The Fallen (53 page)

“I do. I mean exactly that.”

“And how exactly does a war on the other side of the world concern America?”

“Because America's going to join it,” said Ethan, deathly pale. “I just know it. America's going to join Britain and France in the war and things will turn far worse than anything that has gone before.”

EPILOGUE

T
HE
V
ATICAN
. V
ATICAN
C
ITY
.

The Priest knocked twice and entered only when he received the invitation to do so. It seemed to him that the chamber beyond had grown even colder since he had visited it earlier that day. A single candle, black, burned on the central table, weak flickering light seeping into the corners of the room. A solitary figure stood in one corner, his back turned to the door.

“Well?” the figure asked.

“It … it failed,” said the Priest.

At once the figure spun on the messenger, skewering him with a piercing stare. “What do you mean ‘it failed'?”

“Wolves,” the Priest replied, his own voice appearing to disbelieve what it was he was saying, before he cleared his throat and said the word again, more clearly this time and with it a name. “Poré.”

The hunched figure's eyes narrowed, the light in them ice-cold. “What about him?”

“He was there. He arrived. With wolves. They killed everyone before the ceremony could be completed.”

The figure in the shadows slowly shut his eyes as if he could not stand to look at the world any longer, turning his head away. “And Tacit?” he asked. “What about him?”

“Dead,” replied the Priest. “He fell, with Georgi, into the gorge. They were swept away by the Soča River. We have dredged it but found no trace of either of them. It's over. It's finished.”

The figure rocked gently where he stood and, for a moment the Priest thought his master was weeping silently. “No,” he said solemnly, grit in his words. “It is only just beginning.” He turned and stepped away towards the window. “His returning is nigh. Born upon a battlefield too terrible to conceive, he will come and tear down all that has gone before. Nothing can stop this from unfurling. We must be ready, and protect him the best we can, even if we are without his lieutenants. Gather around him powerful people and forces of the world. Summon all demons to be his protectors. Make sure witches prepare their most potent incantations.”

He watched the birds through the open window. “His lieutenants' return has been thwarted. It falls then to mortal men alone to protect him and see that he grows into a position of power from where his plans may finally be realised.”

And it seemed to him that there were fewer crows within the square and that there were doves now returning in the dusky sky.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A huge thank you to all my friends and family who have supported and encouraged me throughout the writing of
The Fallen
. The demands of writing a novel, and the sacrifices you and those close to you have to make, are considerable. I would have struggled to achieve what I have without their unwavering belief and motivation.

I have been so touched by how many people have got behind both me and the books of The Darkest Hand trilogy. Heartfelt thanks to Claire Eastham, everyone in Farley (particularly the Thursday night drinkers), Waterstones Salisbury (especially Jo and Leonie), the Salisbury Writing Circle, Tom Bromley, Russell Mardell, Dave Key, Paul Malone, Joy and Andrew Bailey for the use of their ‘cliff top writing cell' and fellow Duckworth housemate Ed Davey.

Once again, my agent Ben Clark at LAW has supported and guided me with endless wisdom and grace. If you knew just a little of what I put him through, you'd be in awe of him. I am lucky to have him and LAW on my side.

Big thanks goes to my fantastic, and ever patient, editor at Duckworth, Nikki Griffiths. Inquisitor Poldek Tacit has never been the easiest of individuals to keep under control and yet she seems to have expertly and effortlessly found a way. The whole team at Duckworth Overlook deserve a mention for the support and encouragement they've given me from the start. They, and Overlook Press, my American publisher, are wonderful publishing houses and I'm proud to be part of them.

Finally, many thanks to both Jon Phillips at Muen and Paul Clifton Photography for proving a sow's ear can make a silk purse.

NOTES

There has been woefully little written about the Italian Front during the First World War. This third, seemingly forgotten, front of the conflict, fought in some of the most extreme of conditions and costing almost one and half million men, has always stood in the shadow of the desperate horrors of the Western Front and the inconceivable destruction of the Eastern Front. For Italian soldiers to have wished for nothing more than to be transported to the flooded killing fields of the Somme rather than face an enemy on a brittle inhospitable shard of rock gives you some idea of what those poor men must have experienced.

Thank goodness for Mark Thompson's
The White War
, both eloquently written and passionate in its details. It was the bedrock upon which I began my research for this novel. H.P. Willmott's
World War I
proved an invaluable and accessible book regarding maps and visual references for weapons and uniforms. Also, Peter Hart's
The Great War
was, once again, a reliable and solid reference tome for the war as a whole.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tarn Richardson was brought up a fan of Tolkien, in a remote house, rumoured to be haunted, near Taunton, Somerset. He has worked as a copywriter, written mystery murder dinner party games and worked in digital media for nearly twenty years. He is the author of
The Darkest Hand
series, comprised of
The Damned, The Fallen, The Risen
, and free eBook prequel
The Hunted
. He lives near Salisbury with his wife and two sons.

ALSO BY TARN RICHARDSON

The Hunted

The Fallen

The Risen

ALSO BY TARN RICHARDSON

THE HUNTED

Discover the free eBook sequel to THE DAMNED

In the bustling streets of Sarajevo in June 1914, the dead body of a priest lies, head shattered by the impact of a fall from a building high above. As the city prepares for the arrival of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, grim-faced inquisitor Poldek Tacit is faced not only with the challenge of discovering why the priest has been killed but also confronting other menaces: the demon rumoured to be at large in the city and the conspirators of the Black Hand organisation who plan to assassinate the Archduke.

With terrible danger only ever one step away and his private demons silenced only by strong drink,
The Hunted
introduces us to the damaged soul that is the unorthodox Catholic inquisitor Poldek Tacit. It is a world both like and unlike our own, where evil assumes many horrific forms, from werewolves to the slaughter of the trenches and where the threat to humanity–and to love–is ever constant.

NOW AVAILABLE AS A FREE EBOOK

ALSO BY TARN RICHARDSON

THE DAMNED

1914. The outbreak of war.

In the French city of Arras, a priest is brutally murdered. The Catholic Inquisition sends its most determined and unhinged of Inquisitors, Poldek Tacit, to investigate.

On the French battlefield, armed forces, led by Britain and Germany, must confront each other. But a mutual foe more terrible than any solider can imagine lies waiting beneath the killing fields; waiting for the light of the moon for the slaughter to begin.

Faced with impossible odds and his own demons, Tacit must confront the forces of evil, and a church determined at all costs to achieve its aims, to reach the heart of a dark conspiracy that seeks to engulf the world and plunge it ever deeper into conflict.

Set in an alternative twentieth century, in a world overwhelmed by total war and mysterious dark forces,
The Damned
is the first gripping instalment in
The Darkest Hand
series.

‘A kind of three-way mash-up of horror fiction, war novel and ecclesiastical thriller…. it works surprisingly well.'
Daily Mail

‘A sublime work of dark fiction meets mystery, meets horror… It is fast paced, atmospheric, it blends genres with ease and it keeps you hooked throughout.'
Intravenous Magazine

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WORLD WAR Z

MAX BROOKS

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality.

Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the ten-year fight-back against the horde,
World War Z
brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation.

‘An absolute must have… Brooks infuses his writing with such precise detail and authenticity, one wonders if he knows something we don't.'
Simon Pegg

‘Max Brooks really is the godfather of all the zombie stories'
The Sun

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