GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) Read Online Free PDF Page A

on their dare . It was late afternoon and the daylight was dimming quickly with each minute that passed . Scott noticed a policeman’s tall shadow silhouetted against the inside of the station window ; the constable was nodding and speaking to someone. It was old Drew Kirkland — his red tractor was parked outside.
    The Prophet’s Monument was not the tallest built , al though it had the highest vantage point. It dominated the top ridge to the north ; like a citadel it watched over the village. Beyond th e monument, the roads ran away west and north to the hamlet of Crookedholm and the larger town of Irvine on the coast and the busy commercial c ity of Glasgow to the north .
    The boys stood outside the tall sandstone building , which was protected by a low triangular sandstone dyke. The Prophet Monument was built in traditional Masonic fashion, made with the red sandstone quarried locally . E ven from the outside the structure ooz ed with ancient history and folklore — old scri pt s were carved and cut all around the base of its walls by the masons , rumoured to verse cryptic warnings although no one knew what it really said....
    Scott stood for a long moment at the entranceway to the enclosed grounds , wondering if it might not be such a good idea to enter.
    ‘ Having s econd thoughts?’ Cameron teased.
    ‘No way ! ’ Scott grinned , al though his face became somewhat sober as he look ed up at the ominous long windows that stretched before them.
    A dominant vantage point indeed, the building conquered the whole countryside. Most folks did not dare to walk anywhere near this spooky place at night , and there was always an unexplained atmosphere of sobriety . The top turret bore a single flag pole positioned on a small , roofed part of the building , which tonight flew a dark flag the size of a man . Cameron could just barely see the flag, which had a green and brown background slashed with thin, yellow zigzags and a blood-red claw ensign, all surrounded by a thick, black border. Cameron started—n o flag had been raised on that pole in all his life. What was a flag doing there now? It was not even Scottish!
    Spur r ing each other on, the boys shoved one another though the heavy iron gates , giggling as they did, trying to ignore the rusty old hinges attached to the solid pillars of sandstone, which sw u ng open with an eerie squeal. Two horrible replica gargoyle statues hunker ed on twin pillar s to either side of the tall iron gates. The g argoyles wore pointed hoods and their tongues st u ck out , curving dangerously far from stony , grotesque faces . E ach one squat ted, gazing blankly towards the boys, or so it seemed. These small, stone figurines had no faces. Their thick , long toenails extend ed out from their anguished talon s, which curled nastily around the stone ledge s where they sat.
    The village was full of rumours and strange stories about the monument. O ne such tale told that many centuries ago, on the tower top, other such hideous stone figures sat perching like vultures. No one knew whence they had been carved or when th ey had appeared , but t here they hunched on their high tower , scrutiniz ing the surrounding countryside . The village folk claimed that the stones brought only bad luck!
    O n one fateful day in particular , the day of the C ovenanter e xecutions , rumour had it that these hideous hooded creatures had departed from their stone perch and later were spotted near the old standing stones on top of the hill. They seemed to be s earching for something in the sky above the village and , not having found what they sought , they then flew far away. The winged figures were seen no more... .
    Bizarrely , the people at that time thought this grim departure to be an even worse omen than the creatures’ appearance ! What had they been seeking? Where did they go? Would they ever return? These voiced thoughts and open fears created such great panic in the village that the ugly replicas that