Chapter 7
Arrival
It was well past midday when he spotted land in the distance. The buildings looming up from the ground were as strange looking as the ones he’d left behind. The air also had a rancid and bitter stench he didn’t like. Although the odor was foul, it reminded him of the cell where he’d been imprisoned.
Garenthclosed his eyes. He didn’t wantto remember that place. He didn’t want to relive the pain and brutality he’d endured. To do so renewed the anger and thirst for revenge against the man who had deliberately set him up. Who had gone out of his way to disparage his name and destroy him in the eyes of hispharaoh.The man who had sought to destroy him.
A tiny smile creased the corners of his wide mouth. For all ofSerasin’splotting and planning, it had been for naught.I am the one who has survived. I have outlived and outlasted you. This may not be a form I would have preferred to be in, but it is life, and it sustains me.
He glanced down at his deformed hands with their thick claws. Like them, his feet bore equally dangerous-looking talons. But his hands and feet weren’t human. Neither werehis legs and arms. He touched his face and grimaced. The familiar planes were gone. He dreaded to think what it looked like now.
He drew nearer to the town and the numerous temples that filled it. The mother idol was here, in this vicinity. Somewhere below. He glanced down at the people, tiny specks of movement, and wondered how much civilization had changed. He saw strange boxesmoving below. Boxes which appeared to be litters to carry people and cargo from one place to another. Like giant land boats that needed neither wind, nor animals, nor slaves to haul them around. He wanted to get closer to inspect them, but forced himself to abstain and remain on course.
Another small smile crossed his lips. At least his curiosity remained intact.
Hepassed over a large expanse of trees. At least, he assumed they were trees. They were nothing like the date or palm trees he was accustomed to seeing.
Ahead was one particularly tallbuilding.Its tall spire reflected the sun’s light like a beacon, drawing him closer to it. As he circled the structure, he was stunned to catch a glimpse of himself. Unable to resist any longer, helanded on one of the upper ledges and stared at the reflection.
Despite the slightly distorted image staring back at him, his worst fears were realized. Lifting a hand to his face,Garenthwatched in growing horror as the creature in the mirrored surface also stroked its grossly distended jaw. Its nostrils flared in its broad, flattened nose. And its dark eyes glared back from beneatha ridged brow. Behind it, the wide wings were almost golden in the sun’s rays.
His gaze dropped to the genitals between its thick legs. He felt some satisfaction knowing his manhood remained intact, but for what purpose other than to distinguish him as being male? There were no females of his ilk, as there would be no human females who would tolerate his caresses.
If he could be so blessed, it would be that his mortal urges had become as desensitized as the rest of him.
Turning around, he rested his haunches on the ledge and gazed out at the expanse. He had arrived. The mother idol was here, buried somewhere down there amid the mass of humanity. Given a little more time, he hoped to be able to hone in on it and detect its exact location sohe could retrieve it…
And then what?
He cocked his head, suddenly unsure. What would he do after he obtained the mother idol? Where would he go?
He almost twisted around to stare back in the direction from where he’d come. He realized he no longer wanted to return to that sandy grave where he’d emerged. But where could he go?
Up here, thewind was becoming brisk, but it didn’t affect him. He couldn’t worry about where he’d go or what he’d do after he found the vial. Those were secondary matters. First he had to retrieve it. Retrieve it so he could keep it safe, because if anything happened to it, he knew it would mean his destruction. His end. And regardless of how he looked now, he valued what life he’d been granted. He wanted tocontinue living, and he would do anything and everything to keep it.
Adjusting himself in a crouching position with his hands and feet grappling the edge of the ledge,Garenthstudied the immense village of stone and steel. Sooner or later he would discover where the idol was. All that was required of him at that moment was patience. And after thousands of years, he’d learned thatlesson well.
