Timelock

by R. G. Knighton

  “You bastards.”

  Carl yelled as yet again he lashed out his right foot, catching his heel on the lip of the cauldron, upsetting its balance and spilling out all of the macabre contents. As the foul broth splashed across the ground there was a blinding flash and Carl turned away shielding his eyes. When he recovered and looked all around, there was nothing to be seen, everything had disappeared leaving Carl all alone amid a pile of damaged empty cardboard boxes.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Tyler stood in his private rooms, beside himself with anticipation. He had planned the evening’s entertainment with all the excitement of a bride’s mother before the wedding and now it was almost here. He had dressed himself in a black Saville row tailored dinner suit with contrasting powder blue silk shirt, bowtie and pocket handkerchief. He then tamed his unruly curls as best he could, sprayed his mouth with mint breath freshener then checked his appearance one last time before setting off for the banqueting hall.

  From out of nothing, he had persuaded ‘cook’ to produce a seven course dinner for four and had called in a favour to hire a professional string quartet at short notice. The foursome now sat safely ensconced on the mezzanine, ready to provide the evening’s entertainment, nothing could go wrong.

  When the ladies had been given time to freshen up, Tyler let them loose on the house’s vast collection of vintage couture dresses to choose any they liked to wear for the evening, and he now paced the floor, waiting eagerly for them to arrive.

  Marion appeared first and she peeped shyly around the door to make sure it was the right room before smiling with relief and coming in. Hastily trotting across the dance floor she looked all around then kissed Tyler coyly on the cheek, thanking him for everything he had done. To compliment her petite figure, she wore a shimmering silver sequinned, straight cut, knee length flapper dress with matching feather poking out of the head scarf which draped stylishly over her left shoulder. Quickly followed by Mary and then Chelsea who squealed in delight at the magnificence of the hall and the decorations that Tyler had organised by bribing some of the staff into overtime work to complete. Dancing across the floor to the music, the memories of grand social events and hunt balls flooded her brain as Chelsea twirled around holding onto an invisible partner, until she reached Tyler and grabbed him by the hand forcing him to dance, much to the delight of the others. Chelsea had plumbed for early Victorian purple ball gown, very tight at the waist with a big hooped skirt that reached almost to the floor. Mary’s choice was a black turn of the century late Victorian outfit not too dissimilar to Chelsea’s, but with a narrower skirt and a severe Basque type top which left very little to the imagination as she had chosen not to wear the modesty shawl that came with it, making it very hard for Tyler not to stare at her décolletage. Mary noticed this and used every opportunity to flaunt herself; much to Tyler’s embarrassment.

  Before personally seating everyone at the beautifully appointed table of antique silver cutlery and a fine bone china dinner service, Tyler removed a bottle of Veuve Clicquot from the ice bucket; poured everyone a drink in Orpington crystal champagne flutes then raised his own glass to propose a toast.

  “I must say you ladies all look exquisite and it is an honour and a privilege to be your host for the evening. To my honoured guests!”

  The ladies nodded their acceptance and everyone carefully chinked glasses before taking a sip. Tyler crossed the floor and pulled sharply on a purple sash hanging down the side of the huge flaming log fireplace. Within seconds a team of liveried servants paraded into the hall laden with food fit for royalty. For all seven courses accompanied by the subtle tone of chamber music, Tyler entertained his guests with excellent conversation and repartee courtesy of the finest finishing school money could buy. When the meal was complete, everybody leaned back in their chairs, replete from the truly magnificent repast.

  When they had all suitably recovered and were ready to move, Tyler led the ladies into the music room for coffee while everything in the grand hall was cleared away. The setting was magnificent; a huge Italian white marble fireplace dominated the scene, around which hung fifteenth century tapestries on the walls and a ceiling painted by Louis Laguerre, depicting Jesus returning to Heaven after the crucifixion. Already waiting on a low Chippendale table was a silver coffee set and four bone china cups and saucers. Tyler directed his guests to be seated and then continued with the entertainment.

  “Ladies if you would like to make yourselves comfortable and settle your meal, I would like to introduce two old friends of mine who go by the name of ‘Fontaine’.”

