ALSO BY SARAH CHAPMAN
The Magekiller
The Mixed Duology:
The Lord of the Plains
The Broken Kingdom
The Lord of the Plains
The Mixed Duology: Book One
Copyright © 2014 by Sarah Chapman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.
Ebook formatting by Maureen Cutajar
www.gopublished.com
To my fiancé,
I wouldn’t have finished it without you.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank everyone who helped me with this book. My parents, who were some of the first readers, and particularly my mother, who read it more times than I did while proofreading! I’d also like to thank everyone else who helped and supported me while finishing this story.
Contents
Map
PART 1
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
PART 2
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
PART 3
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
PART 4
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
PART 1
Chapter 1
Lestar’s hands were sweating. It wasn’t his first patrol, or even his second, still, his hands were sweating.
Over the tree tops the faint glimmer from the AgriShield was visible. They were out far, beyond the city limits, beyond the heavily shielded and protected farmland. Out, in the trees. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, dappling the leaf litter on the ground. It wasn’t a dense forest, it was easy to move through. There was no undergrowth, just dry leaves. It wasn’t a forest to have sweating hands in. But he had sweating hands.
A rustle. Lestar swung around, panting, his SIGPEW pointing. His eyes flicked around nervously. Nothing. An animal? The animals were dangerous here too. Sometimes he wondered, were they animals or just extra dumb gemengs?
‘Lestar!’
Lestar swung around again and saw Maz approaching, a grin on his face. Seeing his partner, his thumping heart began easing back into a steady rhythm.
It was hard to see much of Maz’s face under his helmet and visor. It wasn’t enough to protect you from a gemeng though. Was it? He didn’t know. All these patrols and he hadn’t seen a single one. But…he wasn’t that far out. Further out, further than he’d ever been was Garrondin, the gemeng town that formed Astar’s first line of defence. He hadn’t seen them either. All Lestar had seen were the fake gemengs of the city. Gemengvals, the worthless creatures that littered Astar.
‘We’re almost done, as soon as Batar and his team get here we can head back.’ Maz said, his grin fading as he saw Lestar’s expression. ‘What’s wrong, did you hear something?’ he asked, an undertone of alarm in his voice.
Lestar shook his head, ‘no, no, it was just you, but I thought-‘
Maz sighed in relief, ‘come on, let’s continue our patrol.’
Lestar nodded his understanding and swallowed. He turned and headed back along the track he had made through the trees to do another round, Maz following not far behind.
You didn’t travel alone. Not out here. Lestar thought he probably should have gone with Maz when he went to relieve himself. That would have been an opportune time for a gemeng to jump out and maul him. But he hadn’t gone and Maz was back safe and sound.
Lestar and Maz were silent as they continued their patrol. Lestar’s eyes scanned nervously back and forth, though not so nervous as before. Maz was the calmer of the two.
A rustle. Lestar swung around, though with less fright this time, pointing his SIGPEW squarely in the direction of the sound. Maz turned as well, though his eyes kept scanning the area.
Another rustle. Lestar’s heart stopped for a moment. Sweat broke out on his face. Slowly, sickly, his heart started beating again. Slowly. Everything so slow. He took a step forward. His hands shook on the SIGPEW. ‘W-who’s there?’
Nothing.
‘We are the Astar Home Defence Patrol, show yourself or be fired upon!’
A sound. Then from behind a tree in the distance a figure stepped out. It took a hesitant step forward. Lestar thought he would vomit. ‘Wh-who are you?’ What are you?
It took another step. Lestar’s hands tightened.
‘Identify yourself or be fired upon!’ Maz ordered from behind him.
The figure stopped. It raised its hands. ‘I-I’m not dangerous.’ It said. Its voice wavered and shook.
A gemeng.
‘Are you human?’ Maz called again.
The figure shook its head.
Lestar tightened his hands, his weapon shook.
‘Leave this area immediately!’ Maz ordered.
‘B-but I-I…’
‘But what?!’
‘I want to come t-to Astar. I h-heard some g-gemengs live th-there.’
