 March
1928. Freddie Smith is on a motoring holiday in the mountains of
south west France. He is caught in a violent storm and his car
crashes. He is forced to seek shelter in a boarding house in the
nearby village of Axat. There he meets another guest in the tiny
hotel, a pale and beautiful young woman called Marie. As the
storm rages outside, she explains how the region was ripped
apart by wars of religion in the 14th century. She tells how,
one terrible night in March 1328, all the inhabitants of Axat
were forced to flee from the soldiers into the mountains. The
villagers took refuge in a cave, but when the fighting was over,
no one came back. Their bodies were never found. Axat itself
became a ghost town. When Freddie wakes the following morning,
Marie has gone. Worse still, his car will take several days to
repair and he has to stay at the boarding house for a few days
more. To pass the time, he explores the mountains. Then he
realises it is almost 600 years to the day since the villagers
disappeared. He decides to go and look for the cave himself.
Perhaps, he thinks, he might even find Marie? It is a decision
he will live to regret. |
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