by Pam Uphoff
“Don’t make me regret not finishing you off, Buster.” Xen looked around.
Okay, no immediate danger, so I’d better assess the damage.
He trailed off as he looked down at himself. Bright orange overalls. Long plain sleeves, a bit short, showing his wrists, tight in the crotch, legs a bit short. Barefoot.
He held out a hand . . . nothing. Swiped a hand down his neck, no Chain spell. “So, that’s the good news. But . . . is this a methalformaline effect that will wear off in a few hours? Genetic engineering to remove power genes? Or . . . something else?”
He glanced at the sun again, scanned . . . a pale halfmoon barely above the horizon . . . “So waxing or waning? It was waxing . . . I think. Q would be ashamed of me not knowing that. Either one or three weeks until my genetic repair spell kicks in at the full moon. Or not, of course, if whoever . . .“ He staggered back to his feet, hissing a bit as a sharp stab of pain lanced from his chest down his right leg. “Knew about it and removed that as well.”
A thrashing in the grass. The wolf stood swaying, a big lanky animal, a bit thin, with hair matted with blood here and there.
“Oh, so I’m not the only . . . animal beating up on you, eh? Got in trouble with your pack did you?”
The wolf staggered, turned and ran.
“Good plan.”
And with no threat, pain washed back in.
A thumping bad headache, plus more. A lot more. Xen pulled open his overalls with a ripping sound. “I hate Velcro.” He squirmed out of the undersized garment and examined his flank and thigh. Plenty of raised, red welts. A few spots of blood, but the tough fabric had kept the wolf’s claws from penetrating. The welts crossed an odd . . . burn? Wiggly of line blistered red fuzzing out in fractal branches. "Like that guy that got struck by lightening . . ." He tucked his chin to track it to his chest. Lots of blistering, some charred spots of third degree burns.
There was a small blackened circle just over his heart. Surrounded by spidery red. He poked it carefully . . . “Blistering? Charring? Did a fireball get through my shields?”
Did they say something about my heart?
A flash of memory. A shiny coppery floor, a throne, a short fat man in a fur-trimmed, velvet robe. “You destroyed a world.” The thump of his staff on the floor, angled toward him . . .
“Copper floor? I think I got zapped with electricity.” He looked down at his chest. “I suspect I’m lucky to be alive. But I was probably wearing leather boots . . .” he pulled the pants lower and followed the line of the burn down to just about where the top of his boot would be. “So it just arced to the copper floor.” He contemplated the burn on his chest uneasily.
Remembered voices.
“. . . heart beat is highly irregular. If you want any information out of him, you’d better hurry.” A man’s voice. “He’s not going to last long.”
“Not really, he was just a weapon to remove from their hands. Is there anyone else to Transport?” A woman's voice, very close, a hand running down his arm.
“No. I’ll have the techs fire up the rings and he can die out of sight and away from the scrutiny of those tiresome . . .”
Xen tried for context, but that memory was gone. He looked down at the line of blisters and char. “It’s not . . . too wide . . . but, how cooked am I, inside?”
And how infected is it going to get with no healing magic?
Marooned is scheduled for release in June 2019
Other Titles by Pam Uphoff
Wine of the Gods Series:
Outcasts and Gods
Exiles and Gods (Three Novellas)
The Black Goats
Explorers
Spy Wars
One Alone
Comet Fall
A Taste of Wine (Seven Tales)
Dark Lady
Growing Up Magic (Four Novellas)
Young Warriors
God of Assassins
Heirs of Crown and Spear
The Fiend
Empire of the One
Warriors of the One
Dancer
Earth Gate
Mages at Large
Triplets
Sea Wolves
Bad Karma
Dark Side of the Moon
Cascades
Olympian
Embassy
Rael
On the Run
God of the Sun
Cannibal World
No Confidence
Pure Poison
Flying
Last Merge
Nowhere Man
Black Point Clan
External Relations
Meet the Family
Mall Santa
Saturday Night
The Directorate Series:
Directorate School
A Tale of Three Interns
Trouble in Paradise
First Posting
Surveillance
Fort Dinosaur
Shadow Zone
Project Dystopia
Fractured Loyalties
Cooking Hot
The Boy
One Love
A Warrior’s Art
Scrambled
The Lawyers of Mars
Fancy Free
Time Loop
In the Rift
Writing as Zoey Ivers
YA Cyberpunk Adventures:
The Barton Street Gym
Chicago
Atlantis+
Fantasy:
Demi God