Maz considered the gemeng’s words for a moment before saying, ‘you have to go to the testing station out past Garrondin. You can’t come through here.’
The gemeng was silent. It was short. If it was human Lestar would have thought it was a child. Did gemengs have children?
‘Do you know where Garrondin is?’ Maz asked, a hint of kindness in his voice.
‘B-but…’ the gemeng stuttered. It sounded like it was going to cry.
‘But?’
‘It’s not safe out there!!’
At that Lestar burst into wild laughter.
They waited until Batar and
his team arrived, then Maz and Lestar escorted the gemeng child to the testing centre, through Garrondin. It wasn’t strictly necessary for them to do this, but the gemeng was frightened, and they couldn’t leave it hanging around the perimeter, and it didn’t seem appropriate to shoot it for being afraid.
The sky was darkening slowly, it was still summer and the sky would retain light for some time. The trio walked in silence, Lestar and the gemeng in states of fear, Maz maintaining a calm, soothing presence. His long strides were easy and relaxed, though if you looked carefully you would see his hands were trembling.
The sky turned to dark blue, with gold at the horizon. Lestar noticed briefly.
As they came to Garrondin, a collection of well maintained, if not exactly pretty houses, the gemeng started shaking. Maz did not change his stride. The villagers came to stand in the doorways, some peered from windows. None came any closer. Lestar quickly glanced at them. These gemengs were not the gemengs of his nightmares, of the outside world. They did not possess the claws and teeth and spiked tails and second mouths that real gemengs had in terrifying abundance. No, they were just stupid, weak creatures that needed humans to provide them with the material for making weapons. Maz and Lestar walked down the main street and were quickly free of the town.
About half a kilometre down the road they came to the testing centre. It was an unadorned box of a building. There were two main entrances, one on the opposite side for gemengs hoping to migrate into Astar, and the one they were approaching for the successful migrants.
Maz led them around the building towards the main entrance. The road in front of the building was empty.
‘Hey there!’ Maz hailed the two guards standing before the doors of the centre. ‘We have a gemeng here!’
‘You’re late! It’ll have to wait til tomorrow.’
‘Where can we leave it?’
One of the guards shrugged and pointed down the road.
‘Is it wise to have gemengs gathering so close to home?’ Lestar asked nervously. Maz glanced at him, his expression saying he was thinking the same thing.
Just then a man dressed in civilian clothes came to the door. ‘What’s all this commotion?!’
The guards turned and quietly explained. The man looked towards them, out through the reinforced glass doors. ‘We’ll take him.’ He said and motioned for them to follow him as he turned and walked deeper into the centre.
Surprised, Maz and Lestar headed towards the door. Despite himself, Lestar did not suggest they leave. For once, curiosity got the better of his nervousness. He wanted to know what tests were conducted here. How could you tell a gemeng was weak enough to be allowed to live among humans?
One of the guards pulled the door open. Maz and Lestar said their thanks (Lestar mumbled) and they entered with the gemeng behind them.
The corridor they entered was dark, as the centre had closed for the day. In front of them was a glass window with a blank terminal behind it. The corridor continued to the left and right, though to the left it was too dark to see anything. To the right the corridor stopped at a door, which was open, revealing another hallway. The first door in the second hallway was open, and light was spilling from the room, the man who had summoned them was waiting.
As they entered he closed the door and turned to the gemeng. ‘So we’re going to have a look at you, eh?’
Maz and Lestar moved out of the way so the gemeng was standing alone in front of the man. ‘You know what happens here?’ The man asked.
The gemeng shook and shivered. ‘N-no.’
‘We do some tests to determine your strength. If you’re too strong you won’t be allowed into Astar and you will be forced to leave the area. Some of these tests are quite painful, do you understand?’
The gemeng nodded.
‘Right then. We’ll start by taking some blood.’ The man moved towards a cupboard on the wall and removed a needle. ‘What are your abilities?’ He asked as he prepared the needle.
