Read Online My Black Beast by Randall P. Fitzgerald - Free Book Online

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