The Time Hunters and the Spear of Fate (The Time Hunters Saga Book 3)

by carl ashmore

  The girl turned and looked up, her auburn eyes wide with fright. Wearing a ragged linen tunic, black with dirt and grime, she was perhaps ten years of age, with a pretty, olive skinned face, caked in sand, and raven-black hair shaped in a bob. The girl’s eyes flicked over to the ravaged bus before refocusing on Becky.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Becky repeated, afraid the transvocalisors had been damaged in the attack. ‘Have you been hurt?’

  The girl shook her head. ‘I - I am unharmed.’

  ‘You’re safe now,’ Becky said sincerely. ‘Do you understand?’

  With that, the girl threw her arms around Becky and began to sob.

  Joe leapt on to the sand, his face beaming. ‘That was excellent!’ he hollered.

  His loud voice made the girl jolt in Becky’s arms.

  ‘Keep it down, divvy!’ Becky snapped at him.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ Joe replied.

  Uncle Percy appeared behind him, followed by Butterby and then Will. Stepping slowly on to the sand, he took a single stride towards the girl and bowed. ‘Hello,’ he said gently, casting her a warm smile. ‘Please don’t be afraid.’

  The girl released Becky, mopped her eyes and smiled back.

  ‘My name’s Percy Halifax, and this is –’

  But the girl had stopped listening, her face etched once more with something that resembled fear.

  ‘What is it?’ Becky asked at once.

  ‘A-pis …Apis…’ the girl panted, and flung herself on all fours, her face pressed against in the sand. She began to say something so quietly Becky knew it had to be prayer.

  Edgar followed Will and Butterby off the bus and understood straightaway what was happening. ‘Please, young lady,’ he said in his softest voice. ‘Please, stand.’

  The girl looked upwards, tears of joy streaking her cheeks. ‘Apis?’ she repeated.

  ‘I am not Apis,’ Edgar said gently. ‘My name’s Edgar.’

  ‘E-dg-ar?’ the girl replied, confused and bewildered.

  ‘Indeed, and I am not Godly in any way, shape or form. Apis and me just happen to share similar physical characteristics. For instance, we both have very big nostrils…’ He chuckled loudly.

  Looking up at Edgar’s toothy grin, the girl smiled.

  ‘That’s better,’ Edgar said. ‘And may I ask your name?’

  The girl fell silent. ‘I am Layla,’ she replied quietly.

  ‘Hello, Layla,’ Edgar said, extending his hand for her to hold. ‘Please, allow me…’

  Trembling, the girl took it and got to her feet.

  ‘Well, Layla,’ Edgar said. ‘May I first present to you my smashing friends. This is Perce…’ He pointed at Uncle Percy, who bowed again. ‘And this is Becky, Joe, Will and Mister Butterby.’

  Layla scanned each of them, courage returning to her face.

  ‘We are strangers to these lands, Layla,’ Edgar continued.

  As if recalling something from a terrible dream, Layla suddenly panicked, her eyes darting upwards. ‘The birds,’ she said. ‘The iron birds?’

  ‘Will bother you no more,’ Uncle Percy replied.

  Layla went silent again. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘It’s our pleasure,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘Would you like some water?’

  Layla nodded. ‘Please.’

  Uncle Percy re-entered the bus and returned moments later with a bottle of water, which he uncapped and passed over. ‘There you go...’

  Becky recalled the incident on Crete in the summer, the horror on Phineas’ face when he first set his eyes upon a plastic bottle. Layla, in contrast, didn’t show an ounce of fear and snatched the bottle from his hand; guzzling it down, she drained it in one go and exhaled a long, satisfied breath. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  ‘Are you alone, Layla?’ Uncle Percy asked.

  Layla wiped her mouth and nodded.

  ‘Where’s your family?’ Becky asked.

  Layla’s expression darkened; the edge of her lip quivered slightly, but she refused flatly to cry again. ‘My father has been taken…’

  ‘What d’you mean, “taken”?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Taken by the men in black cloaks, those who travel in the belly of the iron birds. They raided our village, and seized the able-bodied men, boys and some girls who were of age.’ Layla’s head tilted downward. ‘My father protested, so they thrashed him mercilessly like an animal, and took him anyway.’

  Seeing the anguish on Layla’s face, Becky felt a bitterness well inside. Her father had been abducted, too. ‘Where did they take him?’ she asked, her fists balling unconsciously.