  A side door opened and a young man in his early twenties walked in, followed by a slightly older woman carrying what looked like a large wooden recorder. Tyler gently clapped his hands, prompting the others to follow suit as the duo positioned themselves in the corner of the room, the man sitting at the harpsichord and the woman standing to the right it.

  Tyler cleared his throat and began to explain.

  “What we have here is Timothy Mason who is going to entertain us on the family harpsichord which was once played by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach himself when he visited these shores in 1716. Standing to his left is Caroline Mason his sister who is one of Europe’s finest talents with woodwind instruments. Tonight she will perform using a rare medieval baroque recorder. There are only a handful of people left in the country who still perform this type of music which I hope you will all enjoy.”

  For the next half an hour, ’Fontaine’ entertained Tyler and his guests with some of the finest renaissance music ever written, the essence of which spiritually took everybody back to a bygone age.

  After the performance and a modest standing ovation, Tyler escorted the ladies back into the ballroom where two hired professional male dancers stood waiting. This creative idea gave every lady a partner and they all danced the night away, changing at various intervals giving Tyler the opportunity to dance with all three of his guests. Around midnight, the professional dancers departed after the musicians played the last waltz, leaving Tyler and company to retire for the evening and return to their rooms in the west wing. The ladies occupied three adjacent rooms on the second floor, one above Tyler’s suite. Their accommodation was modest compared to the sights seen that day but they were still very well appointed with some of the finest antique paintings and furniture.

  Tyler stripped to his boxer shorts, brushed his teeth, then relaxed in bed feeling happier than he had felt for years. As he lay smiling in the darkness unable to sleep he recalled the best of the day’s events, blocking out the horrors of the morning.

  Around twelve thirty, just as he was nodding off, he startled to the click of his door catch and a faint creak as it slowly opened. Swallowing hard, Tyler lay terrified in the inky blackness listening to his rapid heartbeat pounding in his chest. Mind racing, he slipped silently from the far side of the bed and crept over to the fireplace. It was now defunct but was still decorated with coal scuttle and fire irons. Feeling across the wall he found and silently lifted from its hook a heavy brass poker, which he held tightly in sweating palms as he tiptoed back across the bedroom to his side of the bed. The ragged sound of heavy breathing could be heard as soft footfalls closed in on his position and began to climb onto the bed. Tyler carefully reached for the switch of his bedside lamp with one hand and raised the poker ready to strike with the other as his mind raced with gruesome flashbacks of his time in the canal. The sudden brightness when Tyler flicked the switch on the bedside lamp gave his assailant just enough time to dodge the downward swing of the poker which whomped harmlessly onto the bed as the intruder slipped back onto the floor. Tyler gasped as his eyes adjusted to the light and focused on the face of Mary.

  “Jesus Christ, I could have killed you.”

  He gasped, breathing heavily and shaking as adrenaline coursed through his veins. Mary seemed unaffected, remaining silent as she smiled coyly back. Tyler could not help but notice that she was half naked; wearing just the t
op half of a pair of ivory silk pyjamas that barely covered her modesty. At a loss for anything to say, he could not help himself as he looked her up and down. To his pleasant surprise he could see the relief of her nipples, hardened from the cold and poking at the sheer material of the jacket. Also within his sight were a few inches of naked flesh at the top of her thighs visible below the hem of the pyjama top before they disappeared behind the duvet where she stood barefoot on her side of the bed. Tyler swallowed hard as he felt himself becoming aroused at the erotic sight and shielded himself with a pillow as he stood wearing just his underwear. Tyler watched breathlessly as Mary traced the tip of her tongue alluringly around her open lips then smiled enticingly as she slowly unfastened the three buttons of her jacket letting it fall open, purposely revealing her naked form as she slipped the soft material from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Tyler gasped at the exposure of the first completely naked woman he had ever seen in his life. He stared wide-eyed in wonder while she climbed onto his bed, crawled seductively over to his side, and pressed her naked form onto his while holding the back of his head and kissing him fully on the lips. Laying down and encouraging Tyler to lay beside her, Mary reached across and turned out the bedside light. Tyler was willing, glad to be invited into a world of discovery, guided and coaxed by an eager teacher; finding pleasure he had previously only imagined. During the height of his passion Mary whispered into his ear that there was a favour she needed from him and without hesitation he agreed to anything she desired.

