Mike Arram

Not quite everything, Doc. Gavin and Max were left hanging a bit, and sorting their relationship is the next episode, but not in Rothenia. Back to the UK and higher ed for them.

Cheers Buz. Glad you enjoyed. I loved your comments throughout. It adds to the fun. The next excursion deals with the fallout for Gavin from the Eschaton. The Dead are up to something.

Dawn was breaking in the sky that Damien could see through the windows of the military hospital, which was quiet now the panic was over. He had dozed on a sofa in the maternity waiting room, his hand still grasping the spear. Although it no longer glowed, he could still somehow feel a vitality in it. No one had suggested he give it up. He caught whispers about how he had come by it and what he had done with it. Nathan had come in and out as he had news. Sometime after midnight he woke Damie

Hi Doc. Tricky point, as tricky as any to do with a word that's at the heart of the present culture wars racking the west. The Antichrist said 'The foetus is aborting' and it's a brutal way of telling Rudi his child is dying, which is what you'd expect from such a monster of sadism. He's also implying that he is behind the process and can take the child out of danger, but he is, as Rudi knows all too well, a liar. The verb 'miscarry' I'd agree is more appropriate in most circumstances. Grammatically, the phrase puts the teeth on edge. 'Abort' is an odd verb. It's both a transitive and an intransitive verb: 'I aborted the mission' is transitive, but 'the foetus is aborting' is intransitive (it has no object). The unfortunate implication is that the foetus is responsible for the action. No wonder the phrase jars on you!

Henry stopped time around himself. It was odd, to say the least. The castle was full of glare and frozen chaos. Aware that his ability to maintain himself amongst such explosive events was limited, he ran to the east side of the castle with fear in his heart. The hideous shapes of Hellhounds had broken through. Two were in mid-air, completing their springs. Another had got among the defenders and taken four men down, one bitten in half. A third was being confronted by the heroic figure of F

‘I’ve got a plan, little babe.’ ‘It’s your strong point, Ed. I’m not surprised. Go for it.’ ‘Time.’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Tobias had a way with it, and you’ve managed to travel through it.’ ‘I was lucky to get back, too. I break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.’ ‘That isn’t what I have in mind exactly.’ ‘It’s not one of those time-paradox thingies is it, like I go back in time and assassinate Hitler as a kid, so we don’t get the Second World War, Nazis, the Holoca

The Mendamero Men had to be let out. It was cruel not to, in Nate’s opinion. Justy grumbled but eventually gave in. They were strictly instructed to stay within the grounds and not to talk to strangers, especially if they were clearly supernatural. The Men should also dress up warmly and keep out of puddles. Needless to say, they fully intended to ignore most of the instructions. ‘Depends what they mean by “within the grounds”,’ Mattie Oscott observed. ‘Yuh,’ agreed Damien. ‘An’ how can

Morning broke over northern Rothenia, bringing with it a certain relief to the garrison of Belvoir. The courtyard filled with the smell of frying and baking, while shifts of soldiers took breakfast in the temporary commissary. Sitting at a table with Ed, Henry tried not to be aware of the stares. ‘D’you think they believe I’m weird?’ ‘Yup. That guy over there just made the horns sign.’ ‘You mean the one to ward off evil? Fucking cheek! I’m good, me!’ ‘Yeah, but scary. You wer

Max held close Gavin’s still-warm body, now a limp, dead weight in his grasp. It was a few moments before the strangest thing registered in his head. Amazingly, wings still arched from his shoulders, his skin was golden and his arms were strong and muscled beyond what they normally were. The fall of Enoch had not ended his transformation. He still had his powers! ‘Now what are you?’ the Antichrist’s voice grated into his grief and woke him to his surroundings. ‘Not one of the orders, I thin

With nothing much else to do, Max and Gavin spent Monday in bed. Neither of them initiated full sex. Instead they kissed and cuddled, expressing their love for each other in whispered words and delicate touches. Max dozed from time to time, and occasionally got up for a snack from his store of pilfered food. Lije worked at his desk, scribbling away for hours on end and adding to the stacks of paper scattered about. Then, late in the afternoon, he took up his guitar. Hearing melancholy

At breakfast very early on Monday, Anthony found Bishop Jack in full flood of bonhomie in the restaurant of the Hotel Flavia, joking and laughing with the staff, who were clearly much charmed. ‘Have the full Rothenian, Tony!’ ‘Sir?’ The bishop laughed. ‘Oh come on, you’ve travelled enough. The “full English”, the “full American”, the “full Irish”; somehow they’re all the same breakfast: eggs, bacon, mushrooms, sausage of whatever variety, some sort of fried potatoes. In fact, ther

‘So here we are.’ Henry looked around the high chamber of Belvoir castle's keep. It was empty, but would soon be full of electronic communications equipment and assorted weaponry. ‘Uh huh. Great thing about castles is that they’re organised for defence. I don’t mean we’ll man the walls – they’re too ruinous for that – but the point is, castles occupy defensible positions and funnel enemies the way you want them to go.’ Ed was cheerful. ‘That’s my soldier boy.’ Henry smiled at his lover

Max woke to find Gavin still flat out next to him. He sat up and discovered he was human once more. What was happening to him? He grinned to himself. Whatever it was, it was cool. He’d had wings on his shoulders! Real, beating wings that would have lifted him off the bed had he not been twelve-inches deep inside Gavin. He checked his dick. Rats! Back to normal size. Gavin too was in human guise. After gently stroking his flanks, Max cuddled round his warm body and kissed the nape of hi

