Whispers of Ruin (The Famine Cycle #1) by J.D.L. Rosell

Author:J.D.L. Rosell [Rosell, J.D.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rune & Requiem Press

23

RUDE AWAKENING

It is uncanny, what happens to a warden's mind when they are forged into a Shepherd. Not even the honors are so servile as they. It is as if another occupies their mind, moves their limbs, governs their thoughts…

- Tribune Yalissa before the Demos Council; 1071 SLP

He won't do anything," Xaron muttered as we descended the staircase from the Despot's quarters and headed back to our rooms.

"We did all we could," Nomusa said firmly. "And we will continue to do all we can."

"This isn't over," I said, almost to myself.

By the time we reached the chambers, my stomach was rumbling again, and I convinced Xaron to go with me to the feast hall. Nomusa decided to retire early, claiming to have little appetite after the meeting. Xaron and I ate our fill of what remained from that night's dinner and chatted of menial things, even as my mind wandered back to the many problems weighing me down.

They pressed in closer when we returned to our rooms. As I lay down, I thought of Talan, who no doubt worked tirelessly to learn all he could of the Manifest and Linos's whereabouts. I hoped he would be able to get in contact if he learned anything. I also remembered with a start that Corin hadn't had word from the rest of us in days. I was failing as a friend as well as a sister. I turned on my side and clutched the blankets close, trying to banish the guilt and fears that hounded me.

They chased me into dreams, where fragments of the day and night before floated about me. The faces of the Seeker guards with their bright, violet tatu. The flashes of channeled radiance and waves of kinesis bursting around me. I suddenly found myself running, fleeing the broken memories.

"Flee," a boy's whisper sounded in my ear.

I jerked my head around, but I saw and felt nothing but mist.

The whisper came in my other ear. "Flee, Airene. He has his claws in you."

I whipped my head around, terror making the world around me pulse. Then I saw it. The creature emerged from the fog in hazy detail. The face of a lizard loomed dozens of cubits tall and looked as if it was made of smoke. Its mouth gaped as it swam through the dream toward me.

"He feeds," the boy's voice said, fear etched into his voice. "He comes."

"Who?" I yelled as I ran. My feet carried me nowhere. Abruptly, the ground was stolen from under me, and I ran on light and air. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the lizard's forked tongue dart out, tasting the air. Tasting for me.

"Flee, Airene," the whisper finch murmured. "Taozu comes."

The lizard's maw made the world black behind me. I ran, but not fast enough. I felt the mouth closing, the long, sharp teeth blocking escape—

I jerked awake, sweating and breathing hard. For a moment, I lay there with my heart racing. The dream had already started to fade, the logic of it unraveling as the day pressed in through the windows.

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