Zaratorio: The Story Continues

Zaratorio: The Story Continues Part 15 (Of Time and Love)

Zaratorio: The Story Continues

By Clive Mason-Hall

Part Fifteen

***

Paulina is alone in a strange dungeon. Various automated devices provide her with food and drink every few hours and her chains fall away at slightly longer intervals. And yet, shortly after each 'release', she finds herself awakening from a trance, and back in her extremely uncomfortable chained position.

The only person with the power to inflict this on me has to be Zaratorio!

***

It seems as if several days have passed when Inga finally appears in the dungeon followed by an extremely subdued Anna Roland, who is also enchained. After a few minutes, the mechanical devices take over and Anna's plight is soon very similar to that Paulina.

'Why is he doing this to us, Inga?' calls Paulina - but there is no reply as the door slams shut.

***

I must recall how I managed to move into the time vortex. I was never shown how to do it, I just followed my instincts. Yes, that it what I must do; follow my instincts!

***

'Paulina are you there? It's Anna - I cannot see you!'

Anna draws breath and tries to think calmly about what seems to have happened.

'I suppose Zaratorio and Inga must have taken her away while I was asleep. This is a very bad situation ...'

***

Anna wakes again and realises that Paulina is standing over her.

'Your chains should fall away now ... Yes! ... I have released you. Stay calm and quiet and follow me towards the door.'

The investigative journalist complies.

'Now, I've never done this before. I am going to try and bring you with me into the time vortex and then jump out again somewhere close by, such as the 1990s. What I am proposing is very risky; you could be left drifting in time forever - a horrible way to die - are you willing to risk it?'

'For you, Paulina, anything ...'

The two women hold hands and kiss. Perhaps the power of love will complement the power of time and send them to a better place ...

***

'Where are we, Anna?'

'If I'm not mistaken, we are standing outside the Church of Olha and Elizabeth in Lviv, and judging by the cars around us, this is indeed the late 1990s of the Common Era. So far, so good, but people are looking at us and commenting on our strange clothing - so much for Inga's taste - and we need to get moving.'

Paulina agrees, and by good fortune they soon find their way to another boutique.

[Anna:] 'By the way, perhaps we have misjudged Inga, because I seem to have found several thousand hryvni (in notes dated 1996) inside one of my pockets. I cannot imagine that Zaratorio would facilitate our escape from his own dungeon.'

In due course, dressed in twentieth-century clothes and armed with the address of a shop that deals in historical costumes, they find their way to a small hotel and reassess the situation.

[Paulina] 'I am glad that you agree that we should go further back in history. We will be safer there. My 'biotemp' powers - as the Slavic Institute calls them - were at their strongest when I was in the Nineteenth Century and Zaratorio did not try and challenge me there.

Earlier, I was able to turn some of these bank notes you gave me into historical roubles and I am sure I can do more of the same when we reach that time.'

'If we find ourselves in the parts of Ukraine that once formed part of the Hapsburg Austrian Empire, the currency we will need is called the gulen. There will be photographs in the museums. We can acquire suitable clothing and make the time-jump tomorrow.'

'Of course. I have faith in you. Would you have preferred separate rooms?'

'Far from it. We have a lot of getting to know each other still to do ...'

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TO BE CONTINUED