My Black Beast (7 page)

Lowell slid the picture back into the worn
pages and placed the book haphazardly onto the shelf. He turned,
prepared to look around the house for more clues when a loud, deep
thud sounded from a place that felt close. A split second after the
thud a black-purple glow ran like a wave through a half dozen dust
colored orbs that were placed around the room. Lighting, maybe? But
the colors dissipated and Lowell braced himself for something
worse, just in case. A few seconds passed and he left his awkward
crouch for a more normal posture.

He’d started toward the doorway to check the
street when the sound of bare feet slapping against the ground
found his ears. Marka. It might be. He couldn’t know. Did they all
go shoeless in this place? If they were guards it was best to stay
still and hope they passed him by.

The footsteps turned to the click of rocks as
they moved over the crumbled wall. Marka appeared in the door in
front of Lowell and it took him a moment to realize what he was
seeing. She was covered with blood, her forehead split and gushing.
The tattoos on her leg pulsed with a fading light.

“
Run.” She drew a breath.
“Go.”

Before Lowell could stammer a response, she
was flying toward him at tremendous speed. She collided with him
with all the force of a tiny truck and he felt himself lift from
the ground briefly before they both clattered down. Marka made no
sound as they landed but Lowell couldn’t hold the ache in. He
groaned loudly. She pushed off of his downed body and flew across
the room. As swiftly as she’d crossed the room she flew to the side
and into the thick stone wall. It did not give way only sounded the
sickening slap of flesh against unmoving rock.

Lowell looked back to the door to see what had
happened and there was a boy. He couldn’t have been more than nine
or ten and his arm glowed with the same intense, strange light that
everything else seemed to. The statues were beginning to make
sense, as were the tattoos.

Laying on the floor, he could have sworn he
heard the voice of a young girl, but there was no one behind the
boy and no one else in the room. When the voice stopped the boy
with the glowing arm walked toward Lowell with distinct purpose.
Lowell scrambled backwards and quickly found himself against the
bookshelf. He wasn’t sure what his views on attacking children were
in general, but this one had put Marka into the wall without much
effort. Maybe bargaining would work.

The boy stopped in front of him and Lowell
opened his mouth to speak. He saw the bright magical glow fill his
vision before he felt the stone of the bookshelf against his head.
All muscle control ran away into some corner of his brain while the
cells scrambled to right themselves. They failed and the world
turned dark around him.

Chapter 7

His eyes opened to the slowly
clearing
haze of a head wound and there was the distinct kick of dragging
heels off the street beneath him. He was being dragged. It wasn’t
Lowell’s typical mode to be a quick thinker, but he knew well
enough in this situation to stay still, at least until he could get
his bearings. They were carrying him by his arms. It was much more
uncomfortable than he’d imagined when they carried people that way
in movies. Still, the position allowed him a view of more than the
sides of the guards who carried him. It struck him that the guards
were adults, dressed in simple black linen shirts and pants. Grown
men and more muscled that he’d prefer if he was going to be able to
do anything about the situation.

Glancing to the sides, there were people
finally. They stared with horrified eyes moving between the strange
interloper and something behind.

Behind. Marka.

He looked back through his armpit as gently as
he could in the hopes they wouldn’t notice him. Sure enough she was
behind. Her tiny, bloodied body slung over the shoulder of some
other guard. The wave of panic and anger washed over him all at
once. He looked at the arms of the guards carrying him. Muscled as
they were, they weren’t tattooed the way that boy’s had been. Maybe
he could do something. He had to try. Nothing good ever happened at
the end of dragging a pair of unconscious people down the main
street of a weird alien city. It just isn’t a situation that can
end well.

A short glance forward showed an opening
square with stalls in the street selling food. The smell of it was
strange but it looked to be the best crowd he could hope for. Maybe
the panic would buy him some time. Lowell resumed the boneless act
as best he could and counted the steps. After thirty or so, the
sounds of the market had picked up around him and he figured it was
as good a time as any.

