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  A more experienced and aggressive officer would have pointed out to Dumsford !hat he had been ordered forward to Isandlwana by Chelmsford, and the orders from the commander for the force at Isandlwana was to hold the defensive, but Pulleine said nothing. The two sat down for lunch, indicating that they did not take any threat very seriously at the moment.

  Even when a patrol came in with two Zulus they had captured, and the two said that the entire Zulu army was close by the camp and preparing to attack, the two British officers were not alarmed. Pulleine sent another messenger after Chelmsford while Durnsford got his command ready to move. He asked Pulleine for two companies of infantry for support. Already stretched thin, Pulleine initially demurred but finally gave in, further depleting his force. However, Pulleine’s adjutant protested so forcefully that Pulleine reversed his decision just before Durnsford left.

  At noon, Durnsford rode off to pursue the Zulus on the plain even though he had just been told by the prisoners that the Zulus were coming to the British.

  Pulleine ordered his mounted pickets to be more vigilant and move farther out. Thus putting in action a series of events trying to protect his command that would lead to its destruction.

  **********

  Standing on the top of the conical hill, Ahana could see the movement of every player in the game except the massive army she had left in the darkness, which was still bidden in the valley to the north.

  Using hand signals, Shakan indicated to Ahana that battle would not be joined until the sun had set and risen once more--the next day, which did little to calm Ahana. She could see parties of Zulus moving here and there, along with various British columns. She had a good idea of when and where she was, although she did not know if this were her own timeline or another one. She had vague recollections that a major battle had been fought by the British against the Zulu nation but she could not recall the outcome. Shakan was little help as they did not speak a common tongue and the Zulu woman could not predict the future, although she did · know a great battle was coming.

  Ahana wasn’t certain what all this had to do with finding a back door into the Shadow’s timeline. While Shakan watched, she opened the pack of equipment she had brought and began trying to determine if there was anything out of the norm in the area that she could pick up with her sensors, particularly focusing on scanning for muons, the telltale of a gate and Shadow activity.

  She immediately picked up muonic trace activity to the west in the vicinity of Isandlwana. Not enough to indicate a gate, but enough to indicate the Shadow was either coming or had left. Ahana had no doubt it was the former.

  **********

  Cetewayo had agreed with Shakan that the attack be on the following day, but it did not sit well with his impatient warriors. Keeping twenty thousand men crammed into the narrow valley was proving to be a chore. He was forced to send small foraging parties out to gather water and food for the main force. One of those parties, driving some cattie before them, were spotted by a mounted patrol from Isandlwana, which gave chase.

  Cetewayo was almost grateful when the mounted patrol came chasing the foraging party over the edge of the ravine and saw the valley crammed with Zulu warriors. It · was hard to say who was more surprised.

  Cetewayo did not hesitate though as he gave the order to attack. He knew he had lost the element of surprise and waiting would only allow the various British columns to consolidate.

  Twenty thousand Zulu warriors surged out of the ravine toward the south. As they moved, the force separated into three columns, the two horns taking form on the flanks and the massive center-moving straight toward Isandlwana five miles away. As they moved, they were engaged by the mounted patrols to their front, which were forced to pull back against the overwhelming force bearing down on them. The front of the center force of the Zulu army was over a mile wide as it advanced toward Isandlwana.

  **********

  Pulleine did not greet the reports of the incoming Zulu army with particular alarm although he was concerned. He felt confident that his British regulars would bear up well against force from the savages that came against it. The twenty-fourth Infantry were veteran soldiers, tough and well disciplined. They came from rough backgrounds and made a home in the army. They were part of an army that was world renowned for being able to stand fast on the battlefield and fire precise. Controlled volleys into enemy lines, blowing huge gaps in them. They were · armed with breech loading Martini-Henry rifles, which · gave them a fivefold increase in rate of fire over their predecessors who’d had muzzleloaders.

  Even as he prepared his defense, a rider carne from Chelmsford with an order for him to strike camp and follow after the commander. Seconds later a breathless rider came in from the north, stammering about a horde of Zulus coming. The man’! descriptions of the size and numbers of the force he claimed to have seen made no sense to Pulleine who could not conceptualize such a large force.

  On the plain, Durnsford was the first British commander to actually see the Zulu army coming. The left horn was cresting a ridge directly in front of his column and he estimated its Dumber to be roughly five thousand and he estimated its number to be roughly five thousand direction and head back toward Isandlwana.

  **********

  The conical hill that Ahana and Shakan were on was like an island amid a storm, as the left horn of the Zulu army swarmed around, splitting at the base and passing by on either side.

  Ahana turned to Shakan with a questioning glance. The Zulu had said the battle would not be until the following day. Ahana’s instruments were spread out on the ground and so far had picked up nothing other than the muonic trace activity. She hurriedly began to gather them up but Shakan put on hand on her arm and indicated for her to wait.