  “I want the amulet from the collection.”

  She breathed as they writhed together on the bed.

  “What on earth for?”

  Tyler replied, not really caring for an answer as she rolled him onto his back, sitting astride his loins as she leaned in whispering softly and biting his ear.

  “To protect me from evil, just until all this is over, I’m so very frightened.”

  Sitting up as she spoke, all Tyler could hear in the darkness were Mary’s muffled sniffs and sobs pretending to stifle her fake tears. If Tyler’s could have seen Mary’s face in the darkness he would have screamed and run for his life as her face morphed, alternating between Toomak’s hideous features and Mary’s beautiful visage. Protected from the sight of this horror, his thoughts now turned to the possible repercussions if anyone were to discover it missing.

  “I can’t Mary; it’s impossible, I’m sure to be found out.”

  Tyler whispered, hoping Mary would drop the subject.

  “You must.”

  She replied, realising that the tears were not enough so she began grinding down her hips and coaxing Tyler to the extreme. Tyler responded immediately as he was now beyond pleasure as he cried,

  “Oh God yes, anything you want, anything at all.”

  An hour later, Tyler and Mary stood in front of the glass display case that contained the desired relic. After disarming all the relative security devices en route, Tyler now fumbled nervously with a duplicate set of every key to the place that he had retrieved from his late grandfather’s safe, which was kept hidden behind a painting in his study. Tyler was lucky that he remembered the combination that he first heard as a young boy when playing a game of hide and seek. He was seven years old and had secreted himself under his grandpa’s study desk when the old man entered and to Tyler’s amazement, proceeded to hinge open a framed painting on the back wall and recite out loud the combination as he turned the dial. Being a creature of habit he had never changed the combination.

  “I’m not sure that I can go through with this.”

  He whispered, staring hopefully at Mary as he visibly trembled in the torch light.

  Mary sensed that extra reassurance was needed and kissed him tenderly on the lips then took two paces back, untied the cloth belt and opened the front of George’s dressing gown that she had borrowed to stave off the cold. Underneath she was still completely naked and while Tyler followed her hands with the torchlight she wantonly traced them down her body caressing herself intimately and moaning in all the right places using Tyler’s lust to block out any lingering doubts. Now shivering with anticipation instead of fear he tried hard to keep his concentration, and on his fifth attempt he found the right key. With a soft click, the lock opened and he lifted the glass lid, its hinge groaned deafeningly, echoing down the hall in the silence of the night and Tyler cringed with his eyes clamped shut, expecting the alarms to shrill at any moment but his luck held. Mary lunged forwards, grabbing the amulet and breathless with excitement clutched it to her naked breast as Tyler placed a hastily written ‘on loan to the British museum’ piece of card folded into a tent shape into the indentation left behind.

  With the display case locked, alarms reset and keys replaced, Mary and Tyler returned to his rooms. Mary pushed the door closed with her behind and took Tyler by the hand leading him back into his bed.

  The next morning, all the ladies talked animatedly about the yesterday’s events as they sat around the breakfast table, leaving Tyler quiet and brooding as he stressed about taking the amulet. Mary on the other hand was positively effervescent, laughing and joking as she polished off her scrambled eggs and coffee. Trying not to spoil the mood, Tyler shook himself, stood up and cleared his throat bringing silence to the table.

  “I must say that the last twenty-four hours has been one of the most enjoyable that I can remember and I want you all to promise that we will get together again in the not too distant future.”

  All the women agreed and thanked Tyler for his generous hospitality. After breakfast he loaded the ladies into his car and before he drove them all home, Tyler could not resist an extensive drive around the two thousand acre estate. The family enterprise encompassed all types of farming both arable and pastoral which were only moderately interesting to his guests but the excitement soon increased when they headed for the forest section of the national rally championships that were held every year on the Gisborne estate.

  “Better buckle up ladies, we could all be in for a bumpy ride.”

  Tyler announced as he fastened his own seatbelt and put the car into four wheel drive. Loose gravel fired out from under the tyres and Marion squealed in excitement as they set off at great speed and then slewed sideways into the first corner. Tyler dropped down a gear and pressed the accelerator down hard as he expertly pulled out of the skid. Gasps and bad language abounded as the car barrelled down the track, testing the suspension to the limit as they seemed to bounce hard into every pothole.

