Helen and her latest attacker stopped rolling and she found herself in the disadvantaged position of being underneath. Her hat and wimple had come away from her head and were lying close by.

Forcing herself not to panic, she immediately grabbed his shoulder and pushed with all her might, while pulling on the opposite arm in an attempt to twist him off balance and cause him to fall. He stuck his foot out, however, and managed to dig in. Putting his large, gloved hands over hers, he pushed her one arm down and trapped it underneath his knee and began to try and rip her rings off, picking up where his friend had left off.

"You’re wasting your time, none of them are the ring you’re after!" she spat, wriggling like mad.

"Damn, sounds like Helen’s in trouble!" she heard Kiwi say.

"I’ll take them anyway, just to be sure," replied the man, matter of factly.

She looked around desperately for help and saw the woman from the ticket booth running in their direction, talking into a two-way radio.

Suddenly, Helen was aware of loud shouting, followed by a tremendous splashing noise, coming from down the slope towards the lake area. The woman immediately pulled up short and stared with her mouth hanging open at something Helen couldn’t see. A second later a loud and painful electronic screeching noise entered Helen’s head through the receiver, which made her scream out loud in pain. Afterwards, she could no longer hear Frank or Mark.

The man assumed it was the action of twisting the rings that had made her cry out and hesitated, unsure whether he should carry on - it wasn’t in his nature to hurt a female.

The woman on the bridge seemed to suddenly shrug off her shock and surprise and started talking quickly into the radio again, once more headed towards the two writhing figures on the ground. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" she bellowed, "I’VE RADIOED SECURITY, AND THEY’RE ON THEIR WAY."

This announcement galvanized the man into action. He gave up trying to remove the rings and stood up. Helen immediately scissored her legs to try and upend him, one leg hitting the back of his knee powerfully, causing it to fold at the joint, while her the other leg hit the front of his ankle to prevent him from stepping out of the move. He lurched forward and fell over, but managed to twist himself free and took off running in the direction of the parking lot while shaking his arm in pain. He threw a poisonous glare back in her direction and then started to sprint very quickly indeed.

Helen sat up and saw what was making the man run so quickly, Rob and Kiwi were coming across the bridge and she saw that her New Zealand friend had somehow managed to acquire a longbow from somewhere – no doubt from some poor unsuspecting re-enactor who was taking part in the archery show that was currently underway.

"Are you okay?" asked the woman, bending down to help her up.

"Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for saving my skin, and my rings," she said, smiling. However, her positive expression was replaced by one of consternation as the woman started to talk to Helen in earnest while pointed in the direction of the lake.

At the same instant, Kiwi and Rob had reached the end of the bridge and were watching, aggravated, as the man reached a white van that had screeched up to the entrance. He leapt into the back and the vehicle backed up to swing around and leave.

Without a second to spare, Kiwi pulled the protective rubber bung from the top of one of the arrows and loaded the bow. He pulled the weapon upright, pulled the string taut against his cheek and let fly. The arrow’s arc was straight and true and thwacked straight into one of the rear tires, which immediately began emitting a loud hissing noise as all the air escaped. It began to veer to and fro as the driver attempted to get the crippled van under control again. It swerved to the side and mounted the sidewalk twice before finally hitting a tree and sliding down into a drainage ditch. All doors instantly flew opened and six men leapt out and fled.

Rob and Kiwi were preparing to give chase when they was halted by Helen’s voice screaming in their ears, "Rob, Kiwi, come on quick, Mark and Frank have been pushed into the water!"

Rob turned to Helen in confusion, not sure he had heard her correctly, "what?" he asked frowning.

"LOOK!" she shouted, pointing down the sheer slope. His eyes followed her finger down to the lake and he saw the shape of a man come bursting through the surface, coughing hard. It was difficult to tell which of the two victims it was until he turned around and revealed himself as his brother, Mark. "HELP ME, I CAN’T GET FRANK UP!" he yelled frantically.

"Oh my god!" muttered Kiwi laying the crossbow on the floor. He stepped off the sheer drop and began running at breakneck speed down towards the water’s edge. Rob shook himself into action and followed leaving Helen standing motionlessly watching, her hands covering her cheeks.

***

Frank had not even seen the men coming out of the shrubbery at them. The first inkling that something bad was going to happen was when he heard the sound of whooping and being hit hard in the waist. Grabbing instinctively for a handhold, as he was launched upwards, his fingers caught on to his foe’s shirt pocket, which ripped easily away in his hand.

