Burning Angels

In the light of Jaeger’s head torch, a tiny pair of orange eyes flickered open. A bat that had been sleeping was suddenly awake. The flare of the Petzl woke more of them now, and a ripple of angry disturbance pulsed across the animals hanging from the roof of the cave.

Unlike most bats, fruit bats — often called megabats — don’t use the echo-location navigation system, in which high-pitched squeaks and squeals are bounced off the walls. Instead, they possess large, bulbous eyes, which enable them to find their way in the twilight of cave systems. Hence they are drawn to the light.

The first megabat broke from its perch — where its claws had been hooked into a cranny in the cave roof, bony wings wrapped around itself like a cloak — and took flight. It plunged earthwards, no doubt mistaking Jaeger’s torch for a beam of sunlight flooding through the cave entrance.

And then a cloud of the things were upon him.

36

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Jaeger felt the first of the megabats cannon into his head, as the dark horde tried to fly down the beam of light. The ceiling was over one hundred feet high, and from that kind of distance the bats had appeared minuscule. Up close, though, they were monsters.

They had a wingspan of up to two metres, and must weigh in at a good two kilos. That kind of weight going at great speed sure hurt, and with their bulging eyes shining an angry red and their gleaming rows of teeth set in long, narrow, bony skulls, they looked positively demonic.

Jaeger was knocked to the floor, as more of the ghostly forms swooped from the heights. He reached up and killed the light with his cupped hands, which also served to shield his head from the blows.

Just as soon as he had doused the light, the bats were gone, drawn instead to the sunlight seeping in through the cave entrance. As they swept out in a massive black-winged storm cloud, the big bull elephant leading the herd trumpeted and flapped his ears angrily. He clearly appreciated the megabats about as much as Jaeger had done.

‘Megachiroptera,’ Narov whispered. ‘Also called the flying fox. You can see why.’

‘Flying wolf, more like.’ Jaeger shook his head in disgust. ‘Definitely not my favourite animal.’

Narov gave a silent laugh. ‘They rely on their keen sense of sight and smell to locate food. Normally it is fruit. Today they obviously thought it was you.’ She sniffed ostentatiously. ‘Though I am surprised. You smell like shit, Blondie.’

‘Ha, ha,’ Jaeger muttered. ‘And you smell truly delectable, of course.’

Blondie. The nickname had been inevitable. With his eyebrows and even his eyelashes dyed peroxide blonde, he was amazed how much his appearance had altered. As disguises went, it was surprisingly effective.

They picked themselves up from the dirt, brushed themselves down and pressed on in silence. Above them, the last ghostly whisperings of the bats died away. The only other noise came from behind now — the steady, ground-shaking beat of a hundred or so elephants pushing ever deeper into the cave.

To one side of the cavern floor ran a dark, sluggish waterway, which vented out of the cave entrance. They climbed over a series of ledges that took them higher than the water by a good few metres. Finally they crested a rise, and a stunning sight unfolded before them.

The river widened out into a massive expanse of water, forming a vast lake beneath Burning Angels mountain. Jaeger’s torch beam couldn’t even reach the far shore. But even more fantastical were the intricate forms that lunged out of the water in bizarre, seemingly frozen animation.

Jaeger stared for several seconds in astonishment, before he realised what exactly it was that they had stumbled upon. It was a petrified jungle — here, the jagged-toothed skeletal forms of giant palm trees thrusting out of the lake at crazed angles; there, a serried rank of hardwood trunks puncturing the water like the pillars of a long-lost Roman temple.

At some stage this must have been a lush prehistoric forest. A volcanic eruption must have rained down ash upon the greenery, burying it, Over time, the volcano had risen higher and the jungle had turned to stone. It had been transformed into the most incredible minerals: into opal — a beautiful reddish mineral streaked with fluorescent blues and greens; malachite — a gemstone rendered in stunning, swirling coppery greens; plus bolts of smooth, glittering, jet-black chert.

Jaeger had seen much of the world with the military, visiting some of the most remote terrain the planet had to offer, yet still it had the power to amaze and confound him — although rarely like it did right now. Here, in this place where he had expected to encounter only darkness and evil, they’d stumbled upon mind-blowing beauty and splendour.

He turned to Narov. ‘Don’t ever let me hear you complain about where I took you for your honeymoon.’

She couldn’t help but smile.