Silver Knight
By
Caron Rider
This story is dedicated to my brother Lance, without whom I would never have written it, with thanks and all my love!
Summary: When seventeen-year-old Diana recognizes an elderly priest in a video on YouTube, she realizes that reincarnation is real and that she’s been alive before! Every night in her dreams, she relives her past learning that it’s kill or be killed. Now a bishop at the Vatican whom she saved in another life calls on her once more. She is needed to help defeat evil within the catacombs of Rome. But when she arrives in Rome, she meets Alexander – the man of her dreams! Through the centuries she has loved him…betrayed him...been killed by him. Will she give him another chance or this time will she strike first?
Disclaimer: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events, places, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright ｩ 2016 2nd Edition by Caron Rider
Copyright ｩ 2011 by Caron Rider
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 9781310552656
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Something for Everyone
by
Caron Rider
This volume is a short collection of eclectic poems and limericks for the young at heart. Inspiration was a wild wind that blew the author hither and yon to write about love, cats, parents, pirates, magic, and much, much more (often with tongue in cheek).
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Don't miss the other two books in
The Silver Series
By Caron Rider
Silver Demon
Silver Dreamer
Coming 2016:
Apophis
Is it the end of the world or a new beginning?
The asteroid, Apophis, hurtles toward Earth at an astonishing 56,000 mph. When it strikes, it will rain destruction and chaos down on our world. Two groups are created to save mankind, our culture, and our technology.
One group goes into stasis while the other heads to Mars. Centuries later, those in stasis wake to find the Martians have invaded!
CONTENTS
Preface
Dreams
School's Out
The Fortune Teller
The Light House
Jarret
Helen
Rome
The Reporter
Pompeii
Path to Humanity
The Catacombs
Alexander the Great
David
Solomon
Flight Home
Epilogue
Silver Demon Excerpt
Preface
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished…”
Genesis 2:1
It was dark…and then there was light. How long ago? How can you measure time when time didn’t exist? So, it was dark. And then, there was light. It was small to begin with—a mere pinprick in the vastness. But from that bare spark light flowed and grew…almost as if the dark itself changed—becoming the light. For where the light welled up, darkness vanished. Consumed. The spread of the light continued until at last an uneasy truce existed between the two.
We fear the dark. There are things in the dark. We can’t see them but we know they are there. And those things want us. They want to conquer the Light…extinguish it so that their restlessness and, yes, pain, can go away. Go back to that time so long ago now before that first loathsome pinprick flared into existence. How had it happened? It had to be stopped.
The Dark started to fight back against the creatures that could be seen in the Light. They had form, substance. The Dark discovered that its shadowy minions could consume the spark of light that seemed to be held within those living in the Light. And as they consumed, they grew more substantial, stronger, and able to withstand the Light…and the Light grew dimmer.
1 Dreams
In the milky duskiness of the early morning light filtering in through tall, narrow windows in the outer wall, I paused holding very still. I held my breath, listening, waiting. Nothing. As its loathsome smell wafted through the hall, it crept somewhere close but I could hear nothing. Where was it? I took another step forward, cautious with my heart throbbing in fear.
In a hall of an ancient castle, my side hugging the cold stone wall, I continued forward. My breath blew out in a cloud of mist, while an icy draft occasionally moved tapestries hanging along the walls. At the very edge of my consciousness, I knew I dreamed. I had gone to my bed in happy anticipation of a good night’s sleep, for I had not had a nightmare in over two weeks—a rare occurrence. Maybe I had finally outgrown them…maybe not.
But now, frozen by cold and dread, my shaking hands were empty when I looked down at them, and I began to panic. I didn’t have a weapon! What if it found me? How would I defend myself? What if…hold it! Focus. Breathe. I stood in a castle—there had to be something.
The ceiling arced above me supported by strong, wooden beams black with age. The faint scent of English roses rising from wooden bowls full of fading flower petals failed to mask the stench of the thing. A fox, trapped at the base of a tree, surrounded by horses and hunting dogs, stared out at me in equal terror from a lovely if disturbing oil painting. There at the very end of the hall, standing in a slightly darker shadow, I saw the outline of a thick man holding a long stave with a metal tip that barely gleamed. A suit of armor! I sighed gratefully.
As I took a step forward, there came a crash from behind me down the hall. I whirled around to see a ball of blackness roll from a doorway that hid a servant's staircase. It slammed against the opposite wall with a wet squelch and uncurled to glare at me through yellow-slitted eyes. It took a split second to notice that it stood about a foot high and had a slick, slimy head with no discernible ears. Below a long snout filled with many, many sharp teeth gleaming in the faint light, it grinned evilly at me.
One step backward, then I turned, trying to run flat out. But there were only stockings on my feet below my thin, muslin nightgown, which gave me no traction on the smooth stone floor. Only a few steps further, then the creature—the demon, my mind whispered—plowed into my back sending me to the floor screaming.
