Demons of the Past: RETRIBUTION, Chapter 3

And we had one other major character to hear from, so let's see what Taelin's up to now... -----     Chapter 3 Taelin: He checked himself in the all-view mirror again. Long gold hair pulled back in the one-tail style – conservative and nonintrusive. Formal business flow-cloak over sharp-cut shirt and pants – muted shades with just a touch of gold edging. Gray polished boots, formal pistol discreetly displayed. No crest of any Family, Lesser or Greater, let alone Five. That should do. Taelin met his own green-blue [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: RETRIBUTION, Chapter 2

Varan was wondering about The Eonwyl and crew, so let's see what they're up to... ------     Chapter 2 The Eönwyl: "Teraikon." Guvthor repeated the name. The immense Thovian had an abstracted, pensive look on his brown-furred face. "That's what I got," the Eönwyl agreed. "There was a lot more he was trying to say – something about Teraikon, something that would have told us exactly what we needed to do or find – but I couldn't get that." An extremely intriguing clue, Dr. Sooovickalassa said, his telepathic [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: RETRIBUTION, Chapter 1

We finally begin the last book in Varan's journey, as RETRIBUTION releases on March 19th! -----   Demons of the Past: RETRIBUTION by Ryk E. Spoor   Section One: The Shadowed Hand Chapter 1 Varan: I stumbled forward through the door, still somehow clinging to Tor's Mind Center like a man maintaining a precarious grip on the edge of a precipice. I turned, seeing the portal slide shut slowly, locking shut with a ringing clang of finality. It was a measure of how much was still wrong with me that I found being locked in my [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 21

Our snippeting comes to an end with Varan and friends arriving, finally, at Thann'Ta for a fateful meeting... ----- Chapter 21. Varan: Downbreak this time happened precisely on schedule, with both myself and The Eönwyl in place, rested, and ready. Thann'ta's sun was slightly more orange than standard, but Thann'ta itself orbited closer to its star by enough to make it a hotter world than most Imperial planets – one that would have violent weather and, if experience was any guide, a lot of thick and deadly jungle over much of the [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 20

Varan's gamble is a painful one... ----- Chapter 20. Varan: Morno came straight in, as I'd expected; his style was to hammer fast and hard, typical of the Ternam Ralyeh, and his technique was a unique combination of jai-ye and zairaka. Taelin used a lot of the latter – Lukh was an expert in it – but jai-ye was almost exclusive to the Dragon Strikers; it meant "wing-claw" and was a style focused on swift, multi-level punching and kicking, a highly aggressive combat style meant to maim and kill. But I was in Mind Center, the calm [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 19

Let's check in and see how The Eonwyl is doing... ----- Chapter 19: The Eönwyl The Eönwyl found herself picking at her food, something very much unlike her. Even in very tight spots, she never had trouble eating; after all, if you had to act quickly, it was good to have your tanks full. But her mind kept insisting on going back to worrying about what was happening to her … Her friends. She'd used the word casually, but The Eönwyl didn't really have friends. She couldn't afford them. Not with her family still enslaved on a [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 18

Varan had a plan... ----- Chapter 18 Varan: "All right, Varan." It had taken him just another half-hour to finish up whatever business he had elsewhere; Morno settled himself into a chair just outside of the doorway. "We're recording now, though I'm sure you don't need that warning." "No, I rather expected you were recording long before you got here." Morno's eyes narrowed. "Actually, no. Without a Monitor to order me otherwise, I'm sticking with full military procedure, and that means that even suspected psis like you aren't [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 17

Varan had just gotten a really rude shock... ----- Chapter 17 Varan: "What?" The inane question was out before I could restrain it, and Commodore Morno let his grin widen a bit. "Apparently your friend is an exile, not welcome on Thann'ta. They told us that you would be coming, that you would pass through this system, and even gave us a good general arc – one small enough that I could place scout pickets along the line with a good chance of picking you up, if you were in fact coming when and where they said. The timing was short [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 16

They'd been yanked out of FTL drive and captured... ----- Chapter 16. Varan: I stared out the viewport as The Eönwyl was brought down to a cleared landing area in the central bay of the Kukanaro. I realized that they must be taking the fighters which had deployed to intercept us into the other landing bays – and it'd be getting very tight. Their flight deck boss would be severely annoyed. With all nonessential power cut off, we could appreciate the delicacy of the maneuvering by the unseen tractor wrangler. There was barely a jar [ Continue reading... ]

Demons of the Past: REVOLUTION, Chapter 15

They're on their way to Thann'ta and another meeting... -----   Section Two: Minds of Light and Darkness   Chapter 15 The Eönwyl: She realized she was halfway up the corridor, sprinting for all she was worth, before Sasham's confused "Eönwyl?" caught up with her. We were just… talking! A part of her was wondering what the dark-rock hells was wrong with her, but the other was screaming urgency, move, now! She skidded to a halt, dropping into her seat and hitting the alarm, seeing the streaming luminescence of conversion [ Continue reading... ]