The newly invigorated burning fury was shooting out through the door like a horizontal volcano. The stairs, happy to employ the efforts of its reinforcements, exploded into an inferno.
By the time she’d cleared the balcony she was already enveloped in smoke and flames, broken glass and the residue of the rapidly disintegrating building. But it wasn’t pain or fear, or relief or anger, that forced the scream from her damaged throat and the tears of anguish from her eyes as her body descended into a paroxysm of despair. Then she hit the ground and found the relief of temporary oblivion.
***
The first thing she was aware of was lights. Somebody was shining a torch in her face, then other torches, bright ones, dim ones, car lights, flashing blue lights, flashing red lights, and a kaleidoscope of colour from the reflections. Then the sounds drifted in. People talking, people crying, a crackling radio voice, and then another, somebody shouting instructions, engines going and doors slamming.
The pain came next. Her left hand, her right forearm and her feet – oh, how her feet hurt. She was still choking on the smell of petrol fumes and the stench of fire being quenched by water. The gut-wrenching mix of steam and smoke triggered her memory.
“Rayn! Oh my God, Rayn.” He screamed on all levels of her senses. She tried to get up but a burly medic was holding her down. “I have to get to Rayn! I must find her,” she called out, her mind refusing to accept the worst. Then she heard a familiar voice.
“Come on, you lazy sod. What are you doing down there? We’ve got things to do.”
“Rayn! You’re alive!” Amelia screamed out the obvious in relief, her mind telling her that she’d reached an ‘After’ more welcome than snow on Christmas morning.
“Only slightly more than you, by the looks of things,” Rayn gasped back at her. Pushing the surprised medic aside she grabbed Amelia’s uninjured hand and pulled her upright. “We’ve got to go, Amelia. I heard a cello and it hurt. Your mum needs us. Now! Let’s go!” and she dragged her off towards the road. “Caz and Claire are okay though,” she added.
But the very mention of her mother had driven all other thoughts from Amelia’s mind. Her pain vanished and the two girls ran at top speed towards the flower shop, ignoring the rough surface as they crossed the road.
As they approached, they saw that all the lights were on and the door was open. All Nigel’s patient instructions on strategy and alternatives were gone as they dived through the door, ready to kill.
“Mother!” screamed Amelia.
“In here,” a voice called from the living room. “It’s okay, we’re fine.”
Amelia and Rayn stood in the doorway, holding each other up. Five people gazed in horror at the sight of their smouldering clothes, smoke blackened faces and badly singed hair.
“What happened?” everyone chorused together in variations of the same question.
Amelia and Rayn were so smoke-blackened they were almost unrecognisable. Rayn had lost a good deal of hair and there was dried blood around her mouth. Her hands were cut and bleeding and the anorak, the only clothing she could grab in her initial panic, hung in scorched shreds. She had one arm on Amelia’s shoulder to take the weight off her badly damaged knee. It was bleeding badly, her blood staining the carpet.
Amelia too was a mess. She had a bandage around her head, with blood showing through. She had also lost some hair, but not as much as Rayn. The front of her T-shirt was covered in blood and her clothes too, hung in shreds. One hand had been hastily bandaged and she had the arm around Rayn’s waist to keep herself upright.
Now the adrenalin had subsided, the pain had begun to regain its dominance. Two pairs of exhausted, red-rimmed eyes gazed back at everyone as the girls slowly and painfully moved to the settee and eased themselves down. Their feet looked as though they had been over cooked on a barbecue.
They gazed in amazement round the living room. Joe was sitting at the table. He had his shirtsleeve rolled up while Sheila was stitching a nasty cut along the edge of his hand. Jemima sat next to him, her right hand covered by a wet flannel and clutched to her chest. Lucy was in her carver chair with Bridie next to her. Both women looked pale and shaken, but the half-empty bottle of brandy between them looked to be doing its job.
