Jana.

  ‘It worked well enough the first time,’ he replied with a smile, handing the backpack to Kaz. ‘It was exactly where you said it would be. It is a most strange material.’

  ‘Did you open it?’ asked Jana.

  ‘I gave you my word I would not,’ he replied.

  ‘Good for you,’ said Jana. ‘If a backpack amazes you, the Tupperware would have blown your mind. New world. Full of wonders.’

  Thomas nodded, aware that he was being made fun of but unable to grasp the joke.

  ‘I heard musket fire and screaming,’ he said. ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘Cleaning up,’ said Kaz, inspecting the backpack’s contents.

  Thomas walked to his side and looked out at the green. ‘God preserve us,’ he said as he took in the scene.

  ‘Good news is, I think you can take back your village,’ said Jana.

  ‘Is everybody safe?’ asked Dora, stepping to her father’s side and taking his hand.

  He nodded. ‘The other men were still arguing about whether to intervene when I arrived with the women and children. They are waiting at Potter’s Hill.’

  ‘You must rejoin them, and set them to work,’ said Dora. ‘Dig a pit, bury the evidence, say the tree was hit by lightning. Nobody will be any the wiser. There may be other soldiers in the area, it would not do for them to think our village had perpetrated this atrocity.’

  Thomas looked at her askance. ‘You speak as if you were not coming with me.’

  Dora sighed. ‘Father, there is something Kaz, Jana and I must do first. Something important, which I cannot explain at present. You must trust me.’

  Thomas tried to find an answer but before he could argue, Dora continued. ‘I must to Sweetclover Hall,’ she said. ‘Mother is there, is she not?’

  ‘She is.’

  ‘I will find her, complete my business, then we shall both come back to Pendarn,’ said Dora. ‘I promise, we shall return before tomorrow nightfall.’

  Thomas cupped her cheek in his hand and smiled. ‘My little girl, telling me what to do.’

  Dora put her hand over his. ‘Never.’ She smiled.

  ‘I will not leave you alone, however,’ he continued. ‘After so long from my sight I fear losing you again. I shall return to Potter’s Hill, give instructions to the others, then bring my monthly flour delivery to the hall. As it happens, I was due there this morning. I shall see you there. I must have answers from you, Dora.’

  Dora wanted to tell him not to come, but she could see he was not going to be dissuaded. She realised this might not be a bad thing. If things got difficult at the hall, he could take Mother to safety.

  ‘As you wish, Father,’ she said. ‘Join us at the hall and I swear you shall have your answers.’

  Thomas turned to Kaz and Jana, his face altogether sterner. ‘Take good care of my daughter. I shall rejoin you before sunset. God help you if anything befalls her.’

  Jana rolled her eyes. Kaz nodded and said, ‘Understood.’

  Dora and Thomas embraced, then he hurried away. The moment he was out of sight Dora ran as hard as she could, out across the green to the gruesome pile of bodies that lay scattered there.

  She estimated she had fifteen minutes before her father reached Potter’s Hill and could once again look down on the carnage.

  Just enough time to check the bodies to see whether James was amongst them.

  Thomas walked away from the three young people, happy and proud. The horrors of the day should have been enough to fill him with despair at man’s cruelty and the madness of civil conflict, but seeing his daughter again had released so much emotion it was almost too much for him to bear. The astounding force of his love overwhelmed the horror, made it seem distant and insignificant. His girl was alive and well.

  Her presence raised more questions than he could formulate, and her manner had changed so much in the last five years that she was almost a different person – slightly broken yet braver and more thoughtful – but it was his Dora, returned to him. He felt certain that nothing could surprise him more than the events of this day.

  He hurried back to his friends and neighbours, determined to complete his grim task as quickly as possible so that he could hurry to the hall and be reunited with Dora and his wife, so they could sit by the fire, sup and share tales of the years they had missed. Who knew, maybe this could repair the breach between Sarah and him. Maybe his family could be put back together again somehow. Maybe she would finally forgive him, and maybe then he could finally forgive himself.

  He hurried on, lost in his thoughts and dreams until blinded by a flash of red fire directly ahead of him. A loud crackling sound and a stench of burning made him stagger backwards and raise his cudgel, trying to flush the sudden smoke-blindness from his eyes. When his vision cleared he found himself looking down at the young man, Kaz, who was scrambling about in a pile of smoking leaves, breathing hard and looking left and right in confusion.

  Thomas did not immediately announce himself. His mouth was hanging open and his puls
e was racing. After a moment, Kaz noticed him and the sight seemed to calm him. The young man rose to his feet and Thomas backed away, brandishing his cudgel.

  ‘What witchcraft is this?’ he hissed.

  Kaz held his hands out to indicate that he was no threat, and stood his ground. ‘Mr Predennick?’ he asked, as if he was struggling to recognise a man he had seen only moments before.

  ‘You know my name well enough, wizard,’ replied Thomas, struggling to keep his voice level. ‘Where is Dora? What in God’s name is occurring here today?’

  Kaz blinked. ‘Today?’ he said. ‘What day is this? Have you seen me today?’

  ‘I saw you but five minutes ago,’ said Thomas angrily. ‘As well you know.’

  So shocked had he been by Kaz’s sudden appearance that he only now registered the true strangeness of the boy’s aspect. Kaz was soaking wet, shivering with cold and dressed in different clothes – a white frilly shirt above leather trousers and high black leather boots. His hair was longer too, and there was an unimpressive dusting of furry beard upon his face.

  ‘So this is Pendarn? This is the day we first met?’ Kaz sounded desperate, fearful and excited all at once.

  ‘I know not what you are raving of,’ replied Thomas, ‘but I bade you farewell but five minutes ago, back down this path a ways, as you, my daughter and the boy Jana set off for Sweetclover Hall.’

  Before Thomas had finished his sentence Kaz had begun to laugh, loud and throaty with a slight edge of hysteria. He fell backwards into the leaves and sat there, holding his head, laughing and laughing until the water dripping from his hair mingled with tears. Thomas could think of nothing to do but stand and watch as his fearful confusion faded into nervous curiosity.

  ‘I made it,’ said Kaz, when the hysteria had subsided. ‘I finally made it.’

  He looked up at Thomas, wiping his eyes, composing himself, smiling broadly.

  ‘Thomas,’ he said. ‘Your daughter’s in terrible danger. I need your help.’

  18

  Half an hour later, Kaz, Jana and Dora walked stealthily through the woodlands, following the same route the guards had taken, heading for Sweetclover Hall.