Temporal Exploring 101 - Deep Future

IV.41 The witches' den

It took us almost four hours to drive to Wales. We took a couple of wrong turns, but eventually we ended up on the small dirt road that led to the Forbidden Cave.

Jake stopped the car at a distance of about half a mile from the cave. Even from that distance we could hear a noise that sounded like heavy gunfire, or perhaps like a series of explosions.

The three of us left the road and took a footpath that wound between the trees. We climbed a small hill to take a look at what was going on. We did not require Jake's binoculars to make out thirty or more Jeeps and armored vehicles positioned in front of the cave.

The dirt road had been barred with a makeshift wooden barrier to prevent traffic to the cave from passing through.

Jake took a closer look at it through the binoculars. He  whistled softly. "They've got sufficient military equipment to fight a minor war, over there."

I could only agree with his assessment. And a minor war, or at least a minor battle appeared to be pretty much what was going on down there. Between fifty and a hundred men, most of them wearing military fatigues, were assembled. They were taking cover behind the vehicles and using automatic guns and what looked like light artillery to attack whoever was hiding inside the cave.

The metal gate at the mouth of the cave was closed. Also, fire was being returned from inside the cave: I watched one of the jeeps get hit and go up in flames.

"Are those soldiers of the British army?" Natty asked.

"No, these guys don't look like military types at all," Jake replied. "Thugs or mercenaries is more like it. Nah, that's our cleanup crew in action, I am fairly certain. I wonder how they got their hands on all that military equipment, though."

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked. "To help the people trapped inside the cave, I mean."

"If I were alone, I could get into the car and try to break through," Jake mused. "I wager the people inside the cave would briefly open the gate to let me in once they saw me coming."

"Wouldn't you just get shot to pieces by those heavily armed thugs, though?" Natty inquired.

"Not necessarily. My car is armored, and anyways I would be almost at the gate before they'd even realize what was going on," he told us. "But that's not an option as long as you girls are here. I guess the thing for me to do is drive you to London and then come back on my own to see what I can do here."

"That may be too late for the Meddling Natives," Natty mused.

Jake shrugged. "There is nothing I can do about that, I fear."

Natty and I exchanged a brief look.

"How about the three of us get in your car and try to break through the lines to get into the cave?" I proposed.

Jake shook his head. "That's too risky and too dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt."

"But you just said that your car is armored, didn't you?" Natty insisted.

He frowned. "Yes, but that does not provide one hundred percent protection, not by a long shot."

"That's a risk Natty and I are willing to take," I said. "Come on, Jake. There's a good chance that the answers to quite a few of our questions can be found inside that cave. But not if we wait for the cleanup crew to bring the entire mountain down on top of the people trapped inside."

He sighed. "You are not wrong. But I still think it would be far too dangerous for the two of you."

"Aw, come on."