by Megg Jensen
"And yet you recognize it for what it is. Now pull the lights away and show me where I'm being held. Then tell me why I am your prisoner."
The lights dimmed. Rell blinked, again adjusting to the change in brightness. Eventually, she was able to make out a shape.
Something stood four times taller than Rell, looming over her, casting a wide shadow. It stood on two legs with thick tail in the back acting as a tripod. Two long, sinuous arms reached out, talons splayed, a sharpened tip stopping just before reaching Rell's chin. Its green skin was covered with hard scales.
"Are you pleased you can see me now?" it asked.
Rell staggered backward a few steps. "What are you?"
"I am dragzhi. Three made one. What are you?" Its voice was low and gravelly.
"I am human," Rell responded.
"Ah, but you are not fully human, are you? I ask again, what are you?"
Rell didn't know how to answer, nor did she know how her answer would affect her odds of living.
"You don't understand yet. Humans are so simple. Given to only seeing what is right in front of them." The dragzhi sighed, its breath rank.
Rell resisted placing a hand over her nose to block the odor. "Let me go. I want to go back to my friends."
"The other humans, you mean?" The dragzhi chuckled, its smile studded with pointy teeth. "They are safe. For now."
“The liquid dragzhi that entered my body said you were going to kill me after you removed it," Rell said. "Is it gone now? Dead? Am I about to die?"
"So many questions," the dragzhi said. "Yes, it is dead. It knew the price it paid for inhabiting a human. Just as your biological father will die if he ever attempts to come home. He created an abomination. One we cannot seem to dispose of."
Rell gasped. "I am not an abomination."
"Perhaps you don't see yourself that way, but in the eyes of the dragzhi, you are. We are a pure species. You should not be allowed to live. In fact," the dragzhi rolled its large slitted eyes at Rell, "we tried to kill you, but you would not die."
Rell rested her hand on her stomach. The wound was gone. She assumed they had healed it, but maybe something else had happened. As a child, she had never been ill. Her mother attributed it to Rell's constant hand-washing and purification rituals. Rell thought she was lucky.
"The fire inside you kills off anything that attempts to destroy it," the dragzhi said. "And, believe me, we tried to destroy you."
"Then why was I dying after my ribs were broken? Why was I dying from the gunshot wound?"
"You weren't dying. Your body was attempting to eject the dragzhi who had inhabited you. Given time, you would have pushed it out, and you would have healed on your own. Just as you have here. We only sped up the process by removing the dragzhi from you."
Rell's hands shook. "The dragzhi inside me said you would kill me."
"Perhaps it lied to you," the huge dragzhi said. Its scaled skin rippled with color in the dim light. "Perhaps it spoke the truth. Who am I to say? Truth is fluid. It changes based on point of view.”
"Let me go," Rell demanded. "I want to leave."
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow that. We must study you. We must learn. You are an enigma." The dragzhi cocked its head to the side, a long forked tongue emerging from its mouth. The moist pink flesh snaked down to Rell, touching her cheek briefly and leaving a small trail of slime dripping down her cheek.
"Tell me what happened to my friends. Are they safe?" Rell asked.
"They were safe. Until we put them back on their shuttle and sent them back into space. Too bad the warrior dragzhi had already arrived. I suspect they are now fighting for their lives." The dragzhi made a tut-tut sound with its tongue.
"That's a lie. Torsten wouldn't leave without me." Rell crossed her arms over her chest.
The dragzhi hooked Rell with its claws. She fought against it, but to no avail. It raised Rell to its face, nearly the size of Rell's body. "We told him it was too late. We said you died. We showed him your body."
"He wouldn't leave without my body, either," Rell said. "I know Torsten. You lie."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." The dragzhi sniffed Rell, then set her back on the floor. It turned, walking away.
"Where are you going?" Rell ran after it, but its legs were too long, too powerful. "Come back here!"
Without a word, the dragzhi unfolded two massive wings from its back and flew away.
33
Leila sat in a dark cavern, her head spinning. One moment she’d been in the tower, trying to figure out what that blast of light had been in the jungle. The next she’d awoken here.
“Hello?” she called out.
Raising her hands in front of her face, Leila squinted. There wasn’t even enough light to see the outline of her fingers. She moved her fingers closer, resting them on her cheek. She let out a sigh. At least she wasn’t in a coma, trapped in her mind. Whatever this place was, it was real.
Leila scrambled to her feet, her arms stretched out to the sides. Her fingers wiggled, hoping to touch something, anything, that would give her a clue as to where she was.
Nothing.
She took a tentative step forward, her arms sawing back and forth.
Still nothing.
Another step.
The middle finger on her right hand brushed against something. Leila stepped toward it, now able to touch the soft surface with her entire hand. It squished under her fingers, yielding to the slightest pressure.
Then it did the most surprising thing.
It groaned.
“Hello?” Leila asked again. “Who’s there?”
Another groan.
Leila shuffled closer, keeping her hand in place. If it was a human, who knew where she was touching it. And if it wasn’t a human… then she’d have to rely on her combat training to save her skin.
“Leila?” the voice said.
