Spilt Secrets
A Talnarin Novel Series Book Two
D.E. Chapman
Spilt Secrets
A Talnarin Novel Series Book Two
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Copyright © 2017 by D.E. Chapman
All rights reserved.
Cover design by EarthlyCharms.com
Cover image copyright Shutter Stock
Edited by Hannah Bauman at Between the Lines Editorial
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For my friends, family, and parents who supported me and encouraged me throughout my life.
For my readers, whose support has been my guiding light and motivation to keep writing.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 1
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1
I’ve stalled enough, it’s time to face Malik.
I climb to my feet, ready to make my way back to the talnarin village. I don’t even make it three steps before five large muscular talnarin men enter my line of sight. I guess they got tired of waiting for me to get my shit together. Fair enough. I stand tall and look them straight on. I won’t show anymore weakness and I won’t beg for mercy. Whatever they have come to say, I can face it.
I must.
Soon enough they stand a few paces away, staring with identical unreadable expressions on their faces. Zeke and the two other talnarins stand with their arms lose at their sides. Malik on the other hand has crossed his, muscles bulging. It makes him appear much more intimidating, which I’m sure is the intended effect.
We simply stand there, tense, staring at each other in silence. I’m not sure how much time has passed before I break the awkward silence. “Well? Where do we go from here?” I’m rather impressed with myself, my voice only wavered slightly.
A muscle ticks in Malik’s jaw. “Why didn’t you speak of your past before now?”
Is he kidding me? I put a hand on my hip before saying, “And what? Risk you talnarins killing me??” I huff out a breath. “I wasn’t about to forfeit my life like that, not when I still haven’t gotten my revenge.”
All five talnarins look mildly offended, it would have been funny if it wasn’t so serious. “No talnarin would have you killed you at Craforian.” He says it so firmly like I should simply accept what he says as truth.
I scoff and nearly roll my eyes. “Well if you were standing in my shoes, what would you have thought? My only exposure to your kind was when They slaughtered my village and family. Not to mention turning me into a fucking monster. I’m sure you wouldn’t be so quick to trust any others either. I didn’t know who to trust, I still don’t.” My stare turns hard. “Shit, you made it extremely clear that if I stepped one toe out of line, you would end my pathetic and miserable excuse of a life.”
His face hardens. “Fair enough.” The silence grows as Malik says nothing more.
“Who was He to you? You looked like you knew Him. Who-”
“I don’t.” He cuts me off mid-sentence abruptly.
I narrow my eyes at him suspiciously, “But-”
“I don’t. We’re heading back to Craforian come morning.” He gives me a pointed stare. “There you’re going to spend your time training. We are going to test the extent of your abilities and what else you might be capable of. But this time,” He smirks dangerously. “You’ll be working with me.”
I huff loudly. “Do I have a choice in any of this?” Doubtful.
“No.” His smirk widens as my face darkens.
“Fine then, why didn’t you just say that from the start?” I mutter sarcastically. I don’t know when things changed, but I no longer feel like I need to sugar coat my words for fear of retribution. Somewhere along the way I simply stopped caring about the delivery of my words. Louder I say, “Well, are you going to kill me?”
The smirk is wiped from his face instantly. His demeanor grows cold and I can’t help the shudder that racks my body. “Not yet.”
I gulp audibly. “But you will? When? Why?”
“Nothing is certain yet. There are still too many unknowns about you, even if I did believe your story.”
“So, you’re telling me you don’t buy what I said?”
“I didn’t say that.” His stare is unreadable. “While you were…collecting yourself, my men searched the village for any documents or data retaining to the experiments preformed here but came up empty. What the fuck did they do to the humans here?”
I narrow my eyes. He said what They did to humans in general, not me. Fine. “The equipment from the manor was similar to what they used here.” Emotion chokes me. “They hooked up the wires to every part of the body. At the end of the wires were little needles that They stuck in your skin. Then the attached the golden vials to the other end of the wires.”
My eyes glaze over as I recall what They did. “They pushed the liquid into my body little by little. I don’t know how long it went on for, there were no windows to show the passing of the sun. But it seemed never ending. The liquid burned everywhere it touched. My eyes, neck, legs, no place was left untouched.” I trail off slowly.
Malik takes a few steps closer as he says, “What was in the vials and what did it do to those injected?”
