The Order of Excalibur – The Ring of Fate – Read an Excerpt
The Order of Excalibur – The Ring of Fate
Chapter One
The Drums of War
Cambridge, England – September 3, 1939
It was almost eleven-fifteen by the time they got home to the whitewashed cottage. They didn’t have any close neighbours and there weren’t any other homes nearby, which suited their father. He said that the isolation helped him to be able to work on his books and do research at the weekends, in the evenings, or in the summer, when he wasn’t working at the university.
They saw the dark blue car parked at the side of the cottage. Their father had bought the vehicle just after they’d arrived in England in the summer. They both remembered how weird it had seemed at first, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. They were also concerned that everyone was also driving on the wrong side of the road, compared to what they were used to in Canada. Still, they got used to it relatively quickly, even having to make sure that they rode their bikes on the correct side, although they did occasionally break the rules if they were out in the woods or somewhere like that. The car was facing the paved patio, beyond which was the lawn and garden. The cottage belonged to the university, who sent gardeners periodically to maintain the flowers and plants, trim the high hedge, or prune the tall mature trees, when needed.
Nick and Ginny breezed inside, past the phone that sat on the little table beneath the mirror and coat hooks on the wall beside the front door. At the bottom of the stairs, the door to their father’s study was open, but it sounded as if he was in the kitchen listening to the radio. The dining room was adjacent to the kitchen. It was quite small, with just enough room for the table and chairs. The family didn’t use the room much, unless Robert had someone coming over from the university, and they tended to eat most meals in the kitchen.
As they entered the kitchen, still chatting to each other, Robert was about to sit down at the table. He was just over forty years old, tall and slim, his wavy dark brown hair slicked back from his forehead. Since it was Sunday, he was more casually dressed than usual, but he always looked smart. Robert turned to them then gently put a finger to his lips, urging them to be quiet. He was frowning as he listened to an announcement coming from the radio, which stood on the kitchen counter.
“This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that, unless we heard from them by eleven o’clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.”
Robert sighed heavily, his brown eyes watering slightly, as he reached over and turned down the volume on the radio, not wishing to listen to the rest of the broadcast.
“What does it mean, Dad?” asked Ginny.
“Are we really at war?” Nick added.
Robert nodded, as he gently rubbed his neatly trimmed beard.
“It looks that way. That was Mr. Chamberlain, the prime minister. As you know, he’s been talking to Hitler ever since last year, trying to avoid this step. It’s a very sad day.”
“What are we going to do?” said Ginny.
“Are we going home?” Nick asked. “Back to Canada?”
Robert shook his head.
“No, no need for that. Things will certainly be changing here in England in the coming months, but I have my teaching work to do here at the university and you two have your new school to think about. I’m sure you’re both going to make lots of friends once you’re all settled in. The war probably won’t last long anyway. Now, how about that birthday lunch I promised you? After all, it’s not every day you two both turn thirteen, even if your actual birthdays were a couple of days ago.”
He smiled, but he still looked very concerned about what he’d just heard on the radio, no doubt wondering, as did Nick and Ginny, what the future might hold.
