Chapter 05: Wrong Way

Sean followed the fleeing suspect from the castle, taking shelter in crevices and behind boulders where the terrain permitted. Although he wanted to see where the cloaked figure went, he knew pursuing an unknown person could be life threatening if the man turned on him.

The words of Sir Kastin repeated in his mind, driving him onward. Formerly, he wouldn't have cared about an unknown person skulking about the castle in the middle of the night. If it didn't affect him, it was no concern of his. After having his eyes opened to the potential of a world based on honor rather than the serving of one's own self interest, Sean knew he couldn't turn a blind eye; he had to take action.

The ground became plentiful with rocks and more uneven as Sean drew closer to the hills. As he looked ahead, he saw what he believed to be the figure's intended destination. The gaping maw of a cavern left a dark hole in the front of a gray stone hillside.

As the fleeing individual vanished inside the subterranean tunnels, Sean saw the flickering orange light of a torch. The light grew dim as the person carrying it proceeded deeper into the caves.

Sean avoided making any noise to alert his quarry of his presence and slowly returned the way he had come. If the mysterious person he'd followed to the cave was planning harm to the castle or those in it, the leader of the knights needed to know.

***

"Sean's not here either," Mike reported to Alison when he came back into their room after going to wake the kids. "A sheet is tied to the balcony railing as if he went out that way, but I don't know why he would leave in such a manner. Cassie was asleep in her bed across the room and didn't notice him depart."

"What are we going to do?" Alison questioned while lacing up her leather boots.

Rather than putting on the long black skirt and high heels she'd been wearing when the first time jump occurred, Alison had changed into something more practical for chasing down a thief. Her boots came halfway up her shin and were very comfortable for running or walking over any terrain for extended periods.

Although she still wore a skirt, it maintained a high slit on either side, revealing tan colored leggings of soft leather, laced up on the outside of each leg. The white collared shirt she'd brought from the future was tucked into the top of the skirt, and the long sleeves were buttoned securely at the cuffs. Alison took the rest of her apparel from the future and shoved it into a leather satchel Sir Kastin had provided for them earlier in the day.

Mike was too busy to change from the pants and sleeveless vest of dark brown leather he'd been provided, so he handed his modern apparel to Alison as he answered her question.

"I don't know what can be done," he replied honestly. "It's unthinkable to leave our son behind, but if we don't find the thief before the time travel device activates, all of us may end up stranded in the Middle Ages. We will look for him while we try and get the device back. If we can retrieve it without setting it off, we'll have more time to find Sean."

Mike moved to the connecting archway between his room and the one belonging to the kids. He pounded a fist on the door.

"Cassie?" he called out. "Are you ready yet?"

"Almost," she shouted back, but the thick timbers of the door muffled the sound considerably.

"I'll be downstairs when you're ready," Mike finished. Turning to his wife, he added, "Make sure we don't forget anything. We might not be back."

Alison nodded her understanding, and Mike departed from their room. He took the stairs going down two at a time until he reached the stables in the rear courtyard.

Sean arrived at the same time as his father. From Sean's perspective, it looked as if all the people in the castle were being mobilized. Servants hurried about, assisting the knights in preparing their mounts for action. The armored warriors carried shields, spears, and swords. An urgency permeated their efforts, and Sean wondered what had happened since he'd been away.

"Dad!" Sean shouted when he saw his father.

"Sean!" Mike answered in kind, running over to meet his son. "Where did you go?"

"I noticed someone sneaking about the castle and followed him," Sean explained.

Mike took hold of his son by both shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

"You saw someone sneak out of the castle?" Mike asked seriously. "Where?"

"To a small cave over there," Sean replied, pointing in the proper direction.

"Sir Kastin!" Mike shouted. When the knight approached, Mike quickly told him what his son had reported. "Do you know these caves?"

"Indeed I do," Sir Kastin replied. "They're bandit territory. Most of the passages are trapped to snare both intruders and any who might pursue the thieves into the caves. We'll need to make haste."

