Book Two: Roc Excerpt #2

I thought it would be fun to post some snippets of my progress on Book Two: Roc.  In keeping with that, here is another one.  I'll keep posting little bits here and there up until July 2013 when it will be released.  Current progress stats: Just started Chapter 14.

Book Two: Roc
continues the story of Rone and Keiara, two teens with a budding
romance although they come from opposing races constantly at war.

Here's some more of Chapter 1.

Asherwoke up first.  The wind had died downsomewhat.  He put on his heavy coat andwent outside.  It was still snowing, butnot as heavily as before.  The sun wasfiltering through grey, dense-looking clouds. He had a feeling the weather was going to be worse than it wasyesterday.  He thought about trying toconvince Rone to head back down again but immediately dismissed the idea.  He remembered the look Rone had gotten on hisface when he’d suggested it yesterday and was not eager to see it again.  For a minute, he thought the Rook prince hadgone insane.

Helooked back up the slope, to the distant peak that was nearly invisible.  Somewhere up there was his sister.  Or so Rone said.  They had trekked across Purga, hurdlingnumerous situations that had almost gotten the three of them killed (a companyof rebel soldiers that seemed eager to kill anything they came across, aquicksand pit that almost claimed Fowler, and a very angry and particularlymean crocodile in the Farwick Swamp, just to name a few) only to end up at thefoot of the Polaris Mountain range.  Attimes, it felt like Rone had no idea what he was doing or where he wasgoing.  At others, he seemed like a manguided by something Asher couldn’t see. The closer they’d gotten to the mountains, the less Rone looked aimlessand the more he looked guided.  It was weird, but true.  When Asher had asked how they were evensupposed to find Keiara in the range, Rone had pointed to one of the tallestones without hesitation and said that one.

Hehad no doubts.  He’d said it as if Keiaraherself had told him.

Maybe she did, he thought tohimself and not for the first time.  Therelationship between the two was still a mystery to him.  Each one continued to put their own lives onthe line to save the other.  One a Rookand the other a Terraquois.  As far as heknew, nothing like that has ever happened in the entire history of Purga.  The fighting between the two races hasstretched back for centuries.

Therewas no denying that some sort of connection had been made between Keiara andRone. A connection that was just as clearly unbreakable.  He’d watched a man shoot Rone in the back andtry to torch his sister alive and yet both had walked away virtually unscathed.  Keiara more so than Rone.

Rone still hasthat tiny scar from where the…, he paused, searching for the word Ronehad used, bullet.  Right. From where the bullet was digging into him.  Keiara, however, had walked through theflames without getting burned at all. She even controlled them like they were a part of her body.  And then she had turned into that…thatthing.  He shuddered as an image ofthe monster his sister had become flashed through his mind.  Even flying high overhead, he’d gotten a goodlook at her and the fear she’d inspired. He’d seen hardened, experienced soldiers throw down their guns and runaway with panic etched on their faces and blazing in their eyes.  He couldn’t actually see their faces, but ifhe could’ve, that’s what he would’ve seen. He was sure of that.

Hewent back inside the tent, the cold proving too much for him.  The heater that Rone had created was stillgoing full blast, creating a thick, enveloping heat as soon as he gotinside.  Rone stirred fitfully in hissleep and Fowler was sort of twitching.

Hewas about to go over to Rone and wake him up, but the Rook’s face suddenlytwisted into a grimace of pain and his hand shot down to his left leg.  His eyes popped open.

“Youokay?” Asher asked.

Ronedidn’t answer for a second.  The wave oftingling, electric-like pain shooting through his amputated leg was the onlything he could concentrate on at the moment. When it passed, he looked over at Asher.

“Yea,”he replied, taking a deep, steadying breath. He pulled his hand away from his leg and started getting up.  “I’ll be fine.”

“Howoften does it do that?” Asher said, glancing half-heartedly at the brightsilver of Rone’s prosthetic leg.

“Everyonce in a while.  Always catches me offguard when it does it.”  He startedpacking away all their things, stuffing them back inside one of the three packshe’d created for their journey.

