Temporal Exploring 101 - Deep Future

IV.35 Flare

In retrospect it is easy to say that we should have known better. Especially after the incident at Mount Fernyr earlier that month. But we did not have any kind of warning whatsoever, and in any case there was no obvious connection between that earlier incident and our current endeavor.

In fact, I myself was the one who had pushed the others to visit Kerrington Manor over the weekend and to ask James to drive us to Wales so we could have a look at the Forbidden Cave. I do not recall what exactly it was that I hoped to find there. I guess I just entertained a vague idea that we might be able to finally obtain some answers.

Nancy had asked her parents to invite the four of us over the weekend: Natty and Erin and me, and also Erin's best friend, Eunice Ndemba. Lord and Lady Kerrington had readily agreed to that.

They had been more than pleased to get to know two of her daughter's classmates whom they had not met before. For some reason, Nancy's parents appeared to think that their daughter was isolated at St. Albert's and that she badly needed to socialize and find friends. When Ndemba mentioned that she was looking forward to visit the Welsh girl's home and maybe do some hiking there, they suggested that their chauffeur James could drive all of us there before Nancy even got a chance to ask them.

We started our road trip to Wales on Sunday morning. Since we did not make any rest stops this time, driving to Wales took James only a few hours.

Erin directed our chauffeur to a small village within easy walking distance of Mount Fernyr and the Forbidden Cave. We left James in a local pub that also served some lunch and from there we hiked to the Forbidden Cave.

Erin had not exaggerated: taking a shortcut through the forest, we arrived at the entrance to the cave less than half an hour later.

It was bit of a letdown. Standing in front of the locked iron gate that prevented us from entering, we peered into the cave through the metal grid, trying to discern anything of interest. Unfortunately, it was too dark to identify anything other than a wide corridor that seemed to lead straight into the mountain.

Natty was scrutinizing the lock. "Can you pick that one, Cathy?" she inquired.

"It's not the kind that's easy to pick," I told her. "But I will give it a try."

From an inner pocket of my blazer I retrieved the piece of wire I carried with me at all times in order to be prepared for a situation where I might need to pick a lock.

I tried my luck for several minutes, but it soon turned out that I would not be able to pick that particular lock without using special equipment.

I shrugged. "Sorry, but no. No chance."

"Well, that's kind of disappointing," Natty muttered, speaking for all of us.

We were almost ready to walk back to the village when we saw the jeep drive up the winding dirt road. It stopped at a distance of about fifty meters from the entrance of the cave. A guy wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket got out of the jeep and approached us.

"What are you girls doing here?" he demanded to know. "Don't you know that this area is closed to the public?"

"That's the first time I hear anything like that," Erin Morgan replied. "If this place is closed to the public, why aren't there any signs that say so?"

The man frowned. "The decision to restrict access was made recently, just a few days ago," he claimed. "There was no time to put up any signs."

"If there aren't any signs, this place is not officially closed to the public yet," Eunice Ndemba declared.

She was sounding more than a bit rebellious. This did not sit well the man.