With nothing now to stop his fall, he went splashing down into the depths, sinking straight to the bottom. The attack has been so sudden; he hadn’t even had sufficient time to take in a good gulp of air, so his lungs already felt empty before he’d even settled on the lakebed.

He tried to keep his head clear, knowing that panic would only hinder his situation, and put his fists under himself to try and heave his way up. Assured the lake could not be any deeper than a few feet, he pushed his hands into the silt and mud and dug his heels in, but quickly discovered he was pinned tight on his side. He hands scrabbled ineffectively around, trying to free whatever was pinning him, his brain finally coming to the horrified realization that the shield’s strap must be hooked on something.

His lungs started to complain from lack of oxygen and he knew that if he didn’t get up top soon, he was going to pass out. He brought his hands to the buckle and tried to unfasten it, but in the murky water he couldn’t see to manipulate the medieval buckle and in his slowly drowning mind, he couldn’t recall how it worked.

He was suddenly aware of something tentatively touching him. Reaching out he found it was another person and grabbed onto the groping hand, which was quickly joined by another around his elbow. They grasped each other while he was pulled, but they slipped apart, and his helper fell back. The next thing he felt a few seconds later was the person grabbing at his waist. This time, his rescuer had managed to gain a better grip and began yanking at him again. Frank wrapped his arms around the person and used his legs for added leverage, using up the last of his energy, his lungs now fit to burst. It was all to no avail - neither of them had enough strength between them to pull him free.

Frank felt his energy receding and his arms starting to loose their strength, finally coming away limply from the person who was holding him. "Hey, this ain’t so bad!" he suddenly thought, feeling very relaxed, "I could bob around here all day long – what a water baby – hey, here I go, floating away!" he felt himself finally coming free and drifting slowly to the surface. Pulling himself clear of the water, he turned round to see Mark shouting towards Kiwi and Rob, who were at the top of the slope with Helen. Frank thought how strange it was that he couldn’t hear what Mark was saying, "Must be water in my ears!" he thought, shaking his head to clear them.

Kiwi came running downwards at a silly speed. "Hey, careful Kiwi, you’ll break your neck doing that," Frank warned. He watched as Rob pulled the same stunt, wanting to laugh at their combined stupidity.

Mark took a great gulp of air and went back down again. "What the heck are you doing?" Frank asked surprised.

He watched as Kiwi and Rob started to quickly shake out of their armor. Rob stopped after some further words from Mark and grabbed his dagger before wadding into the waist deep water after Kiwi who had already entered. They both halted at the same spot as Mark and ducked under. Thirty seconds later, they all three came up for air once more and then dived down again. Seconds later they came bursting forth, supporting something large in their arms. Frank didn’t feel like laughing anymore when he saw what it was.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in the corner of Helen’s bedroom, looking at Joe and Tim. Joe was lying in his bed, his body covered with perspiration, Tim was looking worried.

"Joe?" he asked, approaching the bed.

Joe opened his eyes and looked at his brother, "What you doing here Frank, I thought you were at Kenilworth Castle with the others?"

"I was, but I had…to come…" he looked sadly at his brother, wishing he could stay longer.

"Come?" asked Joe.

"Well, here I am!" Joe smiled.

Joe frowned, not understanding what his brother was trying to tell him. Tim was viewing Joe like he was crazy, only hearing one half of the conversation. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I’m coming, we always go everywhere together!" Joe insisted.

"No, not this time Joe, this is one trip I gotta make alone," he leant down and tried to hug him, but couldn’t get a grip on his brother. It was like Joe was made of thin air, "or maybe it’s me that’s made of thin air?" he considered ironically to himself.

"Don’t go!" Joe begged, realizing finally where his brother was going.

"Can’t help it, I can feel the pull, I can’t resist it – I’ll see you soon brother, but not to soon, eh? I love you Joe, just remember that!" said Frank, tears welling up and falling down his face. Joe watched, crying also, as his brother started to float away above the bed. He reached up to try and grab on, and Frank reached out to him, their fingers passing through each other’s ineffectually.

"Joe? I can’t see you anymore…..Joe?…Joe?…I can’t see you…remember…" he heard his brother saying, his voice now the merest whisper, with no more substance than a breath of air. His form visibly faded as each second passed, eventually he just popped out of existence altogether.

Joe sat bolt upright in his bed and grabbed Tim by the shoulders, "GET ON THAT PHONE RIGHT NOW, SOMETHING’S GONE WRONG!" he shouted.

"Joe, calm down, it was just a dream," Tim argued reassuringly, trying to push the distraught teenager back down into the pillows, "your running a fever, that’s all."

