The first book in the next series to Legend of the Bai – what happened when Corbin made the jump through the dimensions to a new world?
Biodomes and fire. A type that coats the DNA and comes out in a wash of blood and war. Joiner Petroleum made a hell of a muck up, and a pandemic triggered something buried in some of the population.
Lunam, co-leader to a gang in Biodome 3, is sent off on a regular mission – get some kids out of danger and collect a gang’s treasure from somewhere it shouldn’t be. But those kids remind of his days in the barracks, and that cognac colored treasure drags him back to the day he almost burned it all to the ground. Can he come to grips with his own self-loathing enough to keep a pair of gangs from taking his territory and threatening his family?
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
Chapter 1
Ever taste copper? That cloying metal viscosity that tells you pain will soon follow? Or maybe that charcoal burn taste of ash on your food when you’ve grilled it? I despise that taste. I crave it.
Chapter 2
The Chambers always made my skin crawl. It was a converted cathedral. The ceilings soared above me, and the main room that used to be the chapel echoed ominously. The stone brickwork was the washed-out ashen colour of corpses. The stained glass had been smashed out so long ago no one remembered. The glittering jagged colours of what remained of the glass jutted out of the casements as monstrous teeth.
Chapter 3
We left the building late into the afternoon. Maria Mater sighed heavily with disgust. “I hate dealing with the heads,” she grumbled as she led Cortex and me to a shaded spot in the courtyard garden.
Chapter 4
“Requies?” I called as I walked into the main office. Browns and creams overwhelmed my vision. The heavy smell of lemon oil and dust was a strange nostalgia that nagged at the back of my head. Papers were neatly ordered in piles on every flat surface available. A thud and something hitting the floor in the room off to the back behind the counter drew my attention.
Chapter 5
Requies had provided me with the apartment number while I had mulled over my first introduction to his place of business. After a longer than necessary chat, I headed out his door and made for the west end steps. I had left Cortex and Tempestatis back at the warehouse to wait on orders. I had also left them with an order to obtain the pickled crabapples for me if they insisted on playing another round with the guys while they waited for my report back.
Chapter 6
“Medicus! Got your man here,” I greeted as we entered the secondary building on our compound. It had been a concrete block office at some point in it’s past. Now it proved to be our hospital and infirmary. Two patients at a time was it’s capacity. If we had an all out war and enough were injured, space was set up on the warehouse floor, which meant a grouchy Clavis. I tried to keep danger to my men low so as not to piss off the one guy that could actually mend our gear and transport. I swear. I tried getting him to take on an apprentice. The closest thing Tempestatis could come to with him was test driving the fleet. Clavis didn’t have to waste time driving and it got Tempestatis out from under his feet.
Chapter 7
Dressed back into my trench, I directed Sanctus to the door. “Thanks, Medicus. I’ll drop by in the morning,” I said over my shoulder as I let us out of the clinic.
Chapter 8
My room was on the third floor of the north end of the old factory. We kept guest rooms up on that floor for when we had Caeruleum visitors come in. Rescues didn’t often get lodged in the factory until they had been vetted. Maria Mater had made an exception for me with Sanctus. Seeing as Requies’s had been compromised, I couldn’t safely lodge him where we usually placed take-ins.
Chapter 9
Morning graced my window, illuminating the room in soft orange cream. I went to stretch and bumped into something. I drew in a startled breath, only to remember that Sanctus had climbed into bed with me last night. His breathing was soft, but told me he was on the verge of waking. I eased up to look down on him. He had somehow obtained more than half the small bed, and I had ended up wedged close to the wall. He had also somehow ended up with the pillow. I chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief at his comfort.
Chapter 10
“You knew him?” Medicus asked as he held pen to paper. He didn’t sound surprised. I had no idea what he was thinking, but man if I could have peeled Medicus’s brain open and got a dig at what was turning in it, I would have paid my right ball for the opportunity.
Chapter 11
The library was buried deep at the opposite end of the facility from my rooms. The place used to be a documents library where blueprints and print media had been kept when the warehouse had functioned. The stairs were dark, and a lamp was the best help we had down it. We needed to get around to laying new wires and lights, but other things kept winning priority in the warehouse.
Chapter 12
“Better?” I asked as Sam and I left Forceps. He nodded, running his hands through his hair happily. “Wanna go get your sister and have lunch?” We walked down the hall and back out to the shop floor.
Chapter 13
Six weeks passed with few outstanding events. Sanctus’s back healed from the stitches, leaving behind itchy scabs that drove him up the wall. He went daily to see Medicus after we dropped Sam and Abby off at Argenti’s together. Within a week and a half of our conversation about his embroidery, he joined with Vestitor to produce clothing in the afternoons before picking up the Accendium if I had Caeruleum work that interfered. Vestitor had been eager to put Sanctus’s skills to work with the coming New Year celebration and The Feast of Hades overloading his regular schedule.
Chapter 14
Mater approached me on the dance floor, drawing me from Sanctus and the Accendium. “It’s time, Lunam.”
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapel Orahamm 