Witchfinder 3: The Last Nightfall by William Hussey

Author:William Hussey [Hussey, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The Hill that

Overlooked Forever

Shortly after his mother’s murder, Jake and his dad had gone on something of a world tour. They’d taken in some amazing sights: the pyramids of Giza, the falls of Niagara, the rose red city of Petra, half as old as time. Three weeks of the six-month holiday had been spent in Italy where they’d pounded the tourist trail from Rome to Herculaneum and the lost city of Pompeii. Desperate to escape the grief of his mother’s death, Jake had thrown himself into the wonders of the ancient world, devouring guidebooks and dragging his father on endless sightseeing tours.

Now, stepping into the demons’ version of a Roman city, all those half-remembered experiences came back to him. The replica was a walled settlement, built in the regular shape preferred by the methodical Roman mind. Jake and Pandora passed under a defensive gateway and onto a wide, cobbled street.

As they followed the blood splatters along the street, Jake pointed out the fine detail of this recreated town: the stepping stones that ran from pavement to pavement, designed to keep togas dry when the drains flooded; the open shops stacked with clay amphorae for holding wine and oil.

They passed warehouses ranged along the bank of a dried-up river. Long, rectangular structures with fl at roofs and barrel vaults in which Roman merchants might have haggled over the price of Chinese silk and Egyptian porphyry. Every building they saw, from grand townhouse to toppling tenement, from lowly bakery to serene temple stared back at them with empty eyes. Whatever its original purpose, this settlement was long deserted.

At last, the street brought them to the centre of the town.

‘The forum,’ Jake panted. ‘The marketplace. Most important part of any Roman town.’

A large paved area open to the sky, the forum was surrounded by dozens of freestanding columns. Jake turned on the spot and took in the grand buildings that bordered the marketplace: the colonnaded law court, the Senate house, the Capitol.

‘Stonework, decoration, architecture—every detail’s absolutely accurate.’

Pandora touched his arm. ‘Not every detail.’

She pointed at the statues that stood on plinths around the forum. Jake knew that the statuary of Rome almost always depicted gods and goddesses, military generals and steely-eyed emperors. But this was one area in which the infernal architects that had designed the city had departed from the Roman model. Instead of gods and emperors, the plinths supported an array of demonic forms. Jake recognized some of the characters: the ravenous Mr Pinch, little pebbles of drool dripping from his jaws; the spider-like Miss Creekley with her eight long legs and her beautiful human face.

‘Jake.’ Pandora drew a sharp breath. ‘That statue on the other side of the square, that’s not a demon, is it?’

He followed the direction of Pandora’s finger, and felt the skin shrink around his bones. The shadow of the stone man seemed to stretch out to greet him. Beneath the shade of a marble hat, a pair of sightless eyes returned his gaze. Jake remembered those eyes from long ago.

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