“Yes, it’s me.” She wracked her brain, trying to recall the voice. It was familiar, but she knew it wasn’t her brother. It could have been anyone from the tower. Since the battle with the dragzhi, she’d taken a leadership role. Everyone would probably recognize her voice at this point.
“It’s me. Andessa.”
Leila gasped and stumbled backward. It couldn’t be. Andessa died in the battle with the dragzhi. Leila had seen her body fall to the ground after the fist of a rock dragzhi smacked her in the face. Leila had checked her pulse. Andessa was dead.
“You must be confused…” Leila said, her confidence waning.
“Really? I think I know who I am. You must have been hit harder than I thought. Let me turn on the torch.”
A light flickered to life, bathing the dark room in light.
Leila blinked, focusing on the person in front of her. Short, uneven dark hair. Nose a little bumpier than normal. Fingernails chewed to the nub. It was definitely Andessa.
Leila rubbed her temples. “Wow. Can you fill me in because I thought you were…”
“What? Leaving you behind? No way. I wouldn’t do that.” Andessa hopped off the bed she’d been lying on.
Leila looked behind her. There was another bed on the other side of the room, identical to Andessa’s. “Where are we?”
Andessa laughed. “You really did get knocked over the head, didn’t you?” She reached out, resting a finger on Leila’s cheek.
Leila flinched as pain ripped through her face. “Ow!”
“It still hurts, I gather?” Andessa smoothed out her pants, then strode to a doorway Leila had only just noticed. Andessa pulled aside a long flap, motioning for Leila to follow.
As she stepped through the opening, she noticed the flap was smoother than any animal hide she’d ever known. She ran her fingers down its length, noticing it was the same color as her skin.
“Come on. I want to show you something.” Andessa grabbed Leila’s hand, pulling her down the earthy hallway.
Leila squinted in the faint torchlight, trying to figure out where they were. It obviously wasn’t
the tower. Nor was it the underground tunnels she’d traveled with Rell.
Rell. The woman she’d attempted to kill—twice—to keep her away from Torsten. Guilt gnawed at Leila’s chest, but she shrugged it off. Rell had been nothing but trouble since the start. She had caused all of their problems.
“Are you ready?” Andessa asked, a huge smile on her face.
Leila nodded, not sure what she should be ready for. Her eyes traveled down Andessa’s body, marveling at how hearty she seemed. Leila could have sworn her friend had died. She shook her head, attempting to push the sleep out from her brain. Then Leila’s eyes stopped on something Andessa held in her hand.
A doll, covered in sand, its hair hanging limply from its head.
“What’s that?” Leila asked, pointing at the doll.
Andessa glanced down at the doll, then looked up at Leila again, her eyes boring into Leila’s. A smile spread across her face, her teeth glinting in the firelight. Andessa pulled back a hide from a different doorway. “Come. See. Know.”
Leila stepped in the room, a lump forming in the back of her throat.
In front of her lay hundreds, maybe thousands, of dolls just like the one Andessa held in her hand, their foreheads on the ground, with their hands in the air, arms disjointed in a grotesque angle from their shoulders.
A light murmur traveled through the room, vibrating in Leila’s gut. She couldn’t make out the words, or maybe she didn’t understand their language, but they repeated the same phrase over and over again, “Rum kab thahhhh.”
In front of the dolls stood a large slab of stone. She knew exactly what it was by the symbol at the very top.
The Hamdal tablets.
It was here in this strange place with these odd dolls. Leila rubbed her temples as she turned to face Andessa again.
Except her friend was no longer standing. Leila dropped to her knees next to Andessa’s crumpled body. She grasped Andessa’s arm, shaking it, but it hung limply in Leila’s hand.
The doll stood next to them, a cruel smile on its face. “Welcome, Leila of the tower. You will join us here. You will be our first sacrifice.”
Before Leila could stand, a mass of dolls rushed toward her, taking her in their tiny porcelain hands, and dragging her closer to the Hamdal tablets.
A scream echoed in the room, ringing in her ears. It wasn’t until they set her down Leila realized it was coming from the depths of her throat.
* * *
The story continues with…
* * *
Revenants Rising
Forsaken Stars Saga, #3
Available Now!
* * *
Find it on my website:
* * *
http://www.meggjensen.com
* * *
Sign up for Megg’s newsletter to get free ebooks!
* * *
http://smarturl.it/MeggsNewsletter
Acknowledgments
A huge thanks to my editors! Bryon Quertermous stars as the intrepid developmental editor who tells me what works and what doesn’t. Lisa Jenn Bigelow finds the little mistakes, and there are a million of them, so my book reads much cleaner. Joelle Sisto, my intrepid proofreader, finds all the mistake leftovers, and Anne and Crystalle at Victory Editing worked magic with their Oops Detection.
* * *
Steven Novak of Novak Illustration created the cover. It’s a gem, and so is he.
* * *
As always, my family rocks. They support me in this crazy career, and I couldn’t be more grateful!
Also by Megg Jensen
Novels by Megg Jensen
* * *
Adult Fantasy Novels:
* * *
Dragonlands:
Hidden (2013)
Hunted (2014)
Retribution (2014)
Desolation (2015)
Reckoning (2015)
