Free Sondranos: The Narrative of Leon Bishop by Patrick Stephens Page B

Melanie asked.
    Annalise shot her a ‘really?’
expression, but didn’t say anything.
    “ Will not be
forgiven,” the Belovore whispered. The sound made us all jump. I
don’t think any of us expected it to speak English, much less still
be alive. “You will not –“
    Melanie, behind me, pushed
forward from behind even though I refused to budge. I felt her
breasts pushing into me, and as a result felt how heavy her
breathing had grown.
    “ What does
that mean?” she whispered.
    Before I could answer, Davion
skirted by and dropped the boulder on the Belovore’s head. Its
skull cracked instantly, and a flow of something deep red poured
out.
    Annalise shouted and Melanie
nearly tripped, avoiding a large chunk of something I could have
only guessed was brain. The kids looked more concerned with what
had happened than with Davion having killed it. The girl’s eyes
were red, and her cheeks the same. The boy struggled to breathe
past the urge to vomit. Annalise folded her arms against her chest.
I expected her to say something.
    I could have sworn I’d heard a
guttural sibilant come from the Belovore.
    A ship penetrating the sky had
chosen that moment to break atmosphere, sounding like another
detonation screaming towards Sondranos.
     

 
     
     
     
     

Chapter
Five:
    Introductions
     
     
    The roar from
the sky startled us all.
    The sound was the sonic boom of
a ship crashing through the atmosphere. We all turned towards it.
It descended from the apex of the sky; we followed its controlled
fall in our semi-sanctuary between the hillside and the makeshift
woods. Far enough away so that we weren’t in immediate danger, but
big enough to carry at least a million passengers. A dark black
cloud lingered on the skyscape, pinpointing the former city. The
ship plunged through, shoving all cloud wisps aside. Flames and
red-hot singes stressed the bottom of the ship as it moved
downwards. It slowed halfway between the ground and the apex of the
sky. The ship strained against gravity, and four large thrusters
spat out blue flame to keep steady. The silver hull glistened in
the sun. The shape reminded me of something old, like the rotting
arm of a rocking chair. Large steel struts and beams connected and
crossed to form the exterior shell, and nooks and crannies – which
must have been as wide as the transport I’d come in on – dotted the
surface.
    Hundreds of darts poured out
like gnats bursting from its exoskeleton. None of them started
towards the ground as the strafing darts had. Instead, they
patrolled around the ship.
    When it disappeared behind the
trees – the engines still roaring and thumping – we all looked at
each other, then to Davion. He nodded, knelt and looked down. None
of us knew how to react. Melanie bowed her head and closed her
eyes, breathing deep. I wondered if that was still her attempt at
keeping in his good graces. Annalise and I bowed as well, but
looked at each other from the corners of our eyes. The two kids
held close together.
    “ A Belovore.
The exoskeleton is clear enough. They darken with age. That one
must have been three, possibly four hundred years old,” Davion
began. He was too calm for this to be a surprise.
    “ They have
ships?” Melanie asked.
    “ No. They
have ours,” Davion sighed. “The Irene was the colony ship which
landed here. Admiral Perry retrofitted it for them back when they
first initiated the will for space travel. I would be willing to
place a great deal of faith that the ship we just saw is her. The
Belovores are a slow species, methodical and precise. They must
have never seen the need to expand or create more than what they’d
already had. What we’d given them.”
    “ How could
they do this?”
    “ Think,
Melanie. You’ve lived your entire life on this settlement and never
heard of a Belovore before today,” Davion rasped. “How many
generations have passed since Sondranos was colonized?”
    “ You knew the
moment you saw the darts,” Annalise