"Be sure to tell your king, if he wishes to say his farewells to us, he may need to come along," Mike added. "He might not have another chance."

As Sir Kastin left to inform his men and the king of the situation, Sean asked Mike a question.

"What's the problem?" Sean inquired. He knew a reaction of this magnitude would never have arisen unless something dreadful had occurred.

"A thief managed to lay hold of the time travel device," Mike explained. "The charge will almost be complete by now. If the person you followed is our thief, and we don't retrieve the device quickly, he may end up taking the next jump through time without us."

The color drained from Sean's face, and he swallowed hard. His family had been trying not to interfere with the established time line, but the thief wouldn't know or care about preserving the future. Besides trapping the Jenkins family in the past, the thief could do irreparable harm to all of history if he wasn't stopped.

Cassie and Alison rushed down the stairs to join the other two members of their family in the courtyard. Cassie stood out among those of the castle as she'd changed back into her modern day clothes of a short sleeved pink shirt and bleached jeans. Fortunately, everyone was too busy preparing for the departure of the knights to notice her uncommon style.

The knights mounted their horses, followed by the Jenkins family. A thunder of hooves shook the castle as the large detachment of riders galloped out of the courtyard.

Since they were aware of the cave's location, the group made good time in reaching it. Mike watched the horizon as they approached the cave. The eastern sky remained dark, but the vanishing hours concerned him. Every moment the device lingered in the hands of the thief, their world teetered on the edge of catastrophe.

Upon reaching the hill, the knights dropped from their horses and swiftly spread out in a defensive formation around the cavern entrance. They were preparing to go inside when Sir Kastin and the king arrived. The knights parted, making way for their master.

"Your Majesty," Mike said softly in greeting.

The king nodded silently in reply. His crown was missing, and his royal robes had been replaced by chain mail covered by a tunic bearing the cross standard on his chest and the eagle emblem of the knights upon his back. A golden sword in his right hand gleamed in the darkness.

Under the direction of Sir Kastin, the knights proceeded inside. Torches were lit and distributed, so the soldiers traveling in pairs would be able to see in the gloom of the cave.

Mike would've preferred to move faster, but the gradual pace of the knights was understandable. He'd heard Sir Kastin mention traps were located in the underground passages, and if they moved too quickly, their expedition could easily end in death. He also surmised stealth played a role in their choice of speed. Their armor rattled slightly with each step. A faster pace would generate too much noise and certainly let the thief know they were coming.

The passage branched into two tunnels. Sir Kastin silently divided the knights into matching columns, sending half of his force down both available pathways.

***

Corbin sat alone in his dank corner of the hillside cave. His torch, barely larger than a handful of candles provided only the most meager source of light, but he didn't need more as the time travel device lit up its display screen when he opened it.

Eyes wide in wonder, Corbin touched the screen and the green bar reaching across from the left. The bar expanded slightly, and it caused Corbin to pull his hand away in fright. When nothing changed, he touched the screen again, but the bar refused to move this time.

Focusing on the small controls on the lower half of the rectangular device, Corbin spun the dials one way then the other. He watched the numbers on the screen change in correspondence to his actions. He didn't understand the strange thing he held in his hands, but he knew someone would pay handsomely for it. He continued tinkering with the device. Corbin felt sure if he could decipher what it was meant to do, he could get a much better price.

***

"This is the last tunnel," Sir Kastin explained as the knights regrouped with the Jenkins family. Four knights had suffered injuries from traps and concealed pitfalls, but none had died nor had their wounds been serious.

Mike and Sean took the lead, their eyes scanning every wall and every stone for warnings of concealed traps. The flicker of torchlight ahead caught Sean's attention, and he touched his dad's arm before pointing ahead. Mike waved to the knights following and directed their focus toward the light as well. The armored warriors slowed their pace further in order to approach as close as possible before being detected.

