Ancient Future

1

THE STONES

As evening cast its shadow across the horizon, Tory secured the last bolt and replaced the hubcap. She tilted back on her heels to admire her work when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the back tyre was also losing air. 'Goddamn hire cars,' she cried, kicking the dying tyre with her steel-capped boot. 'I don't believe it!'

It was difficult to see how bad the puncture was as the old country road was poorly lit. Tory drew back her long hair and sighed, kissing goodbye to any chance of making it to her aunt's in Oxfordshire by dinner. Disheartened, she turned and lent on the car to mull over her problem.

The difference between a good situation and a bad one lay only in one's perception. The voice of her Sensei came into her thoughts.

It wasn't as if she was afraid to be in the countryside at night, for she was more than capable of protecting herself. Only a few months back she'd achieved her second Dan grade (black belt) in Tae-kwon-do. She'd also trained in kickboxing, a sport her brother, Brian, had encouraged her to pursue.

Brian had been Tory's driving force, her fiercest competitor and closest friend. Her recollection of the events that led to his death continued to plague her, though two years had passed since the tragedy.

On the final day of their first Dan grade competition, Brian and Tory had competed against strong opposition to secure the title in their respective weight classes. Brian had sustained a couple of bad strikes to the head, but the doctor who examined him afterwards gave him the all clear to go home. The next morning Tory found her brother dead. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be a subdural haematoma, which is swollen, bruised tissue that leads to a build up of pressure on the brain. The doctors compounded her family's distress by explaining that if this had been detected at the time of the injury, Brian might have been saved. Tory never competed again, and from then on she regarded the medical profession with considerable scepticism. Brian was gone and her family had to live with the knowledge that it didn't have to happen.

Tory's father Renford, a Welshman born and educated, was a professor of British history and language. He travelled the world lecturing at universities and was often called upon to investigate archeological finds. Tory's mother, Helen, was a classical harpist of some merit, and was forever flying off to perform with one orchestra or another. These professional obligations sent her parents abroad soon after Brian's death. Tory had insisted on staying at home in Sydney as she wanted to finish her year at university. She spent most of her time on her own anyway, studying history, mythology, music, philosophy, metaphysics, and the like. Her father's knowledge of ancient languages had also ensured that Tory had a firm grasp of Brythanic (ancient Welsh) and Latin, in addition to the other languages she'd studied at university. Her parents had never pushed her into the workforce for they were well off and ardent students themselves.

Renford and Helen hated having to leave Tory on her own most of the year. So, out of fear that she would wind up a hermit, they suggested that a change of scenery might do her good. As her father's passion for his heritage had rubbed off on her over the years, Tory thought it high time she investigated Britain's historical sites for herself.