Year of the Black Rainbow (The Amory Wars) by Peter David & Claudio Sanchez

Author:Peter David & Claudio Sanchez [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Evil Ink
Published: 2010-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

General Crom, even when he had possessed a face, had not been the most demonstrative of men.

Then, in the service of Marth and under life or death circumstances, Crom’s face was outfitted with robotic technology, less a mask than it was a metallic second flesh, fused permanently with his own skin and organs, save for a removable portion that allowed him to eat. This “advancement” came to him courtesy of the same catastrophic injury that had made a shambles of his upper body and neck—there was literally nothing for anyone to see save for the leaden covering. Crom had learned to take a positive outlook from that: it made him even more of an enigma to his enemies.

Or, in this case, enemy.

There was only one enemy that mattered to him now: Wilhelm Ryan, the creature who had consigned him to his pit of nothingness.

Since Ryan was so much on the General’s mind, Crom was not at all surprised when Wilhelm Ryan appeared in his cell. Then again, General Crom was never surprised at anything. It simply wasn’t in his personal make-up.

His cell was small. A length of unbreakable chain ran from the metallic wall to the manacle secured around his right ankle. The fact that it was unbreakable did not deter Crom from testing its strength every single day. By his reasoning, the fact that it was able to restrain him the day before did nothing to assure that it would hold him this day, or the next. He was typically methodical in that regard, taking nothing for granted. In this same respect, he refused the food Ryan delivered to him, a decision of endless loyalty to Covent Marth. Instead, he chose to meticulously scavenge for food in his cell, preying on everything from rats to any insect unlucky enough to run, creep or fly in. Eventually, Ryan no longer sent any food at all.

When Wilhelm Ryan appeared in his cell, Crom did not react. If nothing else, he didn’t want to give Ryan the satisfaction of provoking a response. Besides, the wise soldier—and certainly the wise commander—never provided the slightest visible reaction to anything. Why willingly add any more weapons to the resources of the opposition?

So Crom simply stood there and waited for Ryan to say whatever he had come to say, or even more likely to do whatever he was going to do.

“Comfortable?” Ryan said at last. “I would have preferred to provide you with some more elegant means of restraint, but your formidable ability to drain electricity and power from any power source mandates a less technological, more—primitive—means of restraint.”

Crom said nothing.

“It has been a while, General,” said Ryan. “You must have assumed I had forgotten about you. Or do you simply assume that you are, in fact, unforgettable?”

“I assume nothing.”

“That is most wise. You are indeed a wise individual, General. The only lapse in your wisdom was who you chose to serve.”

“We do not always make our choices. Sometimes they are made for us.”

“I don’t believe that,” said Ryan, “and I very much suspect that you do not either.

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