‘N-none…’
‘None? No fire in your blood? No lightning? You can’t command water? You can’t smash boulders with a single punch?’
‘N-no.’
‘Are you very resilient? Can you walk for days without tiring? Do you need regular food and water? What is your diet? How long does it usually take a wound to heal?
‘No..no, uh, vegetables…some meat…’
‘Hmm…hold still now. Do you have any less hairy areas?’
The gemeng shook his head wildly.
‘Alright, do you mind if I remove some fur?’
The gemeng stared at him before slowly shaking his head. The man had already fetched a razor.
‘Now hold still,’ he said, and quickly shaved a small area on his arm. ‘Hold on,’ he said as the gemeng started at the sight of bare skin, ‘I’m not done yet.’
The man scrubbed and cleaned the freshly bared skin. He did it quickly, then with a needle he took some blood from the gemeng.
‘Hmm…’ the man said as he held the needle up to eye level. ‘Not too much resistance, and the needle hasn’t burst into flames. That’s always a good sign.’ He turned to a table by the cupboard and set up some vials. He took a piece of metal, wood and paper from the cupboard and laid them out.
First he put a drop of blood into each vial. Then he dropped blood first on the metal, then the wood, then the paper.
He waited, his eyes flicking from the vials to the materials, a deep frown on his face. ‘That’s good…not even the paper is damaged. And the colour is good.’
The colour of the liquid in the vials had changed from dark red to layers of different colours. The top layer was a clear yellow, nearly transparent, and the bottom a darker orange.
It meant nothing to anyone but the man, who seemed satisfied.
‘Alright, next room.’ And he strode quickly across the room, turned the lights off and flung open the door. He turned the lights on in the other room and gestured impatiently for the three to follow.
‘This will be a painful test, and you will be injured. We’re going to shoot you and see what happens.’
The gemeng made a small sound, but it didn’t ask to leave.
Lestar and Maz looked at each other and back at the man.
‘Stand over there please, face me.’ He gestured towards a wall that had scorch marks on it. There was a red line marked on the floor in front of the wall, which is where the gemeng stood. The man approached and with a measuring instrument measured the width of the gemeng’s shoulder. He pulled on its skin with another instrument and then walked to another cupboard. He selected an energy weapon and started changing the settings on it.
‘This is a very sensitive experiment. This weapon is set to a level that it will go right through a human shoulder of the same width as yours, with a similar amount of fat. If it doesn’t go through your shoulder it tells us you’re a little bit different to us. Are you ready?’
The gemeng shuddered.
The man faced him, the energy weapon loosely held in his hand by his side. Suddenly he fired, so quickly that Lestar and Maz didn’t even see him raise his hand.
There was silence as the light from the weapon died down. The gemeng made a strangled sound of pain and shook. The smell of burnt flesh and fur filled the room. Lestar’s mouth twisted in disgust.
The man approached and looked at the wound, as if he did this every day, which he did. The wound was a small round tunnel through the gemeng’s shoulder. ‘Not all the way through…mostly, but not all.’
Lestar felt cold steal over him. Sweat broke out on his skin. He had seen gemengs on the screen in the military training facility, he had heard about them, but he had never seen one. Not a real one. Maz blanched.
‘I see, well, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be allowed in, but we’ll have to do some more tests. Are you up for it?’
The gemeng nodded slowly.
‘I thought you wouldn’t take long to pass,’ the man frowned, ‘you get to recognize a l
ook about them.’ He explained. ‘Why don’t you go rest at the gemeng camp, hmm? Come back tomorrow and we’ll do the rest of the tests.’
The gemeng didn’t respond.
‘I’ll patch that shoulder up for you.’ The man said.
As he worked he turned to Maz and Lestar. ‘Thanks for bringing him all the way here. You boys can head on back now.’
‘How do you know it’s a him?’ Maz asked suddenly.
‘I’ve seen a lot of gemengs.’ He shrugged.
Again that cold feeling stole over Lestar as he and Maz left the building. It was dark outside. They greeted the guards and headed back up the road towards Astar. So many gemengs, so close. And so different…