I awoke from the nightmare sitting straight up in bed gasping, the shriek echoing from the walls. Then I fell back against the warm pillows, still feeling the claws digging into my back and the teeth latching onto my shoulder. I gave it an experimental shrug. Yep, still worked. I heaved a sigh and rolled out of bed wanting to wash the sweat off in a hot shower before getting ready for school.
My last days as a junior! Breathing in the fresh morning air, I walked across the William Tindall High School campus toward its main two-story building that housed the majority of students. Woohoo! Second to the last day of school. Students milled around in an upper parking lot next to the gym with its attached auditorium and band rooms, reluctant to head to class before the tardy bell sounded. The final large building in the complex housed just the freshman—the annex. The probability that older students would send the little freshmen screaming (or corrupt them) led to their very own separate academy.
Later that morning as I weaved between my fellow students heading down the hall to my English 11 class, Mr. Jakes stopped me. He was our assistant principal in charge of discipline and was rather short and round, wearing small, square, wire rimmed glasses. You wouldn’t think that he’d be tough just by looking at him, but I’d seen him get in this guy’s face once, and I never wanted to be in that position. He did not yell, quite, but using seriously stern, loud ranting, he became extremel
y intimidating. I’d never seen anything like it.
“Diana, just to let you know, you’ll be in charge of the book club next year. Over the summer, you’ll need to put a list together of books so that the club members can vote on what to read.”
Mr. Jakes sponsored our school book club, Authors Abound, and our president had just graduated. We only had six current members, which included Sam, Maggie, Manning, Vera, Amy, and me. So I’d kind of thought that I’d be up for president this year, since I had seniority now. I’d joined the club as a freshman, and the others had come on board the following year. So here we were, seniors at last! Or at least we would officially be seniors in two days. Happiness swelled my heart because I loved the club that we’d nicknamed AA. Our motto: Friends don’t let friends not read.
“Sure, Mr. Jakes, some of us have already talked about maybe the Lord of the Rings series. Plus we’ve already got some new members lined up for next year. We’re supposed to meet in the library later today to make sure we all have cells and emails.”
“That sounds fine but just be sure to let everyone give some input.”
“Okay.” I was glad that my fiasco with his son, Tommy, hadn’t caused any trouble between us. Tommy was a close friend of Sam’s as they’d both been on the football team together. Since Sam was dating my best friend Maggie, we’d all ended up hanging out as a group pretty often, going to movies, the mall, that kind of thing.
So when Tommy suggested that he would give me a ride to the Junior-Senior Prom last month, I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I’d bought my own ticket, so I just thought, friends, you know? Tommy thought differently. It was super awkward. Fortunately for me, he’d been a senior this year and, upon graduation last week, had joined the marines like his father before him. He would leave for boot camp at the end of June. Semper fi!
When I finally got to English, Maggie was already there talking with Allie Newton. Maggie wasn’t beautiful, in fact, she was kind of ordinary looking…at least until she looked at you. Then when you met her green eyes flecked with gold that filled her face, you forgot she was ordinary—because she was anything but. We’d known each other forever—well, since kindergarten. We’d become fast friends when we’d spied a caterpillar climbing the chain of a swing on the playground at the same time. We’d agreed to remove it carefully, and take it to a tree at the edge of the field.
“It’s on YouTube. Just search demon priest,” Allie said, brushing her black hair from her shoulder so that it hung straight, half-way down her back. She had an unusual fashion sense for a teen in that she liked dresses. Not your normal, skin tight, short, totally hot looking dresses but dresses that were long and flowing, covered with little flowers and lace collars around the neck. Because she felt like she towered over everyone (she didn’t), she always wore flats.
“What’s on YouTube now?” I wondered aloud sliding into my desk, wearing my typical jeans and combat boots, my light brown hair curling wildly around my face. My friends hated my hair, but it was pure jealousy. My hair almost always looked the same, even after swimming. While their hair was matted and knotted with chlorine, I just had to give my head a shake, run my fingers through it and my hair curled up, drying perfectly, even after being windblown from the open car windows. They moaned, attempted to use a brush, and usually ended by pulling on hats, and I would sit there with a Cheshire smile.
“There’s a video by a priest that’s gone viral. He asks for warriors because he needs help with demons,” explained Allie. Demons, fabulous. A shiver crawled down my spine as dream teeth tightened on my shoulder.
“There have been all kinds of groups sprouting up across the country claiming to be his ‘warriors’ apparently,” Maggie added, and I raised my eyebrows.
“Not to mention the Demon Lovers website for Devilish Dating. Millie sent me a link as a joke,” Allie laughed.
“Well, there’s all kinds of nuts out there, I guess,” I said, wishing the topic would change. Fortunately, Mr. Mason came in and walked to the front of the room to begin class.
“Now remember everyone, your paper is due tomorrow. No exceptions!” Our assignment had been to write a final term paper on one of Shakespeare’s plays, our choice. I had chosen to do mine on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, traditional star-crossed lovers seen in fictional literature as compared to historical fact. It appealed to me because tragedy could have been averted with just a little trust and communication. Maggie had taken on Hamlet. They were both pretty decent papers but just needed a little more tweaking before tomorrow.
