English, Charlotte E. - Malykant Mysteries Compendium (Books 1-4) by English Charlotte E

Author:English, Charlotte E. [English, Charlotte E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ghosts, murder mystery, supernatural, dark fantasy, fantasy mystery
Publisher: Charlotte E. English
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

He tried to put the matter out of his thoughts. After all, it wasn’t unreasonable that Nanda was scared of him: everyone feared the Malykant. That was the whole point. But Nanda?

Dazed, he found himself standing outside the grand arena. He wandered in, his thoughts circling dizzily. Maybe he was just a crazed killer. There were some who’d argued that for years: that the Malykant was no better than his targets, except that his predations were licensed and sponsored. Was that true? In his confused state, it was hard for him to feel any conviction one way or the other.

Maybe it was true. Maybe they were all right about him, Nanda included.

A vibrant circus display was in progress inside the arena, watched by a large audience. Colours flashed before Konrad’s eyes as he found a spare seat, and he gazed with numb attention at the spectacle, trusting to its novelty to distract him from his own thoughts. Exotic animals were in the ring with their handlers, going through a series of performances that didn’t interest him much. Traditional stuff, this; crowd-pleasing, but not what Myrrolen’s Circus was really famous for.

His attention wandered to a pair of tight-rope walkers balancing high above the arena, one small step away from probable death. That interested him more. A fair reflection of his mental state, yes: a precarious balancing act between remaining Konrad Savast, generally upstanding citizen of Ekamet, and the public perception of the Malykant as a sponsored serial killer.

You really are miserable to be around lately, Ootapi hissed in his thoughts. What’s the matter with you?

I am alone in the world and my life is full of horrors, Konrad thought back. Is that enough?

He felt Ootapi twitch, a sort of mental spasm crossed with a shrug. Of course, said the serpent. Maybe you wouldn’t be alone if you were not so... the snake paused to think. Depressing, he finished.

Konrad thought about that. The serpents were leaving him too, of course, and for precisely that reason; but it had been Nanda’s loss that had begun the process. Of course I’m depressing, he replied, too weary to snap. I’m the Malykant. Can you think of a more depressing job?

You managed it better, once.

That was before.

The serpent said nothing else.

Konrad went back to watching the show, keeping his mind carefully blank as the performers cycled through their colourful routines. Soon, something began to change. The bright lights in the tent slowly dimmed as lanterns were extinguished; the arena went dark. Then the lamps began to come back on, but this time they threw coloured light across the stage: ghostly shades of green and blue, a haze of purple, a sinister flash of red. Konrad sat up. Night had fallen outside, and now came the interesting part.

The previous performers had departed, taking their animals with them, and the arena stood empty. Fog rolled in, obscuring the floor, and the ghostly coloured lights drifted up into the air. They hovered there for some moments, growing fainter in the fog, and then they began to dance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.