David Ascendant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 7) by Brian Godawa Read Free Book Online Page A

wildly grasping at the air, being laughed at by a cadre of his superiors.
    Then the first punch struck him. It hit his left arm. He felt a shooting pain and grabbed his arm in protection. He rubbed the sting out of it. It was a hard hit.
    The next one was just as hard, a hit in the leg. He yelped in pain. It must have been a kick.
    “Stop your squawking, tadpole. You are a warrior, not a woman.” It was Ishbi again. “Or are you a woman? Maybe you are just a dog for our pleasure.”
    Another hit. Lahmi became angry. He started to swing in the air. Maybe he could guess and get lucky, connecting with some giant’s jaw who was lunging at the same moment.
    It was not to be. A flurry of kicks and punches rained down upon him. They overwhelmed him.
    He dropped to the desert floor trying desperately to protect his head and groin.
    Then it all stopped. He coughed out the dust that had gotten into his lungs.
    “Get up and fight like a giant,” Ishbi’s voice said.
    Lahmi got up, limping. But he was up. He was determined to face the impossible odds against him.
    He could hear the labored breathing of his initiators closing in. It occurred to him that maybe he had tired them out with his ability to take a beating.
    He felt a blade slide down his tunic, barely grazing his skin, drawing blood. The tunic dropped to the ground.
    A hand grabbed his loin cloth and ripped it off of him.
    He was now naked and exposed before the circle of taunters. They whistled and yelped sexual remarks at him.
    He guarded his genitals, knowing they were the part of his body most vulnerable to pain.
    Another slap on his rear.
    And another.
    Then he felt two strong hands on either side grab his arms and hold him. He struggled, but they were too strong.
    They pulled him to the ground onto his knees.
    He could feel and hear the hot breath of all of them on him. He could feel they were naked and aroused.
    He felt another slap on his face, and a stinging leather flog on his back and buttocks.
    He felt the first warrior mount his back.
    He could swear it felt like Goliath’s own grip on him. There were no words from the giants, only grunts of animal lust all around. They were like a pack of wild dogs.
    He winced in pain as he was violently penetrated.
    It was only the first of six violations that would complete his initiation that evening into the sacred brotherhood of the Sons of Rapha.
                  • • • • •
    When Ittai escaped the clutches of Ishbi and Goliath in the desert, he didn’t go back to Gath. He just kept running deeper into the desert. He was never going back to Gath. He was running away forever. Something inside him had changed.
    He stopped and built a fire in the open to warm himself in the desert cold.
    He had always felt like an outsider with his own people. A half-breed that did not fit into any group. Actually, he was a half-breed of half-breeds, since giants were already hybrid creatures of heavenly and earthly union.
    He believed he was of Nephilim descent, but his oddity made him an object of ridicule. He was ostracized by normal humans because of his extra fingers and toes, and excluded by the Rephaim because of his small size. His mother had died in childbirth so he blamed himself for that tragedy as well.
    He had been called “runt” one too many times. He had been rejected by everyone for too long. In fact, the only person in the whole world who did accept him was Lahmi. But when Ittai had been rejected by the Sons of Rapha and Lahmi was accepted by them, Ittai felt that it was the final insult to who he was. He could never overcome his small size with the Rephaim, he could never overcome his odd mutation with the humans. And now his only friend in the world had left him behind because of these insurmountable barriers.
    He put his dagger at the edge of the fire, with its blade sticking into the coals.
    He wanted to get away from it all; away from the world of rejection; away from the humans who feared him