The Awakening of Billy Bonkel

By Anthony Joyce

Meet Billy Bonkel, a very ordinary, even boring, little boy who’s never had an adventure in his life. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, he finds himself in a parallel world where he is faced with amazing adventures and challenged to be a hero.
Does he rise to the challenge? Read and enjoy this first adventure of Billy written by an exciting new talent, a born storyteller, Anthony Joyce.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Imprimata Publishers
• Release date: Oct 22, 2009
• ISBN: 9781906192402

Anthony Joyce

Anthony Joyce is a successful chartered surveyor in the City of London. This is his first of a series of 6 books he has written about Billy Bonkel.

Book preview

THE AWAKENING OF

BILLY BONKEL

Anthony Joyce

Published by Imprimata Publishers

Copyright © Anthony Joyce 2006

Anthony Joyce has asserted his right under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic mechanical or otherwise and whether invented now or subsequently) without the prior written permission of the publisher or be otherwise circulated in any form, other than that in which it is published, without a similar including this condition being imposed on any subsequent publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil action.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Imprimata Publishers Limited

50 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BD.

I would like to dedicate this book to my daughter Harriet and her love of the bedtime stories I used to tell her and for my wife Polly who persuaded me to write them down. Thanks also for the encouragement I have had from my son Alex and so many good friends, but especially Lucy Burns for reading my first novel at the age of 8, enjoying it and persuading me to keep writing. - A.J.

Contents

Prologue

Part One: The Mystery of Zar

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Part Two: The Cave of Dreams

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part Three: The Labyrinth

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Part Four: Canine Calling

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part Five: Waterspout Park

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Part Six: The Island of Boats

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Part Seven: The Violet Door

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Prologue

"Can it be true that our fate is decided before we are born? Or can a series of random unrelated events, happening one after another, change our future forever?

Isn’t it possible then that an ordinary little boy can be tossed, by design or by chance, into a parallel world where he rises to impossible challenges and becomes a champion…?

Part One

THE MYSTERY OF ZAR

Chapter 1

Billy Bonkel was an unhappy boy, because nothing exciting ever happened to him. But his greatest problem - which was rare in boys of his age - was that he totally lacked imagination. Most children, especially children like Billy who spend a good deal of time on their own, would make up an imaginary friend or pretend to be someone great, someone special, a pirate, a spaceman or a secret detective. Not so with Billy Bonkel; Billy was just Billy - bored Billy, boring Billy, unhappy Billy.

Another problem for Billy was that he didn’t have any friends. This was partly because his family were farmers who lived in a farmhouse miles away from anyone else and partly because he found playing with other children far too boring. It was always ‘Let’s pretend this and let’s pretend that,’ and Billy could not see the point of this at all.

Little did Billy know it, but things were about to change dramatically. On a fine sunny day in May when he was walking alone through the woods to the north of Bonkel Farm, minding his own business, it suddenly happened! A multicoloured light shone through the trees directly in front of him, making him trip over a yew tree root and fall headlong into a hollow on the other side. He rolled over and over until he finally came to a stop by bumping his head on a large round stone. All went dark.

The next thing that Billy knew was that he was spinning round and round, as if he was being sucked into the very centre of the earth. If he had possessed any sort of imagination he might have thought of something more interesting, like being close to the eye of a tornado. As it was, all Billy wondered was whether he was dreaming or not.

Even after he stopped, the world around him continued to turn, quickly at first but eventually slowing. It was pitch black everywhere except for the stars high up in the sky, which after an intolerably long period finally came to rest. As Billy lay there, feeling very groggy, his eyes slowly became accustomed to his new surroundings. First he saw what appeared to be a high cliff-face only a few meters in front of him. Seconds later he was able to see sufficiently well to reveal that he was at the bottom of a wide, deep pit with steep walls.

High above him, Billy thought he could just make out the entrance to a cave out of which came a dim crimson glow. Above it, he thought there might be the entrance to a second cave and yet another above that. In fact, he counted seven caves in all, each with a different coloured light glowing from it.

This was all very odd. Billy, who had never had anything unusual or exciting happen to him, now had more than his fair share of excitement and was terrified. He was, however, also curious and his mind was suddenly working overtime. ‘What had happened? Where was he? Was this a dream? What might be in the caves? Could he get to the top and did he really want to get to the top? What if he fell and even if he didn’t, what might he find up there? Was he in danger? When would he wake up?

