The Guardian of the Gate

by Blackburn, Richard

• ISBN13: 9781897370810
• ISBN10: 1897370814
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-13
• Publisher: Lachesis Pub

Summary

Watching the sun rise on the midsummer solstice at Stonehenge, Jenny's holiday takes a terrifying turn when a chance combination of time, location and ancient Druid magic sweeps her back to the year 1347. The ancient Guardian of the Gate, who should have prevented this, intends to hide Jenny in the safety of her cave until the next time warp, but fate is against them. Jenny has to live in the squalid conditions of a peasant village but is soon on the run after exposing a fraudulent tax collector. Hiding in the forest she saves a Lady from thieves and is taken to live in her castle but she is not much better off there after she uncovers the younger son's murderous plot to depose the old Lord, his father. Matters are made worse by the greed of a powerful neighbour and the evil magician that controls him. After many terrifying encounters, everything depends upon the final battle between the vast army of the Dark Lord of Blackraven Moor and the small force from Glenhaven Castle. Can Jenny's ingenuity save the day? And more importantly, can it get her back to her own century?

Author Biography

Richard Blackburn was brought up in England on the site of an ancient castle in West Derby, Lancashire - well, actually, on the site of the midden outside the battlements. So you could say he was raised on an old rubbish tip. The village of West Derby was also old, having been important when Liverpool was just a couple of fisherman's huts on the River Mersey. It had a court house built in the time of Elizabeth the First and stocks to punish the guilty. So history was all around in the author's youth.Richard emigrated to Australia at the age of twenty. He worked at first as a bookkeeper on a cattle station to the north of the Simpson Dessert then moved to Darwin and worked as an internal auditor in the Health Department, travelling extensively around the Northern Territory. It was here he took up parachuting.Finding the 'Top End' lacking in challenge, he moved on to Papua New Guinea where he worked for thirteen years among the people, as a Patrol Officer and raising to the position of District Officer. This involved being a police officer, magistrate and senior Australian Government representative in his area. During this time Richard travelled extensively in Europe.Since returning to Australia, Richard has gained an Associate Diploma in Management, an Advanced Diploma in Administration and a degree in Information Technology, and has worked for a number of Government Departments. He has completed two TAFE short courses in creative writing to make sure his creativity was not crushed completely by many years of writing in the public service. His interests outside work are now restricted to his family and scuba diving. He had to give up parachuting and long-distance running due to a back injury and now has to be content to leave the real excitement to characters in his stories.