"NO…PHONE…NOW!" Joe grabbed the receiver and thrust it straight into Tim’s face, "JUST DO IT!"

"Okay…okay…if it’ll make you feel better…" Tim sighed resignedly and started to dial.

***

Bursting forth from the depths, the three young men all had Frank supported between them. Rob had been forced to use his dagger to slice through his friend’s shield strap before they could lift him. As quickly as possible, they towed him to the side and heaved him onto the grassy bank.

Mark sat down, totally fatigued from his fight in the water and watched helplessly as Kiwi and Rob set to work on his friend. They gripped onto a side of the armor each at the neck split.

"After three," Rob instructed, "one…two…three…" with a grunt, they both pulled as hard as possible, the chain mail coming away with a satisfying ripping and popping sound. They carried on right the way down until it was torn straight down the front. They next grabbed their sharp daggers and cut through the thick gambeson until this too was split in two. This took only a few seconds to accomplish.

"Do you know CPR?" asked Kiwi, moving towards Frank’s head end and ripping off the chain mail and padded hoods.

"No," answered Rob, regret sounding in his voice.

"Just do as I instruct then."

They heard footsteps pounding up to them, and Mark looked up and saw it was Inspector Kyle. "You took your time didn’t you?" he spat bitterly at the policeman, looking for someone to throw blame at.

The inspector didn’t respond, he was too distracted, watching what the other two were doing. "There’s an ambulance on the way," he said quietly.

Kiwi pulled Frank’s head back, opened his mouth and checked his airway was clear of obstructions. Placing his cheek close to Frank’s face, he felt and listened for breathing, holding up his hand for silence. He was not expecting to feel anything, as Frank’s lips where blue, and he showed no sign of life. After ten seconds he was satisfied he wasn’t breathing and put his mouth over Frank’s and administered two quick blows, watching as Frank’s chest rose and fell. He sat up and felt the carotid artery for a pulse. He waited another 10 seconds, but again came up empty handed.

He shook his head and looked at Rob, "quick, swap with me." They switched sides and Kiwi climbed on top of Frank, hooked his fists together and put the heel of his hand against the beginning of his breastbone. "Blow into his mouth twice, but make sure your mouth covers his completely, and hold his nose closed," he instructed.

"Shouldn’t we pump the water out of his lungs first?" asked Rob.

"No – that’s a fallacy, just do as I tell you." Kiwi snapped with urgency.

"Gotcha," said Rob and did as he was told. Kiwi was satisfied to note the rising and falling of Frank’s chest again, illustrating Rob’s correct technique. Once two breaths had been administered, he shouted for Rob to stop and rose up on his straight arms and pushed down hard and powerfully for a total of 15 compressions, counting out loud with each push, he nodded at Rob and he breathed air into his friend again. They carried on repeating this same exercise, again and again.

Mark crawled up next to Frank’s head. "COME ON FRANK!" he bellowed, "COME ON!" He caught his brother’s eye and saw Rob was shaking his head.

"No - don’t give up on him…" urged Kiwi stubbornly, "…keep going! No matter what, don’t stop – I’m DAMMED if I’m going to let this happen a second time!"

***

Helen was still standing staring at the scene before her, her hands held to her cheeks, her face burning hot. "Not again…not again…not again…not again…not again…not again…" her troubled brain kept repeating, torturously.

Quite a big crowd had now gathered at the top of the slope, and several other re-enactors had attempted to approach and draw her into conversation, wanting to know what had happened, but failed to gain any reaction.

Suddenly her mobile started to ring insistently and the woman who’d been manning the ticket booth touched her on the shoulder and spoke to her, telling her about the phone. Helen looked at her, finally showing understanding and reached her hand into her pouch, pulling the instrument free of all the wallets and keys. She switched it to ‘answer’ and placed the phone to her ear.

"Hello? Frank?" she heard Tim’s voice say.

"No, it’s me, Helen," she responded, her voice a hollow whisper.

"Sorry about his Helen, but Joe insisted I call you. He’s got a stupid idea in his head that something’s going on down there, and..." Helen’s arm fell from her ear and she dropped the phone from her fingers into the grass.

The ticket woman’s eyebrows lifted in surprise and she looked Helen over with concern. Seeing that the young woman was not going to retrieve the cell phone, she dipped down, picked it up herself and began to speak into the receiver.

Helen looked over at her friends down on the bank one last time – they seemed to be working on Frank now in slow motion. She stepped back and started to walk away, pushing her way through the ever increasing throngs of ‘sight seers’ and disappeared.