The Word of God by Christopher Cummings

Author:Christopher Cummings
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780994208477
Publisher: DoctorZed Publishing

Chapter 20

HARD DECISIONS

The others were signalled up to join then. Both Joy and Gwen gasped in horror when they saw the dead snake.

Peter nudged the mangled reptile with a stick. “I reckon the Sniper was bitten by it,” he said.

“Bloody good!” Stephen added. “Serve the bastard right. The biter bit!”

Sir Miles made a wry face. “Certainly appropriate,” he commented.

“Why?” Joy asked.

Gwen answered. “Joy! Didn’t you go to Sunday School? The snake is the Devil’s own symbol. Remember the Garden of Eden?”

Stephen chuckled. “Bit before her time,” he interjected.

Sir Miles bent to peer at the snake and visibly shuddered. “Is the snake poisonous?” he asked.

“Very,” Peter assured him. “This species are called Death Adders.”

Gwen looked anxiously around. “So what do we do?” she asked.

Peter shrugged. “We can sneak off into the jungle and abandon Sir Miles’ friend to his fate or we can take the risk and keep going,” he said.

Gwen bit her lip. “What do you think we should do?” she asked.

Peter felt sick with fear but knew in his heart he did not really have a choice.

Not if I’m going to live with my conscience in the future, he told himself.

He met her eyes. “Keep going and keep our eyes open,” he replied. “I doubt if the Sniper’s attention will be focused on us now, but the Black Monk and his cronies must now be somewhere in front of us.”

“Couldn’t we just hide in the forest?” Stephen suggested.

Peter nodded. “Yes we could, but the person waiting for Sir Miles is in danger. I think we should help them,” he replied. Burning in him now was a strong desire to help Sir Miles on his quest.

Sir Miles said: “You must do what you think best but I must go on with my quest; and if that means confronting Friar Boris then I will.”

Peter ended the debate by starting to walk. Joy followed at once, as did Gwen and Sir Miles. Stephen shrugged and resumed his role as ‘Tail end Charlie’.

“Who is this Friar Boris?” Gwen asked Sir Miles as they puffed up another grassy slope.

“I have never met him but I have heard of him. He is from Vacul, which is in Transylvania, and is one of the leading Devil Worshippers in the world. I think his boss is Barfout.”

“Not Count Dracula?” Peter asked, his fear fuelling flippancy.

Sir Miles smiled. “No.”

“Transylvania?” Joy queried. “Isn’t that where the vampires come from?”

“Allegedly,” Sir Miles replied. “And only in the movies. It is actually a province of Romania.”

The trail crested a low, timbered knoll. A hundred metres ahead loomed a wall of rain forest. Peter sighed with relief. They were on top of the range. The trail led down along a gentle spur to the jungle. As he walked along it Peter felt scared and very vulnerable. If the Sniper, or another Devil Worshipper, was waiting in ambush, then this was the place to do it.

Rather than just walk straight along the track on the open ridge he detoured off into the long grass and then into the trees lining a shallow gully.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.