The Red Horn: An Epic Fantasy Steampunk Cthulu Space Opera (The Red Horn Saga Book 4) by J.R. Mabry & Mickey Asteriou

Author:J.R. Mabry & Mickey Asteriou [Mabry, J.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Xenophile Press
Published: 2020-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

Yes, the creek ran right through the middle of her town, but Aybell knew it was more fun to follow its sparkly burbling farther down the way; to fish in privacy, where the trees were denser. She held her worms in one hand and her coil of string in the other, with the hook pinched carefully between the tips of her thumb and forefinger. She followed the creek with a needless fidelity, singing a song to herself.

She was aware she was shirking her chores, but in her defense she had woken up earlier than usual. She might have time for a little fishing, before her mother would notice; and it was too nice a morning to not go fishing anyway. She had been surprised to find the sun was so bright and the sky such a pale blue after all the booming and thundering last night.

Feeling that she’d put enough distance between the town and herself, she paused, baited her hook, and tossed the string into the creek. Without thinking too hard about it, her song changed from a walking song to a fishing song, without altering its melody. She sang softly to herself so as not to disturb any potential fish. The water was clear enough and the creek shallow enough that she could see the bottom, but it was still difficult to discern anything swimming in it for all the stones in its bed.

Despite all her cares, the woods seemed noisier than ever. She became aware of a great rustling, as if a hard wind was blowing through the trees, though the branches and leaves around her were still. Amid the rustling she was able to make out grunts and snarls—not of animals though, but more like really angry men. She’d heard noises like that when the men worked hard or when they gathered outside on some nights. She hadn’t expected to hear it on a sunny morning, though.

Had other townspeople followed the creek? she wondered. Were they being made to look for her? Was that why they sounded angry? This didn’t seem likely, she had to admit. She wasn’t that far away from town. And her going out fishing was not that rare an occurrence.

Her curiosity got the better of her. First, she pinned her string under a rock. Then, she lifted her skirt above her knees, crossed the creek, and clambered up the bank. Reaching the top, she saw movement through the trees, like a much bigger river was moving in the opposite direction. As she got closer she realized she was seeing a great parade of…of…not men, but mannish figures—tall, muscular, and rather frightening. They carried clubs or curved blades. They seemed to have skin of various colors, but always the color of clay pots—or maybe more like root vegetables. They walked with purpose, and it took Aybell a few moments to realize they were heading toward her village.

“Orcs!” she exclaimed, and instantly regretted it. She realized a few of the orcs nearest the trees had heard something.

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.