The Flames of Time (Flames of Time Series Book 1) (23 page)

With the potential propaganda value of my journal firmly fixed in my mind, I settled down again to write and document the past few days. It was all factually correct, with the odd contrived musing upon our ‘lack of luck’ from time to time, and the occasional space here and there, just big enough for me to squeeze in a few details at a later date, when the same constraints might not apply.

Although we could have headed straight for Corinth via the great canal connecting the Aegean and the Ionian, we’d decided to make a detour to nearby Athens, in the hope that the more comprehensive research resources available there would help us identify where we could go next. We would only be able to drag our feet for so long before making Luke suspicious, but a few days could make all the difference.

Androus also had a few connections in Athens, which enabled us to get access to the university archives and map rooms. These appeared to be almost as comprehensive as those available in his own library, and with most of the students having only recently returned from their winter break, we all but had the place to ourselves.

We knew that Ephyri was one of the ancient names for Corinth or the area around and about. But as with all the other accounts on the scroll, that of Alcathos of Ephyri ended with him removing himself from the local population and living as a hermit, in this case a cave by the sea.

Very little additional detail was included. We knew for example that he was able to subsist largely on what he could catch or hunt, and that he was incredibly strong, and would occasionally earn bread and other necessities by labouring and using his strength for those living around and about.

There were also a couple of references to the sun and views of the great white escarpment behind the ancient city of Corinth. All of which we’d hoped was going to narrow the search area.

It wasn’t much, and before we’d discovered Luke’s betrayal, we’d hoped that a day or two in Athens would be enough before we started our search on the ground. Now of course we wanted to string out our stay in Athens for all it was worth in order to locate where we would go after Corinth.

We’d been in Athens for a couple of days, spending almost every minute at the university poring over maps of the coast and surrounding area around Corinth, and we’d pretty much identified all the areas that we thought would be worth searching. Harry and Androus were supposedly going through the details from the scroll again, but in actuality were devoting their time entirely to the other entries and which one we might be best to pursue in the highly likely event we were once more unsuccessful.

While we were taking a break, I accompanied Luke, who’d decided he wanted to take a stroll. I thought I’d broach the subject with him, just to see if he was getting impatient or suspicious of the delay.

‘You know,’ I started speculatively, ‘I’m not sure how much more there is we can do here, the research has helped, but I think we must have taken it pretty much as far as it can go.’

‘I think quite the opposite,’ responded Luke without any hesitation, ‘now is the time when we need to be as thorough as possible, especially as we do not know where we might go afterwards should this expedition also prove fruitless.’

‘Well, I suppose,’ I heard myself say, trying not to sound too surprised, ‘but I’m sure once we get on the ground it will be easier to follow the directions, just as it has in the past.’

‘Perhaps George,’ he responded, not quite indifferently, ‘but could we not have so easily gone astray in the past also?’

It occurred to me it was almost as though Luke was still trying to delay us, and with that thought my mind immediately started working through the possible motives. Perhaps his accomplices had failed to take advantage of their head start, either that or they were playing an even more clever game, than we’d thought. I had to get back and let the others know, so that we could decide what to do next, but I couldn’t risk alerting Luke.

We were passing a notice board with posters and leaflets pinned all over it, and in an attempt to buy some time while I thought, I steered us over to have a look.

It was the usual hotchpotch of posters and leaflets all plastered and pinned over the top of one another competing for space. Books for sale, rooms to let, part time jobs and a couple of advertisements for different events, including a music recital that very evening by the resident orchestra doing ‘An evening of Russian music’.

I can’t say I fancied the prospect much, but making a brave face of it, I pointed it out to Luke and suggested it might make a nice change. The recital wasn’t due to start for another few hours, but we had yet to dine, so it didn’t leave us long.

Twice Luke tried to get rid of me on the way back to the others, by pretending he needed to stop for a while or go back the way we’d come. I presumed it was to contact his accomplices. so I amiably stuck to him so he couldn’t get any time to himself, and eventually we made it back to the others, with me accidentally banging a door or two along the way to alert them of our arrival.

I had a comical few minutes of enthusiastically explaining about the recital, before Harry and Jean finally cottoned on that I was probably just covering and needed to speak to them. But they got there eventually, and after a few more minutes I ended up walking out with the two of them to supposedly find out a bit more about the programme and where we could buy tickets.

Fortunately Luke seemed to have had enough of my company for a while and decided not to join us, so I was able to quickly outline the conversation I’d had with him and my suspicion that he still wanted to delay us.

‘Is it possible the next location still evades them,’ mused Jean.

‘With a ten day head start! I’d have said it was unlikely,’ responded Harry, filling his pipe as he spoke, ‘but we don’t know much about who these people are, so…’

‘If we’ve wasted days here in Athens, while we still stood a chance of beating them to the tablets in Corinth…’ I started, before being interrupted by Harry.

‘No George,’ he said kindly, ‘there is little point speculating or second guessing ourselves, we must decide what to do now in the situation in which we find ourselves.

‘We could be in Corinth by lunchtime tomorrow if we got an early start,’ he continued, between puffs to light his pipe, ‘and if nothing else we might get a better look at our adversary, gauge their strength, resources. Who knows, while they think we’re still in the dark they might even get overconfident and allow us to get close to them,’ he mused.

‘That is a risky game my friend,’ answered Jean, shaking his head, ‘If we were to seem too interested in what they were doing, or even too watchful of Luke, we might give away our only advantage.’

I could tell Jean was thinking about it though, and probably just voicing his concerns as part of the process.

‘But then,’ he continued, a few seconds later. ‘We might still get to the tablets before them, or…’ and he hesitated here, ‘be able to take the tablets off them before they got away.’

