The ABC Affair: Stonehenge Chapter 5 letter E

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4


The prompts: England, excavation

The agents remained at a distance, watching as the television crew walked about, surveying the damage.

Davies ranted and raved, with his hands swinging  about the mess they were in until they finally climbed into their vehicles and drove off.

Minutes later as the sun was setting, Napoleon remarked how clear the night sky was here in England.

The only light source other than the stars was that emanating from Doctor Goodwin-Walker’s tent.

Suddenly another bright light appeared in the sky; it was a comet.

“Look at that Illya,” Solo pointed upwards.

“I know of no comet that should be visible this time of year. This is very strange,”Illya said.

“Stranger than all the film equipment that was fried?”

“That too, as well as the Neolithic corpses that are actually modern humans who have had their body chemistry modified and were ritually murdered.”

“This is going to make for an unusual report to the Old Man.”

“Yes, and you should do it.”

“Why me?” Napoleon asked.

“Because...you are the senior agent. Since everything seems to be going pear shaped, it is better that you speak to Mister Waverly.”

“Pear shaped? For once you’re throwing out a word that I don’t understand tovarisch.”

“Oh, sorry. It is a British term describing a situation that has gone awry, perhaps horribly so. A failed bank robbery, for example, could be said to have "gone pear-shaped".

“I suppose an apt description, you chicken.”

Illya ignored the insult, “ I think we should check in on the good doctor,” he turned, pulling a small flashlight from his suit jacket pocket as he headed across the site to the tent with his partner following behind him.

The last thing he wanted to do was to fall into another ditch that were apparently part of a new excavation, or at least that was what he presumed. Finding out about that was not high on his lift of priorities at the moment.

They entered the tent and found the doctor pouring a glass of scotch for herself by the light of several kerosene lanterns. She didn’t look happy.

“What’s wrong Ellery?” Solo asked.

“The generator’s burned out; if we don’t get the bodies into a cold environment, they’re going to begin to deteriorate.”

“I’ll contact headquarters and get a replacement generator out here asap,” Napoleon drew his communicator from his breast pocket.

Setting it up, he quickly realized that it was dead...no signal at all. Kuryakin immediately tried his, with the same result. He went outside the tent to the lorry and tried to start it, but it too was dead.

Popping the boot, Illya found every wire in the engine was blackened and burned.

“What did we say about strange?” Napoleon spoke up from behind him.

Illya turned and suddenly realized the two guards were gone. Both he and Solo did a quick search and found no sign of either man.

“Stranger and stranger,” Kuryakin said.

A heavy mist suddenly appeared around the henge, drifting like tendrils among the stones.

Voices seemed to echo from the thick haze; it sounded like chanting.

“What the hell is going on?” Napoleon whispered as he drew his special. “What are they saying?”

“I do not recognize the language,”Illya paused, cocking his head to one side as he listened carefully. “I think… it might be Old Brittonic?  No one speaks it as it is a dead language. No one even really knows what it sounded like for sure.”

“Then how do you know it’s this Old Brittonic?”

It is merely an educated guess. Old Brittonic, also known as Common Brittonic was the language of the Celtic Britons which eventually split into the various Neo-Brittonic languages of Welsh, Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and probably the Pictish languages.”

Napoleon’s lower lip protruded as he listened.

The mist began to dissipate as the chanting suddenly stopped.

There, standing among the stones were a dozen or so men in long white hooded robes.  One of them raised a hand and the flash of a blade somehow gleamed for a split second one before it slashed downwards through the mist.

Suddenly everything was gone, no mist, no men in white robes. Only the stones stood like silent witnesses to what had just happened.

Solo and Kuryakin dashed into the circle, guns drawn, and there they found the body of one of the missing guards. 

He was dressed in the same Neolithic garb that Doctor Goodwin-Walker had shown them, and like the other corpses, his throat had been cut from ear to ear.

Illya reached down, pushing the man’s lower mandible open; the tongue was missing as well...

“I think we have gone well beyond strange.”

Napoleon sighed.,“No kidding,”

Comments

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

One thing's for certain, this hasn't gone 'shape du pear'!

I'm sorry, I've missed the other chapters - I should try and catch up because this was intriguing. I'm trying to write my own story based on the ABC Stonehenge prompts, but I can't keep up with the posting schedule - so I'll just have to settle on doing a story in my own time and posting it later on, with credit to the Stonehenge challenge - I expect ABC will long have moved on.

I'm happy to cheer from the side-lines though - and I love the comet over Stonehenge pic.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked the chapter. Definitely catch up. The chapters only started posting last Wednesday.

Please by all means start posting your story. If you can't keep up with the schedule, that's fine, just post your chapters when you can. Don't put it off as you may never get around to doing it. I know that happens to me all the time,

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

As well as the ABC prompts, I'm sticking to the general Section VII rules - I haven't gone off on a tangent. it would be great to post it eventually, but it will take a while, I'm not a fast writer - but I really liked the idea of the challenge.

But I'll be way behind everyone else. You'll probably all be on Z when I'm still on B...

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

That's okay. Post it a chapter at a time when you get around to finishing one. I look forward to reading your story!

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Thank you - and I'm definitely looking forward to catching up with yours!

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

A grimly spoooky chapter. I wonder if the original Stonehenge people going to turn up as well (as The Hanging Stones, or if this is all trickery.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad it came off as a spooky chapter as that was my intent. Next chapter tomorrow!