Neodymium Exodus by Jen Finelli MD

Author:Jen Finelli, MD [MD, Jen Finelli,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WordFire Press

Cinta

Exposed, strange flesh, with goosebumps that raised no hair—Cinta ran his paws over his shoulders, huddling against the metal corner in naked humiliation and terror. How did he know? How did the blind Bichank know?

Cinta heard a voice in the darkness and could not judge its distance.

The cage was too small for the voice. Cinta could not even lay down or stand up in this cage. The voice could not be here, for it sounded outdoors and open, and this room was metal and dank and closed. He could smell no body, only spilt blood, rust, and the sharp nasal whine of an open medicine cabinet or chemical vat. They did not bode well, these scents; somewhere something dripped, and a chain swung.

The voice sounded like Njande, but smaller, eerie, and cold. Much further away, speaking to someone else, yet with that same quality as if it lived in your ears. Could it be a … ?

It wanted to eat the brain of a Jei Bereens.

Oh yes, it was! Cinta’s ears popped up like soldiers at attention—he tried to pull them down over his face, but he could hear all the same. He didn’t want to hear! He wanted no part of this in his head! No wonder the Bichank knew!

The voice taunted in a sing-song like a playground bully. “You know you’re not the only one who can hear me, right?” it said.

Oh no oh no oh no … it was talking to someone else, but basically winking to Cinta! It knew he could hear! He squealed and drew his claws, his heart thumping against his sternum like a man trying to escape a burning hut—because yes, yes it was true, there was a ba-eater nearby! He’d heard one before, hovering over one of the doctors in a town leagues away from his, and he’d heard tales of the sapients, religions, civilizations they haunted—these were the soul-eating monsters the Stygges claimed Njande was. He did not want to hear this! He closed his eyes and breathed faster—

And soon he could not hear. In the silence the terror died down, leaving only the names he’d overheard. Bricandor. Bereens.

Cinta was left in the darkness only to feel numb.

Numb? He bared his fangs, frustrated with the unnatural calm now inside him. Look at him, fearing only for himself, while somewhere in the building a ba-eater hunted a man’s mind, and Cinta’s very presence brought his sister screams! Cinta deserved to feel the cold, the nakedness, for shaming them both.

But—but he had expected none of this. He was not so important that Commander Diebol should know of him and intercept him. He was to hear rumors of rumors and follow them to a doorway he could shadow-stalk through! He was to fulfill Njande’s rescue mission!

Was he not?

Cinta’s ears sagged down the side of his face, cold and leathery against his muzzle in their bareness.

“I don’t understand,” Cinta muttered.

A conflagration of dark and light shimmered in the opposite corner of the cage like fading smoke.

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.