Moulting Cage

'What's that noise?' Julia poked Alan awake.

'What?' Alan asked.

'Listen.'

The sound of metal clanking against metal could be heard outside the
tent. Alan and Julia listened as the sound got louder.

They had travelled to Scotland on their motorcycles for a camping
holiday. Alan, a keen birdwatcher, was hoping to see some birds that he
wouldn't normally see at their home in the south of England. Julia was
just enjoying the scenery and looking forward to the traffic-free
roads.

They had stopped in an area called Liddesdale, just north of the
Scottish border and set up camp in some woodland not far from
Newcastleton. It seemed a perfect spot to spend the night, with the
gentle noise of the Liddel Water soothing them to sleep. Tomorrow they
would ride into Newcastleton before heading north. Now it was the early
hours of the morning and they were both wide awake listening to strange
noises outside the tent.

'Stay here,' said Alan. 'I'll have a look outside.'

'No,' replied Julia grabbing his arms. 'Don't you ever watch the films?
You're not leaving me here on my own.'

The clanking outside got louder.

'Sounds like swords or something,' whispered Julia.

Suddenly, before Alan could answer, there was a scream and all hell
broke loose. He and Julia held each other tightly expecting to be
trampled underfoot at any moment as they listened to what sounded like
a large herd of horses whinnying and galloping around the tent. This
cacophony was accompanied by the noise of hundreds of men shouting and
screaming overlaid by the constant and unmistakable sound of swords
clashing against metal, wood and bone.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

The only sound to be heard was that of the two nervous and frightened
campers breathing. Eventually Alan poked his head out of the
tent.

'There's nothing out here.'

'I don't want to stay here Alan,' said Julia. 'Can we go into the town
and see if there's any hotels?'

'Don't be daft. It's the middle of the night. Anyway it looks as though
everything's all right now. I can't see anything out there.'

Julia could tell from his voice that he was about as confident as she
was. But he was right, the nearest town would be shut up and besides,
if there was anything still out there it would be able to get them as
they packed everything up and made their way out of the woods. They
cuddled together in the sleeping bag and waited for the safety of
daylight.

As soon as it was light enough they packed up the bikes and rode into
Newcastleton. The fine weather, fresh air and clear roads soon
relegated the previous night's events to the backs of their
minds.

After finding somewhere to eat, they visited the local museum. Julia
started looking through some of the displays of local history.

'Alan,' she called. 'Look at this.'

Alan, who had been studying a display of items from the old railway
that used to run through the area, walked over to where she was looking
at a painting showing a battle between two local chieftains in the 6th
century.

'That's where we camped last night,' she said. 'Bit of a coincidence
eh?'

'Do you think that's what we heard? It must've been loud for us to hear
it fifteen hundred years later.'

'Very funny. I just said it was a coincidence that's all. You hear
about these kinds of things happening. A sort of echo from the
past.'

She could tell that Alan wasn't convinced.

'What do you think it was then?' she asked him.

Alan shrugged. 'I don't know, but I don't think it was some ghostly
battle.'

'It says here,' continued Julia, 'that Merlin was there, that the
battle sent him mad and he fled into the hills.'

'Merlin?'

'You know, King Arthur's wizard.'

'I know who Merlin is. But I thought that all that Arthurian stuff was
supposed to have happened down in Cornwall.'

'Dunno,' shrugged Julia. 'That's what it says here.'

They left the museum, and rode their motorcycles back towards the A7
heading further into Scotland. After a short distance they turned off
of the main road and headed towards Hart Fell.

The road became fairly twisty and each would take turns leading the
other round the tight bends, enjoying the empty roads, which were so
much different to the busy, traffic-packed roads back home, down
south.

Alan was riding behind Julia watching as she effortlessly leant her
bike around the corners. He didn't see what it was that made her
suddenly brake and sit up. He screamed in horror, unable to do
anything, as he watched the back wheel of her bike lock up, skid and
lose grip on the tarmac, smashing the bike into the stone wall that ran
alongside the road.

It seemed to Alan that the whole world was moving in slow motion as
Julia was catapulted off the bike. The bike itself began to somersault
in the air, petrol spraying in an arc from the split fuel tank. As the
bike hit the ground it exploded, the igniting petrol creating a flaming
rainbow.

Alan pulled up as quickly as he could and ran towards the wall,
ignoring the heat from the flames as he passed. On the other side of
the wall was a steep bank leading down into a valley. Alan looked to
where he thought Julia had been thrown but he could see nothing.
Removing his helmet, he climbed over the wall and began searching,
calling out her name as he did so.

At the bottom of the bank, Julia tried to move. Pain shot through her
body. The tight confines of the full face crash helmet she was wearing
began to make her feel claustrophobic and she knew she must take it
off, or at least open the misted visor. She tried to fight through the
pain to move her arm, but it was too much and she passed out.

*

Julia woke.

She looked into the face of an old man. The first thing she noticed
were his eyes. They were green and of such an intensity that she felt
that they could look deep inside her, and that no thought or feeling
would be able to be hidden from their gaze. The face that surrounded
them looked as old as the world and yet, she thought, there was
something youthful there too. How could that be? It was a friendly,
comforting face, surrounded by long, unkempt hair and a beard.

'Ah, you have woken at last,' he said. 'How are you feeling?'

'Sore,' she said. 'Where am I?'

'You are safe. You were thrown by your mount, I found you near the
stream.' He handed her a goblet with some water in it. 'Drink,' he
said. 'It is water from the sacred fountain of Lothian. It will make
you well again.'

