BEYOND TIME

The Old Woman of The Hills

The mountains looked golden. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Shannon and Derek stopped to sip some water from a mountain stream, admiring the lavish beauty spread around them. In a few minutes, the sun would be up. They had packed up everything they could carry for the long trek ahead; but it was hard work carrying so much and climbing mountains. They stopped frequently, but persevered nevertheless.

“It gets easier as stamina builds. In 8 days, we will be pretty much…the Hulk!” laughed Derek.

Shannon laughed easily at his light-hearted banter.

“This map doesn’t have any names. Do you think that was done on purpose Derek?”

“Maybe. Or, maybe the places we are going to do not have names at all.”

“Very comforting!”

Suddenly, Shannon gasped. She felt like someone sucked the air off from around her. She began to breathe more deeply to fill her lungs. Darkness descended all around her and she couldn’t see Derek any more. She saw the full moon in the sky. She scanned her surroundings, found herself all alone.

She saw a light glowing in the distance, an eerie bluish white moving light. It came closer. She saw the light was shaped like a wolf. Unbidden the word formed in her mind, “Isobel.”

She sensed intimacy with this apparition, a sense of togetherness. It stopped a few feet away from her and then casually walked off into the woods.

“Shannon? Shannon?”

She blinked, found Derek looking into her eyes with concern. He shook her shoulders.

“Hey! Where did you just go off to? You okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay,” she stammered.

It was day. The sunlight was twinkling off the ice. There was no moon to be seen anywhere in the sky.

“You sure?” Derek asked, “Do you want to rest? You look like you need some.”

“No Derek, I’m good. I…I just saw something strange. Like a sort of vision.” She described what she had seen to Derek.

Derek listened carefully, then sighed.

“Must be a sign, Shannon,” he said.

Surprised, she peered up at him. He looked like he believed what he was saying. He hadn’t laughed her off.

“Yes, it must be,” said Shannon, as they began walking again.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a dirt path that led uphill. It looked narrow and steep. They broke off branches from trees and began the climb.

A mile later, Derek suddenly stopped and Shannon bumped into him.

“Shh, I think there’s someone just ahead of us on the path.”

Shannon peered around Derek but saw no one.

“I don’t see anything,” she whispered in his ear.

“Just wait. You’ll see.”

As if on cue, the point of a rifle appeared out of the thicket of trees to their left, several yards ahead, followed by a man. He came out of the thicket, walking so softly that he made no noise. He never turned to look at them. He simply looked up and began climbing. Before they could move, several other men came out of the trees and began climbing.

On instinct, Shannon and Derek dropped to the ground. The last person of the group turned to look their way; saw nothing, and joined the others.

“Who are they?” whispered Derek.

“And why so many guns? What are they hunting?”

“Or who?”

“I counted six of them.”

“Let’s keep some distance and follow them. Things are beginning to get interesting.”

“Careful, these men are hunting for the two of you!”

Startled, they stared at each other.

Derek gestured to ask Shannon if she had heard the voice too. Shannon nodded, her eyes wide.

Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, “Show yourself.” She might as well have said it aloud.

“In time,” said the voice. This time, she was the only one receiving it, because Derek’s eyes were busy scoping out the surroundings. He didn’t seem to have heard.

“No! Now!” thought Shannon more forcefully, “Show up now! Tell us everything now.”

“Now, Shannon, is not the right time,” said the voice calmly. “Nevertheless, all will be revealed soon. Until then, please trust that you’re both in good hands. Find Leah. She’s the key.”

And just as suddenly, the voice tuned out.

Shannon stared at Derek for a second; when Derek turned to look at her, she dropped her gaze.

As they quietly followed the group of people ahead, staying in the shadows, tiptoeing up the path, Shannon felt a chill. Unseen eyes were watching them.

Things were getting weirder by the second.

The miles dragged by as Shannon and Derek continued following the men. The men seemed to be on a mission, barely stopping for breaks.

At one point, they stopped near a stream. Derek and Shannon took cover in the trees trying to listen to what they were saying. The men spoke in low voices and they could catch only a word or two here and there tossed their way by the wind.

“A mile ahead maybe…”

“That hut…”

“…she will meet…”

“boss…”

And then, one word.

