Satan’s Game

By John C Liddle

People may tell you they know full well what the word 'Satan' conjures up in their minds.

Well, think again ...

Bill is your average easy-going Aussie bloke. He's out for the weekend, enjoying the Australian bush, when he happens upon an unusual cave. There, something catches his eye-a small stone that reflects light in a beautiful kaleidoscope of colours-and he decides to take it home as a souvenir. I mean, come on. What harm could it do? Bill soon discovers though that he has inadvertently stolen the property of the dark lord Satan himself, and Satan will go to any means, fair or foul, for the return of his missing property.

Satan's Game unleashes a wild and relentless search to uncover the significance of the stone across many countries and cultures as Bill tries to find a way to save himself and his family. But Satan does what Satan always does best, relentlessly toying with Bill and playing his evil game, taunting the hapless Bill to the very bitter end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John C Liddle
• Release date: Nov 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781922854513

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Stone

Bill is an Aussie bloke who loves the outdoors. He is by no means a bushman but considers himself quite at home camping, hiking, or exploring the countryside. To be honest, you possibly may think that Bill is your typical stereotype Aussie bloke. You know the type. Twenty years old, six feet tall, with blue eyes, wavy blond hair, and a suntan that covers everything but the bikini line. Well, not so. Bill is pushing forty, just five feet eight tall with a balding spot on the back of his head that he covers with the old comb-over trick. He is also developing a slight paunch, which his girlfriend Pauline refers to as his ‘cuddle spot.’

It was on one of his weekend trips that he came across a large cave. He had hiked and camped in the area on a number of occasions but, for some unknown reason, he had never come across the cave, and this started him wondering. Now, before we go getting too far ahead, it should be explained that Bill has a couple of small faults, one of which is an intense dislike of the unknown, and it was for this reason that he decided to investigate the cave. On one hand, it may be just another cave, or it may contain Aboriginal drawings or artifacts. It might even be of importance as an historic Aboriginal site.

It was Bill’s habit that he always carried gear that he considered essential on these excursions, and one such item was a ball of strong twine. One end could be secured to a static object such as a tree or rock if he wanted to explore an area that he was unsure of, and he could retrace the twine if he became lost or disoriented. So, he secured one end to a large rock at the entrance to the cave and then removed a torch from his backpack before cautiously entering the dark, musty gloom to look around. Bill is not a nervous person by nature, but for some reason, the cave made him very uneasy. An unnerving chill went through his body like an icy wind, and he shuddered involuntarily as he took the first few tentative steps. He also felt an eerie sensation that he was being watched. It was not the sort of feeling you may experience when being watched by humans, but more like the eerie sensation that some alien form or sinister being was about to pounce from beyond the dark eerie gloom and throttle the living daylights out of you. The sensation caused Bill to start sweating as he probed deeper into the cave.

He had been walking for about ten minutes and was paying more attention to the cave walls and roof, and that’s why he lost his balance when he stepped on a small rock. He stumbled awkwardly and, of course, dropped the torch when he fell. Which, as we are all too familiar with in such situations, caused the torch to go out and pitch the cave into complete darkness.

Bill then placed a foot on the ball of string so that it wasn’t lost and delved into his pocket for a box of matches. A fleeting glimpse of movement caught his attention as the cavern was temporarily lit by the flare of the match, and his eyes probed the darkness until the match burned his fingers. He didn’t see what had moved and located the torch when he struck another match. He scooped it up and, as in most cases, he got it working again by a few customary slaps in the palm of his hand. The light pierced the inky darkness as he looked around to see what had caught his attention, with his eyes following the torch beam like an eagle. But all he saw were the eerie shadows of the dust-covered rocks and the walls of the cave. There didn’t seem to be any cause for alarm, so Bill retrieved the twine and pressed on deeper into the cavern. He had been walking for about another five minutes when he shivered slightly and noticed that the air current was much colder and stronger than at the cave entrance.

