Fallen Crown (Orc Destiny Volume II) (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) by Jeremy Laszlo Read Free Book Online Page A

leaving it in a trance-like state. The second, he
untied the top of a cage and quickly reached inside, snatching one of the foxes
up by its neck. Holding the beast up off the floor he squeezed its throat,
pinching off the air it needed to survive. It was a foul deed, and Gnak knew it
to be so, but reminded himself that for many to live, some would need to die.
    As the fox perished, Gnak held it to his ear, listening for
its heart and feeling for its breath. The fox was still. Gnak placed it back in
the cage and waited. Out from the corpse came the essence and, snatching it
from the air, Gnak returned it back to the body, feeling it bind back into
place as the animal coughed. Rising as if nothing happened, the fox began to
stir as Gnak secured the lid of the cage once more.
    “Now wait,” Gnak said, turning his attention back to Bota.
    “No yet,” Bota replied, and reached into a cage himself.
Gnak watched as his second in command pulled the fox from its cage and freeing
his blade from his belt he stuck the small animal in its chest, watching it bleed
out in seconds. Then, seemingly without remorse he handed the small corpse to
Gnak.
    “Bring back. Is test. Like human girl. Gnak learn fix?” Bota
both asked and suggested.
    Gnak took his meaning. There was more to learn, and one
lesson needed to be a lesson of his previous failure. Like Jen, this body was
injured. But unlike Jen, this one had just perished. Gnak watched,
waiting for the orb to leave the body, and as soon as it released its hold he
put it back in place where it belonged. Within moments the fox was moving again
despite the hole in its chest. And with its apparent recovery Gnak rose back to
his feet. Night was again near, and though he had not rested, they would soon
be on the move again. All he could do for the foxes was wait and see what toll
his manipulations had on them.
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    It was near the middle of the night two full days later when
the commotion arose from the lines of Orcs following Gnak’s lead across the
desert. Hearing the shout of one of his captains, he called a halt to their
progress, and turning he strode back the way he had come. There, near the rear
of the line was a gathering of Orcs, including several of his captains.
Clearing a path between the congregating men and women of his tribe, he found
that between them stood the cart containing the foxes he had experimented upon.
He had given order that if anything occurred with the beasts he was to be
notified immediately, and they had done well to do as he ordered.
    Needing to witness as much as possible himself, he rushed
ahead as his clan mates spread wide, creating a path for him. He well expected
the fox with a hole in its chest to have expired once again, and was not
surprised when he found that his thoughts had been true. The animal had
deteriorated quickly with the previous day’s hot sun and flies, and now it
seemed it had met its end.
    Laying in its cage, the beast did not move, as maggots
crawled about its wound and mouth. It was a sick bloated thing, the skin so
inflated that it moved independent from the muscles and sinew beneath. Even so,
Gnak could see the spark within it and caught it as it moved to depart. Holding
the tiny ball of light in his hand, he again pressed it to the beast and felt
it bind there, though the sensation was weak. The disgusting animal’s mouth
moved, its swollen tongue lolling about as its milky eyes wandered this way and
that. It was alive again. If you could call it that. Only this was not the only
issue requiring his attention as two of his captains quickly pointed out
    Beside the first cage sat another of the same crude
construction. Within the cage was the fox that Gnak had removed the orb from
and left in a trance-like state. Though it remained in an upright position,
having not moved in days, it had stayed that way when it had died. Though none
could be certain when that had been, as it appeared still to be living,
with eyes