Chapter 16

Marjory was surprised to see me return in a helicopter and was standing at the main entrance as we landed on the lawn outside the front door. Bruce was also there but I suspect he was cursing the helicopter for spreading all the leaves and making a dent on his billiard table lawn.

"They didn't arrest you after all, what happened?" Marjorie inquired.

"Some big knobs want me to go through the shimmering and rescue some important people who have become lost."

"There have been rumours that some of the Royal family members haven't been seen for over six months, is it them?" Marjorie asked. There was one thing about Marjorie she soon added up the figures quickly. "It is them isn't it?"

"How do you manage to grasp the situation so quickly darling? Yes it is them and I have a month before I have to go, so let's forget all about them and enjoy ourselves as a family. After all I haven't seen you for some time and we have much catching up to do."

"You aren't wrong there," she said sliding her arm around my waist.

The next day I sat down and made out my list. I included a new Parker Hale M-85, my old 12x50 Schmidt and bender scope 200 rounds each of ball, Styx and AP plus 50 rounds of 9mm for the Browning I also asked for. Also on the list was a folding solar oven and cooker which can be folded and fitted in a very small space, a solar charger for the batteries of the torch. In fact I asked for two complete sniper outfits one for me and the other for whoever they could find to go with me.

I wasn't that particular about rations for I knew I could live off the land but I needed my tea bags if nothing else.

The list seemed quite long but when you added it up you could see it could all be carried or worn. I also asked for three extra sleeping-bags and toilet items which I was just going to throw through the shimmering for the women when and if we found them. In addition a tent similar to the type I had asked for myself. I didn't want them to have to sleep out in the elements if at all possible. Everything else we could find there.

Four days after the meeting again the helicopter arrived bringing a man of about the same age as me. He stepped out of the helicopter and walked towards me. I knew right away that this man was a tracker by the way he just seemed to glide over the ground hardly disturbing a leaf as he came towards me.

"Alistair Gregor, it's nice to meet you Charlie," he said in Gaelic with hand outstretched. Not quite the same dialect as the people from the past but very close to it.

"Nice to meet you Alistair, Gaelic, almost like the native tongue of the past, but I'll fill you in before we leave."

"I've never heard the Gaelic spoken in the manner you speak, yet I knew exactly what you said."

"It is known as the tongue of the ancients or the Druids; soon you will distinguish the different accents."

I liked Alistair right away and I knew we would get on great together. It is something sometimes you just know and I also knew he was an outdoor person like me.

All Alistair was carrying was a small overnight bag as we entered the house, I took him into the lounge and him the brigadier and myself sat down to talk the mission over.

"Is that all you brought?" I inquired pointing at his bag.

"Yes, I was told that you had asked for the equipment that I would need. Since you have done this a few times I thought it would be better if I let you choose the things I would need," Alistair said.

"All the items you asked for will be here in a few days, I guarantee it and by the way call me Richard," the brigadier said.

"Seems odd calling a brigadier Richard," I said.

"The people you are trying to rescue are a lot more important than I. In fact I have their dossiers here with me now; I will leave you to study them. When you are finished I want them all back, just in case they fall into the wrong hands."

"What's it like back in time Charlie, I'm curious?" Alistair asked.

"Well it's a lot colder than it is now, and the country is just one large forest, you just won't believe how large the forests are. That was the one thing that struck me, every time period I was back in. It is better you go with an open mind so I don't give you the wrong impression."

"When are we leaving?" Alistair inquired further.

"First we will have to visit the site, for I want an idea of the layout."

"Tomorrow early I'll have the helicopter here for you to take you to the site, I'll send a police inspector who has been involved from the start and he can show you anything you want," went on Richard.

Richard left then, leaving Alistair and myself to study the files on the three women who had vanished. The names given were Gwen, Marcia and Julia. Gwen was the woman who had vanished and was forty-one years old; Marcia was twenty-four and Julia twenty-three. I didn't need to know any more, their names and the photo's were enough.

"Alistair, what's the use of all these details, back in time all you need to know is what they look like and their names. I need no more, what about you?"

"I was thinking just that myself, I doubt if they will be sitting waiting for us either!" He said with a smile.

We returned the three files to the locked bag ready to return them to Richard.

Early the next morning the helicopter collected us and took us to the site where the women had vanished. The only distinguishing thing in the area was a slight depression in the ground, there wasn't a tree or bush near. An elderly man in a suit was waiting standing alongside a four-wheeled drive car watching the arrival of the helicopter.

"Morning gentlemen, I'm Jim Anderson, the investigating Officer. There isn't much to see but I will show you the exact spot the two women vanished."

He took us to the edge of the depression and I saw that he had a tape staked to the ground and an arrow made of card pointing the direction the two women were walking.

"Did anyone see a shimmering effect before or during the time the women vanished?" I asked Jim.

"No nothing. I was here also and I saw nothing unusual just the two women were here one minute and gone the next."

"Alistair we will be returning here in three weeks, I have seen all I want to see, let's get back. Thank you Jim," I said to them both as we walked back to the helicopter.