“What’sit feel like?” Asher asked, curious.  IfKeiara were with them, she probably would’ve slapped him on the shoulder andtold him to quit being rude, but he couldn’t help it.  He was curious and when he was curious, heonly relented when it was sated.  Maybewhen he got older, he would learn to control it better.

“Itfeels like lightning shooting around in my leg. And tingling.  Lots of tingling,”Rone replied, not looking at Asher.

Theyquit talking and the silence was heavy and oppressive.  Then, Fowler let out a very long, very loudsnore.  Rone looked at Asher and Asherlooked at Rone.  Then they both howledwith laughter, the tension evaporating with it.

“Wha..,”Fowler asked, his voice still rough with sleep. He blinked at the both of them. They were still laughing like lunatics. “Wha’s so funny?”

“Nothing,”Asher managed, wiping tears from his eyes.

Fowlerlooked angry for a moment, but Rone brought out some food and his eyes sort ofglazed over.  He grabbed his share ofcrackers, dried vegetables, dried fruits, and water and started gobbling themdown.  Asher watched the food disappearinto his friend’s mouth with awe, wondering how he never managed to chokehimself.  He took his own share of thefood and ate as well and Rone did the same. When they were all done, they packed up their stuff again (with a loudgroan from Fowler).  Rone made the heaterand light burst apart into nanos that returned to the mechpaks on his forearms.

Theywent into the cold.  Rone put a finger tothe tent and it burst apart too.  Thestreams of tiny microscopic robots twisted through the air until they weresafely back inside their mechpaks. Fowler shivered instantly, turning hateful eyes on the two of them.

“Ihate you guys,” he told them, but he was ignored.

Rone’sfocus turned razor sharp again, his eyes trained on the ground directly infront of him.  He concentrated on puttingone foot in front of the other.  Heblocked out the wind and the cold.  Heblocked out how high they still had to go. He blocked out Fowler’s constant complaining.  The only thing he didn’t block out were histhoughts of Keiara.  That was the forcedriving him forward and he let it.  Helet it cement his determination in his mind and turn him into an indestructibleengine that would keep going and going until he found her.

Theykept the pace that Rone set for four hours, but after that he could tell Asherand Fowler were getting exhausted.  Hedecided to stop so they could break for lunch. He created a partial enclosure that blocked most of the wind and snow,recreated the heater, and handed out some more food.  They ate in silence, all of them cold,miserable, and tired.  So, so tired.  The same thought kept popping up in each oftheir minds.  They weren’t going tosurvive much longer.

“Can’tyou just use your flying-thing?” Asher had asked yesterday as they all stoodlooking up at the giant mountain.

“Theweather’s too harsh.  Too much wind andsnow and it will only get worse the higher I fly.  I wouldn’t be able to control my flight orsee anything.  More than likely I’ll runmyself into the side of the mountain and die,” he’d explained.

“Oh,”Asher replied, feeling stupid for asking the question.

“Thatwould be bad,” Fowler had commented.

Theyfinished eating.  Rone grabbed some snowand started boiling it, adding ingredients that Asher had found during theirtrek to the mountain range to make a sweet, and vaguely spicy, tea.  They all drank, relishing the heat.  Rone let the two boys rest up a little morebefore he forced them to hike up the mountain again.  He closed his eyes for a moment.

She’s close now, hethought.  He didn’t know how he knewthat, but he did.  It was a simple,flat-out truth.  Like the sky is blue orthe grass is green.  Keiara is close.

Hewondered, idly, if she could feel him. If he could feel her presence (it felt like something tugging at hismind), then it stood to reason that she could feel his.  He hoped she could.  He wanted her to know that he wascoming.  That he would save her.

“Let’sget started,” he said, standing up.

Keep checking back for more excerpts of Book Two: Roc!

Feel free to comment, share, like, or re-post.  I would love for word to spread of my epic sci-fi/fantasy Histories of Purga series.

 

 

 

copyright by Rustin Petrae 2013