Taurok's Vengeance by J.D. Lakey

Author:J.D. Lakey [Lakey, J.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Moose Island Books via Indie Author Project
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Taurok

Hellsinc on the planet Perdition: Now

Taurok watched Red Moon weave her magic into the chain-rings, muttering things that seemed half incantation-half madness. He left the little Ancellian queen to her task and went back into the kitchen to clean up. It would be rude to leave a mess for the next scavenger to find. Finding a couple of tablecloths, he tied them into satchels and began to fill them with staples from the kitchen. The remaining cheese joined bags of flour and potatoes. Fruit from the orchard. Vegetables from gardens. Dried beans. Salt pork. All was divided between the two bags, Red Moon's bag being a quarter of the weight of his own, of course, He did not want to over-burden his companion.

Dragging them out to the back stoop, he squatted down on the lip of the step to watch her. It did not seem fair that the Oneverse should put such a heavy burden on those tiny shoulders. Fierce she was but all that rage inside her was not good. It was just a cover for the wounds in her heart, wounds too numerous to count.

If he were without conscience, if he truly intended to use her as weapon against the Rebels, he would cultivate that rage. But it tore at his guts to watch her pain.

Taurok chewed on a ragged fingernail. If he could get her to trust him, maybe she could let go of some of those burdens. That was the tricky part. Three hundred years of hanging out with the worst people the Oneverse had created had done nothing good for her trust issues. Having no experience with men of honor, she treated all newcomers as predators come to eat her. She was like a wild colt not yet trained to bridle or saddle. Everything was a threat meant to be battled against to the death. She exhausted herself trying to keep herself safe, not having the life experience to pick and choose her battles.

Did she really believe the things she had said about General Far Ranger? Had the Onverse really plucked her off a planet at the edge of the Deep Dark and sent her on a collision course with the Royalist army? Had her ten thousand grandmothers predicted the birth of Far Ranger centuries ago and put her feet on the path that brought her here? According to his granddad, the Ancellian magic had its basis sunk deep in the fabric of the world. They ate, drank, and breathed magic. The Oneverse twisted itself into knots trying to please them, it was said.

Taurok shuddered at the thought. What kind of magic was being sent out by this one broken-hearted child? More importantly, how dire would be the consequences if she did not get what she needed?

What did she need? She was Ancellian and female and circumstances had stripped everything from her. She was the last of her species. Her wants, her needs were surely like a black hole in the fabric of the magical world.

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