  ‘To Ankh-Tawy … to Memphis … to dig far beneath the city, searching for I know not what. And they’re not only taking workers, they seized my Adma, too … my beautiful Adma.’

  ‘Who’s Adma?’ Becky asked. ‘Your sister?’

  ‘Adma is my friend, my pet,’ Layla replied miserably. ‘She is as rare and beautiful an animal as any you will find in Mother Egypt. I’ve no idea why they’d take her, she is too small, too fragile to be of any worldly use.’

  ‘And where is your mother?’ Uncle Percy asked.

  ‘I have no mother,’ Layla replied simply, her voice devoid of sentiment. ‘She died giving me life.’

  ‘Then who looks after you?’ Uncle Percy asked.

  ‘I look after myself,’ Layla replied. ‘And I look after my father. And I will look after him again when I have freed him from his captors.’

  A silence swept through the group.

  ‘You’re planning on rescuing your dad on your own?’ Joe said with a snort.

  ‘I need no one else,’ Layla said fearlessly. ‘I am as skilled with a blade as any soldier in the Pharaoh’s guard.’

  ‘But you’re just a girl,’ Joe said, sounding ruder than he had intended.

  ‘And you have the face of a dung beetle,’ Layla snapped back.

  Becky suppressed a giggle.

  ‘But I will liberate my father,’ Layla continued. ‘I swear this, or may Sekhmet smite me down with her sceptre of flame.’

  Becky studied Layla with a mixture of compassion, empathy and admiration. ‘We believe you,’ she said. ‘And we’ll do everything we can to help you get him back. I promise you.’ She glanced at Uncle Percy, her gaze firm and unwavering. ‘We will get him back safely, won’t we?’

  Becky’s tone made it clear it wasn’t a question.

  Chapter 22

  The Great River

  ‘We shall certainly try,’ Uncle Percy replied sincerely, leaving Layla in no doubt he meant every word. ‘But for now, we must get as far away as we can from here. Those Spitfires will have contacted their Headquarters, so we can expect company any second now. Everyone … into Blanche, as quickly as you can!’ Turning swiftly, he sprang on to the bus, followed by Butterby, Joe, Edgar and Will.

  Layla, however, didn’t move a muscle and was staring dumbfounded at the bullet-ridden vehicle.

  Becky noticed, and slipped her hand into hers. ‘Come with us,’ she said urgently. ‘More iron birds are coming.’

  Layla needed no further encouragement and, swallowing a deep breath, scrambled onto the bus. Becky led her down the central aisle and pointed at the seat nearest to Edgar. ‘If you just sit there, Layla.’

  Layla did as she was told, her jaws dangling open as she surveyed her new surroundings.

  Edgar noticed and leaned across. ‘Like you, I’m new to all of this and struggling to get my horns around these curious modes of transport.’

  Uncle Percy kicked the engine into life and pressed a scarlet button on the dashboard. ‘Hold on everyone,’ he shouted back. ‘We need to put some distance between us and the pyramids.’

  Becky heard a low rumbling sound beneath her feet. She knew at once the ultra-booster had been triggered. ‘What’s gonna happen might freak you out a bit,’ she said quickly to Layla and Edgar, as the undercarriage shuddered lightly, ‘but it’s perfectly–’ Her words were all but ignored as, with a faint sigh, the bus took off at a d
izzying speed. Edgar howled with fright. Layla clamped her eyes shut, her olive skin turning chalk white.

  The landscape passed by in a blur, the glittering orange sand replaced quickly by the verdant green of trees and other vegetation. Within moments, the pyramids were merely specks on the horizon. Despite their astonishing speed, Uncle Percy looked unruffled as he maintained a steady hand at the wheel, before decelerating and looking back at Edgar and Layla. ‘Sorry ‘bout that, but we’re quite a few miles from Giza now. Hopefully, that’ll give us a head start.’