I flinch and look down at my feet. “This golden liquid. They never told me what it was or what it did exactly.” I gulp audibly. “All I know is that is mutated the others. They seemed to be rotting from the inside out. They became mindless and aggressive, nearly impossible to control.” I look back up with tears in my eyes. “I don’t know why I turned out this way and what made me so different. I don’t know why I maintained some semblance of sanity compared to the others. I don’t know why my hair changed, why my ears changes, or why my eyes changed.”
Silence reigns in the forest. Even the animals seem to be holding their breath. The wind has died off and not even a trickle of air moves the fallen leaves across the forest floor.
Finally, Malik breaks the silence with a tense sigh. I watch as he rubs his hand over his face in exasperation. “Well, at least we know more than we did prior to coming here, although it’s not much.” He looks at me with such a serious expression, it makes me tense. “Over the course of your stay at Craforian, you will be under constant watch and will be expected to answer all the questions I ask. Is this understood?” I swallow h
ard and nod, a protest on the tip of my tongue. “Good. I still have my reservations about whether or not you are working with the rogues but, we will come to that soon enough.”
“What? I’ve already told you I’m not working with those bastards.” I nearly yell. “What more do you want from me? What else can I say to convince you that I want to kill those talnarins, not help them?” I fling my hands out in frustration, wishing I could pull out my hair.
“It doesn’t matter.” His expression once more unreadable. “We will know more once we return to Craforian regardless.”
“If you don’t believe me now, how is going to Craforian going to change your mind?” I ask in exasperation.
He smirks a devilish smile that promises trouble. “Well you are bound to mess up eventually if you are constantly being watched. It’s only a matter of time before the real you is revealed. Besides, with my charming personality, you’ll show your true colors sooner than later. I’ve been told I bring out the best in people.”
I scoff under my breath and mutter, “The worst you mean.” The knowing tilt of his lips tells me he heard me and merely finds it amusing. Suddenly I blurt, “Why aren’t you asking more?”
All five talnarins seem to freeze in place and their expressions turn cold. The fact that this all happened in the span of a few seconds in perfect sync is unnerving. My nerves surface in a flurry of activity and my palms start to sweat. Standing here under the keen eye of these talnarin is enough to make me shift uncomfortably on my feet. The oppressive silence that reigns over them and this forest sets every instinct on fire. My body screams for me to flee while my mind demands an answer. My desire for answers evidently wins out as I remain in place with my fists clenched. I don’t understand this reaction to my innocent question. It’s not as if it’s an unreasonable one to ask after all.
Beside Malik has hardly asked me a thing about the past I had just spit out less than a few hours ago. I mean the reason I told him my past in the first place was not only to get it off my chest but to convince him that I’m not working with Him. A Him I still don’t know the name of. Yet telling Malik didn’t reduce this great weight over my chest. And it sure as Hellvian didn’t convince him in not working with Him. If anything, I would say Malik and his gang are even more suspicious of me, for whatever reason. Although, to be fair I’m not entirely certain I would believe a story as outlandish as the one I told. Had I not actually experienced that place for myself, I wouldn’t be quick to trust the one you told such a story either. Even though it pains me to say this, I can understand where Malik and his band of men are coming from. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Now if only this insufferable silence and tension would cease. It’s fraying my nerves.
Miraculously as I think it, Malik’s deep rumbling voice echoes through the silence. “Gather our rides, we leave now. Ready them for flight.” With a quick nod from the other three talnarins, Malik looks back to me just as my mouth drops open.
Flight? Ready them for flight? No. No way. In my panic, I blurt, “I can’t fly one of them. It’s not possible. At all. No. I’ll die.”
Malik does the last thing I expect, he laughs. I stare at him dumbfounded for a few minutes before I snap to my senses. It’s not like I haven’t heard the bloody talnarin laugh before. Granted it’s only been once or twice but still. I cross my arms over my chest and huff out a coarse “what?”
A brief chuckle escapes Malik before he says, “You really think I’d be stupid enough to let you fly a capalt all by yourself? That’s cute.” He looks down at my condescendingly as he crosses his arms across his chest, mirroring my position. “No, you’ll be flying with me where I can keep a close eye on you.”
My mouth drops open. “What? No I don’t want to ride with you.” I shake my head vigorously. “If I have to ride with someone, I choose anyone but you. I’ll go with Zeke.” I snap my fingers and point. “Yeah, that’s it, I’ll go with Zeke.” I look to Zeke expectantly and find a highly amused talnarin trying his best to hold back his laughter. I flip by head back to Malik and find him highly amused as well.
