Wilhelmina held out her hand to him. “And let’s try to stay together for once, shall we?”
“Good idea.” Kit took her hand, and Brother Lazarus put a hand on her pack and gave Kit a nod.
“Right,” said Kit. “Forward, march.”
He started off with slow, measured strides; when he judged the others were in step, he increased his pace slightly. After a few metres he felt a flutter in the air, a light exhalation of breeze on his skin as from an unseen vent. At the same time he felt the ley lamp in his hand grow warm, and the lights burned with a fierce intensity. He shoved the device into his pocket and readied himself for the jump.
It came a few paces later, and when it did it was so gentle as to be almost imperceptible. The cavern floor shifted under his feet, and the air shivered-as if someone had closed a door in another room. Suddenly he sensed he was standing in a much larger passageway. The jump was complete.
Kit slowed and then stopped to look around, shining his torch over the grey stone walls. The passage opened up a few metres ahead. He stepped through the opening and found himself in a large gallery, the extent of which his flashlight could not illuminate.
“Everyone okay?” he asked.
“Never better,” replied Mina. “You can let go of my hand now.”
“Brother Lazarus? You okay?”
“Molto bene,” came the reply. The priest, lapsing into Italian in his excitement, gazed around the room, shining his torch at a hanging cluster of pale stalactites dripping water like icicles from the roof. “Fantastico!”
“We go on,” said Kit. “There’s a side passage up along here somewhere that leads to another chamber. That’s where the paintings are.”
Kit led his little team into the gallery, staying close to the wall until they came to a gap where the tunnel branched off; the opening was smaller than he remembered. “I think this is the place,” he said. “It’s a tight squeeze, but it opens up a little farther on.”
“After you,” said Wilhelmina.
Kit shrugged through the breach and squeezed along the undulating corridor. As predicted, the channel grew wider by degrees until they could walk without touching either side. They came to a sort of anteroom where Kit paused. “I remember this place. This is where I heard the clinky-clink sound. I thought it was water, but it turned out to be the end of Baby’s chain.”
While Mina explained this to Brother Lazarus, Kit examined the walls with his torchlight. The beam swept the uneven surface of the stone, causing the dips and bulges to leap into sharp relief. “The markings are low down on the wall,” he told them, moving farther into the chamber.
Mina and Brother Lazarus likewise began searching, sweeping the walls with their flashlights. Brother Lazarus moved to the other side, shining his light a few feet off the floor. “Achtung! Sie sind hier!” he called, waving them over.
“He’s found them,” said Mina, hurrying to the place where the priest was kneeling.
Kit joined them and quickly confirmed that, sure enough, there they were-a cluster of enigmatic symbols, just as he had seen them on his first visit to the cave. “Am I right, or am I right?” he asked.
“Let’s check.” Removing her pack, Wilhelmina opened it and brought out a short cardboard tube from which she extracted a roll of paper, which she opened and held up against the nearest symbols. Several seemed to form an identical match, but most, while similar, were entirely different.
“Well,” he said after a moment, “what do you think?”
“I think you may have hit the jackpot here,” declared Wilhelmina. “It certainly seems to be the real thing. I wonder how they got there?”
“Arthur himself maybe? No way to tell.”
“Bene… bene… ” sighed Brother Lazarus. He put down his pack and extracted a beautifully crafted Leica. With exaggerated care he removed the lens cap and dusted the lens with a soft cloth, then fitted a flash hood. He directed Mina to train her torch on the nearest symbols, took a light reading, set the aperture, then created a human tripod by turning the camera upside down and bracing the bottom against his forehead as he knelt. He refocused the lens and triggered the shutter. There was a silky click, and the flashbulb popped, illuminating the entire chamber with brilliant white light that seared their eyes, blinding them and causing large purple dots to obscure their field of vision. “Einen Moment,” he said. Then, fitting another flashbulb, he counted off three and snapped another picture.
Each section of the wall was duly photographed and the camera stowed before continuing on. The next chamber they visited was larger still, and it contained the animals Kit had seen. “I give you the Hall of Extinct Animals,” he announced, shining his torch onto a row of chubby horses. Below them was a grumpy-looking rhinoceros, and farther down a bison with forward-swept horns and a young one protected beneath its mother’s belly; a pair of delicate antelope leapt on the adjacent wall, together with a bear on hind legs, its claws extended.
“Oh wow!” cried Wilhelmina, rushing to the wall.
“Magnifico!” chimed Brother Lazarus with a clap of his hands. “Straordinario.”
“It is extraordinary,” agreed Kit. “They were working on this one when I was here.” He shined his torch on the woolly mammoth, the body of which was now fleshed out in greater detail than when he had last seen it.
Just then his light began to dim. “Uh oh,” he said, giving the flashlight a shake. “We’d better move along. We can always come back.”
Kit and Mina switched off their torches to preserve the batteries, and the three hurried on. Kit led them to the main passage and from there to the outer entrance of the cave, pausing briefly a few metres from the opening. “Here we are,” he said, blinking in the relative brightness of the daylight streaming in through the ragged gap. “Out there is nature in the rough. It is strictly no frills from here on,” he told them. “Is everybody still keen to meet the Flintstones?”
Wilhelmina translated for the priest, who nodded his head. “Sole purpose of visit,” Mina replied for both of them.
“Right, let’s do it.” Kit stepped to the outer opening and into the light. “Stay alert and be ready to run at all times.”
Kit went first, taking a good look around before climbing through the opening. Wilhelmina came next, followed by the priest, and all three stood on the sloping escarpment shielding their eyes from sunlight as they took in the scene before them: a verdant valley bounded by sheer cliffs of white limestone rising up on every side. The trees and shrubs were in full leaf, and the air was hazy, full of insects, and warm.
“It was winter,” he said, raising a hand to the faded greens and ripening golds of early autumn. “Just a couple days ago it was winter.”
“A couple of days for you,” Mina reminded him. “We obviously haven’t got the time frame calibrated for a proper match.” Seeing the disappointment on his face, she added brightly, “Still, with any luck we’re probably not too far off the mark.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said. “In any case, we’ll soon find out.” He started down to the valley floor, sliding on the loose scree. With a last look around for lurking predators, Kit started towards the slowflowing river that was now but an oozy trickle at summer’s end. They walked along, keeping close to the wall of the gorge, picking their way over the rocks, now in bright sunlight, now in shadow.
Occasionally Kit paused to get his bearings, recognising various landmarks and bends in the river. The sun was dropping behind the towering cliffs by the time they reached the place Kit identified as the winter camp of River City Clan. His heart beat a little faster at the sight, and he bounded up the narrow trail leading to the stony ledge where he had last seen En-Ul and the others.
The ledge was empty now, all signs of habitation-recent or otherwise-completely scoured away. All that was left were a few dried leaves and powdery white dust.
“They’re gone,” he said, his voice heavy.
Brother Lazarus took a look around, then turned and said, “Sie kommen im Winter hierher, richtig? Winter wenn sie hier kommen, korrigiert?”
“Yes,” Mina confirmed, “they only come here in winter-that is correct.” She turned to Kit. “That’s what you said, right?”
Kit nodded. “Then they might be back at the river camp.” He thought for a moment. “That’s miles from here, and I’m afraid we’re going to lose the light. Much as I’d like to make contact right now, that can wait. I think we