Our equipment arrived the next day and Alistair was impressed with the rifle I had chosen for him as well as all the other stuff. We were ready to go and I checked and rechecked all the dates so I was sure that we would be at the site on time. I told Richard and he suggested we move to the site the evening before after dark so as not to draw attention to us. To this I agreed.

Three — The departure

Alistair and I were all packed and ready by five thirty with the gear we were taking for the women at our feet. It was just as well for at 5:48 I saw the telltale shimmering five feet from the spot that Jim had marked.

"Alistair this is it, follow me quickly" and we both trotted forward. I knew the exact moment I entered, for I was cold one moment and the next I felt a cold ice blast on my face as we moved through.

Again luck, we entered a clearing with trees on three sides of us and an open area in front. Alistair just stopped and gaped at the sight in front of him. It was a shock to him seeing snow when seconds before had been open heath.

"I wouldn't believe it, we have moved to somewhere else that is obvious," He said in a gasp.

"No Alistair not somewhere else, some time else. When is the first to find out?"

Away in the distance was what appeared as a village but with the binoculars I could see no movement. "We will go to that village and ask, but let's hide the women's gear and mark where the shimmering occurs."

It was easy to pinpoint the exact site providing no-one cuts the trees down in the meantime. The site was between two trees and in front of a large chestnut about fifty feet away. So lining up the two trees and with the chestnut in front we would be standing at the exact site. This I pointed out to Alistair, but I still hadn't told him the cycle period, in fact I'd told no-one, if they couldn't work it out then I wasn't going to tell them.

We took the spare tents and bedding and the other items and hid them well inside the tree line, so they wouldn't be easily discovered. So with the Bergins on our backs and the rifles slung in their canvas carry cases we approached what we assumed was a village.

As we approached we realised it was a village but a village not in the sense of a permanent one. The village what one in our time would call a line camp for a construction team. By now the camp had come to life and there were workman moving like ants. They were constructing a road with stones and mortar.

By the mode of dress and the fact that roads were being built I knew exactly when we had arrived. It was during the reign of Belimus and it was some time after he defeated his brother Brennus, who he had shared the throne of Britain with. That was until Brennus made a pact with the King of Lochland (Norway) to try to claim the crown of all the land.

These were the sons of Dunvallo Molumutius who laid down the law which is still recognised even in our time. Belimus his son was the king who built paved mortared roads from one end of the country to the other and connected all major towns. Roman history claimed this feat but all they did was put a top finer layer on top of the roads and add milestones.

These were the roads I travelled down when I killed another tyrant called Morvid (see The Return).

"What are they doing?" Inquired Alistair.

"They are building roads to connect all areas of the land. It wasn't the Romans who built the roads but King Belimus. At least we are in a period of peace for they obey the Law of Molmutius, these laws are just and the penalty of breaking them is severe."

"I thought the Romans built the roads?"

"Wrong they built very little, only improved on what was already here."

"I am learning, I can see I will have to forget all I was ever taught on British history," added Alistair.

As we approached the group closest to us stopped and stared for we were dressed far differently to them.

"Greetings men of Loegria or is it men of Kymry to whom I speak?" I asked.

"We are mostly men of Kymry, stonemasons from that land," the leader replied.

"We are foreigners in your land seeking other members of our land, who have gone missing." I said.

"Under the King's Laws they will be given food and shelter and allowed to travel for that is the law. Why is it you speak the tongue of the wise and old ones but you are dressed so differently?" He inquired. I knew they would get round to that at some point so just as well we are getting it out of the way early.

I knew that Alistair would understand all I said and what the men were asking even though his dialect was Goidelic rather than the Brythonic Gaelic spoken by these people.

"I have lived among the Druids and have been taught their ways," I thought was enough for them for to even sit and talk with Druids was something the locals would never even contemplate.

"Our work does not take us into the villages but there is a small-town a half-days journey to the south, try there. We celebrated the festival of Imbolic there only a few weeks ago and I heard talk of strange women," he explained.

"Thank you for your help and have a nice day," Alistair told the man.

"You are a man from Albany," the man replied.

"Yes that is correct, how did you know?" Alistair inquired.

"Your tongue is different from ours, are you a servant of Brennus?"

"No my Liege is different," Alistair replied.

"I bet that got them thinking," I said in English to Alistair. "You see how quickly they can tell a stranger."

"Well we can too in our own time, so why should it be any different," he replied.

"True, but in this time Gaelic is the native language of all Europe."

"When actually is this time?"

"I would say between 800 and 700 BC, will that do you?"

"Heaven above we have travelled back nearly 3000 years?" He said as if in shock.

"Get used to it, I had a hard time digesting it at first but now I have got used to it."

To the people of this time half-a-days walk was nothing, in fact I too have got used to it. Although Alistair spends all his days in the open walking the moors he too thought the distance was a bit farther than a half-day walk. It was nearly evening before we spotted the small-town ahead and knew we would never get to enter it during darkness, which came on about five in the evening. So in the shelter of trees we set up our first camp to have our meal and spend the night.