He panned his torch around as he walked and saw fresh bat droppings on the floor but no bats. Bill thought to himself that this was very strange, as it was only eleven-thirty in the morning and the bats should have been hanging from the roof asleep. He continued on until the sound of running water somewhere ahead reminded him of a babbling brook trickling over the stones where his father had often taken Bill fishing when he was a very young boy. The sound made Bill feel thirsty as he neared the stream, and he wondered if the water would be as cool and refreshing as the water where he had gone fishing with his dad.

The riverbank was solid rock, so Bill stepped up to the edge and casually aimed his torch into the stream. The water was so clear that the beam easily picked out the multi-coloured stones on the streambed, like the pebbles on the bottom of a huge fish tank. He stooped down, scooped up a handful of the cool liquid, and splashed it over his face and hair. It seemed to tingle as it soaked through his shirt, ran down his back, and mingled with his sweat. He then watched as the ripples on the water’s surface receded all the way to the cave walls.

The feeling of being watched returned again, and the hackles on the back of his neck stood erect like a porcupine’s quills. He got to his feet in one brisk action, but there was no movement. Not even a wisp of dust on the cool breeze. The cave was as spooky and still as a graveyard on a pitch-black, moonless night. The crags and cracks in the walls cast eerie shadows when they were lit by the torch beam and seemed to be ordering him to go away because he was an unwelcome intruder.

He turned his attention back to the stream and saw something in the gravel that he hadn’t seen before. A sixth sense told him to leave it alone as he reached out for the object, but Bill’s inquisitive nature once again overruled his mental warning. His arm seemed to bend in the water as it sank deeper and deeper, his hand and fingers feeling strange, as though they were being dragged beneath the water by some unseen force.

The eerie sensation of being watched returned again and caused Bill’s stomach to churn as he looked over his left shoulder and then his right. He saw nothing that might have caused his concern and turned back to the water to retrieve the object, but it was gone. There had been no noise, and there was no indent on the streambed to indicate where it had been. The object had mysteriously disappeared.

To hell with this place. I know when I’m not wanted, Bill said aloud as he got to his feet and began retracing the ball of twine.

He looked over one shoulder and then the other as he cautiously retraced his steps, periodically flashing the torch from side to side as he took in the eerie shadows and rocks until he heard a strange sound. Bill stopped walking and followed the torch beam as he scanned the cave for the source and thought to himself that it sounded slightly like the chanting at an Aboriginal corroboree. Maybe this cave was an indigenous site after all, and he had somehow disturbed its spirits. This idea quickly faded from his thoughts, as the sounds were replaced by humming, which began to get louder and louder, not unlike that of a swarm of angry bees, until it worked up to such a feverish pitch that Bill really began to panic. He was trying to look everywhere at once as he quickened his pace. The rocks to his left and right and from the floor to the roof. All at the same time.

He broke into a jog and had only gone about thirty yards when he realised that the noise had ceased. He stopped running and again began to ponder what may have caused the noise, but there was no apparent reason anywhere, and his senses began returning to normal as the initial wave of panic ebbed. He looked for the ball of twine he dropped in his haste to vacate the cave, and that scary feeling took hold once again. He began taking up the tension on the twine, but something didn’t feel right. The twine felt slack, as if it had been untied from the rock at the cave entrance. The noise started again, and that was all it took to get Bill mobile. He started running at full flight, the torch beam picking out bits of the string on the floor as he ran. The noise ceased as quickly as it started, but that only spurred Bill on to run even faster. Had it not been for an outcrop of rock jutting down from the roof, he might have made it to safety unscathed.

Bill was lying on the floor in semi-consciousness when from somewhere in the foggy grey maze of his head came a message that he was in pain. He got to his knees and shook his head to clear the cloud that clogged his mind, and this sent a stabbing spear of pain into his lower back. He reached back carefully to feel the area and felt something wet and sticky in the palm of his hand. It was blood. His blood. Bill shook his head again to clear the last bits of fog as he attempted to work out what had happened and saw something that looked like a dull glaring eye staring unblinkingly from the darkness. Bill’s imagination began to play tricks with his mind, and he thought that the eye may be an Aboriginal spirit or maybe some other evil presence that he had inadvertently disturbed by entering the cave. He found a small rock as he fumbled for the torch, so he hurled it at the thing in the gloom and flinched as fiery pain stabbed at his lower body again. The eye didn’t move one little bit, seemingly unaware and uncaring of the rock that Bill had thrown.

