Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
“Oh no,” Cadence says dryly, taking in the sight of the now obsolete Sega.
“Oh dear,” I agree. “Anyway…”
A tall, dark scaled saurian with magnetic golden eyes and the most incredible wings steps into the clearing, a remnant of smoke emerging from his anachronistic weapon. He fired a physical projectile, which must have felt very unpleasant as it entered Sega’s body.
“You just killed my sworn brother!” Atari exclaims. “Who are you?”
“My name is Zin, and these two are under the protection of Wrath.”
“Where did this guy come from?” Cadence whispers the question to me.
“I don’t know. We’re so far from Grave City. He didn’t walk here. We have to be many days travel from there.”
Zin says nothing, explaining nothing. He has an incredibly dangerous demeanor. I think he liked shooting the other saurian. I am starting to realize these two, Atari and Sega, must be from local tribes. Their clothing is leather and furs and has the look of having been fashioned at home. They don’t carry any kind of weapons at all besides bows, arrows, and swords, which are all so laughably outdated as to be useless.
Zin, on the other hand, knows who Wrath is.
“I do not know Wrath,” Atari says. “But these two are in our territory.”
Zin turns his golden gaze on Atari and takes a step forward. “This isn’t your territory anymore,” he says, his voice cold. “Everything from the mountain to the horizon is under new management.”
Atari frowns, but he does not argue.
“He was going to defile one of these humans against her will. The punishment for that is death,” Zin continues. “If you consider that acceptable, feel free to die with him.”
Am I starting to warm toward Zin? It’s hard not to appreciate a protector, even if his aesthetic is dark as hell.
“Time for us all to go,” he announces. “You too, wild one. You could be useful.”
He waggles the gun at Atari, who takes being kidnapped with surprising grace.
“You know where the ship is?”
“Yes,” Zin says simply. “We are a few hours walk at this point. Let’s go. I want to make it before nightfall.”
Cadence and I are happy to return to what passes for civilization. Zin organizes us ahead of him. He’s going to walk behind us so he can shoot us if we make any funny moves, I guess. Classic.
Cadence and Atari go up ahead. I hang back a little, because I am curious, and the arrival of this saurian poses too many questions for me not to ask.
“How did you get here? You may as well tell me, I’m going to find out.”
Zin sighs, as if my question is an inconvenience.
“Did you fly here? Your wings look big, but not big enough to have flown all the way from Grave City in a matter of days. I estimate that we covered roughly a thousand miles in that short flight before we crashed. For you to have done that with your wings in four, say five days, means you’d have to fly continuously at eight miles per hour. Hm. Maybe it is doable. It might even be easily doable. Is that what you did? How fast can you fly?”
“Enough with the questions, human.”
“Casey,” I say. “My name is Casey.”
“Enough with the questions, Casey. I am taking you back to Wrath. I have to assume this is a failed escape attempt. You will suffer for it, I can assure you.”
“I already feel like I’m dying, if that helps.”
He casts his golden eyes down at me. “You are given to dramatics.”
“I’m given to mathematics,” I reply. “But yes, also dramatics, I suppose. You’re very tall. What’s your wingspan?”
He shoots another glance at me. “Do you have one of those mechanical chips that interferes with human sanity and the perception of fear?”
“Me? No. I’m just easily distracted by my thoughts. So, how did you get here?”
“I was on the ship. I followed the human who followed Wrath up in secret. Unlike them, I ejected in a survival pod before the crash, and have been walking toward the wreckage for days.”
“Then how did you know Wrath survived?”
Zin looks at me. “Wrath is not the sort to die.”
I snort. “Actually, he’d be very much the sort to die. Even a saurian body can’t take the damage of impacting a mountain at several hundred miles per hour. It was Cadence and I who saved everyone. We’ve been implementing crash tech into the vessel for months now. So you can thank us.”
Zin looks down his nose, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You are a technician.”
“We both are.”
I indicate Cadence, and notice that she and Atari are holding hands ahead of us. That was quick. She’s gone and snagged the cute, nice wild saurian for herself. I’d say I’m surprised, but I’m not. Cadence always made friends easily. It’s her bubbly personality and ability to place rivets at equal spacings by eye alone. On this occasion, it’s probably the former rather than the latter.