Dare Quest - Sherlock Holmes Page 5

  Sherlock Holmes shook his head in disgust. “Why didn’t you simply hire normal workers? There are so many coal mines in this country. All their owners make a profit, they’re all rich. But you were too greedy to do that. You had to force children into slavery just so you could earn more money. You didn’t murder your cousin to keep you from ruin, you murdered him because you are greedy. You deserve no pity.”

  At that moment Inspector Lestrade arrived with several officers.

  They arrested Arthur Mottershead who was charged with a number of serious crimes the worst of which were kidnapping, slavery and murder. His accomplice, Mr. Hyde, and several others were also charged and found guilty.

  Several months later Arthur Mottershead walked his last steps on this Earth. He entered a small room with a wooden floor. The executioner first put a black hood over his head and then a noose. He tightened the noose around the neck and left the room. Seconds later a trapdoor under Arthur Mottershead opened and he died.

  And what of Sir Cecil Mottershead? Had he not derived his wealth from the children his cousin had so cruelly enslaved? Had he not taken the riches for many years without ever wondering where they had come from? And was he not to some extent guilty, too?

  In the afterlife the Gods considered all this and came to one conclusion: Sir Cecil had been naïve, but not criminal. And most importantly, when he had discovered the truth he was willing to risk not only his family fortune but also his life by going to the police to save the children. They allowed Sir Cecil to go to Heaven, or as he called it, the Elysian Fields. On his way up he briefly encountered his cousin Arthur who was on his way to the darkest and most terrifying place in the underworld. Sir Cecil shook his head in sadness.

  At 221B Baker Street Edward and Anthony were sitting with Sherlock Holmes when they got the message about the execution of Arthur Mottershead.

  “Well,” Holmes said, “Sir Cecil is avenged.

  Suddenly stars whirled around the boys. Sherlock Holmes watched fascinated as they vanished into thin air back to their own time.

  Here’s a sneak preview of Edward and Anthony’s next exciting adventure!

  The Man from the Ice

  When Edward belittles the holiday adventures of his classmate he is given a Dare to do the weirdest thing ever. Edward and his brother are flung to a distant icy land where a strange and terrifying mystery awaits them. Can they save a small outpost of civilization and, indeed, the entire world from ruin?

  Can YOU survive the Dare Quest challenge?

  … It was a strange place.

  “I don’t like this place,” Anthony said. “There are almost no plants anywhere.”

  “And no animals,” Edward said. “It’s so quiet.”

  The two boys listened. Edward was right. It wasn’t just quiet. It was eerily silent. Apart from the wind blowing past their ears they couldn’t hear anything. Not a single bird or even a buzzing insect. There was nothing.

  “What a weird place,” Anthony said. “It’s like something from a billion years ago when the Earth was empty.”

  “I hope not,” Edward said.

  The thought of being in some antediluvian period of the Earth’s history was disturbing.

  “Where shall we go?” Anthony asked.

  Edward thought for a moment. “Let’s follow the river. Sooner or later it’ll lead us to a lake or the sea. There’s nothing to eat here, so the sooner we move on the better…

  ISBN-10: 1508654972

  Meet the author

  www.briansmith.de