Julia took the goblet and drank the water. It had a slightly sulphurous
taste, but was quite refreshing. The old man smiled. As her senses
returned she saw that she was in a small cave, decorated with furs.
Scattered around the floor were various strange shaped glass phials
containing coloured liquids. Those, and other small metal objects that
lay alongside them, reminded Julia of the kind of things that mad
scientists had around their laboratories. The entrance to the cave was
small and narrow, and served to shield the inside from the weather,
keeping it dry. Through the entrance of the cave, she could see the
night sky twinkling with stars.

'Who are you?'

The old man kept smiling. 'I have many names,' he said. 'And will have
many more. But names do not matter. What matters is that you get well
and return to your world.'

'What do you mean, my world?' Julia was confused.

'This is my refuge outside the world.' He opened his arms wide as he
said this, showing off the inside of the cave. 'My esplumoir,' he
continued. 'My moulting cage. When you are well, you will return and I
will stay here.'

'Here? What happens when the winter comes? You can't stay here you'll
freeze to death.'

The old man chuckled.

'This cave is not of your world,' he replied. 'Besides, I cannot die
before the end of time, I have a job to do.'

Julia was still confused and her head was full of questions. She
couldn't explain it, but the old man seemed familiar somehow and she
felt safe here. She tried to remember back to how she had come here,
but her memory was really hazy. She remembered riding along winding
roads and then being surprised by a figure running in front of her. She
remembered braking hard, but then nothing.

'Where's Alan?' she asked. 'And what happened to my bike?'

'Bike?' said the old man.

'It's what I was riding. You said it threw me?'

'I do not know what happened, but there was fire at the top of the
valley.'

'Oh God!' Julia started to get up. 'Alan!'

'Your companion is unhurt,' said the old man. 'You will see him
shortly.'

She didn't know why, but there was something in the old mans voice that
made her sure that he was telling the truth.

'I must go to him, he'll be worried.' She winced with the effort of
trying to stand.

The old man put a hand on her shoulder.

'Do not try to move,' he said. 'You are not yet fully recovered. When
you are well, you can leave and rejoin your companion. Do not worry
about him, he is fine.'

The old man's voice was soothing and very hypnotic and despite the
questions that were filling her head, Julia began to drift off to
sleep.

When she awoke the old man had gone. The sun was rising and the rays
were beginning to finger their way slowly through the doorway,
illuminating the interior of the cave. As she watched, Julia saw parts
of the cave being revealed that she hadn't noticed earlier. It was a
lot deeper than it had looked last night, she thought and there was a
narrow passageway leading into the darkness. As the sunlight reached
deeper, Julia noticed a glint of something shiny and what appeared to
be a figure some yards along the passage.

It must be the old man, she thought and stood up. She noticed that the
pain that she had experienced earlier had now gone and, apart from a
slight stiffness, she felt fine. She made her way along the passage,
deeper into the cave.

The sunlight illuminated the first few yards of the narrow walkway but
from then it was darkness. But not quite darkness. Ahead of her, Julia
could see a very faint glow and it seemed to be drawing her on. She
walked slowly, but steadily onwards, towards the glow.

Julia stood in a huge cavern, in the centre of which was a large pool
of water. It was from this pool that the glow was coming, only it
wasn't a glow here, it was a bright greenish yellow light that lit up
the whole cavern like a child's nightlight. But it was more than a
light. Julia could sense an energy coming from the water, almost as if
it was alive, permeating every corner of the cave.

It was then she noticed the bodies. There seemed to be hundreds of
them, lying around the walls. Each body was dressed in medieval
knight's regalia and was laid out like the figures you sometimes see on
top of stone coffins. The whole cavern looked like a huge mausoleum.
But they didn't look dead, Julia thought, they looked peaceful, as if
asleep.

'Ah, there you are,' said a voice behind her.

The sound of a voice in the previously deathly quiet cave made Julia
jump out of her skin. Her heart felt as though it would burst from her
chest. She turned to see the old man, smiling at her.

'I see you've found my charges,' he said.

'Are they dead?' asked Julia, her heart still pounding.

'Oh, goodness gracious no,' replied the old man chuckling. 'They are
merely asleep.'

'Asleep?'

'Waiting.'

'Waiting?' Julia was beginning to feel a bit like a parrot. 'Waiting
for what?'

'Not what. Who. When they are needed their leader will come and they
will be awakened, ready to fulfil their destiny. Now it is time for you
to leave. Someone is waiting for you.'

'Alan! Where is he?' said Julia walking back into the dark passageway
that led to the cave entrance.

*

Alan ran down the hill as fast as he could when he saw her body lying
by the stream.

'Julia! Julia!'

The voice calling her name woke her.

'Thank God!' Alan said. 'I thought you were dead. Are you okay?'

'I think so.' She pushed herself to a sitting position and removed her
helmet. 'My bike,' she said. 'How's my bike?'

'Sod your bike, I'm just glad you're okay.'

'There was a man...' she started to say. 'Did you see him?'

'I didn't see anyone. Come on lets get you checked out and make sure
every thing is okay.'

Alan helped her to her feet and they began to walk up the steep bank.
Apart from some stiffness in her legs, Julia felt fine.

When they had climbed about halfway up the side of the valley, Julia
turned to look back at the stream.

A hazy figure was standing by the stream watching them as they
climbed.

'Alan, look.'

Alan turned to look.

The figure was no longer there. A bird flew towards them and then
circled overhead.

'What is it,' Julia asked. 'An eagle?'

'No, its not big enough,' replied Alan. 'It looks like a falcon.'

'A falcon?'

'Yeah. Actually, to be more precise its a falco columbarius, more often
called a merlin.'

THE END