indigoneutrino | Fic - On The Tides Of History

And this is it. This is the last I wrote of this in May 2007. Shame really, because I think if I'd kept working at it by now it would be pretty good. Maybe I'll try and develop this idea more in future.

Title: On The Tides Of History
Genre: Action/Pseudo-Historical
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In the early twentieth century, a small group of special operatives with arcane knowledge about time and space are trying to hold back the forces which threaten to plunge the world - and the entire universe - into war.

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Chapter Three: A Kind Of Rescue

Moscow
USSR
27th June 1939
2258h

Lidia sat on the floor of the kitchen, huddled up against the wall. It had been five days since Volkov had killed Nikolai. His body had been wrapped in a sack and laid in the basement. She had wanted to bury him, but she had no land in which to dig a grave, and even if she did, she couldn't risk going outside. She'd tried burying him beneath the basement, but the floor was solid concrete. She'd spent hours hitting a heavy old wine rack against the floor in an attempt to break through the concrete to the earth below, but she'd given up, realising it was useless. The repeated efforts of throwing the rack against the floor had made her back and arms sore, and her palms had been cut by the metal. She'd wrapped rags round her hands as bandages, but it still stung. Not that she cared, or even noticed.

For five days she hadn't eaten. She'd barely slept. A hopeless depression had come over her. She saw no future, no hope of getting away and starting anew. She was just going to sit here and waste away.

She sat there staring into the dark. The quiet was oppressive. She wondered if she closed her eyes now and slept would she ever have to wake up? Right now she didn't care either way.

She seemed to be drifting in between a state of dreaming and wakefulness, hearing Nikolai's voice in her head, believing she'd seen his face and when trying to see him clearer realising she'd only been imagining it.

Suddenly, there was a swift succession of knocks on the door. Lidia's eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright, fully alert. For a minute there were no more knocks, and she wondered if she'd imagined them too, but then more knocks followed, louder and more urgent. She stood up, panicking. What was she going to do now? She could just ignore it and maybe whoever it was would leave...

There was a loud crashing sound as something slammed into the door. It creaked on its hinges. The person outside was breaking in. Lidia looked round and snatched up a knife from the side. It was a heavy carving knife; clumsy as a weapon but she hoped it would be enough to defend herself against whoever was out there.

There was a loud crash as the door finally gave way. Lidia backed up, clutching the handle of the knife hard. She could reach the stairs from the kitchen, but if she went up them she'd be cornered: the only exit to the house was on the ground floor.

She saw the shadow of the intruder fall across the floor. She gripped the knife hard, making the cuts in her palms sting. The intruder stepped into the kitchen, silhouetted in the doorway. He was tall, and wearing a long black coat. His face was shadowed by the wide brimmed hat he was wearing and she couldn't make out his features. He looked at her and she stared back at him. "Lidia Levenkova?"

Lidia was silent for a moment. She had no idea what was going on. Had Volkov found out about her and sent someone back? But this man didn't look like a policeman. "Who the hell are you?" she screamed at him.

He growled, as if displeased with her reaction and reached inside his coat. Realising he must be going for a gun, Lidia suddenly rushed him with the knife. She tried to stab him in the chest but he was too fast for her. He grabbed her wrist and threw her off of him, but she was surprisingly strong and held on to the knife, slashing it across his upper arm. He hissed with pain and brought up the revolver, but before he could cock it Lidia had brought the blade back to slash at his wrist, and as it connected he dropped the gun, letting out a cry of pain. She landed a blow to the side of his face and he was momentarily stunned by the shocking strength and speed of the girl. But too quickly for Lidia he recovered himself and hit her hard around the head, causing her to fall to the floor. Even after this assault he was amazed to see she still had hold of the knife. She tried to use it to slash at him again but he grabbed hold of her wrist and twisted until she let go of the knife. He had her arm in his grip and she was twisting to get free, but the revolver was lying several feet away, out of his reach. He looked over at it, trying to figure out how he could reach it, and Lidia used his momentary distraction to kick him hard between the legs. He hissed with pain and crumpled to the floor, letting go of her arm. She ran to pick up the revolver and cocked it. Thank God Nikolai had shown her how to use a gun. She remembered he had a Colt hidden underneath one of the upstairs floorboards. Damn it, she should have remembered that before.

She was ready to fire the gun but the intruder had pulled a small knife out from inside his coat and thrown it at her, and she barely managed to dodge. She fell sideways to the floor, causing the gun to accidentally go off. This was enough time for her assailant to jump on top of her and put his hands round her throat. She'd dropped the gun and tried to reach for it but it was too far away and his grip was too strong. She couldn't breathe. His hands were like a band of iron round her throat. She tried to beat him off but it was no use; he was far too powerful. She was sure she was going to die. Oh well, she thought, what have I got left to live for?

