The Stolen Star

coach that was flying at full speed towards the city.

  “The route that we took back through space was much faster than the one we took earlier,” Michael remarked.

  “I used a special space transporter button,” the Angel explained.

  A minute later the boys were sat back in their seats on the coach.

  “Where have you two been?” Michael’s mother, Sophia asked.

  “Oh we just dropped off for a bit and you probably just didn't notice us in our seats," Michael blustered.

  “Where did you get those palms? Oh aren’t they beautiful!”

  Michael looked at Ben – lost for words.

  “Um… A man gave them to us. And… said that they were lucky,” said Ben improvising on the spot.

  The coach finally reached their stop and the boys helped transfer their things into the taxi.

  As soon as everyone had taken their seats in the car the Angel appeared before the boys.

  “Give the palms to your mother and grandmother and they will be under the illusion that you are with them.”

  As they set off, the boys gave the palms that had welcomed Christ into Jerusalem to Sophia and grandmother and quickly jumped into the Angel's starship.

  Journey into the Past

  The boys soon found themselves at the crossroads of the angels. In front of them lay the path of time: one direction leading to the future and the other towards the past. The road to the future was shrouded in a mysterious light blue mist. The starships that dove into it soon became invisible. The highway to the past seemed to stretch back into infinity and above it in certain places a menacing fiery glow could be made out. The Angel explained:

  “Those are the places in time that experienced a particularly large number of wars."

  The Angel set course for the distant past and added:

  “Let’s start with the sixteenth century. It’s back then in the middle of this century that we will make our first acquaintance with your Bulgarian and Ukrainian ancestors. On the whole, they all followed the commandments and lived worthy and dignified lives. But it’s possible that around this time a small oversight happened and this provided a tiny opening for the forces of darkness, which are always looking for ways to penetrate into the lives of men and take possession of their consciousness. I am going to give you two bracelets, put them on straight away. These bracelets have a number of buttons. When you press the white button you will become invisible; press the blue button and you will immediately summon me; if you press the pink button when faced with danger then you will be able to take on the form of any animal or plant and even a cloud or a stream and when you press the brown button you will become clothed in the dress of the time that you find yourself in should you need to take a personal part in events. Is that all clear?

  The boys nodded.

  “With a bracelet like this we can go wherever we want!”

  “Well, here we are already.”

  The Angel skilfully landed the starship in a shady secluded spot. Nothing could be seen at all, even the Angel, who was sitting right next to them. With difficulty, the cousins made out some sort of enormous structure in front of them.

  It was a fortress guarding the approaches to a city. The city lay on a huge rock sitting in the middle of a river on huge cliffs jutting fifty metres above the water. The city and the fortress were joined by a bridge. The fortress had originally been built by the Lithuanians but its main tower had been built by the Turks when they had held sway over the city. Ever since then the fortress had been known as the “Turkish Fort”.

  The Angel switched on a searchlight that shone like strong moonlight and lit up the fortress for the cousins. The fortress looked extremely forbidding with its huge thick stone walls; cannons peeped out of embrasures, which could fire cannon balls and heavy stones if necessary. Inside the fortress was an enormous courtyard where horses were tethered and large wagons tied. The courtyard was protected by gargantuan gates, which were locked shut.

  The boys and the Angel proceeded to fly further above the city perched on the rock. Narrow streets and cobbled roads swept down to the river in several places. On either side of the river the banks rose like cliffs making the city quite impregnable.

  The Angel landed the starship close to the fortress gates. He quickly described the situation that was unfolding at that moment in history. A regiment of Cossacks was stationed at the fortress to protect the city from Tartar and Turkish raiders. But now there only remained a couple of squadrons. The rest had ridden out to carry out patrol duties.

  “I will leave you here. Some very ominous events are about to take place,” said the Angel embracing the boys goodbye.

  “But how will we know who our ancestors are?” Ben asked anxiously.