The sudden shift caught the guards unaware as
Lowell dug in his feet. He pulled as hard as he could in a
wrenching motion. The guard on his right tumbled forward, hitting
the ground and rolling. The second lost his grip on Lowell’s arm
and gave him some room. The look of shock on the still standing
guard was plain. Lowell wheeled with the momentum of pulling
himself free and was now staring down the guard who held Marka. He
hadn’t yet processed what was going on. Lowell tried to will his
body forward into the guard but the moment he put a foot forward
the wound on his head caught up with what he’d done and he ended up
placing his other foot wide out to catch himself in the resulting
stumble. He brought a hand up to steady his head but it was enough
time for the guard to react.

The large man knitted his brow and shouted
something in a language that Lowell couldn’t begin to guess the
origins of. The guard let out a huff and said something that seemed
vaguely accusatory, pointing to the guard that was still scrambling
to his feet. Neither of the guards who had carried him made a move
and it occurred to Lowell now that the man carrying Marka was
easily four inches taller than him and that he was built more like
the side of a cliff than like a normal human. The other guards
watched the large one intently. He dumped Marka on the ground and
stepped forward.

The small girl’s body hit with another thud
that would induce wincing in the strongest of dispositions. Lowell
couldn’t stand the sight of it but he knew there wasn’t much he’d
be able to do against the behemoth that was facing him down. A
quick scan of the sides of the market made the spectacle of the
ordeal clear. A street that had been mildly populated before now
teemed with onlookers waiting to see the freaky interloper get his
skull crushed.

It’d taken its sweet time but Lowell’s head
finally caught up with itself and gave him control over his body
again. There was simply nothing to be done about the guard, but
there wasn’t anything trailing along behind him so there was a
shot. He’d have to be fast but it might work.

Lowell stood up straight and puffed out his
chest, tearing off his jacket. This was going to be stupid but
maybe he could get his point across.

“
Bi— tch.” His voice broke.
Embarrassing. Not a great start. “You think you can take me?
HUH?!”

He got louder and put on the meanest face he
could imagine with no idea whether it’d work or not.

“
You got a big set of balls on you,
right? Big tough fucker with a stupid face. You suck.” Not the
strongest finish, but he said it with every ounce of conviction he
had.

Regardless of how well the taunting might’ve
worked elsewhere, the guard seemed to go for it. He was shouting
things back in his language and walking forward. Lowell did
everything he could not to look down to check on Marka, knowing it
might give the game away.

The guard was arm’s length now and it was time
to act.

“
WHAT’S THAT?!” Lowell shouted and
pointed off into whatever direction his arm was facing.

There was no way it could work but it was all
he had. No possible way… only it did. The big guard, the smaller
guards, and every single person in the square around him looked to
the side, some even gasped. In truth, he didn’t notice that it had
worked until he was halfway to Marka’s limp body. If there wasn’t a
meat mountain behind him with the urge to kill, he might have even
let out a laugh.

Marka hadn’t made a move the entire time.
There was no blood on the ground around her so whatever injuries
she had didn’t seem to be untenable externally, but he didn’t have
time to really examine her. He slid his arms under her and that was
when he heard a man shout from the sidewalk, drawing attention to
him. He had to be gone, now. It wasn’t likely he’d be able to
outrun the guards with Marka in his arms, but he had to
try.

On the way to his feet, the world spun again
and Lowell fell to one knee. Worse than that, Marka slipped free
and fell back to the ground.

“
No. Damnit, no!”

His brain wouldn’t have it. He couldn’t work
his arms the way he wanted. There was a grunt of exertion from
behind him but no time to brace himself for what he knew it meant.
A wide fist plowed unyieldingly into his ribs and sent him hard
onto his side. He could swear he heard something crack and the wind
was gone from his lungs. There were gasps and mumbled words from
the onlookers.

