Safe - EBV3 Excerpt

This one's especially for you Rachel! I've been at a loss lately for finding pieces that I can post on here, because I'm past the sequences where I can really post things for a lot of the characters, but here's a part early in Ki's living with the Everska Sxyarne that is a bit of a very small turning point concerning how he views his new world. Also, this is the first time in a long time that I get to post a scene in its entirety! Hopefully you enjoy.

______________________________________________________



It felt like his stomach was boiling, the walls of his stomach oozing with almost painful discomfort. Ki’s feeling of being healthy had evaporated the moment he had fainted and woken up to the smell of blood still heavy on the air. Limp in the mound of blankets with Kelveniska standing over him, Ki had felt well enough at first, considering he had just fainted, only really feeling confused, but as he had remembered why he smelled blood, he had started feeling sick again. The door to the room had clattered open then with such brusqueness that he had jumped, his heart almost stopping and in through the doors had come Sukra and Alkane, covered in scarlet. They had turned to look expectantly at Ki, blood smeared on their bodies so liberally it was as if they had rolled in it, their hands gripping the hilts of swords wet with fresh greasy redness.


Ki had been transfixed. Not even the butcher had ever had that much blood on himself. He certainly hadn’t had it around his mouth, painted on theirs like gross icing. They could have been eating something messy, like stew, but Ki knew, staring at them, that they hadn’t been, the arterial stench of them making them look even more like murderers. He had never seen anything so grotesque or terror-inducing. Thick in his mind like the smell of the blood was the thought that the two drakoon had just killed somebody and from their slight smiles, they had liked it.

He had been unable to stop staring at them, his body beginning to shake, the world seeming to move around him more slowly than usual and in silence. He had a vague idea that Kelveniska had started yelling at the guard pair, that he was telling them off for something, but he could not hear anything, his ears ringing. Sukra and Alkane had looked startled, then almost insulted and they had walked off into the privy, miffed but they had moved slowly, so slowly that they almost stood still. Their departure had not helped Ki. He was still frozen, the blood smell bitter on his tongue. He could taste the blood. Instinctually he recognized the wretched smell of demise. Kelveniska had crouched down to watch him, blocking Ki’s view, but the sight of the two men covered in blood had already been embroidered into his memories. Shivering, Ki had scrambled up to Kelveniska like a terrified baby puppy and the drakoon had let him, holding him close until the blood smell had started to go away. Feeling weak, Ki had leaned up against the man until he had fallen asleep and he had awoken with the drakoon still watching over him.

Almost, he had been okay, huddled under several blankets and a mat like he was still five but something had felt wrong with his stomach. Kelveniska, noticing that he was awake had made to touch him and Ki had abruptly found himself facing the personal reality that he was not human. Hunter probably would have felt okay after a bit of sleep after smelling and seeing what Ki had seen, because Hunter just adapted to those sorts of things. Hunter had always been easygoing and positive. He would have tried to figure out the reason why the drakoon had been killed in the night and wouldn’t agonized like Ki on the point that it was dead, that Sukra and Alkane had killed it. Hunter would have agreed that it was bad that it had been killed, but maybe it had been done for a reason, maybe in defence?

Ki didn’t think like that, though for a long time he had been trained to. Now Ki was afraid, in a place where strangers who were killers lived and he was trapped with them as his cavalier neighbours. As Kelveniska reached for him, Ki shrank back, becoming as-dragon without even electing it and hissed, curling under a ball in his den of blankets. He forgot reason. The scared little animal that had always been inside of him was instructing him to hide away from the predators of his world. Other drakoon, specifically older ones were his mortal enemies. His panicked mind told him that he was in grave danger.


Hours passed, then two days and Ki remained perpetually terrified. Every move, sound and smell made his heart race. Kelveniska kept whispering to him, trying to reassure him, but Ki had not been rational enough to believe him even when he had been sane. Ki trembled constantly in his blanket den, eyes wide, heart hammering against his ribs. His stomach felt like it was twisting inside of him he was so sick with fear. Kelveniska offered Ki food again and again, but the smell of it was too alike to blood and Ki was too nauseous let alone mistrusting to take it. He growled at it and flicked his tail, seeing the meat not as food, but as a predator. He had no interest in food or water, even though his belly was empty and his throat was parched, his body weak. Ki’s muscles ached from being poised so long and at some point his injured hindleg had started bleeding for a while, but he ignored it. His bodily discomfort mattered not when he was so afraid. Everything was a predator, poised to kill him. Ki would not have trusted his own shadow if he had been able to see it. His entire being was focused on avoiding being killed by a predator and in his mind he was cornered. If he moved, if he broke cover, he would die…

Kelveniska laid down on his stomach in front of him and watched him worriedly. The emperor was not doing his paperwork today nor had he done it yesterday, not that Ki remembered what paperwork was. He watched Kelveniska with extreme suspicion, his muscle twitching half into a growl.