In a disorientated state, Billy followed his instincts. Scrambling to his feet, he dusted himself down, carefully checked for broken bones (there were none) and cautiously made his way towards the side of the pit. The walls were warm and firm without being rock-hard. Opening his Swiss Army Knife carefully, he laboriously carved out hand- and foot-holds which allowed him to climb slowly up the wall to a narrow ledge leading to the first cave.

As quietly as he could, Billy Bonkel edged his way forward to the mouth of the cave and peered inside. The strange, subdued red glow came from somewhere deep inside. He swallowed hard and mustered his courage. He entered the cave very slowly; all the time ready to run for all he was worth at the slightest threat. He was surprised at how much he could see, considering there was so little light in there, but then everything here was strange. Billy felt a bit like a nocturnal forest animal that only comes out at night under the cover of darkness.

Billy now realised that the cave went further than he had originally thought. He could see the dim red light shining out from a low tunnel a little to his left. As he stepped forward to get a better look, he almost tumbled into an open well in the centre of the cave floor. He threw himself sideways just in time but as he did so he accidentally dropped his Swiss Army Knife into the depths of the black well. It seemed ages before he heard a faint, distant splash of water. Several seconds later, a horrid acrid stench wafted up from the depths.

This near accident unnerved Billy. He started to shiver but whether from cold or fear, he did not know. With a faint sigh he glanced towards the back of the tunnel and found himself once again mesmerised by the red light, which seemed to become brighter and more beautiful the longer he looked at it. The feeling was intoxicating, so much so that he soon forgot the dangers that might be lurking in the darkness beyond. Catching his knuckle on a sharp piece of grit brought him to his senses and, pulling himself together, he vowed to stay alert and not allow the light to overcome him again. Crawling on his hands and knees past the rim of the black hole, he entered a low tunnel.

Billy was small for his age, yet he only just managed to squeeze through the first few metres of the tunnel. But it soon opened out and led to a larger chamber at the other end. Here the air was fresher and he could see more clearly. At this point Billy became desperate to wake up out of this peculiar dream. It had gone on for long enough and he was feeling frightened. Pinching himself he found it hurt which confirmed, unfortunately, that this was not a dream. So what now? He had no choice but to go on and investigate the cave further.

The inner cave was completely empty except for a small stone slab in one corner upon which lay two crystals. It was these crystals that were giving off the strange red light.

Chapter 2

Examining them more closely, Billy found that the crystals differed in size and shape. One was highly polished, small, symmetrical and very bright; the other was twice the size of the first, with sharp jagged edges like the teeth on a rough saw, but it had a finely cut smooth hole through its middle. Billy picked up this larger crystal to look at it more closely and as he did this, its light dimmed and finally went out casting him into complete darkness. Panicking a little he put it down and was relieved to see it glow again. He then picked up the smaller crystal and this time room went dark immediately. Once again he put it down and the glowing re-started. But when the room had been in complete darkness Billy thought that he had seen something very faintly on one of the walls. Examining the wall carefully, he found a hole glowing with the faintest red light. . Seeing that the hole and the small crystal were similar in shape, Billy pushed the small crystal into the hole. To his horror, the entire side of the cave opened up before him, to reveal a secret chamber.

Billy picked up the larger jagged crystal and slipped it into his pocket thinking it would be useful later. He then walked into the chamber. But as he did so, the cave door slammed shut behind him and disappeared leaving no way out. The chamber was dark and gloomy but, as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he noted that the walls were lined with rows of tall glass cylinders, lashed together with a sort of green webbing.

Billy cautiously inspected the first cylinder and jumped back when he saw that inside there was a little man, no more than a metre tall, and standing as still as a Zombie. Billy shuffled along and looked inside at the other cylinders. In the second cylinder was a woman, slightly smaller than the man. In the third cylinder was a little boy and girl locked together in a frozen embrace. All were equally still. There were many other cylinders in the chamber, all with little people inside them, all motionless, as if they were carved from stone.

Instinctively Billy reached for his Swiss Army Knife, only to remember that it had fallen into the horrible smelly pit outside. Instead, he tried hacking away at the webbing using the sharp edges of the crystal, but the webbing was too tough. Disheartened, he crumpled to his knees and leant back against the wall. Tiredness overcame him and he fell into a fitful sleep. Whilst he slept Billy had a most unusual and vivid dream.

He saw the children in the cylinder running in and out of a house that had been built into the side of a volcano. The volcano was clearly dormant for its surface was completely covered in moss and the smoke he saw drifting from its top came from a cosy fireplace. The children had happy smiling faces; there was a great deal of joy, laughter and singing. His dream then changed. The man from the cylinder turned his sad face slowly to Billy and pleaded: ‘Release us Billy; use the key. Release us