Bill probed his pockets for the matches again and fumbled with them with shaking hands until he eventually struck a light. The cave was partially illuminated by the flare of the match, and Bill could just make out the thing that was glaring at him. He felt like a bloody idiot and was glad that his nervous laughter could only be heard by himself. The mysterious, one-eyed being turned out to be his torch. The batteries were nearly flat, which indicated that he had been unconscious for quite a while. Even the customary smack in the palm of the hand didn’t make the torch shine any brighter. The feeble beam of the torch illuminated the blood on his hand, and he instinctively felt his back again. It was still sticky, and he could feel a small gash under the congealing blood.

There was something on the floor where Bill had been lying. As he shakily got to his feet, it attracted his attention, as it looked somehow familiar. It glittered in the feeble light and projected multi-coloured rays of kaleidoscopic light onto the cave walls and roof like a glass prism. Closer examination revealed it to be the object that had disappeared from the stream, and it was partially coated with his blood. Pins and needles coursed the length of his body as Bill picked it up. The blood on his hand seemed to make it pulsate as if it were alive. The stone held his attention for a short time until his thoughts returned to getting out of the cave. He began to look around again for the string but locating it with a feeble light was no easy task. In fact, Bill was lucky to find it at all.

The humming started again at this point, but Bill stood his ground with the stubborn determination of his ancestors and waited for something else to happen. He felt as though he was challenging the presence in the cave to do its worst. But in truth, he was actually in too much pain to run any further and hoped that nothing else was going to happen. The time seemed to drag on as Bill waited, and to his surprise, the humming noise slowly faded away, leaving the cave in a deafening silence again. There was no sound of running water, or anything else, for that matter, except the pounding of his heart. Bill listened intently for a few moments longer, and that’s when the groans, screams, and wailing started.

You win mate! yelled Bill into the darkness as he turned and started running with renewed strength, his injury all but forgotten.

Bill kept glancing over his shoulder as he ran and saw two yellow lights, like a cat’s eyes, glowing in the darkness and coming after him. They seemed to be getting closer and closer as he ran. Fear gripped Bill at this point, as he realised he wasn’t following the twine anymore and frantically flashed the torch around to find it. He eventually located an end that looked as if it had been cut with a knife, and continued to follow the trail until he found another cut. Then another. And yet another until finally, there was no more twine. Bill quickened his pace to the utmost at that stage and was relieved when he saw daylight a few anxious minutes later. The entrance loomed nearer and nearer as Bill glanced over his shoulder once again and saw that the yellow lights were closing very quickly and were almost upon him.

A blood-curdling scream erupted from the cave at the same instant Bill reached daylight, and it caused him to trip and stumble in fright. He was lucky to keep his footing this time and continued running until he reached the safety of his car. He quickly opened the door and tossed his bag of gear onto the front seat as he climbed in behind the steering wheel. The engine seemed to take forever to start, and Bill slammed his foot down hard on the accelerator when it did. He sped off in a cloud of dust and flying gravel in his haste to get as far away from the cave as possible.

Bill glanced at his kitbag as he sped off and noticed the strange object protruding from under the flap. He couldn’t recall putting it in his bag, but there it was. He began to wonder what it was about the object that made him feel so ill-at-ease with both awe and fear at the same time. He had expectations of the engine not starting or maybe a wheel falling off after all he had witnessed in the cave, but nothing happened until he almost lost control of the car on a sharp bend. This brought Bill back to reality with a sudden jolt. So, he eased off the accelerator and once again found himself looking at the object on the seat beside him when he regained control of the car. The object had changed to a vibrant colour with flickering patches of purple, orange, and blue, similar to a glowing ember in a fire. He put the object to the back of his mind, returned his attention to his driving, and didn’t have any more issues until he arrived home.