  “Among your ancestors is a Cossack called Marko and Darya his betrothed. Another is a Turkish Janissary called Akhmet,” the Angel informed the cousins.

  “How could he be a Turkish Janissary?” asked Michael, not best pleased.

  “Why isn’t he Bulgarian?”

  “He is Bulgarian, but he is currently serving in the Turkish army. But soon you will get to know him yourselves.”

  The Angel climbed back into the starship and flew away.

  It was so quiet that you could hear the crickets calling to each other. Everything was calm and the quiet, was only broken occasionally by the whinnying of a horse in the fortress courtyard. A night chill set in and Michael and Ben gave a little shiver from the cold. The place was far from cosy and even a little melancholy.

  “Michael, are you afraid?” asked Ben.

  “No, not so much afraid, I’m just not sure how we are going to manage in a time as long ago as the sixteenth century. Let’s press the white buttons on our bracelets, it’s going to be safer being invisible just in case,” suggested Michael.

  In the blink of an eye the cousins had dissolved into the evening gloom. And not a moment too soon… A few minutes later in the distance on the road leading to the fortress a dark black cloud of dust appeared. As it approached the cloud got larger and larger. And horsemen could begin to be made out. They were Turks galloping at full speed and before them they were driving people who they had captured and were taking into slavery. These were mainly fully grown men and women who were tied to each other in a line behind the wagons. As this grim procession drew closer to the fortress, the cousins could see that there were several children and young women tied up and lying on the wagons.

  The few remaining Cossacks, who were defending the fortress, strengthened the gates by parking a number of wagons behind it and primed their cannons for the upcoming battle. The Cossacks fired several volleys at the Turkish cavalry. Several horsemen fell and their horses ran away in terror. But the Turks quickly drove the wagons with the prisoners between them and their attackers and the Cossacks stopped firing.

  Michael and Ben had no idea what to do and even began to shake in fear. But fear or no fear, they had to help these poor people somehow. The fallen horsemen lay motionless on the floor. One of them had dropped his sword. It was curved with a very sharp blade and of a type that the Turks call a scimitar. The cousins ran up to it and when Ben picked it up it also became invisible. A Turk who was lying nearby had wanted to go and pick it up was amazed when it just vanished into thin air. Completely forgetting about his wounds he crawled up to the place where the scimitar had lain. Ben wasn’t quick enough to get out the way and the Turk bumped into his leg. Not knowing what it was that he had touched the Turk became seriously frightened. This caused Michael and Ben to burst into a fit of giggles. This only served to frighten the poor man even more, who shouted with all his might:

  “Ambush!”

  The main body of Turkish cavalry was near the gate and the few soldiers left guarding the prisoners ran off in fright. Then Michael took another sword from a Turk who had been hit by a shell. Together with Ben he rushed to save
the prisoners, cutting the cords that were binding their hands and feet. The remaining guards were rooted to the spot in amazement on seeing that the prisoners’ cords seemed to be cutting themselves, and this allowed the boys to free everybody. When they touched the cords with their swords they immediately became invisible. Once they had freed the adults the boys ran to the wagons where the young girls and children lay tied up. They too were soon all freed and the lads shouted to them: “Run away!”

  The girls and children quickly jumped out of the wagons and rushed to catch up with their fellow villagers who were soon all safe behind a bend in the road. Meanwhile, having seen the magical way that the prisoners had been freed, the Cossacks proceeded to rain shells down upon the Turks. Michael and Ben, now with pile of scimitars in their arms, saw how quickly the prisoners had hidden around a bend in the road and took a deep sigh of relief.

  “Ben, did you notice how beautiful all those girls on the wagons were? One of them was particularly beautiful and I think I heard someone call her Darya. I had no idea how beautiful the girls were back in the sixteenth century!” Michael murmured dreamily.

  “You’ve got a one track mind you have. All this going on… And all you can think about is how beautiful the girls are. And our mothers are no worse looking than them.”

  Our mothers are very beautiful. No-one’s arguing with you there.