Bridie poured two more glasses with a liberal measure and gave one each to the two girls. Amelia managed okay, as she still had one good hand. Rayn, with her lacerated palms and fingers, gently cupped the glass with both hands and drained it. She then held it out to her mother like Oliver with his porridge bowl. Nobody had spoken a word. Bridie managed a smile as she topped her daughter’s glass up, and then responding to Amelia’s nod did the same for her. Both girls felt relief knowing their mothers were safe and unharmed.
Jim appeared in the doorway. “Any chance of one of those, please?” he said. He, too, was smoke-blackened. His shirt was torn and one shoulder was raw and blistered, but apart from that he was unhurt. He took the drink that Bridie have given him and, after checking that his dad and Jem were Okay he sat next to his sister before taking a drink. A consideration observed by an admiring Amelia.
“Is somebody going to do some explaining, or shall we wait and catch it on the late night news?” Sheila was on a short fuse. She was pale and her accent had turned into a drawl. Thankfully, her hands weren’t shaking.
“What happened here, Mum?” said Amelia. Her mother shook her head. Bridie did the same.
“Don’t ask me,” said Sheila. “I just woke up feeling sick.” Lucy and Bridie nodded in agreement.
“I’d better explain,” said Joe, wincing as Sheila tied his bandage. “I saw the fire from my place – we’re right opposite the rectory. Then I saw you running across the green, and then Rayn. I didn’t know Sheila was here and I thought that Lucy and Bridie were here on their own. Being the way I am, and bearing in mind all I’ve learned in the last few days, all I could think of was ‘diversion’. I sent Jim over to see if he could help you two, and Jem and I came up here. There were two men here. All three of you ladies were out of it and they were carrying your mum to a waiting car.”
“Sorry to interrupt, Joe,” said Sheila. She had been looking at the girls’ feet. “You’ve got glass and gravel in your feet. I can patch you up for now, but you need a professional.” She pulled out some lint and splashed some liquid from one of her bottles onto it. “Rayn, hold this to your knee. It will hurt. You’ve stripped it to the bone.”
Rayn did as she was told and ended up writhing in agony. “Ow! Ow! Ouch!” she yelled. “Don’t you just love these weekend family get-togethers’?” she said, then to cover her embarrassment added, “I wonder what they’ve got planned for next weekend.”
The humour broke the sombre mood and everyone laughed releasing the post battle stress, but it was mostly fuelled by the brandy, another bottle of which Bridie had conjured up from somewhere.
“Anyway,” Joe continued. “These guys dropped your mother and came at us. And my little girl here,” he indicated Jem. “Well, I’ve never seen a woman use a right cross before, straight over his guard and into the temple. He’d been expecting a kick in the nasties.”
“I did make a slight error,” said Jem. “I hit him wrong and dislocated my knuckle.”
“Well, so did I, but we won’t go into that,” answered Joe, indicating his bandaged hand. “Suffice it to say, they left, quickly.”
“And you all slept through that?” said Amelia.
“They couldn’t help it. Those guys used chloroform.” He explained.
Several switches opened and closed in Amelia’s brain and a bright light went on.
“Of course, that’s it! Rayn, we’ve been so stupid. Why didn’t we see it? Ryxyl doesn’t want Melkins’ book, or the Codex. She wants you, Mum. You are the key to all this. She wants you alive. That’s why she didn’t kill you last week when she had the chance. That’s what tonight was all about.” Before she could say anything else, a voice came from the doorway.
“Well done Amelia, you
got there, and almost three years early. You were right, Lucy. I’m sorry I doubted you.” It was Dr Barrenborn, dressed in an ankle-length cotton nightgown, a woollen cardigan and carpet slippers, yet somehow still magnificent. The silence was impenetrable. Even the furniture didn’t dare creak.
Then pulling a small drawstring leather purse from her cardigan pocket she lobbed it to Sheila. “Two doses each for the two girls, one each for everyone else except Mrs Mgee.” Bridie nodded in acknowledgement. Amelia and Rayn were about to remonstrate but were cut down by Maddy, who took control by sheer force of personality.
