Daniel Oriel and the Archaeometrist

By Oliver Franklin

The revival has been making waves and someone isn’t pleased! So he decides to pay a visit to the scene of the trouble. Over the holidays people start dying... It turns out that the distinction between science and magic may not be quite as clear as Daniel and his friends thought... And just what is really going on with CERN anyway? Archaeometry... Now there’s a dangerous business! Enter the prayer-walker. A man to whom bringing down strongholds is just another job. Meanwhile Sixth Form is fun! And then there’s trouble for poor Dominick. Yep, he’s in a right mess – and so is Daniel’s nose... Oh dear!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oliver Franklin
• Release date: Dec 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781005866556

Oliver Franklin

You will read some of it in the books...

Book preview

Daniel Oriel

and the Archaeometrist

by Oliver Franklin

Copyright © 2017 Oliver Franklin

The author has asserted his moral rights

First published in 2017 by Buddlewood House

Cover and logo by angwerproductions.co.uk

Typesetting, page design, layout by

DocumentsandManuscripts.com

The right of Oliver Franklin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the copyright, design and patents acts pertaining. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this work may be made without written permission from the author.

This is the sixth book in the Daniel Oriel series.

Note – the occult power represented in this book is real and incredibly dangerous. Indeed the Occultists themselves have no idea what they are messing with. Anyway, you have been warned…

Chapter 1

Attacked

During the summer holidays there were a number of sad and unexpected deaths at St Aldate’s and, from Daniel’s point of view, they were also suspicious. Both Joyce and Basil had passed away and another elderly lady who had campaigned with them outside Dance Academy. Of course, most sixteen-year-olds in his position were concerned with what subjects to take at A Level, and while this was no small consideration, Daniel spent quite a bit of his time concerned with why the most lively folk in church were suddenly dropping like flies…

Admittedly all three of them were elderly and in any large congregation, it would not be unexpected to have to say ‘Goodbye’ to a mature friend every so often. But they had all died in their sleep in the last few weeks and, it was impossible for Daniel to get away from the fact: they were easily the most dynamic people in the church.

Yes, he was worried as he saw powerful allies disappearing around him. The Minister, Reverend Watson was still there; he was alive and well, Kavanagh was still his firm friend and ally, and his brother was now in full-time youth work and looking towards ordained ministry. But these were not quite the same.

Having taken the late Mary Blake’s analogy very seriously and read up on the life of David, Daniel tried matching the other characters in the story to the people around him. There was King Saul whom he reluctantly equated to the Minister, but that might have been a little harsh; Joab, the brutal commander of the army who, in some regard, resembled his brother; Joab’s brother Abishai, who was rather handy in a fight, who clearly typified Kavanagh, and so he went on down the list. In addition to these principal characters David was surrounded by a group of ‘Mighty Men’, which, in Daniel’s estimation, equated to his fellow prayer warriors, and these were the ones he was losing.

He and Kavanagh had talked at length on the subject and, while his friend recognised the deaths as suspicious, Kavanagh did not perceive the calibre of the people dying off – and frankly Daniel didn’t expect him to. Kavanagh was like a spiritual child, looking up at adults and regarding them all as ‘old’, not recognising there is a significant difference between fifty and eighty! For Daniel the trouble was that Reverend Blake was gone, Mary Blake was gone and now Joyce and Basil were gone and, while it was a slightly heady experience, having his brother and Reverend Watson look up to him in some respects, he wanted desperately to confide in another counsellor.

Of course he knew the scripture about the Lord being his Counsellor, but in the absence of parents who could sympathize on this topic, he really wanted another adult on the scene. He had quite a lot on his mind and then to cap it all, on Friday 1st September, he had a rather disturbing dream…

He became aware of a middle-aged man looking at him. Daniel thought he recognised him as a former cult leader he’d read about somewhere. The man was just sitting on a chair, staring at him. Daniel looked into his eyes and soon became aware that the fellow was lusting after him. In no uncertain terms he told him so and, immediately, something demonic manifested behind the man’s eyes. Daniel began to rebuke the thing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but, before he could get the words out, a terrifying beast emerged from the man and jammed it’s claws into his head and chest.

Daniel was pinned to the bed, paralysed. In his dream he was fully conscious and aware of what was happening, but he couldn’t move a muscle. Then, quite suddenly, he became aware of a something in his right hand – and of the ability to move his arm. At once he looked down and saw a flaming sword in his hand. He swung the blade at the creature with all his might and cut off it’s hand, claws and all. The creature screamed and recoiled and, straight afterwards, Daniel woke up…

He was shaking with adrenalin and heaving for breath. The dream had felt so real. After taking a few minutes to gather himself, he reached out and switched on the bedside lamp. A blue-tinged glow briefly dazzled him. He ran his fingers through his hair. Yes, his head really was sore. He then examined his chest by the lamplight. No, he couldn’t see any claw marks, but his heart definitely felt painful.

He turned out the light and lay down again and, shortly after falling asleep, he dreamed another dream…

He became aware of an angel standing over him. The angel laid his hands on his head and heart and Daniel felt healing come into him.

The next time he awoke it was to the sound of Kavanagh banging on the bedroom door in the morning, offering him a cup of tea and a fried breakfast. While his friend had many shortcomings, he had a servant heart underneath and that was a definite treasure.

Daniel felt wholly better, if a little thirsty, and had a perfect recall of both dreams.

‘Come in,’ he called, wondering how and when he ought to tell his friend. With his parents off to work early and Mark in a meeting at St Aldate’s, breakfast seemed to be the obvious time.

Kavanagh’s catering was like his character – good, but needing improvement – and they discussed the dreams in detail that morning as they ate and drank. Kavanagh was inclined to dismiss them as mere dreams but was curious about the fact that Daniel had exhibited actual, physical aftereffects, namely pain. Daniel felt there was more to them than mere dreams but could not imagine what. So they agreed to make a log of the ‘crime’ and leave it in the ‘Inquiries Pending’ folder.

Yes, the crime-fighting fancy still lingered, more on Kavanagh’s side than Daniel’s, but consideration of career was becoming ever more pertinent. Daniel was drifting back towards a musical vocation while his stepbrother still liked the idea of joining Thames Valley Police, if not so assuredly as before.

At any rate, on Monday it would be the first day back at school and they would have to sign up for their A Levels.

Chapter 2

The Joys of Sixth Form!

A surprise or two greeted them in registration with their new Form Tutor, David Umpleby. He was also Head of the Geography Department and so their new form room was devoted to that subject. Furthermore, they would remain with the same tutor and form room for the next two years, which was a change of