When the end of the day rolled around, I headed to the library for the AA meeting. I pulled open the door, closed my eyes, and inhaled through my nose, loving the odor of paper and leather bindings flavored with some vanilla potpourri Ms. Poe, the school librarian, would put out. All the current members, plus a couple of new students, stood near the podium at the far end of the long rectangular room.
The library was wonderful—probably the coolest library in the state with its twelve-foot high ceiling and walls filled with books. At the opposite end of the room from the podium, students could find ten cubbies that had computers set up for research. Spaced out evenly in the middle of the room, three rows of double-sided shelving full of books that we simply called ‘the stacks.’ In the corner by one of the doors sat a dilapidated but cozy sectional sofa that someone had donated, perfect for when you wanted to sit down and read a chapter or a magazine.
“Hey, guys, why don’t we arrange the chairs?” I started dragging some chairs into the open space near the podium to create a circle and the others pitched in. We had a ritual that we simply had to perform for all newbies. So when everyone was present and sitting down, I began.
“Hey, everybody, my name’s Diana.”
“Hi Diana!” All of the current members shouted back at me with a grin, and the new wannabe members laughed in surprise.
“It’s been two weeks since I last read a book.”
“That’s okay, Diana, we know how busy the end of the school year is. It’s all about baby steps.” Sam was always good on the uptake.
“We’ve come together to put book titles down on a reading list for next year, plus welcome new members to the club. So without further ado, let’s just start on my right and go around the circle so you can introduce yourself.” There were only two interested kids this time. In the fall when the freshmen came in, we’d probably pick up a couple more.
The first guy just kind of leaned forward in his chair, waved his hand, and said, “I’m Rob.” He was a junior, and I’d seen him around. I thought he might be interested in Vera, which might explain his sudden interest in the club, but we’d take what we could get. After all, we got Sam because of his interest in Maggie, and he’d turned out okay.
“Hi Rob!” We all responded.
“Umm, it’s been, like, a few months since I last read a book.” Though obviously self-conscious, he appeared willing …just the kind of member we needed.
“That’s okay, Rob, in this club, we’ll get you reading again,” Maggie volunteered. “Friends don’t let friends read alone!”
She paused before adding, “I’m Maggie and, sorry, but I read all the time,” she said, grinning in appreciation at our “Hi Maggie!” response.
“I’m Sam. I only read when she makes me!” He pointed to Maggie with a grin, and she stuck the tip of her tongue out at him, as the rest of us gave a “Hi Sam!”
The next and last newcomer fiddled shyly with a thick strand of blonde hair hanging down her shoulder. Her current status as freshman would change in just two days to sophomore. “Hi, my name’s Gabby,” she paused expectantly, and we didn’t let her down.
“Hi, Gabby!”
“It’s been three days since my last reading.” Okay, she’ll fit in just fine, I thought.
“I’m Vera. I read a lot but really love being able to discuss it with the gang here.”
“Hi,Vera!”
“I’m Manning. I’m a sci-fi freak.” br />
Sam gave him a high five slap as we exclaimed, “Hi, Manning!”
“And last but not least, I’m Amy,” she said smiling around at all of us.
After the final “Hi, Amy!” I said, “Good, that’s great. Welcome all. Now let’s get down to it. It’s been proposed that we read the Lord of the Rings series. Any thoughts?”
“Well, how much time are we going to spend on each book?” Manning asked.
“If we include The Hobbit then we could spend a quarter on each book,” Sam suggested. Sam, Maggie and I had spent all weekend over spring break watching the movies one after the other. He truly wanted to read the series now.
“I don’t know. That might be too much Tolkien for me,” Vera said. “What about the one about Percy Jackson?”
“Okay, let’s throw some titles out there so that we can decide books before we think about the time frame,” I suggested. “I want to read that Dean Koontz book Intensity.”
“I want to read Twilight,” Amy said. I added Twilight to Percy Jackson, Intensity, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings on the list.
“Lee Child has a new book out called The Affair,” Rob volunteered. I guess we all looked blank because he added, “He writes books about an ex-army MP investigator who goes around the country and ends up helping people in trouble. You know, gangster types might be leaning on a store owner who’s a single mother. So this guy, Reacher, will blast them. My dad likes his books, so I’ve read a couple, and they’re cool.” So I added it to the list.
“I heard that Terry Brooks has a new book out in his Shannara series. They’re kind of like the Tolkien books in that there is usually a quest involved but not quite so wordy. I can’t think of the name of it right off hand,” Maggie said. So Terry Brooks’ book went on the list. I’d look it up later.
“Okay, any other suggestions?” I asked. Everyone looked around and just kind of shook their heads. “Great, then we have a fair list to choose from. Before we leave, make sure I have your email address and cell number. This summer I will ask everyone to vote on what our first book will be. So check each one out and see which one you want to read. I will be the only one to know who votes for what, so don’t worry that anyone will pick on you for your choice. And have a great summer!” I ended with a smile.