The strange side of midn.., p.34
The Strange Side of Midnight, page 34
His enthusiastic subjects followed.
Skirax smirked. The Faeries might not be invading the human world, but the rats would be. Excited about the future he had long dreamed of, Skirax led his rat pack through the lower levels of the city. Any concerns his minions had experienced when they were first set free had changed to eager anticipation at the new life of freedom they embarked on.
Entering a space filled with empty wine racks and littered with empty bottles, barrels, and flagons, Skirax headed for the far end of the long room. He halted in front of a stack of barrels, each three yards wide and five long, piled on their sides. All were empty, and some had never been filled, but it wasn’t wine Skirax had come here for. His eyes focused on the barrel in the top row in the middle. He spun, almost colliding with Slithe who was being pressed forward by the other rats cramming into the room.
“Back up. Back up!” ordered Skirax.
When they had done so, Skirax pointed at the set of wooden steps on wheels once used to reach the highest parts of the wine racks. “Bring that to me.”
Four rats wheeled it over to him and with his instructions positioned it below the barrel he wanted to reach.
Wondering what he was up to, Slithe and the other rats watched they newly elected king ascend the steps and brush the cobwebs from a large barrel.
Recalling the instructions he had read in Absinia Livingstone’s book, Skirax turned the barrel tap clockwise twice, anti-clockwise once, clockwise half a turn, and pushed it. A click came from the side of the barrel, and the lid opened slightly. Slipping his claws around the edge, he pulled the hinged door open and peered inside at the tunnel that led off from the back of the barrel.
Skirax turned to his puzzled subjects. “We are almost there my comrades. Soon our new lives of freedom and plenty will begin.”
Still worried they would be caught by the faeries, punished and locked up again, hushed hurrahs rippled through the pack.
Skirax waved an arm at them. “Follow me.”
Slithe was first on the steps. As the others followed him up, Skirax bent his deformed neck and entered the secret tunnel.
Emerging a short distance later into a small cavern, Skirax stretched out his aching back and strode purposefully for the ring of boulders in the center of the cavern. He found it hard to believe he was finally here.
Slithe twitched his whiskers when he saw the stone circle. “Is that a portal?”
“That it is. But not just any portal. It’s the lost portal,” stated Skirax proudly.
Slithe was impressed. “That’s why you spent so long going through the books in the library, you were searching for this?”
Skirax nodded. “It leads to the world of humans in which we will thrive, plunder, and feast like you’ve never feasted before.” He turned to Slithe. “I need a loyal second in command who can be trusted. Is that you, Slithe?”
Slithe jumped at the opportunity. “It is sire.”
“Then come. We’ve spent long enough in this faerie world of pain, misery, and darkness, let’s go see if the world of the humans can bring us better fortune.” Skirax entered the stone circle, took two steps toward the center, and gradually disappeared.
Those already in the cavern gasped at the strange phenomenon they had just witnessed.
“Calm ya fears my friends. It is a portal to the human world and nothing to be afraid of.” Slithe pointed at the stone circle. “All who enter will find a better life ahead. If any of you choose to remain, you know only too well what fate will befall you. The choice is yours. I, for one, know the path I will take.” Slithe turned his back on them and entered the portal.
Though nervous about doing so, other rats began their tentative entry into the unknown.
The End
Author’s Note
Thank you for purchasing and reading my book. I hope you found it an enjoyable experience. If so, could you please spread the word and perhaps consider posting a review at your place of purchase, it is the single most powerful thing you can do for me. It raises my visibility and many more people will learn about my book.
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Ben Hammott
Other Books by Author
Hell Ship
The Flying Dutchman
When an ancient document, written by Tom Hardy, the cabin boy aboard the Fortuyn, surfaces, it reveals he was the sole survivor of the stricken Dutch East India vessel and the gruesome events he witnessed that claimed both vessel and crew.
Because the terrible events he witnessed onboard were too fantastical to be believed, Tom kept the truth a secret. However, in an attempt to quell his reoccurring nightmares, he wrote down the events leading to the demise of the crew and the Fortuyn.
It is believed by some that the Fortuyn is the lost ship that haunts the seas and has become known as The Flying Dutchman.
Centuries after Tom’s death, and keeping his original title, The true catastrophic events of the Fortuyn as witnessed by Tom Hardy, the sole survivor from the aforementioned vessel, the truth can, at last, be revealed.
A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a vessel with no living crew aboard. These encompass ghostly vessels from folklore and fiction, such as the Flying Dutchman, or a derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead, like the Mary Celeste.
In maritime folklore, the ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman, has had an impact like no other lost vessel. It has inspired numerous paintings, films, books, opera, etc. The alleged captain, Van der Decken, was on a heading for the East Indies when a ferocious storm overwhelmed them. With sheer determination, he tried to steer his ship through the hostile weather conditions the Cape of Good Hope was famous for but failed miserably even after he vowed to drift until doomsday. Legend declares that since then, ship and crew have been cursed to sail the oceans for eternity.
