Song of the Worlds Boxed Set

by Brandon Barr

  Isolaug glanced through the king’s hazel eyes up at the far stone platform where sat several hundred mothers, bellies swollen. They cackled excitedly as their children were now preoccupied by their father.

  “I promise to play with you as soon as I finish my duties,” said Isolaug to the children.

  They all bowed, and said in well-rehearsed unison, “We await your promise, Divine Father.”

  Isolaug passed through the wicket door of the second gate. He fingered over the king’s mind like a ghost touching upon the world of the spirit and the flesh. Over the millions of years of his existence on Hearth, he’d tinkered with the countless creatures he’d created from the varied forms the Makers had bestowed him with, adjusting their blood languages and cellular arrangements. Humans were the only animals directly created by the Makers, but still, it was no difficult task to tinker with their inner makeup. Over the last five hundred years of his reign, Isolaug had managed to alter the king’s reproductive capabilities to maximize offspring.

  There was a never-ending need for more children, especially as the reptilian body he would inhabit grew in size. He wanted a healthy, well-fed brood for feed purposes. Only the choicest meals for his most precious creation. As it was, he had to supplement the reptile’s voracious appetite with child offerings from his subjects, young men and women given to the Divine King for temple duty in order to receive a blessing over the family.

  Upon arriving at the mating quarters, Isolaug withdrew from the king’s mind and the human made his way into the rooms of two wives currently in the stage of ovulation. The king was about to enter a third room when Captain Danturas appeared with an escort of Glory Watchmen.

  Isolaug took over.

  “Do you have the coordinates to the wreckage?” asked Isolaug.

  “Yes, Master,” said Danturas, “But I’m afraid it will require no less than three weeks on foot.”

  “Do what it takes.”

  Danturas hesitated, “There is another way. We could promise the Nightmare mutations double helpings if they retrieve all that you wish.”

  “No, not the Nightmares,” said Isolaug. “They’re only good for occupying the minds of the western kingdoms. That ship has precious cargo—too precious for mutations to handle. We must find that starship. It contains brains collected from Loam, and it has another Beast’s servant in cryo freeze. I need that one for purposes of interrogation. But more important, it has my kiehueth aboard.”

  “What if the creature died in the crash?”

  “A kiehueth dies only of old age. No weapon of man can kill it. I will have that creature…I need to study it.”

  “If it is as indestructible as you say, then likely the animal has gotten loose. It would be nearly impossible to find so long after the crash. And besides that, how would we catch it?”

  Isolaug waved for Danturas to follow and led him through the third gate. On the other side were The Divine King’s older progeny, just as numerous as the younglings. Isolaug pointed at a girl who looked about fourteen years. She was pretty enough, but slightly gangly, with a nose too thin and an unpleasing smile. Isolaug had known it would be her turn sooner or later.

  “Come, daughter,” said Isolaug. He turned his eyes to a boy with obvious flaws. A weak chin, a spatter of freckles. Eyes too happy. “And you son, come.”

  Their brothers and sisters shouted praises to their father, and praised the names of the young man and woman chosen for divine unification with their Heavenly Family.

  Isolaug led the two older children and Danturas through a fourth gate. The boy and girl stared in joyous rapture as they entered into a space where only the chosen were allowed passage. Many of their brothers and sisters had gone this way with similar excitement. They had been chosen by their father. They would become part of the Divine as they were granted access to Paradise.

  Together they walked the long hall called the Passage to Eternal Harmony. It was an enormous round tunnel carved out of the volcano. At the tunnel’s end, a gate of coiled metal lifted, revealing a grand opening in the shape of a circle that glowed orange with steady firelight. Isolaug led his small party through the circle into the vast cavern of his prized creation.

  Men with torches stood upon ledges that dotted the tall cavern, each trained in the simple commands that the creature at the center of the room understood.

  Isolaug’s eyes swept over the intimidating form with manifest pride gleaming from his face. The entire body from tooth to tail glistened white and pure, like a pearl waiting within the protective shell of the mountain.