  A petrified Edgar looked on the verge of tears. ‘S-smashing, Perce…’

  As the bus trundled along the bumpy path, Uncle Percy seemed to relax and said, ‘Now if I can just draw your attentions to the left. At over four thousand miles, I give you the longest river in the world: The Nile…’

  Becky felt the hairs on her neck stand on end as a vast stretch of water, its banks hidden by thick clusters of papyrus reeds, extended before them; wide and calm, it snaked into the horizon like a never-ending road. She gave a half smile, sat back, and watched a heron paddle the shallows, its spindly legs barely fracturing the water’s surface. This moment of calm came to a sudden halt, however, when she glimpsed Uncle Percy, who was examining the dashboard intently, a troubled look on his face. Feeling suddenly anxious, she hurried over to him and said in a low voice, ‘What’s up?’

  Uncle Percy sighed heavily. ‘It appears the Invisiblator has been damaged in the attack.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I was relying on it to keep us hidden from our adversaries. We are, after all, driving a rather conspicuous red bus across Ancient Egypt. Blanche may as well have ‘drop your bombs here’ plastered all over her roof…’

  Becky’s gaze shifted to the Alto-radar: six purple rhombi had suddenly appeared in the top left hand corner of the display, and were moving rapidly towards the centre of the screen. Her heart sank. ‘And they’re more Spitfires, aren’t they?’

  ‘I believe so.’ Uncle Percy slammed his foot in the brakes. The bus screamed to a halt. He leapt to his feet. ‘RIGHT EVERYONE,’ he yelled. ‘CHANGE OF PLAN. WE’RE WALKING! BETTER STILL …. RUNNING!’

  Suddenly, it was pandemonium.

  Uncle Percy snatched a small, padded leather rucksack from below the dashboard, and looked at Will, who had grabbed an identical rucksack from between his feet. ‘Will, could you help Charles, please?’

  Will ran over to Butterby, who looked flustered.

  ‘Oh, my,’ Butterby puffed. ‘Not more running?’

  ‘Allow me to take your bag,’ Will offered, holding out his hand.

  Butterby clutched his bag tightly to his chest. ‘Not necessary, William,’ he said. ‘I can hold my own.’

  Becky sprinted over to a confused Layla. ‘More planes are coming,’ she said urgently. ‘We’re gonna have to run for it.’

  Terrified, Layla nodded, and the two of them followed the others out of the bus.

  Becky glanced up at the empty sky, waiting with dread for the first sight of the Spitfires she knew would come.

  Uncle Percy glanced left and right, his eyes brightening when he spied a thick copse of date palm trees. ‘Everyone into the trees!’ He watched everyone set off, before taking a fleeting glance at Blanche. ‘Best of luck, old girl,’ he whispered to no one. Then he ran.

  Blood pounded Becky’s ears as she raced alongside Layla. Much to Butterby’s embarrassment, Edgar had hurled him over his shoulder again, and was now charging towards the undergrowth, Uncle Percy bringing up the rear.

  Becky and Layla were the first to reach the trees.

  Panting wildly, Becky whirled round and gestured for the others to hurry as the faint drone of engines met her ears. ‘Come on!’ she yelled.

  Will, Joe, Edgar, Butterby and finally Uncle Percy made it to the trees just in time to see six Spitfires thunder overhead.

  Becky tracked the Spitfires’ path. One curved away from the pack, then another; the two planes circled back. Almost immediately, the other Spitfires followed suit, amending their target. Just then, machine gun fire shattered the air.

  Blanche swayed violently side to side, pounded by a relentless hail of bullets.

  Through dampening eyes, Becky watched a succession of bombs tumble from the planes above. BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM. Deafening blasts ruptured her ears; she closed her eyes as a blast of heat singed her face. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Blanche had been engulfed in a swirling cloud of flame and black smoke. As the inferno settled, she could see the bus had been torn apart; nothing remained, bar the twisted, misshapen remnants of a scorched metal shell.

  Blanche had been obliterated.

  *

  ‘We’ve lost the time machine?’ Becky gulped, glancing at Joe, whose face had hardened with shock. ‘How will we get back to our time?’

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘I’m wearing a portravella and it’s stocked with enough Gerathnium to make a number of time trips. That’s not what worries me.’

  ‘So what does?’ Becky asked.

  ‘Drake and Heim will know we’re here,’ Uncle Percy replied flatly. ‘Now darkness won’t be falling for another few hours so we’ll need to move fast and remain hidden from plain sight.’

  ‘And where exactly are we going?’ Joe asked. ‘I mean, I know we’re heading for Memphis but – ’

  ‘The caves … in the Mokattam Hills,’ Layla interrupted. ‘The caves will give us safety and shelter. We should go there.’

