The Rings of Poseidon by Mike Crowson Read Free Book Online

awning, the whole area was a pool of light and
pretty soon the camp broke up. Frank went to sort out a few things
and write home, Manjy went to finish that letter to her father,
while most of the rest of the gang including Alan, who seemed be
popular with the younger volunteers, went into one of the caravans,
leaving Alicia and Gill in the cabin with Steve, who was finishing
the washing up and putting away.
    Frank's letters reflected the sort of person
he was. His handwriting was large and bold and what he had to say
was colourful and good humoured observation. He was more conscious
than one might have expected that his travel and career meant
considerable time away from home and his widowed mother.
    Manjy's letter was slow and painstaking. She
wrote in Punjabi, of course, and re-wrote frequently. Saying "No."
to one's father is not something which comes easily to a Hindu
girl, so she had tried to avoid an outright negative. She had
settled instead on a carefully worded appeal for a marriage partner
who would accept her career.
    Alan got out his guitar for a sing song but,
for want of anywhere else to put it, he had crammed a pack of Tarot
cards into the guitar case. Somebody wanted to know whether he
could tell fortunes with it and the group was off on a different
tack.
     
    "What age do you place the village?" Gill
asked Alicia. "If the ring is copper it must have been occupied
into the bronze age."
    "I've said already that this method of
construction began quite far back into the Stone Age and continued
as late as the eighth or even ninth centuries AD." Alicia paused.
"I'd guess this was built in the later Stone Age, say two and a
half to three thousand years BC and continued in use well into the
bronze age, but I'm only guessing. The place could have been used
well into the iron age, though I should think the people themselves
must have been too small to have been Celts," and she picked up the
amulet to inspect it more closely.
    "You know," she continued, "this amulet has a
pattern on it which nobody has explained satisfactorily, though it
appears very widely on Bronze Age and later stone age remains."
    Gill peered at it. "I've seen it before," she
said, "A series of rings linked by lines going across them in the
form of a cross."
    "But not with a seven point star in the
centre. I always thought that was a medieval symbol," added
Alicia.
    Steve stood listening to them for a moment or
two, then picked up the ring.
    "Funny how this ring hasn't rusted," he
remarked
    "Copper and Bronze don't rust," said
Gill.
    "You know what I mean," Steve told her,
laughing. "Anyway it hasn't turned green and rotted."
    "No, you're right," Alicia said, "that's
puzzled me as well. It appears to be a clear, amber sort of colour,
like nicely polished copper."
    "It's a fairly small ring," said Steve,
holding it up to the light, "It looks as if it would just about fit
on my little finger." He placed the ring on his finger before
anyone could stop him, had they been so minded, and pushed it
down.
     
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    I parted the grass carefully to get a better
view of the fort or farm or whatever they were building.
    'It looks permanent.' I thought.
    One of the big people was standing guard
about ten or twelve feet away, wearing his helmet and leaning
against his spear, which was tipped with that hard new metal they
use. I imagined that his sword would be made of the same precious
stuff but it was stuck into his belt and I could only see the hilt,
the rest being hidden by his cloak. His shield, propped against a
nearby rock, was the round wooden sort covered with layers of hide.
The kind used by most of his people. I did not think he really
expected any trouble, although they don't usually see us - even
when they seek us and we are not trying to hide. Whenever we have
really sought concealment they have seen nothing at all. I believe
they have some kind of tale about us being swallowed up by the
ground.
    This one was enormous. He must have