To this day, hundreds of sailors are credited to having witnessed the Flying Dutchman continuing its never-ending phantom voyage across the oceans.
Tom’s account of what happened aboard the Flying Dutchman, however, is considerably more chilling…
Feedback
“The most thrilling, unputdownable book I've read in a long time.”
“Crackles with oppressive tension infused with a real sense of dread throughout that had me holding my breath.”
“Stunning, scary, and tightly written - a thriller bursting with shivers and edge of your seat horror.”
“Brilliant! A thrilling, horrifying, gripping page turner that you want to race through but at the same time don't want to end because you're enjoying it so much.”
HORROR ISLAND
Where Nightmares Become Reality
Cocooned in rock, the alien organism was propelled into space when the dying planet exploded.
Dormant for many millennia as it travelled through the cosmos, it headed towards a blue planet.
A fiery spectacle announced its arrival when it entered Earth’s atmosphere and crashed to the surface. Trapped on an island it couldn’t escape from, it grew, evolved, hunted and spawned.
Time passed. Human’s arrived…
More info and concept images
SOLOMON'S TREASURE 1
BEGINNINGS: A Hunt for Treasure
and
SOLOMON'S TREASURE 2
THE PRIEST'S SECRET
(The Tomb, the Temple, the Treasure Book 1 and 2)
An ancient mystery, a lost treasure and the search for the most sought after relics in all antiquity.
The Tomb, the Temple, the Treasure series, has become an international bestseller.
An exciting archaeological thriller spanning more than 2000 years.
Beginning with the construction of Solomon's Temple, the Fall of Jerusalem, the creation of the Copper Scrolls and the forming of the Knights Templar and their mysterious tunneling under the Temple Mount. The story then takes us into the trap-riddled catacombs beneath Rosslyn Chapel, on to Rennes-le-Chateau, into the Tomb, Jerusalem, and its secret tunnels and beyond.
More info: www.benhammottbooks.com
ICE RIFT & ICE RIFT – SALVAGE & ICE RIFT - SIBERIA
A 3 book action adventure survival horror set in Antarctica.
Something ancient dwells beneath the ice...
Humans have always looked to the stars for signs of Extraterrestrials.
They have been looking in the wrong place.
They are already here. Entombed in a spaceship beneath Antarctic ice for thousands of years.
The ice is melting, and they will soon be free.
When a huge rift in the ice is discovered in Antarctica, NASA turns ones of its satellites upon it and discovers something strange. Confused by the readings, they call upon a group of scientists running tests on the ice shelf to investigate. When the scientists enter the ice rift to check out the anomaly on NASA's satellite scans, they discover something far more life-threatening than the raging blizzard trapping them in the rift. They are unarmed and unprepared for the ensuing threat it poses them and mankind.
More Ice Rift information and location concept images can be found on the author's website: Ice Rift Information
Sarcophagus
Their mistake wasn’t finding it, it was bringing it back!
"The Mummy, meets Relic, meets Alien in this scary action driven horror thriller."
Action adventure horror set in the Amazon jungle and London, England.
Concealed in a remote area of the Amazon jungle is something the Mayans thought so dangerous they built a secret prison to entomb it. It remained undiscovered for centuries.
When a maverick archaeologist hears rumors of a mysterious lost city, he heads into the Amazon jungle, determined to find it.
He soon learns that some things are best left unfound.
The dangerous past the Mayans tried so hard to bury, is about to become our terrifying future.
Extended book blurb:
When an archaeologist stumbles across a mysterious Mayan city in a remote part of the Amazon jungle, he informs the British museum funding his expedition of the discovery.
When fellow archaeologist, Greyson Bradshaw, receives news of the discovery, he jumps at the chance to travel to the Amazon jungle to collect artifacts for the forthcoming Mayan exhibition he is arranging.
The two archaeologists explore the city’s subterranean levels and enter Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. In a secret chamber, they discover something hidden away for centuries; a sarcophagus.
Realizing its potential as a centerpiece for his exhibition, Greyson transports the sarcophagus and other artifacts back to England.
The past is about to come alive.
(Includes Horror Island sample)
"Hammott is fast becoming the master of monster horror. Read his Ice Rift books and you'll know what I mean. Fantastic escapism."
"The author has such a creative mind it's scary. The monsters he brings alive in his books are simply terrifying. Add atmospheric locations, characters you root for, racked up tension, a thrilling plot that forbids you to stop reading, and you have Sarcophagus."
EL DORADO
Lost City 2 Book series
One of the world's most legendary and elusive treasures sought after for centuries. . .