  ‘Excellent idea, Layla,’ Uncle Percy said. ‘How well do you know these caves?’

  ‘Like a shepherd knows his flock,’ Layla replied. ‘I was raised in Memphis, and played daily in the Hills. All the children did. My father moved us to our village some time ago to assist my Uncle Ammon with his farm, but whenever we visit the city we always lodge in the caves.’

  Uncle Percy gave a nod of satisfaction. ‘Then that’s where we’ll rest up.’ He smiled warmly at Layla. ‘I am very glad we met you, Layla.’

  Layla beamed back at him ‘And I am happy to have met you.’

  ‘This is all very lovely, but shouldn’t we get a move on?’ Butterby cut in, peering anxiously through a web of leaves to see the Spitfires scouring the desert in all directions. ‘My guess is that a squadron of Lancaster Bombers teeming with those damn Associates are winging their way here at this very second…’

  No one disagreed with him.

  Moving swiftly, the group traversed their way along the riverbank; the air was as thick as glue, sticky and close, and the trees offered scant protection from the sunlight. Uncle Percy had warned them that crocodiles often lurked in the shallows, which seemed to make Butterby particularly cautious of the water, ensuring Edgar stood between him and the river at all times.

  As the first breath of dusk freshened the air, Becky felt Layla’s hand tug at her arm, pulling her away from the others. ‘Becky, may I question you?’

  ‘Sure. What’s up?’

  Layla seemed nervous as she took a second to voice her question. ‘Are you from the heavens?’

  Becky looked confused. ‘The heavens?’

  ‘From the stars? My father said the black cloaks were from the stars. He said no earthly culture could construct such devices as the iron birds.’

  ‘Oh, you think we’re aliens?’ Becky replied with a grin. ‘Well, I’m not entirely sure about Joe, but the rest of us are definitely from earth. We’re from the future.’

  ‘The future?’ Layla replied, perplexed.

  ‘Many, many years into the future,’ Becky replied. ‘It’s a long story but some people in the future can travel back and forth in time. They’re called time travellers.’

  Layla did her best to take it all in. ‘I think I understand. And why are you here?’

  ‘We’re here to stop the black cloaks from finding something, something they believe is in Memphis.’

  “What?’

  ‘The Spear of Fate.’

  ‘And what’s Th
e Spear of Fate?’

  ‘We don’t know for sure. All we know is that it’s a really old relic, that it’s dead powerful, and that if the black cloaks get it – well, let’s just say it’ll be very bad for everyone, past and future.’ She took a deep breath. ‘You see, their boss, Emerson Drake, is just about the biggest scum-sucking scumbag that’s ever lived. And –’ She paused. ‘ – And he took my father, too.’

  Layla looked shocked. ‘To dig?’

  ‘No,’ Becky replied. ‘He took my dad because he knows loads about relics like the Spear of Fate.’

  ‘Your uncle mentioned another, the one he called Heim?’

  ‘He’s another evil goon. He’s Drake’s current number two, and probably the one calling the shots in Memphis.’ Becky’s expression hardened. ‘Don’t worry, though. Whatever happens we’ll beat them. We’ve done it before. And we’ll get your dad back.’

  ‘But how?’ Layla asked. ‘There are many black cloaks. And you number but six…’

  Becky smiled proudly. ‘Because we have Uncle Percy and Will. And they’re the best there is. You’ll have to trust me on that.’

  Layla grinned back at her. ‘I do trust you. And you must not forget Apis …’ Her head bowed playfully at Edgar. ‘You have the God Apis, too. You cannot fail!’

  Becky smiled. ‘That’s right. We do…’

  With each mile that passed, the group found it harder to maintain their brisk pace. Much to Uncle Percy’s frustration, Butterby insisted on taking short but regular breaks, often wandering away from the group and, when he thought no one was watching, muttering quietly to himself as if searching within for the courage to do the job at hand.

  By seven, the light was dimming and a smattering of stars had appeared in the sky. A tangible sense of relief had filtered through the group, each one of them thankful for the lack of further Associate activity.

  Her legs feeling like girders now, it was Becky who was the first to spot a large, rutted mass of limestone that sprang from the wasteland like a desert island emerging from a tranquil sea.

  ‘The Mokattam Hills,’ Layla said. ‘The great city of Memphis stands just beyond its reaches.’