Chapter 63. Scorpions and Foxes

NABU

With the trumpets echoing the sound of looming doom, I see innumerable figures appearing atop the highlands beside us. Like dark shadows, they loom, bare chests, ragged skirts, long raven-colored dreadlocks, and ebony skin.

Who they are and why they attack us are questions I cannot answer. I simply draw my sword, allowing the feeling of excitement inside me to explode into something more… raw, a long-dead part of me that thirsts for primal expression of the raw drive—ego, violence, and pleasure. In my heart, I’m dead, waiting to be buried, a feeling I last felt many years ago. And as I see their numbers multiplying, my joy increases. But before long I see them raising bows in the air.

“Shields up!” I shout, my voice box tingling. Then the compact warriors behind me form a shield defense, a solid shelter where everyone runs under. All my horsemen alight their horses and run into the silver shelter for safety. Everyone except me. My raw drive seems to swallow me