“The voice.”

They froze as they heard the word.

As the men broke camp and made their way further up the mountain, Derek whispered to Shannon, “Looks like we aren’t the only ones who have heard the voice.”

“These people behave like a trained team. Like marines or SEALs. They are coordinated.”

“I wonder who they are taking their orders from, Shannon.”

“That…we don’t know yet. But they are on the same path as we are. We are about to hit our first X in about…one hour.”

“Well, I guess those men are our welcome party, Shannon!”

“What they don’t know…poor fellas…is that we are about to gatecrash our welcome party.”

An hour’s climbing later, they found themselves at the edge of a tiny, sleepy village nestled between the mountains. There was one high street with wooden cabins and cottages lined up on either Vendors squatted on the sidewalks selling assorted items.

Shannon and Derek hid behind the trees and watched. Their welcome party was nowhere to be seen.

“Where do you think they’re hiding Derek?”

“I’d hide in the trees behind the village, maybe up on a tree with a sniper rifle trained on the high street waiting for my target.”

Shannon gave him an assessing look.

“That’s what I would do too. Anything we are overlooking?”

“Well…this is our first X, according to the map. We are scheduled to make at least a pit stop here. The light will fade in an hour. Which means, if we clear out the welcome party, we could get some rest. Or…I wonder if that’s too much to hope?”

“Let’s not engage at all, Derek. We hurt only if necessary. Else, we lay low. Which means one of us will have to take up watch while the other gets a shut eye. We take turns.”

“Sounds good. So, question is, where do we camp? Because if this is our first X, we are likely meant to go in and find something here.”

Right on cue, the voice spoke in their ears.

“Yes. Someone is waiting for you here. The Old Woman of the Hills.”

“Hello there, was expecting you,” said Derek aloud. “This old woman, she have a name?”

“Ask for Naani,” said the voice.

“Ask? And get in plain sight of those people hunting us?” said Derek again, aloud.

“They are on the lookout for foreigners. Strangers. And they’re looking for two people. You’ll figure it out, I’m sure. You’ll just need to blend in, and the means for that will make itself available, right about now.”

They stared in surprise as a Land Rover purred up into the high street and stopped at one of the bigger cottages.

An assorted medley of tourists piled out of the vehicle carrying backpacks. The driver opened up the boot and took out more luggage. The cottage appeared to be their destination. The driver simply locked up the Land Rover and walked into the cottage as some of the tourists strolled out on to the high street. Most of them were dressed just like Derek and Shannon. Bomber jackets, jeans, hiking boots, and wool caps. Some of them were Indians, while others were Westerners.

This was their cue.

Unobtrusively, Derek and Shannon joined the people strolling about on the High Street.

They kept an eye out for threats. They caught movement in the trees. Derek saw one of the men they had followed up step out of the trees and stare at the tourists in confusion. He said something into his ear mike. Then turned and made his way back into the trees without bothering to hide.

“Shannon, maybe our welcome party has decided to move on to the next X; in which case, they don’t know about any old woman.”

“Or maybe…they left a tail.” Derek turned to follow Shannon’s quick glance.

One of the men was speaking into his ear mike. He walked right past Derek and Shannon and went into the cottage the tourists were staying in.

“Looking for me?” said a voice behind them.

Startled, they turned and found themselves staring into the crinkly brown eyes of an ancient woman. She was dressed like most mountain women in these parts. Her English was perfect.

“Who are you?” said Shannon before Derek could speak.

“I’m Naani. You’ve come a long way to meet me. Please step in and let’s get you comfortable.”

Shannon and Derek followed the old woman into a tiny wooden cabin.

Inside, they were greeted by another old woman.

Their jaws dropped as they realized they were staring at an exact replica of Naani.

Except, this woman was smiling and holding the door of a trapdoor open for them, gesturing for them to enter it.

“There are two Naanis?” Derek asked still staring at the two of them.

“No, just one of me. That there is my twin. Meet Saani. She fills in for me. People don’t know there are two of us, so it’s a secret and I’d appreciate it if you could keep it that way!”

“Quick Naani, you don’t have much time before those guys come looking.”

