Read Cracked Dagger, Book One of Allies and Adversaries Page 19
Orange lights beat hard down on the youth’s face, blinding him for a moment, accustomed were his eyes to the dark of the trans. He was roughly shoved into a room, cold, barren, and reeking of filth, which echoed with the laughter of his departing captors. He didn’t know what to make of his current situation — he had heard undercurrents of deviants and abductions, but he was too young for his parents to have told him much about people like this, to have warned him about what lurked on dark streets. They wished him to be blissfully unaware of the disease rotting in some Novan alleys, oblivious that not all Novans were perfect.
He stood, and tried to compose himself. Walking around, he felt this room was not much bigger than his bedroom, though the ceiling was much higher. Stench-filled puddles covered the floor, and shadows hid masses of refuse in the corners. The light flickered, making the shadows dance in the corners of his eyes, hiding things evil and sinister in their depths.
Maybe it’s just a game. Maybe they’ll let me go in a mroa, he thought to himself, as sweat ran down his temples, soaking his clothes. Overhead he heard machine-like sounds, grinding metal, heavy gears turning on themselves, lifting something heavy. They were so loud he didn’t hear the footsteps approaching, and the door swing open. In a moment, he was looking up into the face of a very tall, very strong woman. She grabbed his head in her hand, lifting him up to his feet. She looked on him, turning his face so she could see his body. Long brown hair covered her eyes, dirty and unkempt, but even without seeing them, he knew she had eyes of evil. He felt a coldness wash over him, a sense of hopelessness he never felt before. He so wanted to cry for his mother, to scream at them to let him go, that he didn’t deserve this, but he made himself stay calm.
“Will . . . will you let me go?” he pleaded. She lifted him high, the one hand lifting his entire body by his head, until they looked eye to eye, until he could see those evil eyes hidden before.
“Child, soon you won’t remember you lived anywhere else but here,” she paused, and smiled, grinning a jumbled, toothy grin. “You may not even remember living.”
She threw him down, and spat on him, the warm spittle landing on his neck, oozing down his shirt. He felt it mingle with his sweat, and now his tears, as she turned and walked out, laughing and bolting the door behind her.
Chapter 11
Malhrer: The artificial moon-like object in orbit around Novan that housed the artificial intelligence known as Mal. Also home to the TELREC command center, and the Monitors. Created in the 5800’s, its true location has remained a mystery to the Rell, thanks to advanced cloaking engines which rendered it virtually invisible.