  Dark clouds were moving in overhead. Indicating a storm was corning.

  **********

  Pulleine could now hear heavy firing to the north where his mounted troops were, but still could not see anything in that direction. To the east he could clearly see Durnsford’s column retreating under pressure from a large body of Zulus. This put Pulleine in another dilemma as he was torn between positioning his force to face what sounded like a large threat to the north and supporting Dumsford’s retreat to keep it from becoming a rout.

  Pulleine hedged. He ordered one of his company of regulars to swing to the east and stretch their line toward Durnsford. Then he had the companies facing north extend their lines even farther to cover the new gap.

  There were two major problems with his new alignment though. One was that his line was stretched to a point where volley fire would not be as effective as it normally was. The second was that his lines were now almost a thousand yards away from their ammunition wagons.

  As the main Zulu army came onto the plain, even the veterans among Pulleine’s troops were shocked. The front was now several miles wide and twelve men deep. It came toward Isandlwana like an unstoppable tidal wave.

  Pulleine’s artillery began engaging the Zulu center at maximum range. Many warriors fell to the shot, but it did not slow the advance.

  Durnsford’s column reached the company that Pulleine had extended. The British front now extended from just below the crest of Isandlwana, arcing right in a quarter circle to the east. Against the twelve-deep front coming toward them, the British companies were formed two deep, with the front rank kneeling. Also there were large gaps between the companies.

  Still, when the Zulu center came within rifle range, the British volleys were devastating to the front ranks. Hundreds of Zulus went down. The advance wavered, halted, then resumed. The volleys of lead poured into the Zulu line and the attackers wavered once more, then dove to the ground en masse, less than three hundred yards from the British lines. The British gave no mercy, firing at the prone figures, killing many more.

  At the very rear of the Zulu lines, some of the warriors even began to change direction. But this movement was checked immediately by Zulu commanders who had the first to turn slain in the
ir tracks. The few Zulus armed with rifles returned the British fire, but their aim was poor and most rounds passed harmlessly overhead.

  On the right flank, Durnsford’s men managed to halt the left horn, also with well-disciplined fire. Of the right horn, there was no sign and in the heat of battle none of the British could spare the time to be concerned about the missing part of the Zulu army.

  It looked as if the day would be won for the British as they continued to pour hot lead into the halted Zulu army prostrate before them.

  Except for the slight problem of ammunition.

  Runners were sent back from the line companies, scampering back to the wagons where the quartermasters had the rest of the regiment’s bullets. But a quartermaster is a man trained to be responsible for the supplies he has signed for. In the long run back to where the wagons were and in the confusion of battle, runners didn’t have time to seek out their specific unit’s quartermasters. Too far away from the front line to realize the pending danger, the majority of the quartermasters refused to issue bullets to men not from their own unit, who could not rightfully sign for such.

  Instead of the usual nails, screws had been used on this particular lot of ammunition cases and there was a distinct lack of screwdrivers among the wagon train. Also, the bullets were stored in heavy wooden containers designed to sustain damage, thus making them difficult to break open. So even when desperate troopers shoved aside the furious quartermasters, they had a difficult time getting the cases open.

  **********

  Ahana and Shakan could see the halted Zulu line like a thick black snake frozen to the ground. And they could hear the volleys being fired every few seconds and see the gunpowder smoke floating over the thin red line of British troops.

  How long could the Zulu army just lie there and allow themselves to be slaughtered? Ahana wondered.

  **********

  The change was ever so slight, but to those being shot at, very noticeable, The volleys were not as swift and there were less firers. Something was wrong in the British lines.

  Zulu war leaders sprang to their feet and urged their warriors forward. As the Zulu center rose to their feet, the right horn appeared to the British rear, having run all the way around Isandlwana and cut the road leading to Rorke’s Drift and then turning toward the British camp.

  The battle, which the British had appeared to have under control just a minute earlier, immediately changed character.

  With Zulus to his rear, and out of ammunition because none of the Twenty-fourth Infantry quartermasters would issue bullets to his men, Durnsford’s command fell apart. His officers were running about the camp desperately searching for ammunition while the men gave up their positions, reasoning !hat if they were not able to fire, they might as well flee.

  Sensing his line unraveling, Pulleine told his bugler to signal retire, hoping to reform his lines closer to the camp and the wagon train. It was a decision made a minute too late. As the British lines tried to disengage the front ranks, the Zulu center struck Brutal hand-to-hand fighting broke out.

  The British regulars tried to fight with bayonets in their squares. And they took their toll on the attacking Zulus, but one by one, the small islands of red were swarmed over.

  Finally, seeing the inevitable, Pulleine ordered the adjutant to carry the regimentals to safety. The adjutant rode off with another lieutenant who was wounded. They were both run down by Zulus and killed as they attempted to get to the Buffalo River and safety.

  **********

  There were no more figures in red standing. That was clear from as far away as the conical hill on which Shakan and Ahana stood.