  A broad reptilian head swung toward Isolaug on a long thick neck. Spikes rose from its back, each fuming a trail of smoke into the air through a venting slit at their base. Beneath the spikes was a craggy shell that was a cross between a terrapin and a thorn lizard’s hide. Two sets of wings lay folded about the creature: the main wings, which had feather-like appendages made of thin, pebbled skin like a toad’s, and smaller, asymmetrical vanes that stretched out behind the main pinions and would help the massive creature glide when it finally went airborne. The tail was twice as long as the neck, and at the end, fanned out into more toad skinned appendages, but with spindly, retractable bones that were long, and sharp enough to cut a bull in half.

  Isolaug stroked his hand under the creature’s nape.

  A tongue flicked in and out of the mouth as the snout rubbed up and down against the king’s robes.

  “Father! What is the meaning of this magnificent creature?” asked the boy, who held the hand of his sister. Both stared in awestruck wonder at the great white body.

  “This is Astrum, the Sky Serpent spoken of in the stories taught you by the mothers. He is the bridge to eternity.”

  The ground shook as a small tremor passed through the mountain.

  Isolaug turned to Danturas. “Touch the serpent, feel its skin.”

  Danturas looked surprised. “Master, I—”

  “Touch his skin,” commanded Isolaug.

  Danturas timidly stretched out his hand and took an uncertain step forward.

  “Dig your finger under the crease of his hide,” said Isolaug, “Do you feel the muscle beneath? How a fluke arrow shot by our enemies might catch within the fold of his carapace and do damage?”

  Sweat beaded across Danturas’s brow as he obeyed. His fingers slid beneath the hard fold. Then, just as quickly, his hand sprang away and he took a step back. “Yes, I see,” he reported.

  “The kiehueth must be found. I will not wait another year for the merchants to catch a second one.”

  Isolaug paused, searching Danturas’s thoughts. They remained untainted. His only quarrel with hunting down the kiehueth was the amount of time he’d be away from the wall building projects. He’d grown too comfortable building up Praelothia’s defenses. Soon enough, it would be time to attack.

  Isolaug placed his hand on the captain’s shoulder. “I must have the kiehueth, or we risk delaying our grand event. As soon as Astrum is perfected, I can be rid of this frail human carcass. I will rule a hundred worlds, and one of the first I take will be yours to govern.”

  Danturas bowed. “I look forward to the day, Master.”

  “Father,” called the girl, “our hearts are ready.”

  The boy, with his weak chin and freckled nose grinned enthusiastically. “We are eager to travel the bridge to eternity.”

  “Come here, my children,” said Isolaug. “Stand before Astrum. Tell him your names, and he will take you where you wish to go.”

  Isolaug moved to the hindquarters of the serpent as the two youths announced their names proudly. Danturas followed swiftly behind Isolaug, almost stepping on the skirts of the king’s robe in his haste.

  With the pride, Isolaug turned and looked on.

  Take them unto eternity

  The great head swooped down gracefully and hovered above the two, a ritual it had performed many times.

  “Feel its belly,” whispered Isolaug to Danturas. “Feel it swell.”


  Without hesitation, Danturas placed one hand upon the serpent’s side. Isolaug glanced at his captain’s face and found the trace of amusement in his eyes. The fear Danturas had earlier displayed seemed to have vanished now that Astrum’s attention was occupied with the two youths.

  The children waited, as if standing on a precipice. The girl looked to her father, tears of joy winding down her cheeks. The boy’s eyes were fixed above, as if he’d already caught the first glimpses of paradise.

  One moment they stood awaiting the journey, the next moment they were burning alive, engulfed in a maelstrom of flames so hot that before their bodies fell to the floor, the meat had cooked on the bones.

  When the flame withdrew into the reptilian mouth, the two bodies lay sizzling on the earthen floor.

  There was no finer meat available to Isolaug’s growing body. The king’s children were fed the most nutritious meals: fresh fruits and vegetables, the choicest meats available. And Astrum supped on four or five worthy young men and women a day, depending on the children’s girth.

  Astrum’s head bent down and sniffed the steaming meal before him. He would take his time, morsel by morsel, pulling at the meat and bone and organs, enjoying the unique tastes of the various parts.

