Faustus held out his hand to haul Billi up to the stairs. Ivan though, gritted his teeth and, although weighed down with Erin, sprang the gap where Billi and Faustus caught him before he fell backwards. There wasn’t a moment to waste. The stairs themselves were collapsing in on themselves. There was a huge, deafening roar as the cliff tore itself further from the mainland.
“Up!” yelled Faustus, still leading. Billi was knocked side to side as the stairs pitched like a barrel over a waterfall. She glanced back and saw Erin with her head buried in Ivan’s bare chest as he determinedly ran up behind her. Erin seemed to weigh nothing in his arms.
They stumbled out back into the open, gasping and covered in dust. Billi fell onto the grass but the ground was moving. It ripped open a metre in front of her and she could hear the thunderous splashing as the cliff, piece by piece, crashed into the sea. The castle was collapsing around them. Huge stones, several tonnes each, tumbled down from the walls to smash upon the flagstones and bounce their way over the cliff edge.
Faustus groaned. “Just one break! Is that too much to ask?”
No point jumping into the sea. If they weren’t smashed upon the rocks they’d be crushed soon enough by the collapsing cliff. There had to be a way to survive this. Billi gazed ahead, as their broken section of land slid downwards, bumping and tearing against the opposite face. The keep itself was falling, section by section into the gap between but the top floor, the open battlements, were almost level now with the top of the opposite cliff.
It was lunacy, they could all be crushed in a moment, but the keep had stood for a thousand years, she just needed it to stay up one more minute. She ran for the keep. “Come on!”
Up and up they climbed. The FitzRoys had refurbished it a century ago, converting it into a modern interior with a broad wooden staircase that led all the way to the roof. They reached the top and Billi dashed to the battlements facing the mainland. Faustus was right beside her. “You sure about this?”
It was three metres, maybe a little more, and they were higher than the ground opposite. But it was all the chance they had.
Billi took a run up and then slammed her foot down on the battlement and launched herself out across the gap.
There was that second of freefall, and then the ground rushed up towards her and as she hit she rolled, knocking her head, elbows and backside over and over the patch of earth.
She wiped the mud and grass away from her eyes just as Faustus, Ivan and, now on her own feet, Erin, came flying over the edge.
Then there was a titanic cry as the keep’s foundations finally collapsed. The ancient castle seemed to cry out one last time in vain desperation before it was drowned out, literally, by the roar of the cliff tumbling into the sea. The thunder rolled on and on as the countless tonnes of stone and rock continued to tumble into the water, smashing against each other and the already submerged portions of the FitzRoy castle.
Billi lay down on her back, staring at the stars. The stars of her universe. She panted and let the blanket of exhaustion finally fall over her.
Then she felt fingers entwine with hers. She leaned her head sideways and found Erin, lying beside her, staring up at the stars and bright moon. Smiling.
CHAPTER 31
Two weeks later…
“Is that all you’re taking?” said Ivan as he looked at the three tattered suitcases sitting in the apartment building lobby.
It hadn’t taken long to pack. She owned less that she’d thought. There weren’t many mementoes, nor keepsakes. This was the beginning of a new life and Billi didn’t want to bring too much old baggage.
Still, she couldn’t shake off the feeling she’d forgotten something…
It was just nerves. She was leaving home, starting a brand new life in Russia. In Russia! As of Monday morning she would be a student at the Moscow Language School for a three month crash course. It promised she’d be swearing like a local by Christmas.
The bruises from Hollburgh had finally faded. The nightmares were vague now, merging with all the other previous horrors into a weird, helter-skelter montage of close calls and brutality. She’d learnt to live with that and who knew? Maybe Moscow would be the break from it all that she craved.
“Billi? Are you alright?” Ivan had two of the suitcases in his hands. He was keen to leave. The excitement had been growing day by day as he’d immersed himself back into the world of the Bogatyrs. The calls, the messages and the Zoom meetings would go long into the night and he’d pace his apartment, too edgy, too wired to sleep.
She’d been busy herself. Tying up loose ends, that sort of thing. Bors was keen to have her gone, but what was new about that? She’d spoken to Dad almost daily and planned to visit him in Dublin once she was settled.
Things were changing for the Knights Templar but she wouldn’t be part of it anymore. This was for the best. She nodded at Ivan, picked up the third suitcase and carried it out to the waiting taxi.
The morning sun shone brightly upon the cobbles of Middle Temple Lane. The dew made the ancient pebbles glisten and the wreaths of mist in from the nearby Thames clung to the doorways and archways. At the end of the street was a small group of tourists. The guide was pointing out the old buildings and regaling them with some of the stories of the Knights Templar. The tours weren’t as popular as they’d been a few years ago, but the legends never died, did they?
If only they knew.
They loaded the suitcases in and