A second later she heard a succession of three gunshots. Suddenly, the man's grip went slack. A look of surprise showed on his face and blood frothed at the corner of his mouth. His eyes glazed over and he seemed to sway for a moment, before crumpling to the floor partly on top of her. She scrambled out from underneath him and stood up, gasping for breath. Looking down, she realised there were three bullet holes in his back. She snatched up the revolver and turned round to face the figure standing in the doorway. His appearance at first glance was very much like the first intruder – he was tall and wearing a long black coat, but no hat. "Who are you and what do you want from me?"

The man in the doorway didn't answer directly. Instead, he lifted his hands up in the air and put his pistol down on the table in front of him, as if in surrender. "I mean you no harm, Miss Levenkova, but if you wish to live you have to listen to me."

Lidia shook her head, "No. No! Somebody's just tried to kill me and I have no idea why or who he is and then you come along and tell me I have to trust you. I don't think so; I just want you to get out." She had the gun pointing at him and was holding it with both hands, both of which were shaking.

"I said you have to listen to me, Miss Levenkova, whether or not you trust me is up to you. However, since I have just saved your life I am wondering what reason you have to mistrust me."

She wasn't sure what to say to that. Instead she avoided it and confronted him with a question, "Who are you?"

"They call me Hunter."

He stepped into the kitchen so that there was enough light coming in from the window for her to make out his features. The moonlight cast severe shadows on his face as it fell upon the sharp angles of his nose and cheekbones, but picked out the highlights in his dark hair that fell in a rugged, unkempt mess to his shoulders. His skin was pale and appeared to be free of the lines of age, suggesting that he was perhaps in his early to mid twenties. His eyes, however, told a different story. They were a cool ice blue and seemed to swallow up all light that entered them so that it was reflected in a distorted and diffracted way. They were almost inhuman, and seemed to hold so much history that it made the man seem as though he were older than the earth. Those eyes captivated Lidia, and yet she couldn't bear to look at them for too long. Instead she focused on other parts of his face, registering subconsciously how handsome he was.

"Miss Levenkova…Lidia. I've been sent to get you out of Russia for your own protection. There's a group of people who want to kidnap you – may even want you dead – and the people I work for don't want that to happen."

Lidia gave a nervous laugh at that, "So you just work for another group of people who want to kidnap me? Great. It's actually quite flattering to have people fighting over me."

"Lidia, you're danger here and you need to come with me. This man isn't the last agent they'll send after you."

"You really think I'm going to leave here with you?"

"Lidia, I don't want to hurt you."

She laughed again, "The same way he didn't want to hurt me?" she said, nodding towards the body on the floor.

"Funnily enough," Hunter said, crossing over to the body of the man he'd shot, "I don't think he did." Hunter searched around in the coat of the corpse and pulled out a small glass phial. He took off the lid and sniffed the contents. "Chloroform. I expect he was going to use it to knock you out so he could then kidnap you. He probably only attacked because you wouldn't co-operate."

"Wouldn't co-operate? He tried to kill me? What more do I have to say."

"May I ask who attacked who?"

Lidia shuffled uncomfortably at that, "He was reaching for his gun."

"He was probably going to use it to threaten you, but that doesn't matter now. All that matters is we have to get out of here," Hunter said in response.

"Why should I leave here with you?"

He looked her in the eye. "Because what have you got to lose?"

Maybe it was the logic of what he said, or the expression in his face, but something at that point made her trust him. "Okay."

He held out his hand. She tentatively took it. "Okay," he said, "I don't think I'm actually supposed to do this, but things didn't work out exactly as they planned and so this is the quickest way of getting out of here."

She was about to ask what the hell he was talking about when she suddenly felt a strange sensation as if she was being snatched up from the floor and held in midair, as if she were floating and spinning, while indistinct colours and sounds swirled around her and all sense of direction evaporated. She had hold of Hunter's hand and gripped it tight, not sure as to whether or not she was dreaming.

Suddenly, she felt herself back on solid ground. There was a chill breeze, and she felt moist earth beneath her feet. She realised she was outside; a place she'd not been for a very long time. She heard the soft noise of the wind and faint singing of birds. She realised that it was evening; the red sun was low in the sky and getting ready to sink below the horizon; a sight she hadn't seen in over six years. She was looking out over the sea from a clifftop, and drank in the smell of the sea air. Hunter stood beside her, and she realised she was still holding his hand. She let go, but the smile on her face had spread to Hunter's and his face seemed to soften as the corners of his mouth turned up. "Welcome," he said, "To England."

Many people would have fainted after experiencing the events that had just occurred, but Lidia simply stood on the edge of the cliff looking out over the sea, realising how happy she actually was to be alive.