Call of Destiny by P R Adams

Author:P R Adams [Adams, P R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Promethean Tales

28

After a week, the gentle hills gave way to flatlands broken up by inexplicable outcrops, gulches, and escarpments all of the same black stone. Riyun couldn’t make sense of the topography. There were no rivers to explain the cuts through otherwise level land, and there were no consistent signs of seismic activity to explain the other odd features. Rock formations just randomly appeared to have occurred, and more sensible formations that should have been there apparently never formed. Tarlayn wasn’t surprised by the inconsistencies. In fact, the way she kept glancing toward him, and the team made it seem as if she were gauging their reactions to what they saw.

But it wasn’t just the strange topographical features that made the place feel wrong. The deeper in they marched, the stranger the sunlight behaved. It was late afternoon, but the shadows were as stunted as midday. Winds spun up suddenly, then died just as quickly. There was no consistency to where they came from—one moment from the north, the next from the west, and then they might just burst from the south.

Odd smells accompanied each change, but the worst originated from the direction they were headed—this Chaos Abyss. It was like being downwind of a charnel house. Even when the wind changed direction, the stench lingered, clinging to clothes and leaving a rotten taste at the back of the throat.

And then there was the howling.

Javika scowled as the noise rose up again. “Like babies—tortured and miserable babies.”

It was a pretty good description of the sound. Riyun nodded toward what looked like a butte. “From behind that.”

“Always the same—from a shallow gulley or behind a thick boulder. But there is never anything there.”

“Don’t let it get into your head, but don’t let it lower your defenses either.”

“I always assume the threat is real.”

And with that, the Biwali warrior returned to her scouting. Her dark purple armor shifted to night-black as she jogged away. Slender, long—she was a perfect fit for the blasted land. There was no grass, no brush or trees. No animals moved over the broken surface.

But she could be mistaken for a long shadow, yet another pillar of midnight stone.

Out in the open as he was, Riyun felt exposed and vulnerable, and it left him itching for the relative safety of the temple ruins that were now days behind them. They hadn’t seen dragons—or anything else—for some time, but in the cracked and barren land, there would be no hiding should a threat descend from the sky. It was a tactical nightmare.

He hustled over to Lonar, who now carried his full complement of gear. There was no indication the heavy weapons expert had ever been close to death.

Riyun slowed. “How’s it going?”

The big man smiled. “Never felt better.”

“Better than belly-crawling through tall grass or hoofing it through the jungle?”

“Nothing to hide us on the move, but plenty to get behind in a firefight.”

“I’m not sure we have to worry about a firefight here.” Riyun scanned the strange landscape. It had

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