He rumbles out, “You’re going with me and no one else.” Malik twists his lips into a mocking smirk. “Just think, by the time we arrive at Craforian, we’re going to be such good friends.” The sarcasm drips from his words.
Face serious I say, “I’d rather fall to my death.”
“Now you’re just being cruel.” Malik’s lips turn down at the corners now in a mocking frown. “You’ve hurt my delicate feelings.”
I scoff loudly. “Yeah real delicate I’m sure.” At this is smirk returns. I watch as Malik looks to Zeke, who had been watching the entire interaction with great amusement on our part. Malik sighs dramatically and flings an arm across Zeke’s shoulders.
“Alanna doesn’t believe me. I’m crushed.” Zeke gently pats Malik’s back in a show of support, all the while snickering. Luckily, I’m saving from responding at the return of the other three talnarins. Behind them, the capalts trot obediently behind them, their great wings gently trailing along the forest floor. I groan internally, wracking my brain for a way to stall. Coming up short, I watch as the ready the beasts for flight in what seems like seconds.
The capalt I had ridden here is saddled up with extra packs from the other five beasts. I assume this is to reduce the weight load during flight for the capalts carrying talnarins. It appears Malik wasn’t kidding either. Looks like I’m flying with him back to Craforian. One capalt is completely removed of all packs and storage items and moved to mine. I assume this beast is the one Malik and I will ride. With two talnarins on its back, the extra weight from luggage is a hindrance despite the larger size of the beast. Especially if Malik wishes to arrive in Craforian by early morning.
I look to the sun to read the time and find it to be mid- afternoon. According to the map I read over the days previous, this village is at least a six day ride out. How fast do these capalts fly? This thought makes me sweat and I clench my fists together.
Chapter 2
While I was distracted with my errant thoughts, Malik had moved closer. He’s standing directly in front of me, brandishing furs. With surprising care and gentleness, he wraps them around my frame until I’m bundled tight. Before I can ask why these furs are necessary, he says, “The higher up we go, the colder it gets.” Malik doesn’t look at me. Instead, he focuses on securing the furs around me so they don’t loosen during our ride. “You will likely freeze to death before we reach Craforian without these furs. Wear them.”
I tense, bristling at the command in his voice. Still, I choose to remain silent as Malik wraps my face in cloth. The simple black cloth is stretchy, fitting my face perfectly yet still allowing me to breathe. Malik places a protective covering over my eyes; it’s almost like a pair of glasses, but fitted with fabric that attaches to my ears.
Again, just before I can ask what these are for Malik says, “The wind is especially bitter when flying. The goggles and mask will minimize discomfort.” My brows furrow in confusion. “Keep them in place and you’ll be able to see and breathe.” He glances at my face and gives me a stern look. “Take them off and well… you don’t want to find out what happens then.”
“What are goggles and a mask?”
Malik flashes me an indecipherable look. “A mask is the fabric over your face. The goggles are the eye protection.”
Without another word, he suddenly grips me under my arms and lifts me up. I gasp, my ass landing in a hard saddle and I reach for the horns of the capalt to hold on. In seconds, I feel Malik’s warm body against my back. His body heat combined with the stifling warmth of the furs is unbearable, and I wish for nothing more than to peel those furs from my body. To make matters worse, Malik’s muscular arms reach around me, gripping the horns I currently hold. Malik’s arms surround me like a vise and I feel caged. With a gentleness I wasn’t expecting, he grips my hands and pulls them from the horns to rest in my lap.
Noticing the thin cloth covering his frame,
I blurt, “Where are your furs?”
He snorts. “I don’t need them.”
I glance around his arms, noticing the other talnarins are decked out in furs like myself. My lips pull down at the corners. “The others wear them. Why don’t you need them too?” I try to twist my head around and look at Malik’s face but only manage to press my cheek against his wide chest.
With my face pressed against him, I can feel the vibrations in Malik’s chest as he speaks. “I can regulate my body temperature with ease. Furs aren’t a necessity, though I do wear them to conserve energy.” He pauses and shifts his weight on the capalt, guiding the beast forward. “You need the furs more than I do.”
I turn my head back around, watching the forest slowly pass by as the beast falls into a steady rhythm. “So that’s your affinity? You can conserve your body heat?” I feel a slight stiffening in the body pressed intimately against mine. I hold my breath as I wait for his reply.
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