Stranger Than Fiction by Scott Colby

Author:Scott Colby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Outland Entertainment
Published: 2021-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

— CHAPTER THIRTEEN —

Samantha glanced side to side at the chunky old warehouses lining the road and sighed. “This isn’t the way we came, so it’s probably not the way back home.”

“You’re right,” Hirace replied.

“Elaborate, please.”

“You told Aubin you’d like to be introduced to some fun things to do in Evitankari. I figured I’d help you do that so you don’t have to subject yourself to that douchebag.”

The last thing Sam needed was a bodyguard jealous of her feigned interest in a boy who was obviously just stringing her along at his father’s behest. She was sort of offended that Hirace seemed to think she was dumb enough to fall for Aubin’s act. Maybe she’d played the part of the naïve, starstruck girl too well. “I’m not actually into Aubin, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” he replied just awkwardly enough to imply he didn’t believe it. “I’m worried that you’re not actually into Evitankari. This place is likely to be your home for a while. You should get to know the city and its people better, try to find a few things about it you enjoy.”

That wasn’t the worst idea. Sam knew she couldn’t spend her entire life hiding inside her wonderful new home, reading reports and studying history and daydreaming about a return to the human world. Her job as Chief of Staff had gotten her out and about quite often, but those experiences were all colored through the lens of work. She needed places to hang out, things to do, and friends to spend time with. Hirace could help with all that. Although Sam didn’t particularly enjoy his company and she was worried about leading him on, at least she knew she could trust him.

At that moment, however, there was a rather large reason to ask for a raincheck. “I really, really need to talk to Driff about Balacath,” she said.

Hirace’s eyes flicked upward for a moment. The Gadukah didn’t need to do anything other than think to access the telepathic network linking them all together, but each of them had a little tic they deployed when they wanted others around them to know they were using it. “Commander Rynes will contact the Council of Intelligence and ask him to meet us at our destination.”

“Fine. Where are we going?”

“To the Scar.”

“Capital S?”

“It is important enough to our history that it’s become a proper noun, yes.”

The cobblestones ended, replaced by a well-worn dirt path winding up into a row of brown, barren hills. Here and there hearty tufts of defiant grass popped up from the hard ground. A few bent, skeletal trees shorter than Samantha clung desperately to life like men on the brink of dehydration.

“This doesn’t look like the direction to fun,” Sam said.

Hirace nodded. “Trust me, it’s out there. The organizers like the juxtaposition. When Axzar was defeated by the first Pintiri, the vast majority of his demon horde fled—save for a few thousand under the command of the Devourer’s most brutal general, Prytoris. That host spent six months harassing Evitankari from a camp in what became the Scar before they were finally rooted out.

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