  “Perhaps this is the wrong time to inform all of you, but I only passed my driving test last month and I am a little nervous. I hope I’m going fast enough for you all.”

  Tyler announced, trying very hard not to laugh out loud at his deception. What he deliberately failed to reveal was that he had been driving farm vehicles ever since he could reach the pedals and he knew this track like the back of his hand. Mary screamed in excitement, urging Tyler to drive faster increasing the terror on Marion’s face as she gripped hard to the door rest and tried not to throw up. Chelsea guessed that Tyler was lying as she had seen him on many occasions behind the wheel of a tractor, but decided to play along and not spoil his fun. Tyler spotted Marion’s predicament in the rear view mirror and guiltily eased off but as they reached a narrow humped backed dry stone bridge he could not help his self and he accelerated hard. The massive vehicle thundered up the incline and even Mary screamed as all four tyres left the ground when it passed the top of the rise. It was only a few inches but it felt like yards as the vehicle landed heavily then skidded sideways as Tyler fought the wheel and brought the car to a halt. Even though Marion was scared out of her wits she quickly recovered and had to admit that it was the most exciting event of her life.

  The tour finished at a more sedate pace with a slow drive close to a herd of fallow deer, then reluctantly the tour ended and Tyler drove Chelsea back to her parent’s house where she still lived. It was a small semi-detached residence situated in middle income suburbia, quite a
n economic come down for the family from where she used to live at Millers Manor on the far side of Oxten. With Marion out of earshot Chelsea agreed a time with Tyler to meet up later with the rest of the gang, he then returned to his car to ferry Mary and Marion back to Mary’s flat. Tyler observed through his rear view mirror how animated Mary had become and her constant chattering to Marion seemed relentless. Driving down the access road to the female student block, even Mary stopped talking as they all stared at the police cordon surrounding the crime scene. A solitary young policeman stood guard looking tired and cold but enjoying the procession of pretty females coming to and fro as they went about their daily business. Three other investigators dressed from head to toe in white one piece coveralls formed part of the forensic team, were on their hands and knees crawling in line along the grass verge looking for clues. Tyler momentarily lost his concentration and braked sharply, jolting his two passengers back into the real world when he nearly drove his car into the bushes outside the block. He apologised immediately and jumped out to open Mary’s door allowing the two women to exit.

  “Thank you for your excellent company and I will see you anon.”

  Tyler announced while placing one arm behind his back and bowing slightly, aiming the gesture and last part of the statement directly at Mary. Tyler blushed as Mary hugged him tightly by gripping the cheeks of his backside and kissing him fully on the lips before whispering very loudly,

  “See you later tiger, keep it up!”

  Marion looked away trying not to laugh at the look of shock and embarrassment on Tyler’s face as he got back into his car.

  As he drove away Tyler wondered if Mary had told Marion about last night, did women talk of sexual conquests the way men bragged to their mates over a pint of beer, or was it all kept private. Marion waved as Tyler turned the corner and she too was thinking about the change in Mary’s demeanour, even though she had only known her for the last twenty-four hours, Mary had altered overnight. Her character had transformed from motherly and polite into a complete slut. First thing this morning Mary had burst into her room completely naked and sat on the edge of the bed talking nonstop. Marion realised that some women were completely at ease being nude in front of other women but what happened next was beyond the pale. Mary had ordered tea to be brought up to Marion’s room and when they heard a polite knock, Mary jumped up and ran to the door opening it wide to the waiting footman. He maintained his professionalism, averting his gaze as he wheeled the food into the room but when he tried to exit; Mary purposely blocked his way before turning sideways allowing him to leave but not before purposely brushing herself against his back as he squeezed through. When he closed the door Mary collapsed in a fit of giggles giving Marion cause to think that drugs might be the cause, guessing also Tyler could be involved as his demeanour seemed quite different this morning as well. Mary finally left Marion in peace but not before she finished off her exhibitionism by exposing herself at the window whilst drinking her tea and waving to the shocked gardeners working below.