Lowell waited there in the dirt for another
blow to come down but nothing did. The large guard was satisfied.
Maybe he was taking pity on him even. The two smaller guards came
and dragged him up by the arms, this time the pain was searing.
There was definitely something not great happening to his ribs. As
he came up, Lowell let out a loud groan. He heard a few people
mutter at the sides. Back in the arms of the guards, he had a
proper look around. He didn’t know fully what he’d expected, but
they all looked human. Most even had fairly normal hair and none
were as striking as Marka was or as the boy had been. Beyond that,
there were few tattoos to be seen. However normal they looked to
him, the sentiment wasn’t shared. It was nothing but wide-eyed
stares and half-whispers as the guards dragged him away.

Most of the trip was spent wincing and looking
at the ground, but before long excited orders were shouted and the
sounds of people shifting brought Lowell’s head up. Another stone
building, this one completely lacking in outer decoration of any
sort. It stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the city. The stone
doors slid open, smooth and effortless. The glow that moved them
showed itself on the inside. The entire interior that Lowell could
see was lined with carvings. They were taking him
inside.

He lifted his head in a half-panic, trying to
find Marka. The pain stopped him on his first attempt but he tried
again, slower. He looked around as frantically as he could manage,
but she was nowhere.

“
Where is she?” The guards ignored
him. “WHERE?! WHERE DID YOU TAKE HER?!”

He struggled against them but there was
nothing he could do, not with his ribs screaming the way they were.
Still, he tried. Wrenching and tearing as best he could. The guards
were prepared for him now and if they were bothered by his weak
thrashing that didn’t show it.

“
NO! NO NO NO!!”

They neared the door and he protested as loud
and as violent as his body would allow. His head began to spin
again.

The door lead into a building with a long hall
and at the end of it was a figure making its way slowly toward the
oncoming guards. They stopped just outside of the building,
waiting.

As the form in the hallway grew closer he
could see it was an old man. Bald, frail, spotty, and clean shaven.
He was dangerously thin to the point of looking like he might be
troubled by a stiff breeze and he said nothing. He moved close to
Lowell who had fallen silent staring at the aged
creature.

“
Where is Marka?” He barked the
words aggressively.

A bony finger rose to Lowell’s lips and the
man leaned down to look him in the face. The finger tapped his lips
a moment.

“
Shhh.”

The old man put hand on Lowell’s chin and
turned him side to side, examining his face. When he was satisfied
he stood and said a few words to the guards before moving
aside.

They dragged Lowell into the building. The
hallway was a maze of carvings that all seemed to flow in the same
direction. At the end of the entryway, the path broke and he was
taken left into a widening room with incredibly high ceilings.
There were distinct rectangles along the path down each with a
single carved line running down to a small sphere carved in the
middle of a blank expanse of white stone. The guards stopped him in
front of one of the rectangles and waited. Lowell hung there limply
trying to find an angle that dulled the pain in his arms and
ribs.

The door opened in the way all doors seemed to
in Marka’s world and Lowell was ushered inside and dumped on the
floor. His jacket was tossed in as an afterthought. It was nice of
them not to just leave it in the street. The guards took their
leave and Lowell simply let himself sprawl on the cool stone
ground. The cell was spacious, almost upsettingly so. It didn’t
seem like the sort of place you kept criminals. Not exactly a hotel
either. There was a slit along the wall about halfway up and it let
in light from the outside. The light never changed in the time
Lowell had been outside and was the same now. He wondered idly if
there was such a thing as night here but gave up on the curiosity
before he made it too far along. Protruding from the far wall out
into the room was what looked to be an observation deck and the
first thing he’d seen that wasn’t made of stone. A tall glass wall
with no one on the other side. He stared up at it, waiting. After
about five minutes the guards that had left him there found their
way in. They stood, staring. Lowell squinted up at them. The glass
wall didn’t appear entirely sealed.