Pandemonium. Screams. Blood.
Jape Ihucas Bolep snarled as ovals of golden flames
bloomed around him and those who had gathered in the portal chamber. Drones
stepped out, already firing scatter-shot at them, cutting men down at
point-blank range.
Anneliese, black hair flying, dove for the lone
Risnarish woman in the room. She yanked the taller Salno to the floor.
Jape saw it all in horrendous slow motion. The
stippling of blood on Salno’s light yellow skin, blatant against her white
stripes. Efno, crawling on four legs toward them, bleeding as well.
And then a second collection pod emerged from the
seething portal. Its hatch opened, spilling more Monsudan drones, an endless
tide of the small but deadly creations. Cutting off more of Jape’s warriors.
Killing them.
The room was a vast chamber, but it felt tight,
cramped as drones continued to arrive. The overbright oily smell was joined by
the scent of things burning. Jape fought to breathe against the reek that
tightened his chest, his twin hearts hammering.
He screamed at the rest, “Incoming! Nex, Lan, get
over here. Everyone, gather with us! Regroup!”
Even as he shouted, a drone nimbly raced forward
and shoved his boomerang-shaped weapon’s barrel against Lan’s chest. Jape’s second-in-command
jerked, firing at his attacker. Too late.
Brown-and-green armored flesh shredded from Lan’s
torso, blown apart by concentrated scatter-shot. His eyes were already glazed
as he crumpled to the floor.
“Lan! No!”
Jape’s shriek rang over the shouts and cries and
sounds of shooting. But Lan could not be called back. His best friend, his
second, his warrior brother—gone. In a great gout of blood and flesh, gone.
Gone.
Releasing from Carina Press on October 29. Available for pre-order now!
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