  The serpent’s palate was quite refined for a carnivore, eating only freshly cooked meat. Never raw.

  Danturas’s mouth wore a grim smile. “As you’ve taught me, Master: the powerful would be impotent without the weak.”

  Isolaug nodded. “Without sheep, the shepherd would be naked, hungry and insignificant.” He rubbed his hands over a hard, bony spike. Smoke wisped from the slit at the base. “Go now. Find the kiehueth, and bring back the bodies and brains aboard that ship.”

  Danturas bowed deeply, and turned to leave when Isolaug stopped him. Rueik was walking down the Passage of Eternal Harmony.

  Isolaug noted the Shadowman’s hurried pace with growing unease, and then saw his bloodied arm. “Stay a moment,” he said to Danturas. “I may need your assistance with another matter.”

  Rueik stopped abruptly before him and fell to a knee. “Divine King, I bring grave news. I’ve been found out as a Shadowman by one of the Guardians.”

  The fresh pleasure Isolaug felt after being in Astrum’s presence melted away at Rueik’s words. The Divine King’s hands bound up into fists.

  “Did you assassinate the Empyrean?” asked Isolaug.

  “Yes, and the rest of the Guardians are dead, but for this one who escaped me.”

  “Where did she go?” demanded Isolaug.

  “Back to her homeworld on Birth 4. It is possible she has since divulged the information.”

  “Who is this Guardian?”

  “A Missionary named Arentiss.”

  Isolaug turned to Danturas. “Alert Warden Zeyfir. Tell him to contact Chavereel to intercept all messages from Birth 4 to Bridge.”

  “I already told Zeyfir,” said Rueik fiercely, a vengeful glint in his eyes. “If you’ll please allow me to redeem myself, Master—send me to Birth. I swear, I’ll hunt Arentiss down.”

  Isolaug observed Rueik coldly, and slid into his mind to observe.

  “Stand before Astrum,” said Isolaug.

  Rueik paled. “I swear I will kill her, Master. I will not lose your approval.”

  Isolaug saw within Rueik’s mind an intense devotion and a hunger for status—to reach his fifth Quahi, attaining all secret knowledge and becoming equal to Danturas alone among the Shadowmen.

  Satisfied, Isolaug placed the king’s hand on Rueik’s shoulder. “Very well, Rueik. Redeem yourself. Kill Arentiss and everyone she comes in contact with, and wipe up the blood when you’re finished.”

  End of Book Three

  Book Four coming Spring 2017

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  Reviews

  Hello! I truly hope you enjoyed Books 1-3 of the Song of the Worlds saga. Would you consider rating it and giving a brief review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. I’m grateful to my readers for all their support! Click here to review

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  Dedication

  This series is dedicated to all the doctors, nurses and and medical staff at Kaiser Fontana, Kaiser Ontario, and City of Hope who kept me alive during my bout with Leukemia from August 2015 to April 2016. Especially Dr. Saeed, Dr. Cao, and Dr. Dickter. And a huge thanks to my brother, Justin, whose stem cells via my bone marrow transplant have kept me cancer free!

  Two thirds of this book were written during my fight with cancer, portions of which were written during my stay at all three medical facilities mentioned above.

  Thanks

  I would like to thank the entire Restoration Writer’s Group: especially Delaney Walnofer, Aimee Walnofer, and Sarah Christison for their feedback on this book. And a big thanks to my editors, Melissa Eskue Ousley and Holly Lorincz. And thanks Amanda Barr for proofreading, editing, and being an amazing wife and mother!!

  About me

  Brandon Barr writes in the genres of science fiction and fantasy and often combines the two, preferring stories where the science is soft, the fantastic is vivid, and the flesh and soul characters are front and center.

  Barr has written dozens of short stories, many previously published in SF/F magazines and anthologies.

  He lives in Southern California with his wife, Amanda, and their three boys. When not writing, Brandon loves to garden, hike, fish, and play board games. He attends a small church which just so happens to be absolutely infested with wonderfully artistic members, who cheer each other on.

  The most influential authors in his life are Michael Crichton, Ray Bradbury, C.S. Lewis, and Orson Scott Card.