Map Of Shadows (Mapwalkers Book 1) by J.F. Penn

Author:J.F. Penn [Penn, J.F.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Curl Up Press
Published: 2017-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

12

Sienna tripped on a pile of rubble, cursing her clumsiness as she tried to catch up with the rangy Borderlander. Finn put his arm out to stop her falling, and she smiled up at him. "You said we were going to the Tophet. What is that?"

Finn's face darkened. "It's not something I would want you to see, but it's the only way to get to the relics." He met her eyes, and she saw anger there. "The gods pushed into the Borderlands demand blood, and the darkest rituals you Earth-siders banished now exist here. Chaos suits a certain type of person. Unfortunately one of those people is my father."

They walked out of the city, and the broken buildings soon gave way to the edge of a desert. The stars were high in the sky, and as Sienna looked up, she didn't recognize the constellations. It was a completely different view, as if the sky were inverted somehow. Finn led the way and as people passed on the road, many nodded at him, dipping their heads in respect.

Mila came back to walk beside Sienna. "Finn walks a fine line. Not for us, but for his people. He has respect as the son of his father, one of the most powerful warlords and certainly the most bloody. But now he works with the Resistance."

The sound of chanting came on a hot wind, a low rumble of voices repeating the name of a long-dead god.

They reached a sacred precinct, a circular area ringed with stones, topped with tiny skulls. At first, Sienna thought they might be animal bones. Some were so tiny that she could curl her fist around them. But as she looked closer, she realized they were babies and young children. A sense of foreboding filled her as they walked on.

In the center of the precinct, a crowd of people knelt in front of a large stone altar in the shape of the hungry god Moloch. His mouth was open to devour the sacrifice, and he held a basin of fire in his outstretched arms. The rhythmic chanting of the crowd grew stronger as a huge man walked forward, holding the wrist of a child of around four years old wearing a smiling mask.

"The mask hides their tears from the god," Mila said, her voice low.

The man dragged the child forward, and Sienna watched in rising horror, but they could do nothing as the place was surrounded by the warlord's men. They beat drums either side of the god to accompany the chants of the crowd.

"Why do the people allow this?" She looked up at Finn, shaking her head.

"They ask Moloch to grant them more than this life," he said. "They ask the god to break down the border. If you were trapped here in this hell, ruled by this tyrant, wouldn't you want that too? Besides, human sacrifice is a legacy from your Earth-side. Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his own son, and in Homer's Iliad, King Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia for fair winds.

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