That idea caused me to take a breath, beating them to the tablets in the first place and hanging on to them was one thing. Targeting other civilised people, and women at that, who’d, albeit underhandedly, beaten us to our goal, that was entirely another thing, and I could tell Harry was none too comfortable with the idea either.

‘Now steady on Jean,’ he replied, ‘I know you’re probably just thinking through our options, but if you’re thinking about theft, or worse still, using force against these people…’

‘I am merely, as you say, thinking through the options,‘ was Jean’s slightly melodramatic reply. ‘Opportunities may present themselves, and if they should… I simply suggest it may be useful to have agreed our response.’

I had the distinct impression that he was playing with us now, seeing how far he could push the idea before we caught on. But moving past Jean’s occasionally exasperating sense of humour, the idea of packing up and moving to Corinth had clearly started to appeal to him. There was no way we could know what we might find when we got there, but if we went soon, then we might well stand a chance of finding the tablets first, and ultimately after discussing our options for another few minutes, that was too much of an opportunity to miss.

There was still our pretence to maintain for Luke’s sake, and we decided to use the recital to trap him for a few hours, so he wouldn’t be able to give his accomplices too much notice of our plans. It was a bit sticky letting the others know what we were planning without letting on to Luke, but somehow we muddled through and managed to raise the subject of leaving Athens without it seeming too contrived. Luke, as predicted, was all for spending a few more days there, even suggesting we do a bit of research into where we might go after Corinth, should we again fail to find the tablets, which I couldn’t help but be inwardly a little amused at.

Getting him to come along to the recital afterward was a bit more difficult. He obviously wanted to get away to contact his accomplices, but with a combined effort, and much coaxing we finally managed to get him to agree.

It was a pleasant evening in the end, with some surprisingly beautiful music composed by Rachmaninov and Borodin among other pieces, only moderately diminished by our never ending game of tag with Luke, who we successfully managed to distract or accompany throughout the entire evening, and even early morning.

We’d agreed to make an early start the following day, and had been fortunate in being able to retain the use of Stephanos’ boat, which made everything quicker and easier, but we still had to keep an eye on Luke, and try to contrive the situation so he didn’t get the opportunity to send a message to his friends. Somehow we just about managed it, and then the next morning we were off once more.

It was a much shorter journey this time, hugging the coast for most of the way as we travelled south heading for the great canal that joined the two seas.

I’d never travelled much as a youth and Greece, like Jerusalem, was an entirely new experience for me, but even those amongst our group who knew Greece well were still amazed at the scale and experience of travelling though the canal. That great channel carved through the ancient bedrock of the narrow land bridge that divided the north of Greece from the south.

It was an amazing feet of engineering expertise, with the sheer stone wall rising almost vertically above us, the countless layers of stratified stone laid bare for all to see, a geologist’s dream.

Harry was of course his usual font of wisdom, telling us of previous attempts that had been made in antiquity to accomplish the same goal of connecting the east and west of Greece, via both roads and canals. And in no time we were through into the Gulf of Corinth.

It had a been a bright, if overcast, day when we’d set out, and as we sailed south to the mouth of the canal, I’d begun to think the warm Mediterranean sun was going to burn the cloud off and give us another dazzling day. But as we emerged from the canal into the more westerly gulf, the temperature seemed to drop a little and the clouds become darker. Minutes later as we cleared the collection of boats waiting to go through the canal from the western side, the first few drops of rain started to fall.

We hadn’t had time to make a hotel reservation before leaving Athens, but we had been given a recommendation from one of Androus’ university acquaintances, to try the newly built Grand Hotel overlooking the gulf. So it was to there that we made our way as soon as we got back on shore.

The rain was starting to fall more heavily as we stepped through the front doors, and into the enormous foyer. As its name suggested it was indeed a very grand and fine hotel, built in the Deco fashion, with clean, elegant, modern lines, and the bright welcome of polished marble and an airy electrically lit crystal chandelier. At the same time it was obviously a popular location, even at this quiet time in the season, and for a minute I wasn’t sure they going to be able to accommodate us. But a moment later we had rooms and were following our respective belongings up the stairs, escorted by a small army of uniformed porters.

I couldn’t help but compare the bright opulence of the Corinthian Grand with the altogether more humble old hotel I’d grown so accustomed to in Jerusalem. Here was luxury, a wide curving panoramic window taking in the huge expanse of sea front and bay, a sumptuous bed, sofas, chairs, dresser, all exquisite, even a radio and reading lamps. In contrast Jerusalem had been almost austere, with its plain furniture and small square window out onto the surrounding rooftops. Then I remembered the difficulty I’d had acclimatising even to that simplicity, after living for so long in the wild. How I would’ve coped going from Africa to this luxury, I could only speculate and smile.

By the time I’d finished unpacking the rain was coming down quite heavily and looking like it was staying for the rest of the day. So after a quick conflab with the others, we reluctantly decided to postpone starting our search until the morning and to just rest up and relax for the remainder of the afternoon.

With little else to do, I decided to try and find a quiet spot in the hotel lounge to watch the rain and maybe do a little reading or writing. It didn’t take me long to find a comfortable window seat, overlooking the sea and the front entrance to the hotel, and for the staff to furnish me with a pot of tea, sadly without the option of the added mint, but with ample milk, and a fine china cup and saucer.

It was a very comfortable spot, and I settled easily into a relaxing daydream over a cup of tea or two, before Jean came over and joined me to read one of the papers.

The day was just beginning to fade, the dusky light darkening the pale marble of the hotel lounge walls. I was staring aimlessly out along the sea front, when the setting sun suddenly appeared from behind a distant bank of cloud. As it did so a flash of light caught my attention, and I noticed the approach of two cars out of the sunset, their rain covered bodywork catching and reflecting the dying sunlight like they were covered in a thousand shimmering jewels.