Bill noticed a pale blue stretched limousine with unusually coloured number plates parked a short distance up the street as he pulled into his driveway. This was a bit odd, as most of the people in the suburb were just your average everyday workers and not the usual well-to-do people you would normally associate with such a vehicle. Bill put it from his mind as being just one of those things, as he had more pressing needs. His back needed attention.

Bill’s black tail-wagging dog, Dino, greeted him at the door as he usually did and started whimpering when he sensed that his master was injured. Dino got his name from a dinosaur on a kids’ cartoon television show where the man of the house in the cartoon would yell at his pet dinosaur. For some unknown reason, Bill’s pup would sit directly in front of the television when the cartoon came on and bark whenever the dinosaur appeared. He was nicknamed Dino as a joke, and the name stuck.

Pauline Carr was Bill’s female companion. A thirty-two-year-old university student of Irish origin with flaming red hair. Ironically, she didn’t have the temper to match.

She heard the pet whimpering and came out to see what was upsetting him when she noticed Bill’s bloodstained shirt, and her face went pale as chalk. She hurried to his side as Bill opened his mouth to assure the woman that he was okay, but Pauline lightly placed a finger against his lips to silence him. She carefully began lifting his shirt over his head to examine the wound and sighed heavily as she looked closely at the injury. Bill knew then that he had sustained more than a mere flesh wound and turned to face his companion as she removed the last sleeve over his hand and let out a startled cry. She stepped away from her companion and stared at him in a manner that he had never seen before. Her hands were clenched tightly in front of her chest as if she was kneeling in church. Bill sensed that something was wrong because the picture on her face displayed absolute pure terror.

He dropped his gaze from Pauline’s ashen face and looked at the offending object that held her attention. It was once again a strange feeling to be holding something that you don’t remember picking up. The stone was no longer the bright, vibrant colour that it had been in the car. It was now a cold, stone grey. Bill dropped the stone to the floor and quickly moved to his companion, but she deftly eluded his embrace and stared directly into his eyes as her own eyes filled with tears. He asked what was wrong, but Pauline didn’t or couldn’t reply. She just slowly lowered her gaze and stared blankly at the thing on the floor. It was shiny and bright again, like the sunlight bouncing off a pool of water at the seaside.

I want you to get that damn thing out of here. Right now! she ordered in a slow and deliberate voice as she pointed a finger at the stone.

Bill was riveted to the floor, both astounded and mesmerised by the tone of Pauline’s stern voice. He was feeling a little light-headed, possibly from loss of blood, when from somewhere far away, he heard a voice yelling at Pauline to shut up and bring a clean shirt. Then a stinging slap to the face made Bill realise that the voice had been his own. Something inexplicable must have happened to him in the cave because he had never raised his voice or argued with his companion in all the time that they had known each other. He looked at Pauline’s flushed, tear-stained face for what seemed an eternity until their eyes met for a moment and then simultaneously drifted down to the item on the floor. Once again, it had turned a dark grey, as if it was angry. Pauline’s voice penetrated Bill’s numbed brain, and tears flowed down her cheeks like rivers as she begged and pleaded with him to return the stone to wherever he found it.

You have no idea what damage that thing can do. I have witnessed the repercussions it caused when I was a small girl. It is one of Satan’s stones. It’s pure evil. Please take it back, or it will possess you and turn you into a hideous monster. It will make you do Satan’s bidding, and you will roam the earth forever in search of other fools just like yourself.

Bill tried to calm Pauline down and told her to be rational because it was only a piece of rock, but Pauline yelled at him in reply and stated that it wasn’t just a piece of rock. It was one of Satan’s stones. Bill began to lose his temper and told Pauline that she watched too many B-grade movies, and her brain had become addled with the blood and gore that she watched.

Please. Please listen to me. I know you don’t understand what I’m saying, but please listen to me. I am begging you with all my heart to take it back. For both our sakes. I love you dearly, but that stone will destroy that love and possibly me also, Pauline wailed hysterically.