‘Stop poking me!’ Max giggled. ‘It tickles.’ ‘Gotta check what happened. You seem just the same, but for a moment there I thought it had done to you what it did to me.’ ‘So I’m still alive then?’ ‘Appears you are.’ Gavin looked relieved. The two were naked together on their bed. It was not for the purpose of sex, though that thought was heavy on their minds. Gavin had been making a minute inspection of Max’s body. When the light had faded in the crypt and they had resumed th

Henry was bewildered and panicking, but for the boys’ sake he mastered himself. He looked at the Lady Fenice. ‘Is there a problem?’ she asked. ‘I … can’t seem to find my way.’ The lady’s face took on deep concern. ‘Mendamero, you must leave, you know that.’ ‘But the way’s no longer there!’ ‘Oh! But nothing has been changed. How could this be?’ Henry began to wonder if he’d done something wrong in the initial crossing. But what could it have been? Fenice was co

‘I was looking for you, little babe,’ Ed Cornish complained. ‘I thought you’d disappeared.’ Henry had a brief coughing fit. ‘Er … mmm, yeah. Is there a problem?’ ‘Not as such. Matt and Andy want a chat. Coming down?’ ‘Absolutely. They need to be updated.’ Henry trotted after his lover to a downstairs lounge, wondering why he was so reluctant to talk to Ed about the latest developments. He thought he could work out some reasons. He was nervous about how Ed would take the news of hi

‘We’re not geared up here for the living,’ Elijah observed, though with a smile. ‘The point is, it’s hard to get credit and a bank account if you’re dead,’ Gavin added. ‘In fact, it’s more or less impossible without certain skills, which we don’t have.’ All three were slumped together on one of the broken sofas, their bare feet on the coffee table. Gavin was still sipping at his coke can, burping loudly and irregularly. The practicalities of their situation were coming home to Max. He

‘Henry, wake up!’ ‘Uhrr … wha?’ ‘Wake up! Now! And be quiet!’ Henry stirred, finding a hand over his mouth to reinforce the warning. The voice had been so familiar that for a while he thought he was somewhere else, in another bed, sleeping next to … Gavin! The instant the hand left his mouth, he whispered, ‘Is it you, baby?’ ‘Me? Yes, it’s Gavin.’ ‘Oh! So! Finally willing to talk to me, are you?’ ‘Sorry. Look, can we do recriminations later? I don’t want to wak

Good point. Correction has been made. Terry would be proud of you Doc.

‘I couldn’t believe it! He just disappeared, the … the bastard!’ ‘Hey! Easy, Henry babe!’ ‘All these years, all the worry, all we meant to each other, and he fucking took off! Not a fucking word!’ ‘Yes, I understand how you feel, but Gavin was always very shy about some things. Maybe the idea of dealing with you was just too much for him, so he ducked out. The kid has got serious worries. He may also have been embarrassed.’ ‘Embarrassed?’ ‘Well, he and Max… Come on, you must

Max Jamroziak mooched around Davey’s luxurious Strelzen apartment which took up the entire top floor of a Victorian block in the Third District, just off Herrengasse. There were three bedrooms, each with a bathroom attached, a dining room and two lounges, but a disconcertingly small kitchen, as Max observed. ‘I always eat out in Strelzen. I’ll give you the rear bedroom. It’s less noisy.’ Max noticed and appreciated the delicacy with which Davey put a quiet end to their sexual relations

‘Leave the fucking Audi!’ Ed yelled. ‘Pile in the back!’ The hire car was already waiting with the engine running. Eddie was at the wheel. The back door was open and Ed all but hurled Davey and Henry in on top of a protesting Phil. Ed turned as if by instinct and his fist connected with their pursuer’s face with bone-splintering force. The demon reeled back momentarily, shook its head and then fell to the ground as it began a rapid transformation. But Ed had now jumped on top of Max in t

That confirms my suspicion about Henry's little speech in Chapter 7, where he quotes Adso de Montier-en-Der from his Liber de Antichristo (a real dude and a real book). He 'foretold' the overcoming of Enoch and Elijah at the Eschaton. It was too dense in the way I wrote it, and readers just zipped past it. Ah well. By the time you get to the end, you'll see that there are 'reasons' why the pair must perish, and it's in the way they eventually do perish. It's a rule in my stories that everyone gets happy endings, in whatever sense you interpret it, except the bad guys. The Icon perishes too, but it's no longer needed ...

Max Jamroziak took a few seconds to realise he was no longer in Fairview and was alone. He had been heading for the door of the lounge with the others, there had been a moment’s internal queasiness, then suddenly just this dimness, as if someone had turned down the contrast button on reality. ‘Hullo!’ he called out. When he heard his voice echo back at him, the fear took him. Had the bishop or that demon-being found and abducted him? Then he remembered Elijah had told him the bishop had no

‘I feel like Scrooge with the Ghost of Christmas Past.’ ‘Sorry?’ The seraph looked puzzled. ‘You know, Dickens. When Scrooge was taken from scene to scene of his past life. Obviously English literature was not included in your background.’ ‘Obviously not. You’re making a metaphorical comment on your experiences?’ Henry sighed. ‘Something like that.’ He looked out on the mountainscape before them. With afternoon passing towards evening, he was feeling very cold indeed. His tee