“Vininiska. Vininiska qytqe yz.” said the drakoon, but his attempt at easing Ki’s mind was again lost. ‘Qytqe yz - it’s okay’ just sounded like a nonsensical rival noise to Ki and he curled back his lip, voicing a livid threat.

The door opened and Ki smelled Sukra come in, but he did not look. He and Alkane had been banished by Kelveniska for scaring him and he could smell that they were annoyed, which only made him more petrified.

“Kelveniska.” said Sukra in a short voice. “Kelveniska qoai hensimk…”

“Na.” growled Kelveniska, disagreeing with whatever Sukra was saying without looking at him.

“Kelveniska.” snapped Sukra, arguing something. Ki heard his name and the word ‘kinton’ a lot, then Medyq mentioned several times, but he did not register the meaning. Sukra came into his view, a syringe cocked in the drakoon’s hand, its lethal point glistening and Ki remembered Medyq drugging him to transform. That had hurt… Ki slowly and unsteadily got to his paws, shaking off the blankets to free himself, twitching out his lethal tail, watching the syringe from under the bone ridges that scuted out over his eyes. He raised his wings, trying to make himself look bigger and stretched his legs, ignoring the twinge in his sore quarter. He would not be hurt by a syringe again. He would attack first and destroy it. The drakoon stopped arguing and Sukra muttered a pensive warning, pulling from a pouch on his sword belt a coil of leather and chain that Ki’s sharpening brain knew as a lead. Kelveniska got up slowly, staring at Ki.

“Vininiska, hana…” said Sukra, the words sounding like a challenge. Ki bared his teeth and growled louder, his voice a menacing rattle. Sukra’s expression hardened and he seemed to ready himself, the clip of the brutal braided lead in one hand, the end of it and the deadly looking syringe in the other. Sukra might as well of been holding a knife, for how Ki took the sight of it. Kelveniska backed out of the way, back behind Sukra, looking alarmed.

“Qoai Vininiska.” muttered Sukra dankly. Ki shifted his weight, almost kneading the blankets beneath his paws like a cat and then went still. All he could see now was his enemy. Sukra smirked, baring his teeth. “Qoai…”

Ki jumped, snarling as he leapt towards the syringe, jaws wide open, reaching paws hitting Sukra’s arm. Ki swung his head, distracted as he felt Sukra wrap his other arm with the lead around his neck, the adult drakoon growling something in his ear, then he felt the needle point pierce his hide and he thrashed, trying to get away, but he had miscalculated. Ki’s animal mind reeled. He had not thought Sukra would be so fast, faster than him and as his hurt hindquarter gave under his weight, he realized drearily that he had not counted on that either. He should have been panicking, trying to rip into Sukra’s face with his teeth, but the shaft of the syringe’s point was being pushed deeper under his skin and suddenly he was only nervous, the blind panic pushed away then conquered by the new sedative in his blood. Sukra gently put him down on the floor and Ki stood shakily by his leg, staring dazedly at a random crate along the wall, shivering. Sukra held the needle in his neck for a moment longer then pulled it out of Ki’s flesh, putting it away then calling to Kelveniska, who came and hugged Ki tightly about his shoulders.

Overcome, Ki started to whimper as the painful knot in his stomach came undone and unbidden he tried to get as close to Kelveniska as he could, huddling against him. The fear trickled away, the scared animal becoming less scared until it was calm enough to smell the creature holding it and relax. He leaned against Kelveniska until Sukra muttered a suggestion that Kelveniska transform, then the drakoon did, but Ki was not afraid. Kelveniska smelled no different as-dragon or as-elf. He was the same creature. Instinct, strong and undeniable made him scramble close, holding still as the drakoon turned and roughly licked his face. Ki was hardly aware of Sukra bending over his injured leg to look after it. Pinned under one of Kelveniska’s front paws and his wing against the drakoon’s side, Ki started to feel what the drakoon had been insisting that he was.

