Excerpt #2: The Advent of Hegira

About The Advent of Hegira

Hegira is a behemoth, home to thousands of alien races. Many seek to take control of the leviathan, but to rule this ship, one must control her pilot.

Starchaser Laila sets out across the galaxies in search of the ultimate trump card to help her to wrest control of Hegira from those who would seek to steal her ancient birthright. Laila’s pride and passion war with love, fear and her inferiority complex caused by her luminous and beautiful rival Sumida. Starchaser Sumida is accompanied by the mercenary, Bex Atria and a psychotic alien named Klang. Her survival will depend on three things: dumb luck, Bex’s talent for weaseling out of a sticky situation and Klang’s penchant for secretly murdering anything that threatens the well-being of his beloved Bex.

EXCERPT #2
The Truth About Klang

Sumida smells the blood before she even opens the warehouse door. At first, her brain can’t even process what she’s looking at. In the dim light, she can at first, only make out a bunch of dark shapes on the ground. Then her eyes adjust. She gasps in horror. She’s looking at ruined bodies. Bodies torn to pieces. Blood of various hues splattered everywhere. Sumida’s gut lurches. There’s brain matter. There are scattered limbs. There’s spilled guts.

They’re mercenaries, she can tell from the way they’d dressed and the weapons they carried, weapons that have been rendered useless by whatever had set upon them with viciousness Sumida couldn’t even imagine. Sumida knows only of one species capable of killing with such ferocity. This was the handiwork of a Bolen. A real, hardcore Bolen.

One mercenary is still alive. His weak, agonized moans reach Sumida. There’s a flutter of movement. Sumida stands there, frozen to the spot, as her suspicion is confirmed. Klang towers over the ruined bodies. Klang is four armed, quadruple jointed, and deceptively delicate but all Sumida can see at the moment is a killing machine. A perfect killing machine. The blood-splattered, alien beast that stands over that last survivor, brings his foot down and stomps the life out of him is a monster, not her soft-spoken friend.

Sumida draws in a sharp breath. Instinct says that if he sees her right now, he’ll kill her too. If he knows she’s seen him, she’ll be dead in an instant. She closes her eyes and backs out of the warehouse but not quickly enough. There’s a rush of wind. In an instant, the overpowering scent of blood intensifies. Sumida can’t move. Can’t run. Can’t scream.

Icy fingers grip her shoulders so tightly she wants to cry out from the pain but she’s too scared.

“You saw, didn’t you?” Comes the deadly whisper.

“I d-didn’t see anything!” She stammers.

Klang’s grip on her shoulders tightens. “Don’t lie.” His voice is hollow and cold.

“Alright! I saw,” she cries. “Please don’t kill me,” she whimpers.

For what seems like an eternity, they stand there. Sumida can only wait to see what he will do. Seconds tick by. She swallows hard and prays to whatever gods are listening out here in the cold vastness of space.

He lets go abruptly and retreats into the dark.

Sumida stumbles backward and out into the light. She falls on her butt, scrambles to her feet.

She doesn’t know this violent creature! This is not a Klang she knows. Not the Klang she travels with. Laughs with. Trades stories with.

She runs. She runs all the way back to their ship. She doesn’t stop until she is inside the ship and in the presence of Klang’s beloved human, Bex. Bex is blue. Bex is strong. Is she strong enough to stop a murderous Klang?

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