Read Online Tempus Fugitive by Nicola Rhodes - Free Book Online Page A

Denny, surprised. 
    ‘Of course, smuggling, especially round here, was – is, the main criminal activity. How do you think they got rid of all that stuff, waved a magic wand?’
    ‘So, are you saying that my Athame could end up in the hands of some pirate?’
    ‘Good idea, let’s go down to the cove.’
    ‘What idea?  What cove?’  But Tamar was off.
    * * *
    Denny caught up with her in a rocky inlet.  ‘What are we doing here?’
    ‘Smugglers,’ she told him, enigmatically as far as he was concerned.  But he was used to her clipped explanations. Usually, though, they were backed up with a certain amount of access to her thoughts, but for some reason she was shutting him out.   
    ‘What do you mean – smugglers?  Don’t be so cryptic.’
    ‘These are smugglers caves. See over there?  That’s where they light the signal fires.’  She pointed to a jut in the cliff face, which was still smouldering.  ‘What you said, about pirates – I just think whoever’s got the Athame, will probably try to sell it here, where the smugglers trade.  Who else would want a fine silver knife with a dodgy provenance? Well, who else who could afford it?  Smugglers and pirates, that’s who. So I thought, maybe whoever’s got it might bring it here, to trade.’
    Denny was doubtful.  ‘Hmm, bit of a long shot.’
    ‘Makes sense, trust me, Besides – look, if they don’t come tonight, they probably won’t come at all.  Anyway, this is our only chance to find out.  If nobody comes with it, then we’ll have to try something else.’ 
    ‘But there’s nobody here.’
    ‘Wait.’  
    * * *
    It was almost dawn before anything happened.  Tamar shook Denny awake; she had let him sleep for a while. Since he had lost the Athame, his human weaknesses, such as needing to sleep and eat, had returned – the sleepiness might also have been a residual trait of his “cattiness”. 
    He resented this thraldom to his body, missed the freedom of not needing sleep and food to survive. How had he ever survived 25 whole years like that?
    In the half-light, he could just make out around five shadowy figures stealthily approaching the cave.
    ‘Pirates?’ he whispered.
    ‘Or smugglers, what’s the difference?’  She glanced at his excited face.  ‘You know, you should forget whatever you read about smugglers in story books, these men are brutal thugs, killers, the gangland criminals of their day.  Don’t think that drug-dealers are a modern invention, these guys were up to it a long time before this.’
    Denny gulped.  ‘That’s encouraging,’ he said.  ‘So, if one of these guys should get hold of the Athame …?’
    ‘Badness would ensure, on a massive scale.’
    ‘Gulp.’
    ‘Shhh now, I want to listen.’   
    Another man had appeared from over a rise, hobbling with a staff and bowed down, he gave the impression of being an elderly man. He had the Athame; Denny could sense it.  He nudged Tamar and nodded, she nodded back. 
    They could not hear what the old man replied when one ruffian demanded in a loud voice. ‘What do you want old man?’  But they both saw the glint of the blade, and the ensuing conversation, which took place sotto voce , was not hard to imagine. 
    After only a few minutes, the big ruffian took his own knife from his belt, stabbed the old man, and took the Athame out of his hand.  Three of them carried the old man’s body to the sea and threw him in.
    ‘Damn!’ said Tamar.  ‘I didn’t see that coming, I should have prevented it.  He must have insulted them.’ 
    ‘What could you have done, without, you know, giving away the fact that you’re you know – special ?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Can’t you just, freeze time again, and get it back?’  Denny was frantic by now, he wanted his prize.  It was so close. 
    ‘Um, well, no I can’t.  You see, time is already frozen where we left it, I can’t do it again in another time; it won’t work.’
    ‘Oh