Norwich Cathedral
hours at this Norman Cathedral, which sits
in the center of my local city. Although I
have had the privilege to perform musically here on several occasions, I have never been able to take the time to reflect on its outstanding beauty and boy does it have plenty of that. If only we could create such magnificent buildings now.
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| Thomas Gooding was buried vertically inside the Cathedral in order that he could spring up and be first into heaven. |
The reason I was there wasn't just for peace and quiet, but for research needed towards book ii of The Book of Souls, called 'Truth' which is still a work in progress. In this story Norwich Cathedral will be featured quite a bit. A new character, even more powerful than the angels and fallen angels, has snuck out of the throne room of God - which of course God knows about - and resides in the Cathedral. Both Leo's group and Bazriel's - he's one of the bad guys and is also in the first book, who's a fallen angel - Satan's right-hand-man and a real nut case.
But enough of book ii, I'm sure you're all excited about reading a little more of chapter one continuing from where we left off.
The Book of Souls - Justice
Chapter One
Crossing
Church Road and stumbling over a patch of uneven grass, Maya eventually reached
the track that led down to the embankment. She stopped for a moment to wrap her
quilted jacket around her body and cursed as the cold air still managed to penetrate
the thin fabric. However, her mind still happened to be on his last innuendo. Damn! What if he meant it? He’s like the fittest
guy in school. No … no! She tossed her hair across her shoulders. I’m just being stupid, he wouldn’t think of
me like that, like his girl. Staring ahead, Sam’s silhouette disappeared through
a thick patch of fog ahead.
“Sam,
wait,” Maya yelled.
“Scared
of the dark?” his voice came as a bodiless whisper, until he broke through the
fog.
“No.”
She paused for a moment’s reflection. Now
what do I say? And a few seconds later an idea came to her. “No, I’m not, I
… I was just wondering why you were heading towards the river, that’s all?”
“Why
not?” He shrugged.
“Well,
this fog’s getting thicker and ….” A sudden wave of apprehension swept over
Maya.
“And
what’s the problem with that?” he interrupted.
“Because
….” She eyed him in startled interest. Is
he smirking? Oh my goodness, he is!
Maya
shut her mouth, she wasn’t prepared to give him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid
again, even though in daylight the embankment was a dangerous place to be.
Bending forward, his face almost touching hers, he
said with an impish grin, “I’ll look after you.”
Maya
placed her hands over her cheeks to hide her embarrassment, her eyes narrowed. I bet you will!
Trailing
several steps behind him, she twisted her head searching for the unseen eyes she’d
felt haunting her for the past five minutes and hoped with every second that her
emotionally stretched imagination was just playing tricks on her.
“Sam
….” she called out in as quiet a voice as possible.
However,
it hadn’t been quiet enough. The trees to her left shook violently and a growl
that sounded like no other creature she had ever heard before, pierced the air.
An unseen wall of force enough to drive breath from her body in a gasping
grunt, brought Maya to an abrupt halt. She screamed and slapped her hand over
her mouth. Sam appeared in front of her, his chest heaving as he stood staring blankly
at her for a moment, then he placed his hands on Maya’s shoulders and drew her
toward him. They huddled together, hardly daring to breathe, every single sound
now emphasised by their silence. High-pitched squeals of laughter circled them,
twigs fell by their feet. Maya glanced up at Sam, his tanned face now a deathly-white.
This can’t be happening … not
here, not now.
A jolt of unease stabbed Maya’s stomach as she watched lumps of mud
being ripped from the ground by invisible hands. They molded the earth into what looked like legs and then a torso. The breeze
kicked up leaves and twigs to shape a face that held no resemblance to a human
at all with its thick and furrowed skin, and its eyes were sunken, almost lost
under the rise of its bony brow. Yet, Maya couldn’t drag her gaze away from
them. It … it can’t be! It can’t be the
same one as before, but those eyes, they are … the … the … same!
Sam
grabbed her arm, his fingers digging through the thin fabric of her jacket,
however, when the monster snarled, any pain he caused disappeared within an
instant, and at that precise moment, a memory flashed before Maya’s eyes; she’d
seen it before, when she was seven, when all this had started. She had been in
the living room with her little brother as her mummy was in the kitchen, and
her daddy was in his study. The goose bumps on her arms, the chill in the room
and her breath freezing in the air were all the same now as they were then. Why is it here? Why has it returned? Is it
after me now?
The
monster bared its teeth in what could only be described as a smile. The skin on
the back of her neck prickled as the beast raised its arm and pointed a clawed
finger at her. Without warning, a bolt of lightning struck the ground behind Maya
and Sam, the shock paralysing them both for a few seconds. A pillar of light appeared
and intensified, forcing Maya to shield her eyes in the cuff of her arm. She knew
that she should be consumed with terror, but somehow her fear ebbed away as the
light sizzled by. Taking a peek over her arm, she saw the beast’s wings uncoil,
but she still didn’t feel the panic she had felt earlier. Is that light doing this to me because right now, I should be screaming
… or running … or doing something to get far away from here? Except, that light
is so ... so ….
Sorry to stop it here .... but if you're enjoying what you read please
leave a comment, even if its anonymously.
Many thanks for visiting my blog.
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