People scattered. It didn’t help. Some people assumed the traditional St Mary’s position and curled into a foetal ball until it was all over. Some headed for the hills. Some actually made it back to the main building by climbing in through the library windows. They were pursued by ten or twelve battle-crazed birds, who powered in through the open windows and proceeded to lay about them. I could hear Dr Dowson shrieking. The fire alarms went off, adding their deafening clamour to the music bouncing off the walls, the shouts and yells of those falling victim to avian aggression and the wail of approaching sirens. Not only could they hear us in the village, they could probably hear us in Vladivostok. There would be another letter from the parish council. Two letters, probably. And the traditional telephone call from the Chief Constable was imminent.
Markham was still trying to evacuate Professor Rapson and his crew from the shoreline while surrounded and outnumbered by what looked like millions of enraged Cygnus Olor, all of whom were circling the beleaguered forces rather like the Indians at Custer’s Last Stand. I hoped he had better luck than the General did. Everywhere I looked, there was chaos and carnage. The lake was still ablaze, the entire bank was burning, a thick pall of smoke hung over everything, and the sirens were very close.
Leon groaned. ‘The entire county must be on terrorist alert by now. There’s no chance …’
Helen Foster appeared with her emergency medical team, shouted ‘What the fu …?’ got a swan in her face, and tumbled backwards over a low wall.
I was face down on the console, laughing.
Leon had his hands over his eyes.
‘Well,’ I said, just to rub it in. ‘Thank God they toned it down a bit.’
Leon groaned. ‘Every Time Police officer in existence is going to be here in a minute.’
I turned my attention back to Dr Bairstow who appeared to be taking a telephone call.
‘Quick,’ I said, ‘Can we make out what he’s saying?’
Leon fiddled for a while, enhancing one speaker and filtering out the noise from the others. Dr Bairstow’s voice, familiar but tinny, was just audible.
‘Ridley, my dear fellow, how are you …? And Audrey …? Well, that’s good news … No … No, the Siege of Tyre … Tyre … No, not the rubber product, the small island … No, just a tiny miscalculation … Yes … No … As far as I can ascertain, no fatalities at all … Well, no, not that astonishing really … No, perfectly under control … What noise …? … Oh, no, just a few swans … No, slightly more than two … Yes, more than three … Getting warmer … About forty, I think … Well, obviously they’re a little agitated … Ridley, I have to go now, there are a number of emergency vehicles pulling in through the gates. Quite a large number, actually. They seem very purposeful … Yes, Sunday evening. I haven’t forgotten. Looking forward to it.’
He handed the phone to someone unseen and began to usher his guests safely off the balcony. Just as they disappeared inside, he turned and looked directly at us. Obviously, I was still high on painkillers, because I could have sworn that for a moment, just for one very brief moment, he actually smiled, and then he stepped back into his office.
I grinned to myself and then the first emergency services vehicles came roaring up the drive in a cacophony of sound and strobing lights and flying gravel. Reluctantly, I turned the cameras away from all the drama and concentrated on the woods. One of our alerts pinged.
‘There,’ said Leon and indeed, there were two figures running swiftly towards us.
I didn’t wait to be told, shooting into the toilet and closing the door behind me.
I heard a very brief murmur of voices. A pause.
And then the world went white.
I never thought I’d go back. Not after what had happened to me there. I remembered the last time I had seen Troy. Burning buildings. Drifting smoke. The smell of burned flesh. The screaming. If I closed my eyes, could I still hear …?
That was in the past. A year had gone by since the Greeks had overrun the city. Not all the population had been killed or captured and the survivors would have slowly drifted back. The smoke in the wind would now be the smoke of cooking fires. On the other side of the olive grove would be what was left of the tavern that Helios’s family had run. Would he choose to stay? His father and his sister had died there. This might not have been the best place to land, but it was what he’d asked for. Because it was familiar. Because it was his home.
I cracked the door open an inch or so. Helios stood with his back to me. They were staring at the screen. Leon pointed at something and Helios nodded.
I stayed in the toilet, telling myself I didn’t want to intrude. It was Leon who had risked everything to save him. They had been friends. They should have these last few minutes alone together. I know it was cowardly and I despised myself, but I was too ashamed of what we were doing to look him in the face.
Helios was barefoot and wore a simple T-shirt and shorts. On top of everything else, he couldn’t bring anything with him. We weren’t supposed to leave anything from our time, but I did see he was clutching a small bundle under one arm. Some food, probably, together with a knife and maybe a blanket. And if History didn’t like it then that was just tough. Take it out on us. Helios was the innocent party here. And Helios was bearing the punishment.