TimeBomb: The TimeBomb Trilogy: Book 1 (20 page)

The hands moved away from her shoulders and she felt them encircle her, beneath her knees and arms, lifting her. Even in her state she knew that they were the arms of a friend, although she could not have said who. She allowed herself to be carried back into the church. She was still racked by great, heaving sobs as she felt the arms embrace her, turning the act of carrying into a hug. She looked up through her tears into her father’s eyes. She had not realised he was there, and the thrill of mixed joy and terror as she met his gaze broke through her fugue and returned her to the world. For he was crying too, into her hair. His sudden, raw emotion collided with her own and cancelled it out in the simplest way possible; it gave her someone to look after.

She returned his embrace, hugging him tightly and saying over and over, ‘It’s all right, I’m here. It’s all right.’

Once Thomas and Dora were safely through the door, Kaz closed and bolted it. He turned to Jana, who was examining the gun she had reclaimed from where Dora had discarded it.

‘We can’t stay here,’ Kaz told Jana, reverting to Polish. ‘The fire won’t keep them occupied for long, and once this church is surrounded we’ll be trapped.’

Jana shrugged, her attention focused on the weapon. ‘Let them surround us,’ she said. ‘All I need to do is go up the church tower with this and they’ll be running or dead within seconds. They can’t hurt us, Kaz, relax.’

‘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.

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.’