While we sat around our small fire hugging the heat given off Alistair asked, "The man mentioned the festival of Imbolic, I didn't want to sound ignorant but what festival was that?"

"She is the fertility Goddess also known as Bride meaning "the flame in the heart of women" to show the woman's absolute authority in the house. Also to worship Brigit the Goddess of livestock, for this is the time of lambing, usually about February the 1st our calendar but their calendar is the lunar one. This means the end of winter and the beginning of spring."

"How did you learn all this?" Enquired Alistair.

"From the Druids! By the way I want you to stay and watch our camp tomorrow while I go into the town. I will be dressing as a Druid for I know I will get any information dressed that way."

"What if they find out you are not a Druid?" Alistair asked.

"You heard the man we talked too he thought I was a Druid, yet here we are dressed out in camouflaged battledress. So what do you think the people of the town say when I go in dressed as a Druid. I have lived with the Druids and know their ways."

"OK, I'll wait here, but are you going armed?"

"I will only wear my pistol but under my clothing. Druids don't go around armed. All I need to do is cut myself a walking staff; I have all the other clothing in my pack."

I was willing to carry this extra load, for I in fact was even thinking of wearing it all the time, then I could move more freely around the land. That then would have made Alistair stand out even more, so I will only wear the Druid's dress as when needed. With that we both retired for our first night of our rescue search.

I was glad that I had decided to grow a beard since my illness and with water at a premium. Now dressed in the smock and cape given to me by Druid friend and the boots I had made from rawhide of the pattern I had seen the Druids wear, I really felt like one of the brotherhood.

Alistair leapt to his feet from the fire where he had been sitting drinking his hot drink and I could see suspicion on his face.

"It's me Alistair, have I changed that much?"

"At first I didn't recognise you, you gave me a start appearing dressed like that even though you told me last evening," he said sitting but still staring at me. "Is that what a Druid looks like?"

"Yes, so if you see anyone dressed like this you will know what they are and that they are the authority on the laws and are like judges, teachers, Seannachaidh (storytellers). They are not and do not teach religion, that is a modern conception."

"God I'm learning something new almost every minute from you, you seem to know the customs."

"Wait here I may be away for a couple of days but don't worry If and one comes tell them you are a traveller."

So early that morning I strolled up the road leading to the walls of the town, by this time of the day the Night Watch had ended and the gates of the town were open. As I walked into the town the residents stepped aside for me and men touched their forehead in salute. Yes I had made the right choice in coming dressed as a Druid.

This was a typical Celt town with the main council meeting house in the middle and crest of the hill on which the town was built. To this I walked for I knew the headman's house would be close by.

In fact it was he who emerged from his house and came to meet me, no doubt having been alerted of my arrival.

"I am Anlaf; you are welcome Druid to my humble home."

"Greetings Anlaf, I am Charlie, I thank you for your hospitality."

He pointed out the meeting house and we both walked and entered there, followed by ten others who no doubt were the towns' most important citizens. In a Celt community everyone has a right to speak in the Council House, except the slaves.

After we had all seated on the log seats, which were almost identical with those, when I visited Dunstan's Council House. "We weren't expecting a visit of a Druid before the feast of Beltane (May Day), but a visit of a Druid is always welcome."

I know what he was thinking. What have I did to anger the King or some other High Lord, who has sent a Druid to point out my errors?

"No Anlaf, I have come in search of foreigners, who may have passed through your land. All I seek is information from you or your people."

I could sense the sigh of relief as I said these words.

"I only seek your help." I continued.

"We have seen many foreigners, are there any specific ones you seek?" Asked a young man sitting alongside Anlaf. It was unusual for someone to address a Druid without being asked. This fact wasn't lost on Anlaf who glowered at the young man.

"Please excuse my son Dudda he is young and only recently been allowed to enter the Council House," replied Anlaf.

"I am sure he will learn the ways of the Council house, but I will answer him, for maybe he will be able to aid my search. Dudda in particular I seek three women who I know would be unable to speak your tongue. Two may have passed this way just after the feast of Beltane, the other maybe a turning before that?"

"Yes, I have heard of these foreigners, the two younger ones are house slaves of Cryda who is the High Lord of this region. I heard there is an older woman in the camp of the bandits of Cefi who is the washerwoman of the camp, but no-one has ever seen her. To go into the forest will only bring death, for everyone fears Cefi."

"I too have heard both these tales," said Anlaf, "but I don't know if they are true."

"Where do I find Cryda's fort? I am new to this area and have to learn the locations," I added, in case they wondered why a Druid knew nothing of the social structure.

The assembly appeared to accept my explanation as Anlaf gave me directions to Cryda's fort. "Two days walk to Lugh rising (East- Lugh is the name they gave the sun)"

"You will eat with us and maybe spend the night, for it is not safe to travel at night, for you have to pass through the forests where Cefi and his outlaws control."