Page 71 of No Place in Time

Cecily risked a glance back. Nothing visible yet through the trees, but the sounds were getting closer. Men on foot, pursuing.

The ground sloped upward. Every step was harder now. The machine caught on rocks, on low branches. They had to stop, lift it over obstacles, keep going.

Cecily stumbled. Finn caught her arm, steadied her.

“Keep moving,” he gasped. “It’s not far now.”

Her breath came in burning gasps. Her legs shook. The satchel strap dug into her shoulder. She pushed through it. She kept moving.

Behind them, a shout. “I see them! There!”

Julian’s voice. They were much closer.

Through the trees ahead, she saw it. Dark stone. An opening in the rocks.

“There,” Finn said. “The cave.”

They half-dragged, half-carried the machine up the final slope. Cecily’s boot slipped on loose stones. She caught herself and kept going. Behind them, they heard the crash of men running through underbrush. Men called to each other. Julian’s voice. Benedict’s.

Twenty paces to the cave. Then ten.

A man broke through the trees behind them. Then another. Four of them now, running uphill.

“Stop! By order of Lord Julian!”

Finn and Cecily reached the cave entrance. They pulled the machine through the narrow opening into the darkness. The cool air of the cave struck her face.

Finn dropped to his knees beside the machine, hands moving over the gears, trying to align the settings in the dark. She heard him muttering as he worked the controls. Cecily turned toward the entrance, breathing hard.

The men appeared at the cave mouth, dark shapes against the daylight. They stopped, hesitating at the threshold.

“Come out! Now!”

Cecily pressed her back against the wall. “They’re getting close, Finn.”

He didn’t respond. His hands worked the timing mechanism, adjusting gears. The machine began to hum, a steady thrumming sound.

More men arrived at the entrance. Then two more riders dismounted behind them.

Julian’s voice sounded. “Don’t let them escape!”

Men entered the cave, spreading out, their forms slow and wary in the darkness.

“Block the entrance,” a man commanded. Benedict’s voice. “I want them alive, and the machine untouched.”

Finn pulled Cecily tight against him, his other hand flying across the controls to make the final adjustments. The humming grew louder, more urgent.

The men were ten paces away now. Hands reaching. One of them had a sword drawn.

Through the cave entrance, Cecily could see Benedict. He pushed past his men, staring into the darkness. His eyes found the machine. Found Cecily.

His face twisted. “NO!”

Three paces away. Two.

Finn pushed something on the machine. The humming became a high whine.

Light glowed from between the gears. Soft at first, then brighter.