Safe.

Sniff Him on The Nose (EBV3 Excerpt)

After three posts for Sunny, I thought I should treat you brave few readers with an excerpt. In honour of Sunny, it's cat centered and as such, hopefully you'll find it amusing, as cats can be pretty charming animals. Elven cats may be able to speak in mindspeech, but they're still quite alike to the fiendish little house devils that cat lovers adore. Dansen, in particular, is very idiosyncratic and deserves his own youtube channel, but unfortunately, he's not a real cat, so I can't film him. In this part, Ki tries to get information out of Dansen, but Dansen won't budge, not unless Ki plunges his head in the cold waters of culture shock... slightly edited.



________________________________________________


Sukra got up and he followed him out the door and Sukra let him follow him all the way across the office to the doors at the other end of the hallway, where there was some mail waiting, pushed under the door by the guards on the other side. Ki stood beside Sukra and watched him sort through the mess of letters, tossing some aside to Alkane who looked disapproving, opening others to read them while not looking at some of the letters at all. He held an unintelligable letter up in front of Ki’s face and said something the man obviously found personally amusing then went to his post by the door, leaving the messy stack of letters waiting for Kelveniska on the desk. Ki looked at the letter again and felt a little ill as he realized that human hands had written it, for in the bottom left corner there was stamped the Escavian Coat of Arms. Under that was the name of the Escavian Viceroy, Samuel Fletch.


The letter was very long, the hand writing cramped and rough compared to the more fluidly written drakoon letters around it. Ki felt a hollow feeling inside looking at it. This was a communication from home, but he couldn’t even read it to figure out what was going on because it was written in a language that he still couldn’t understand. He couldn’t even write anything back. He couldn’t send anything, any message asking for help to save him and his brother from this place. Ki couldn’t look at it anymore. He looked up and Sukra was smirking at him maddeningly, Ki comprehending at once what the drakoon had found so funny about the letter. All at once Sukra seemed incredibly cruel; how could any decent person find it amusing than another being was trapped somewhere where they did not want to be, that they couldn’t even call for help when a letter from their homeland came?


“I hate them all.” muttered Ki crouching down in his place beside the desk and glaring over his knees.

Kelveniska scolded Ki for sitting the way he was and told him to transform when he came in. On went Ki’s halter, then the day persisted, Kelveniska answering all of his letters including the human one (Ki noticed he took a little longer than usual reading that one, grimacing as if he found reading it painful) and then went to work again on his machinery schematic. Ki was intensely bored, every single hour a torment. Was sitting here going to be his existence for the rest of his life? Didn’t drakoon ever go outside? He was sick of being inside and of seeing these walls. He wanted to see something new and he wanted to run. All his keepers ever let him do was eat, sleep and follow their commands. It was an immensely dissatisfying life and since it was always dark in the dreary barren windowless office, Ki felt rather depressed. He could almost feel himself going insane from it. No wonder he was so grumpy, when he was essentially living like a prisoner in captivity.

SERIOUSLY, do you ever do anything other than write or draw? Ki growled at Kelveniska halfway through the painful day. Kelveniska told him to be quiet and gave a sharp reinforcing tug on the lead. Ki rolled his eyes and flopped down, putting his head between his paws. That man never does anything interesting. Doesn’t he have secretaries or something who could do all this writing for him? He’s rich. He should.

Yet Kelveniska did not have any secretaries and except for mail retrieval, the sketzine did almost nothing to help him in his never ending flow of paperwork. Ki pitied Kelveniska, but he knew that he himself actually had it worse; his only current job was to eat food and, evident from their imposed lack of activity upon him, to get fat. Ki drearily cast a look across his thin hindquarters and ribs, every bone in his body seeming to stick out to him. Yes, he needed to get fatter he supposed, but he also needed excersize too. He didn’t want to turn from a weak scrawny creature into a weak portly one. He looked across at Sukra and Alkane. How do they keep so trim, when all they do is stand there?

“Vininiska, larx!” ordered Kelveniska, shaking the lead at him. Ki had been growling under his breath. He turned his head as he smelled Dansen coming and hissed at the cat, who dared to come and rub up against him anyway.

