Gods & Kings by Joe Jackson

Author:Joe Jackson [Jackson, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Published: 2019-01-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter X – Invasive Procedures

Not much had changed while she’d been gone. Even in the wake of all that had happened with the undead scourge and the brewing wars, something about the land kept troubles away. It made her consider the folktale she had shared with her friends, how much of the trouble the young man therein had seen coming from the outside. The Okonashai had prospered in their homeland for so long, relatively free of the troubles of the outside world. And even in the midst of all the upheaval that had rocked Terrassia for the last year and more, still they stood apart, untouched.

The Great Spirit certainly has watched out for us, my people, and even – or rather, especially my own family, Starlenia thought.

The addition of a new papoose had been an expected but welcome blessing. It underscored how long Starlenia had been away from her people that she should be made a grandmother yet again during her absence. She had suspected her daughter was hiding something from her before she’d left, but despite her normally inquisitive and commanding nature, she hadn’t pushed for the details. But there was no denying that holding another grandchild had stoked the flame of her spirit so much more.

The years had been very kind to her, and she mused that despite her own doubts, much like the young man in her folktale, the Great Spirit blessed and watched over her. At times, she had felt like she had to overcompensate to keep up with the young pups among her companions. And then, in the cases of those older than herself – Yiilu and Leighandra – they didn’t show their ages on account of being longer-lived children of the elves. It made Starlenia appreciate a woman like Lady Vanador, as she, too, was over forty and not as long-lived as any of nature’s children.

A grimace found its way to her face in the wake of that thought, but she tried to keep her mind focused on the task at hand. Too much thinking could make a woman appear to be someone out looking for trouble, and that was exactly what she was trying to avoid here. She’d made great time trekking south even with her short stayover at home to see her family and the new baby, but she and all her friends and allies were on a strict timetable. So much sat before them, and they had no time to lose.

Lose, she thought. Not waste. Time with family is never wasted.

She was here to meet the werewolf and the demon – or serilis-rir, as they were apparently called now. Supposedly, these two were as gifted at infiltration as Starlenia, if not more so. She found that somewhat hard to believe after meeting the two of them. The serilis-rir, Dynas, was another of these over-sized men, tall and muscle-bound like Kris Jir’tana, and yet even more obvious because of his red skin. And that was to say nothing of the horns or those odd, dragon-like eyes of his.

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