As the Jenkins family entered a moderately sized chamber, they found the thief sitting on a rock with the time device in his hands. From their position, they heard a slight beep as the recharge cycle completed. The red control light on the lower half of the device became illuminated, indicating its readiness.

"Stop!" Mike shouted, as he saw the thief reach curiously toward the glowing button. He leapt across the distance between them, trying to reach the device.

Corbin jerked as he was startled, the movement causing him to touch the button.

Lightning flashed out from the device, creating a sphere of bright, transparent energy around Corbin and Mike. The remaining members of the Jenkins family sprinted across the cave and managed to squeeze inside the expanse of energy before it closed into a complete sphere.

The flashes grew more intense before the sphere shrank away to nothing, taking the Jenkins family and the thief Corbin into another time.

The king and Sir Kastin looked in wonder at where the visitors had been. The idea of time travel was a strange concept for them, but it had been even more miraculous to witness.

***

The lightning filled sphere reformed in a dense jungle. It expanded from the diameter of a person's fist to full size in moments as the energy bolts pushed it out with every electric discharge. The sphere exploded in a horizontal shock wave, shaking the plants all around it and depositing the travelers in the jungle.

"Where are we now?" Cassie asked, looking over the unfamiliar terrain.

"I don't know," Mike admitted. "I don't even know how many years we may have traveled."

"This may help," Sean suggested, gesturing for them to look beyond a large fern he'd pulled back.

As the family came to look, they beheld a lush valley fed by a crystal clear river. A volcano in the distance sent a plume of gray smoke skyward, but the scenery barely registered. The Jenkins family was focused far more on the animal life present in the valley, the ponderous and scaled forms of dinosaurs.

"Great," Mike said sarcastically. "Just great."

As he turned away, he noticed the presence of the thief, and he pounced on him, snatching away the time travel device while the man was still disoriented.

"What sorcery is this?" Corbin shouted.

"Not sorcery, technology," Alison corrected. "You've just traveled through time into the distant past, and you brought us along with you."

"This cannot be true," Corbin said swiftly as if trying to convince himself.

"Take a look," Sean offered, nodding his head toward the view of the dinosaur lands.

Corbin stepped carefully over to where Sean stood and stared with mouth open at the bizarre creatures wandering the prehistoric terrain.

"This is sorcery!" Corbin shouted. "Ye be witches and have taken me to a realm of demons!"

Before anyone could think to interfere, Corbin tore away from them and sprinted through the jungle, trying to escape.

Sean took out after Corbin first, hopping over fallen trees and sidestepping the thickest parts of the underbrush. His family followed closely behind. Running through the sweltering jungle sapped the strength of everyone in a matter of moments, but the Jenkins family caught up with Corbin. Unfortunately, something else had reached him first.

Standing eighteen feet high on two powerful legs, one of the most famous predators of the dinosaur age looked down upon the cowering form of Corbin. The Jenkins family skidded to a halt when they saw the tyrannosaurus rex. It turned and glanced in their direction as they came crashing through the brush. The forty foot long beast swished its heavy tail slightly as it considered them and its own response.

The tyrannosaur lowered its massive head to sniff the strange creature at its feet. Corbin, in stark terror, held motionless. In a sudden move of incredible speed, the rex opened its massive jaws and snapped them closed again. Corbin vanished from existence in a split second.

Mike didn't have to tell his family to run. He followed behind them to make certain they stayed together. Even if they managed to keep from being dinner, they wouldn't last long on their own.

Ground shaking footsteps pounded behind them, pushing the family to greater efforts of speed. The tyrannosaur chased after them, seeking another tasty morsel, but much to Mike's surprise, the animal was terrifyingly silent. Unlike the dinosaurs he'd seen in movies, the rex didn't roar or snarl as it pursued them. It maintained the mute focus of a hunting lion. Only its powerful steps gave an indication of the legendary predator closing in on them.