Vyze Vininiska, you seem to be growling a lot. Why are you in such difficulty? asked the cat, sitting down infuriatingly in front of him.

Why is it that a stupid cat is the only thing I have to talk to? grated Ki mentally. Dansen cocked his head.

I, stupid? I don’t think so. You should put a better guard on your thoughts Vininiska, thinking like that isn’t seemly. said Dansen. Ki growled. I can’t help but hear when you think so loudly.

I think loudly? demanded Ki, feeling violated at having his thoughts read.

Oh yes. You should think much quieter and be more specific about if you’re just thinking to yourself or not, or else anybody can hear. said Dansen, looking as smug as the Cheshire cat. Obviously though, growing up in that dreadful human place you never had to learn because nobody there had the capacity to listen to you. From what I’ve heard, humans don’t have magic like us.

The cat licked a paw. You never had anybody to talk to who understood, did you?

I don’t want to talk to you. snarled Ki. Get away from me.

No, I don’t think I will. I had news, you know, considering that human, but since you’re so rude, I don’t think I’ll tell you. said Dansen, still cleaning himself, wiping his face with his dampened paw.

That human? repeated Ki, his heart suddenly pounding.

The only one in Sloveniska. said Dansen amusedly, licking his back leg and tail now. My mate knows all about that one. She’s been following him with quite a lot of interest.

Is Hunter alright?! cried Ki, the sound he made a high pitched keening shriek.

That hurts my ears. said Dansen, getting up and stretching exuberantly, curling his fluffy tail over his back. The cat padded over to Kelveniska and pawed at his leg. Kelveniska, Kelveniska, let me into my den please.

Kelveniska pulled open the biggest bottom drawer of the desk and Dansen jumped inside, sticking out his head for a moment. Thank you Kelveniska. I’m going to sleep now, you have a nice day. Don’t worry about keeping Vininiska quiet for me, you know I can sleep through anything.

“Aya Dansen, cwid hensin.” said Kelveniska and as Dansen popped his head down Kelveniska pushed the drawer closed, then immediately went back to work. Ki stared.

Alright, that might have just been the most peculiar thing I have ever seen. thought Ki, trying to say it to himself. A cat that lives in a desk…

Ki tried to be patient waiting for the cat to finish his nap, but after only ten minutes he couldn’t stand waiting anymore. He sidled up beside Kelveniska and pawed at the desk drawer where Dansen was, trying to wake him up.

Dansen! Dansen what about Hunter? Please tell me! said Ki, switching paws to scratch with his other as the first got too tired. Dansen didn’t answer. He didn’t even meow.

DANSEN! chirred Ki. Dansen! Wake up! Please! I can’t stand it, I need to know! Is Hunter okay?

For at least a minute, nothing happened, then an aggravated, drowsy yowl echoed from within the drawer. Stop scratching, you’re hurting the desk. Kelveniska; open the drawer. I must speak to Vininiska where I can see him.

Kelveniska sighed heavily and opened the drawer, Dansen slowly peeking his head out until he and Ki were nose to nose.

Alright Vininiska, I shall admit now that you have a stupendous capacity to be greatly annoying. said Dansen levelly. He seemed tired. If I tell you something of what my mate Manuska told me and you do something for me, will you leave me alone?

Ki cocked his head. That didn’t sound like a good deal. He wanted to know everything that Manuska knew about Hunter.

Oh I can’t tell you all of that. Some of it’s quite controversial, Sukra would have a fit if he discovered I’d told you and Kelveniska isn’t very pleased with the idea either. said Dansen. But I can tell you a little. Now, will you agree to that?

What’s so controversial about Hunter? demanded Ki.

Well firstly, the fact that he’s in our territory. Humans don’t belong here Vininiska. It’s very dangerous. said Dansen. The cat cocked his head. So?

Ki shifted his weight and looked aside. He really, really needed to know about Hunter. Even if it was only a little bit of information, it would be something right?

Fine. What do you want me to do? asked Ki.

Dansen inclined his head towards the blandly watching Kelveniska. Stand up on your hind legs and sniff noses with him.

Ki recoiled, disgusted. I’m not doing that!