“Thank you, Mr Young, for your remarkable insight and timely intervention. You prevented a complete disaster. I would like to thank your children as well, for their courage and lack of hesitation when their help was needed. Amelia, with your permission I’d like to transfer everybody to the Hall.”
Everyone looked at Amelia, shocked at the doctor’s choice of words. Amelia, trying not to look bewildered, nodded her assent. An ‘after’ just caught up with me and I didn’t see the ‘before’ coming. She thought.
“Thank you,” continued the doctor. “There are two reasons for this. The first is medical. I need you two in my surgery to work on your injuries; I want you up and about by tomorrow. The second is damage control. Several witnesses saw Amelia’s flying leap from the balcony carrying a survivor. And you Rayn, dragging another one from a burning building with your clothes on fire. It won’t be long before the news media arrive with their verbal bulldozers to seal this place off. Your leap through a closed double glazed window with yet another one, James, and then going back in, means that the burger bar may suffer the same fate. Fortunately, there are no pictures.”
It was Jim’s turn to be the focus of attention. He grinned like a small child. “Are they okay?” he asked. “Mrs West, I mean, and the girls?” Amelia felt sick at the thought that she hadn’t asked earlier.
“The vicar is dead, as you predicted. Mrs West is alive, but may not survive her injuries. The two sisters are already up at the Hall. They’re fine, just very frightened. Shall we go?” Then, glancing at Amelia’s and Rayn’s feet, she added, “It’s going to be a long night.”
“You know,” commented Rayn when they were in the car, “I feel like one of Maddy’s map pins, being shoved into pigeon holes like this.”!
“Don’t mix your metaphors Rayn, but I know what you mean,” answered Amelia.
“I mean, Maddy’s very clever and efficient and all that. But she still seems so cold, so impersonal.”
“I shouldn’t worry about that,” said Jim. “Some people are like that. It’s like when we started the burger bar, dad was all over us. Took control completely. Jem and I had to make him understand that we were working with him, not for him. We had to prove ourselves, but it worked out in the end.”
“Thanks for that, Jim,” replied Amelia. “But I’m beginning to believe that Maddy hasn’t the slightest idea about human relationships. You know, how our personal feelings reflect our behaviour towards each other. It goes beyond corporate management and responsibility.”
At the Hall Lorraine had managed to organise plenty of assistance, even at that late hour.
Lucy and Bridie were taken off for some TLC and a clean-up while the others went down to the infirmary. Sheila fixed Jem’s dislocated knuckle while Lorraine, hovering like an expectant father, wrapped her in compassion. After a glance at Joe, who gave her a smile and nodded his acceptance, she took her off to look after her.
A very friendly and efficient nurse re-dressed Joe’s hand and soothed Jim’s shoulder. Then, after being informed that the lounge bar was still open, they decided there was no reason for them to hang around the infirmary any longer. Sheila decided to join them, after making sure the girls were comfortable.
Maddy arrived and spent the next hour gently removing every tiny piece of foreign matter from the girl’s feet. She removed the other dressings and checked the damage, then turned to the nurse. “Moira,” she said, “put some Watkins Salve on the superficial wounds and can you make up a batch of TR 12. I know it’s a bit drastic, but there’s no choice I’m afraid. Cover their feet, a good coating, as well as Amelia’s hand and arm wounds, and Rayn’s hands and her knee. Freshen them up and put them to bed, sedated first. And a constant watch throughout the night. How are the others by the way?”
“Everyone seems okay.” said Moira. “Most of them are down in the bar exercising some damage control, they’ll be fine.”
“Well thank goodness our medication doesn’t exclude Alcohol. I think I’ll go and join them when we’ve finished here. How are Lucy and Bridie?”
“Oh they’re okay.” Laughed Moira, “They wrapped themselves round a bottle of brandy and are well out of it. I checked Lucy over as you asked. No detectable damage but I’ll keep a close eye on her. I must go and make up this TR 12, could you stay with these two till I get back please?”
“Maddy?” Amelia said after Moira had left. “These fights for survival seems to be dragging on a bit, are we getting anywhere?”