The old women were both surprisingly nimble for their age. Naani scuttled down the trap door. A sturdy ladder led down into a basement of sorts.

Derek and Shannon followed Naani down the ladder.

“God be with you!” said Saani as she closed the trap door and placed a carpet and table over it. She then went about cooking and brewing in her kitchen, humming a tune to herself.

A knock on the door made her sigh.

“Here they come,” mumbled Saani, as she opened the door.

“Looking for me?” she asked brightly. The man standing outside smiled and tipped his hat.

“How are you Naani?”

“I am doing excellent here Beecher. How have you been all these days? Come on along, let me brew you some good strong tea.”

“I can’t stay today, Naani. I’m looking for some people. A man and a woman. Did anyone come meet you today?”

“I saw a bunch of tourists just come in a while ago, but they haven’t come here yet,” Saani looked the picture of innocence.

“In that case, I’ll have to keep going Naani,” Beecher said. His eyes were already scanning the street.

“Won’t you stay for a cup of tea? It does an old soul good to have a dashing soldier recount his heroics.”

“Not today. See you old woman!”

With that, Beecher walked down the street. The man who had gone inside the cottage came out and walked up to him.

“No one in there is anything like the folks we are looking for, Beecher. Either they are very good at hiding. Or we got the wrong intel.”

“Intel is never wrong Jack. We got played by those two. They knew we were waiting for them. Our friendly voice, no doubt. Let’s move on. We won’t be camping tonight.”

Down in the basement, Naani cheerfully recounted to them word for word everything Beecher and Jack said.

“So, that’s that then. They will be waiting for you at X2. And I’ll get you to your next pit stop long before they get there. All you have to do now is to hunker down for the night, relax. Rejuvenate.”

Shannon and Derek stared at her unblinking.

“Did you bug Beecher?” asked Derek.

“Didn’t have to. I’m clairvoyant.” Naani said cheerfully. There’s a bathroom to the side there. There’re beds over there. I’ll bring in something to eat in a bit.”

“To answer your question, Shannon, you’ll be on your way at first light tomorrow,” said Naani.

Shannon’s eyes went round in wonder.

“Wow! You really are psychic. I’m not very comfortable with too many people getting into my head though.”

“Sorry, I’ll tune out now!”

Naani returned with two bowls of soup, only to hear gentle snores. Both her guests were fast asleep.

She chuckled. They would eventually get hungry.

She wrapped their dinner trays in aluminum foil and placed it on a table.

Then she opened a door to one side. This was her bedroom. She went in and switched off the lights.

Dawn broke over the hills.

“I call that the blushing bride,” said Naani as she handed over mugs of hot tea to Shannon and Derek. They were seated in the kitchen. The view outside was nothing short of gorgeous. Graceful pine trees rose up against a stunning backdrop of snow-capped mountains that mirrored the beautiful colors of sunrise and blushed pink.

“No wonder,” mused Derek.

“It has been a pleasure, Naani, but why exactly have we met?”

“Ah, Shannon! Ever the straightforward one,” smiled Naani.

“I have to show you something that belongs to Leah.”

“Leah? You know her?” The name had both Derek and Shannon look alert.

“No, I don’t. Leah… is elusive. I don’t think you’ll find a lot of people who’ll say they know her. And believe me…if anyone would have, that would be me. Or Saani.”

Naani took out a small box from a cupboard and handed it over to Shannon.

“Keep it. You must leave now if you are to reach your next destination by noon. You must stay close to those hunting you but never be seen. I know a way.”

Shannon opened the box. There was one single round object in it.

“It’s a crystal ball. Lapis Lazuli.”

“I see you know your crystals. That crystal is supposed to help you see what you otherwise cannot.”

Naani led them back down the trap door. She went to a door that they hadn’t noticed earlier. She opened the door. Shannon gasped as she saw that it was a tunnel.

Naani handed Derek a torch.

“Don’t worry. The batteries won’t run out at least till noon. You’ve a long tunnel ahead of you.”

“Be careful!” Naani added, her face serious, “Don’t trust everything you see. Sometimes it is an illusion.”

“And, as far as the world knows, there’s just one of us. Only Naani. God speed!”