Dansen flattened his ears. You are if you want to know about the dog-human! Why are you disgusted by it? It’s how your species says ‘vyze’ when they’re dragons you dolt. It’s like both individuals saying ‘Vyze, how are you’ and answering ‘oh fine’ without actually speaking it. You have to learn this Vininiska, it’s how you can gage health in another animal.

Why would I want to know that? snapped Ki.

Well, firstly because it’s a way that you can determine where you yourself stands within the hierarchy of a group and secondly because if they’re an opponent you can learn whether or not you have any advantage. Also, every animal species in the world but humans do it.

Ki grimaced. How badly did he need to know?

Really badly; Ki turned towards Kelveniska and tensed his hindquarters, ready to stand on them, then it occurred that he had no idea what he was doing. He looked back at Dansen. What do I do?

Sniff him on the nose. Isn’t it self explanatory?

____________________________________________

Easier said than done Dansen! Humans don't sniff noses with each other, so while what Dansen is asking of Ki is completely innocent, Ki has a habit of thinking of everything in human terms - in this case, innocent nose snuffling gets turned into something more akin to a kiss in Ki's poor humanized brain, so the prospect of sniffing noses with Kelveniska - another dude and an older one - freaks the hell out of him. One of the best things about Ki is his ability to tell right from wrong - surprising amongst drakoon - but at the same time, he often gets things wrong, especially when cross culture stuff is concerned. Eventually though, with a lot of pushing and shoving, the little guy adapts and conquers the strange situations that he encounters...

Blood - Emperor's Blood Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 37 of my manuscript Emperor's Blood. (As you can tell, this one's a cliffhanger!) Fifth (or sixth?) draft of EB arc 2, unedited. (Written today.)

I'm sorry that I haven't had much to post lately. Most of it's been too spoilery for public eyes!

I'm having a lot of fun writing Ki's POV in this draft so far. I think it's going to work (hopefully) and that I'm not going to do another bloody version of this arc in six months. (EB arc 1 is finalized.) I want to move on to writing Kill Copper (the next book in the trilogy) damnit! I've a great deal of hope for this draft though. The characterizations are a lot better, there's more equality in the distribution of writing for the protagonists (though Ki obviously still gets the most screen time, being protag #1) and things are a lot more true to the very first draft. (EBV2. The (two?) versions before V2 never made it even into the second arc, which is okay, because those ones sucked. Tech problems gloriously killed them.)

Yay! Enjoy!

All material (c) Rosanna P. Brost.
________________________________________________

A scream of pure unadulterated agony slashed the still silence, making Ki leap awake, heart pounding. Had it been real? Or his imagination? He’d heard a scream once upon a time and Eva had told him that he was just dreaming as he had ran shaking to her bed. He looked around, then remembered that he couldn’t see, that there was no light and he shrank back, further under the blanket, straining to listen, flinching at the light sound of the rain outside, which should have helped him calm down under normal circumstances.

“EEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRERR!”

Ki nearly fainted at the shrill, animalistic call that rang through the corridors of the keep, then the snarling that followed, beastly and harsh. Something pinged metallic out in the halls, then there was a fierce cry and another animal snarl, then a gargled scream of pain, then something metal hit the floor as more growls sounded.

“Lys! Lys, yin Sketzine! Lys!” snarled Kelveniska. Ki jumped at his voice, suddenly realizing that the drakoon had left him, that he was somewhere near the door, shouting through it like he was goading on attack dogs. “LYS!”

There was a ferocious reeling animal snarl, then a disturbing sound like a breaking egg, then cruel quiet for a moment before a chorus of angry sounding whines accompanied by excited shouts, then whispers. Somebody was being praised like they were heroes. Ki huddled deeper under the blanket, pulling a mat overtop of himself too. He had the feeling that somebody had just died. He had a feeling that they had been murdered.

“Cwid Sketzine, cwid.” said Kelveniska breathlessly through the door. “Cwid yin Sketzine, hana…”

Ki closed his eyes, grimacing. He wanted the sounds to stop. He wanted to know for sure what had just happened and why it had just happened. He wanted - blood. Ki smelled it, as heavy as perfume on the air. Blood. Rich, full of iron and scarlet, cloying, so potent that he could practically taste it. Blood, not the stuff you get when you cut your finger, but blood, arterial blood, blood straight from the heart -

Somebody was definitely dead. Ki fainted.