DAWN OF THE OLD ONES a gripping sci-fi fantasy adventure novel by Glasby John

Author:Glasby, John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books Science Fiction Fantasy
Published: 2023-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Leaving in the hired car twenty minutes later, I drove slowly through the village, noticing that now there were several of the locals on the narrow pavement and all of them eyed me with sullen and suspicious animosity. As I reached the edge of the village, two men suddenly darted into the middle of the road towards the car, their behaviour both determined and threatening. For an instant, my foot touched the break; then, just in time, I recalled McKinrick’s warning about the minions of the Old Ones. Transferring my foot to the accelerator, I drove straight forward, knowing instinctively that to stop would be fatal. Only at the last moment did the men jump aside, and I could swear that the car wing-mirror caught one of them as I hurtled past. Then I was out in open country, a glance in the mirror confirming that I was not being pursued.

The professor had traced out for me the safest route to follow, although it was by no means the shortest. I was to avoid all major roads and motorways if possible and stick to the country roads where there was sure to be much less traffic. Since I carried the vrach in my pocket, I had little to fear from any physical attack by the followers of the Old Ones, my main source of danger would be from obstacles caused by floods, earthquakes or fires.

Gradually the countryside through which I was passing assumed a wilder and more deserted aspect. I knew very little of this part of England and had always supposed it to be a region of scenic beauty. Yet now, with a sombre grey overcast hiding the sun, there seemed to be an air of hushed unreality in the way the domed hills crowded together on the skyline. The narrow road I was following rose and fell and twisted with an almost secretive sentience amid narrow valleys on whose slopes tiny farmhouses seemed to tuck themselves into concealed hollows as if not wishing to be seen. The intimacy and interrelation of the hills had a curiously oppressive effect upon me as I concentrated on watching for any hint of danger; their cloud-shrouded hill slopes seeming to hold some odd link with things long forgotten, but not absent. Overall, there was a sensation that they were still hoarding dark memories of times long before the invading armies of Imperial Rome had come to these shores, before the Druids had held their orgiastic rituals under a watching moon. All these weird impressions welled up in my mind and served only to heighten the air of tension and dread expectancy. The purpose of my excursion from the relative safety of Charnwood House, and the chilling abnormalities of the surrounding countryside made me shiver a little and I deliberately turned up the heating in the car even though the outside temperature was quite mild.

For the first hour nothing out of the ordinary occurred. The small villages through which I passed seemed deserted.

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