Rumored to be guarded by remote, mist-veiled mountains, the fabulous treasure hoard was hidden from the greedy clutches of Spanish conquistadors somewhere deep inside the unforgiving and mysterious Amazon jungle. As far as anyone knows, it is still there. Waiting to be discovered by those brave or foolhardy enough, to try their luck.
An ancient mystery.
A Lost Treasure.
A Hidden City.
An impossible location.
An unimaginable adventure.
Included in Aztec and Mayan legends, Conquistadors had heard rumors of its existence when exploring the New World, but never found it.
During World War 2, Nazi-inspired archaeologists were convinced they had pinpointed its location. They packed a U-Boat with supplies and set a course for the Amazon Jungle. They disappeared!
Many adventurers eager to claim the legendary gold as their own entered one of the most inhospitable places on earth, the Amazon Jungle. Most were never seen again!
And yet the exact location of this fantastic hoard so many have dreamed of finding remains a mystery. Any who may have stumbled upon it never returned to tell the tale.
It was as if someone, or something, was protecting it...
In 1925, Victorian explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett enters the Amazon Jungle to search for a Lost City. Like so many before him, he was never seen or heard from again. Until now!
When a message from the past is discovered washed up on an English beach, it reveals new information about the ill-fated 1925 expedition.
A modern-day expedition sets off to follow in the footsteps of Colonel Fawcett in an attempt to locate the Lost City and its legendary hoard of priceless treasure.
The Lost City Book 1 & 2 will take you inside the Lost City to learn of its many secrets and dangers. A thrilling story of adventure and discovery that weaves together an exciting blend of fact and fiction linked to the legends surrounding the lost Fawcett expedition and the mysterious Amazonian Jungle.
An exciting archaeological mystery thriller with flashbacks to Colonel Fawcett's 1925 Expedition.
Review
The Mysterious and Dangerous Amazon Jungle, Subterranean Rooms, Tunnels, Pyramids, Ancient Aliens, Nazis, Traps, Thrilling Escapes, Chases, Strange Creatures, Dangerous Enemies, a Lost City, and Great Characters, are just a few ingredients that make this exciting adventure thriller a must read for fans of this genre. (NY Post book reviews)
An Insatiable Thirst for Murder - Serial Killer Henry Holmes
This book contains the shocking dramatization of real events carried out by the serial killer, Henry Howard Holmes.
STORY OF AMERICA’S FIRST DOCUMENTED SERIAL KILLER. (Fiction)
If you hear him lock the door, you are already dead!
"Insightful thoughts of some characters during their impending death make it too easy to identify with the horror of what they experienced. By the time I got to the end of some parts, I was out of breath, literally!"
"Grabs your concentration by the throat with every horrific and appalling act carried out by Holmes and never lets go. The scenes are so well written that you find yourself witnessing everything as if you were there."
"An atmospheric dramatization of a true crime mystery using source documents and the investigations carried out by detective Frank Geyer to portray a believable and disturbing account of the heinous murders and crimes of the serial killer, Henry H. Holmes."
"This well-researched dramatization of the Chicago serial killer, Henry Holmes, because is based on actual events, isn't something that's always easily digestible; it sits in your gut and gnaws at your insides. It becomes part of your subconscious. You think of it long after you have laid the book aside. No punches are pulled to describe the horrendous crimes carried out by this cold-hearted killer."
"Harper's writing is easy to read. He has a real knack for creating great descriptions of scenes, characters, and murderous action."
"Absorbingly horrific. As if it were a plane crash that you just can't look away from, because you're intrigued as to how and what will happen next."
"An absorbing read that will remain with you long after you've turned the last page."
"The prose is very descriptive and emotive. It actually gave me quite an emotional kick in the gut when Holmes's murderous appetite focused on the children. No one was safe from this man."
"As fascinating as it is shocking."
America's first documented serial killer, Henry Howard Holmes, holds a dubious and ghastly record that few serial killers in history have surpassed. The 19th-century killer is thought to have committed over 200 murders, but, for unexplained reasons, appears to have been overlooked by many true crime enthusiasts. Set partly in the era when "Jack the Ripper" was terrorizing the foggy streets of London with his gruesome slayings in the 19th century, Holmes was committing his nefarious crimes in America, undetected.
Holmes, a handsome, well-dressed gentleman with high intelligence, was a murderer and accomplished con-man. Charm and trust were his most effective weapons and he welded them as expertly as any surgeon would a scalpel.
To achieve an easy way to entrap and dispose of his intended victims, Holmes constructed a huge building that when his crimes were revealed, the newspapers of the time named the "Murder Hotel." And this is a fair description as there can be no doubt the building was constructed for the sole purpose of killing his victims and the disposal of their corpses. Though the majority of his victims were women he charmed and ensnared in his murderous grasp, he also murdered men and children.