“Of course my dear, why do you ask?” answered the Doctor.
“Well, Ryxyl seems in a hurry to get going. She’s attacking both us and Galileo, I was just wondering what sort of time frame we’re working in.”
“Oh don’t worry, we have plenty of time. According to your father anyway. He discounted Professor Melkins theories about Aliens, based on the laws of physics and what we now know about the Universe.”
“Then what did he think is going to happen?” Amelia asked.
“He broke it down mathematically, based on population. The Earth can only sustain a limited amount of human interference, and he agreed with the professor about recurring past civilisations, but concluded that the demise would be due mainly to over population He reasoned that regardless of social or technological achievements, every ten thousand years or so the Earth’s human population reaches around nine billion. That’s when the planet can no longer sustain us and things get a bit wobbly. It’s the point of no return, when food wars break out and society collapses. Both humans and animals turn on each other and tear the planet apart in a bid to survive.
Current estimates are that we will reach that number by the end of this century, so we have a window of a few decades to get ourselves nicely tucked away and organised before the storm. And anyway, you girls won’t be ready for the challenge for a few more years yet. So let’s concentrate on getting you back in shape.”
“Well, having a few decades is cold comfort. But we’d best make good use of it.” Amelia responded.
“But isn’t there something we can do instead of hiding away till it’s all over?” Asked Rayn
“Apparently not.” answered Maddy. “There’s a lot more to this and will be explained, but right now I have to put you to sleep, Moira will be back in a moment and I don’t want to get told off.”
“But what about building a fleet of space ships and we buzz off somewhere else.” said Rayn, grasping at fantasy straws.
“Too late I’m afraid,” Maddy explained. “We don’t have the international co-operation or the technology for such a vast undertaking, It would take a couple of centuries to thrash out the financial and legal commitments alone, not to mention our lack of understanding of cryogenics to survive the distances involved, that’s if we could find somewhere to go.”
Amelia and Rayn were put in a large double bed, the only way they could be together, and Amelia felt the sting of a needle in the back of her hand.
“Why the sedation?” asked Rayn, who didn’t care much for needles. Maddy smiled.
“You really don’t want to be awake when the TR 12 starts to take effect. TR stands for tissue regeneration. Twelve is the strongest dosage, and it hurts.”
After a while Amelia began to feel wonderful. The room was wonderful. The people who moved around her were wonderful. The world was wonderful and life was won…drer… flul…
But it wasn’t; her mind began to fight the m
edication as her feet and her hand started to hurt. There was something horribly wrong. Fighting a losing battle she tried to organise her fractured thoughts.
Professor Melkins, her father and Maddy, Mum, you’re all wrong, It’s nothing to do with…it’s the message, Hipparchus found the message in the stars, it’s…stop… wait. And her mind and body succumbed to the darkness, just a few inches from reality and truth.
END OF BOOK ONE
****
Book Two Preview
Betrayed by Mykl, the man she loves, Amelia sees the message in the stars, confirming the impending cataclysm. Having located Sundoor the girls, with Maddy and Lucy and a small group of friends, are chased across the Sahara desert by ruthless mercenaries. Outnumbered, out of supplies, and up against a local tribe of Arabs; ‘The Gate Keepers’; the three girls must solve the deadly riddles of the ‘labyrinth’; the gateway to ‘Sundoor’, and face Ryxyl herself.
About the Author
When I was ten I discovered H.G.Wells, it started a wonderful journey into the future. A few years later my first sight of the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna in North Africa did the same for the past. In between I became a musician (I played an accomplished clarinet and a mean saxophone) which has kept me firmly rooted in the present. I know live albeit quietly with my wife of fifty years, with my three daughters, ten young adult grandchildren and two great grandchildren all in close proximity.
This eBook is published by
Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd
28-30 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3EL.
www.grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
All rights reserved
Copyright © A.J. Reynolds, 2013
The right of A.J. Reynolds to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with Section 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The book cover image is copyright to A.J. Reynolds
The Chrysalid Conspiracy Page 51