  With shaking hands, Ahana checked her instruments.

  The muonic indicator was beginning to show an increase in activity.

  At her side, Shakan stood perfectly still. Eyes looking beyond the battlefield, head cocked as if she were listening. There was a loud peel of thunder. Shakan grabbed Ahana’s shoulder and pointed.

  At the very top of Isandlwana there was an unnatural dark cloud that seemed to have lightning inside of it.

  Ahana glanced at her instruments. The muonic reading was off the chart.

  **********

  Chelmsford did not believe the reports that came to him. The camp overrun? Everyone dead? Zulus pillaging among the dead?

  Impossible. He’d left almost two thousand men in the camp.

  Chelmsford finally turned his column toward Isandlwana. He came close to the bulk of Isandlwana just before and halted his column just short of it. He forbid his men to enter and led a contingent of officers forward to ascertain what had happened. The silence foretold bad news, but what their eyes beheld under the moon and star light shocked them.

  Most of the bodies were stripped naked. Their bellies were sliced open, which was actually a sign of respect by the Zulu, as they believed it allowed the spirit to escape and go to the afterlife. At one place in their camp a circle had been made of a dozen men’s heads, all peering at each other with lifeless eyes. Every living thing, including oxen, horses, even an officer’s dog, had been slain.

  Where were the Zulus?

  Looking up he could see the strange dark cloud atop the peak.

  Chelmsford ordered his men back away from the mountain.

  **********

  Shakan tapped Ahana on the shoulder and pointed to the southwest.

  “What?” Ahana asked, even as she uttered the word knowing the other woman couldn’t understand. She was still focused on the top of Isandlwana.

  Shakan pointed once more to the southwest. “Rorke’s Drift,” Shakan said, words that meant nothing to Ahana.

  The Japanese scientist did notice though, that a small red light was flickering on one of her monitors. There was just the slightest trace of more muonic activity somewhere Dot too far away from Isandlwana. Ahana picked up the detector and slowly swung it back and forth until she had the direction from which the signal was coming--the southwest.

  Shakan nodded. “Rorke’s Drift.”

  **********

  The diamond lattice field deep underneath Isandlwana was now one hundred percent connected. The power of desperation from the last stand of the British force on the slopes of the bill flowed into the planet, much deeper than their blood had. It gave the necessary power for the field to become a self-sustaining crystal, one that now generated its own power.

  Power that flowed upward to the gate on the top of the mountain that directed the power into a portal that led directly to Timeline I.

  EARTH TIMELINE--III

  New York City, July 2078

  Colonel Chamberlain N remembered traveling down to New York City while he was attending West Point for many fun-filled weekends. Now he was circling above what remained of what had once been the greatest city on earth.

  He could see the top one hundred feet of the towers for the George Washington Bridge--which had once linked New York and New Jersey--poking above the waves as his MK-90 swung down low along the course of what had been the Hudson River but was now part of the Atlantic Ocean.

  To his right, some of the towers of Manhattan that were tall enough to reach above the water dotted the skyline. To his left, the top of the Palisades, the cliffs that had once lined the Hudson on the Jersey side, were still above water. There was no sign of Manhattan south of what had once been the Central Park area--no skyscrapers poking above the water. Chamberlain remembered watching images of what happened to the southern tip of New York City during the end of the Shadow War. A large sphere had floated above the city and pulverized the tip of Manhattan repeatedly, blasting a hole into the ground that afterward was measured to be almost six miles deep. It had immediately filled with water and historians and scientists had speculated to no avail why the Shadow had done this strange version of overkill.

  The plane banked toward the Palisades as the wings rotated up. to provide lift as it decelerated. They touched down and Chamberlain walked off the back ramp as his visor snapped down into place. />
  Why here? He wondered.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  EARTH TIME LINE--I

  Dane’s essence floated in the swirling red mist that represented the atmosphere in Timeline 1. Whatever they’d done to their planet, Dane thought, it had been extreme. Even the light was wrong, he realized after a few moments. The large black portal that he’d come out of was directly behind him, floating above a sluggish, gray ocean.

  Dane froze.

  Evil all around.

  The human essence corrupted. Warped and twisted.

  The Immediate source was obvious. There were hundreds of Valkyries, spears in hand, floating in the air all around the portal. Also several large platforms hung in the air, with no visible means of support. There were large devices on board each, manned by a half dozen Valkyries, which Dane had no doubt were very powerful weapons of some sort. Oriented at the portal.

  This was not the way to come, Dane thought.

  And they didn’t see him or sense his essence in any way, he realized. But he was powerless. So he did not matter. He was no threat.

  Where was he?

  The Ocean was completely flat, no waves, no swell. The water looked--the word that came to Dane was heavy. Not normal. And it went as far as he could see in all directions.

  Dane looked down. There had to be a reason the portal was here.