THE FOUR SECTORS WARS - Sample Chapters

FOUR

"What are we doing here?" Raikin croaked. 

"Continuing your initiation into manhood, of course." 

"I could have continued that just fine with the first kiss you interrupted, thank you very much." 

She smiled wearily. "Has it occurred to you that you are more dirty old man than adolescent?" 

"Almadra always said I was born old. Had something to do with my ancestors." 

"The fact that you're a clone, you mean?" 

"A clone? Now that's crazy talk." 

She just sighed with impatience and continued to survey the land. 

"What is this place?" he asked. 

"Rimron. We'll be safe here a while." 

"I'm not big on being safe. It's boring." 

"By 'safe,' I mean we have a fifty-fifty chance of surviving, which beats our chances most anywhere else." 

"Still sounds a bit dull." 

"How did you live this long?" 

"It's one of the great unsolved mysteries." 

She hiked on ahead of him in the direction of the tree line.  

"You say you're familiar with the magic here?" 

"Vaguely," she said. 

"What about our own magic?" 

"Don't know. I guess that's what we're going to find out." 

"If I'm going to become a man, shouldn't I be heading into more danger, not less?" 

"We will be, soon enough." She returned to her hiking, tired of the discourse. 

"You don't stand still much, do you? Pity, being as you're so statuesque." 

"Could you please focus on the contours of this land instead of the contours of my body long enough to be of some use?" 

"I suppose," Raikin said half-heartedly. "I'm Raikin, by the way." he said. "I'll try and pretend it hasn't been killing me that you've yet to ask." She just rolled her eyes and shook her head with impatience.  

As the winds picked up, Raikin thought he heard whispers coming at him from all directions, as if the trees were talking, the grasses themselves, the rocks, the swirls of dust, the little animals. The chatter was making him feel paranoid and driving him out of his skull. He put his hands up to his ears to shut out the sounds.  

"What is it?" Linara said. 

"You don't hear that?" 

"I hear only a quiet breeze." 

"The very land is enchanted." 

"Of course it is." 

"No, you don't understand. The trees talk. The grasses talk. The wind talks. The rocks and hillsides, the rivers, the animals... they are all part of some group mind, deciding things collectively." 

"Interesting. Still, I'm more concerned with what they're doing than with what they're saying." 

"You forget what we can do with words?" 

"Point taken. Come on. Maybe if we get to my friend, Pithius, they will settle down, as he is known to them." 

"Excellent idea. And while we're en route to him, maybe you can explain to me how it is you know more about me than I know about myself."