The feeling of being watched flooded over Bill yet again as he stood riveted to the floor, both stunned and confused at Pauline’s uncharacteristic outburst. He spun around, twisting his back in the process and starting a fresh flow of blood. His hand instinctively covered the wound as he crossed the room to the window, but he couldn’t see any cause for the feeling either inside or outside the house. A brief movement in the reflection of the window made Bill shudder and, for a fleeting moment, it appeared as though something hideous was standing beside Pauline. The next instant, it was gone.

His companion let out a soft sigh, and Bill turned back just in time to see her collapse to the floor. He rushed to her side and tried to pick her up, but he felt too light-headed from his injury and became disoriented. The dizziness soon passed, so he hurried to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water and a damp towel to mop Pauline’s forehead. He watched as she slowly stirred to life and then carefully sat up with Bill’s assistance. She then sipped at the refreshing liquid for a moment, only to frighten the hell out of Bill when she gripped his arm very tightly and shrieked.

Did you see it? You must have seen it! You were looking straight at it!

Bill shook his head as he looked into her tear-filled eyes once again and told her that he hadn’t seen anything. The distraught woman then burst into tears again and began trembling as she spoke between sobs.

It’s too late, then. Now I’m cursed, too. Just like my parents.

Seeing Pauline in such a state frightened Bill, but she had also aroused his curiosity, so he asked her to explain. Pauline looked at him with a trance-like stare for a long time before slowly slumping into a lounge chair and began speaking in a slow, almost spooky voice.

"There are things in our universe that mankind is unable to comprehend and should leave alone. Some people have met these things and either died a horribly agonising death or disappeared without a trace or reason. A few naïve people have tried to unravel the mystery of the stones and gone stark raving mad. They commit such vile and unspeakable acts of violence and degradation on others that it defies description. For your safety and mine, please don’t ask any more questions. Just get rid of that damn stone. Now!"

Bill’s curiosity was well and truly aroused, and he ignored Pauline’s request by scooping up the stone and continuing to ask her about it.

I still don’t understand what this has to do with anything. I mean, it’s only a piece of bloody stone. Look at the damn thing! How can it possibly harm you? Here! Look at it! snapped Bill irritably as he thrust the stone at his companion.

Pauline leapt to her feet and ran to the bedroom, screaming and begging Bill to get the stone away from her as she fled. Bill was slightly stunned and wondered how a rational thirty-two-year-old university student could get so hysterical and upset over such a simple thing as a piece of stone. He was crossing the room towards Pauline to comfort her when, without warning, a maniacal scream came from her lips, and she pushed past Bill, forcing him to topple over the coffee table as she ran to the front door.

Bill scrambled to his feet as he heard her car start and reached the front door just in time to see the vehicle roar out the driveway and race off up the street. Only thirty seconds passed before he heard the blood-curdling screech of brakes and the sickening crunch as glass and metal were crushed together. Then came silence as he leaned against the door frame and mentally told himself that this was all just a bad dream, and he would wake at any moment.

Another minute passed before he realised that he wasn’t dreaming and raced down the driveway, his injured back forgotten. He held onto the gatepost for support and shuddered as he looked up the street at the accident and saw something orange that looked vaguely familiar wedged between the first and second set of wheels of a large truck. Bill’s pulse quickened, and a sickening feeling tied a knot in the pit of his stomach when the penny dropped that the orange tangled mess was Pauline’s car.

Bill can’t remember running to the accident or pushing people away from the crushed car. The only thing he remembers is looking at the mangled wreck that was once Pauline’s pride and joy. A pair of hands tried to pull Bill to the side, but he pushed them away and yelled at the person to leave him alone. He couldn’t believe what his eyes saw as he called Pauline’s name over and over again. He even peered through the gaping hole where the windscreen had been, but Pauline wasn’t there.

He began searching frantically and constantly called her name while praying at the same time that she wasn’t seriously injured. He noticed the crowd watching and pointing as he searched but ignored their curious stares and continued searching. He was about to