Scaderstone Pit (The Darkeningstone Series Book 3) (38 page)

How many stones are there?

That is a closely guarded secret.

Was there one amulet or more?

There are several amulets. The one in Seaton’s collection was secured by the authorities and stored away. Morven, who gained his amulet during his rise to authority in the Wandrian, threw it in a river. His amulet was found much later and taken to the museum in Grand-Pressigny.

Why are mobile phones affected by the stones?

The stones release a burst of energy when active and this interferes with mobile phones.

How did the Wandrian get from France to England?

The Neolithic landscape and coastline were significantly different from their modern counterparts, and so it would’ve been quite easy to cross from France to the UK.

Is Scaderstone a real place?

No, it’s entirely fictional. The pit was inspired by an abandoned quarry in the town where I grew up in North Yorkshire. Although the real quarry was much smaller than the fictional pit, it backed onto a playing field, had a public footpath nearby, and had been used as an illegal dumping ground. It even had the remains of a car and, best of all, a ledge. If you want to see it, there’s a video on my YouTube channel which you can find via my site at
mikeycampling.com

How about Grand-Pressigny and Saint Victor?

Grand-Pressigny is a real place and it does have a museum with an exhibition of Neolithic artefacts, but for this book I have fictionalised the museum and its layout. Similarly, although real place names and roads are used on the journey to the hill, the hill itself, sad to say, does not exist. Saint Victor is a real place, but again, I have presented a fictionalised version of it here.

What happened to Trevor Marley? Did he ever get his chance to gain advancement by using his knowledge of the human bones at Scaderstone Rock?

Like so many men of his generation, Trevor was too young for the First World War but he was swept up in the Second. In many ways, the army was the making of him. He was deeply affected by the camaraderie he found in the company of like-minded men, and he became a brave and much respected soldier. He rose to the rank of Sergeant but shied away from any mention of applying for a commission; he was determined to serve alongside the ordinary fighting men. He served in Africa and Italy, and distinguished himself with his loyalty and service to others. He decided it was unfair to ask Iris to wait for him, and he broke off their relationship. Iris, who’d decided they must be married as soon as she’d seen Trevor in his uniform, was heartbroken. Eventually, after much cajoling from her father, Iris married the owner of a company that manufactured agricultural equipment. She was happy enough, but she often thought of Trevor and what might have been, had it not been for her father’s interference in her private life.

When her father died, Iris inherited his wealth but had no interest in continuing his business empire. When the quarry became unprofitable, she closed it down and thought no more about it. The site quickly became neglected and overgrown.

After the war, Trevor stayed in the army and became a career soldier, finding his spiritual home in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Regiment—the Sappers. He travelled the world, playing his part in many ambitious construction projects.

When he retired from the Army, he moved to Cornwall and settled down to an enjoyable life by the sea. He met and married a local woman called Helena, who’d lost her husband in the Second World War. She’d brought up two children on her own, but they’d flown the nest by the time she met Trevor. Having lived alone for several years, she was an independent-minded woman, but she longed for the company of a partner. She found in Trevor a steadfast friend and a caring husband, and they were very happy together.

Trevor would’ve liked children, but he understood that Helena did not want to start another family. Even so, Trevor still sometimes awoke in the night, startled by the pitiful sound of a baby crying in the darkness. And he would’ve put these disturbing dreams down to his desire for a family, if it weren’t for the whispers he heard mingling in with the sound of the waves crashing into the cliffs below. And on those nights, as he lay awake and stared into the gloom, he’d always be filled with the same dreadful certainty: somewhere, sometime, an unknown destiny was waiting for him.

Copyright

© 2016 Mikey Campling All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the copyright holder, except as permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.