Today I have the pleasure of featuring Ciara Knight and her released Novelette Weighted. She's a talented writer and always a supportive blogger. I hope you enjoy the first chapter and visit her here to say hello and congratulate her :)
Weighted (Prequel Novelette)
The Great War of 2185 is over, but my
nightmare has just begun. I am being held captive in the Queen’s ship awaiting
interrogation. My only possible ally is the princess, but I’m unsure if she is
really my friend or a trap set by the Queen to fool me into sharing the secret
of my gift. A gift I keep hidden even from myself. It swirls inside my body
begging for release, but it is the one thing the Queen can never discover. Will
I have the strength to keep the secret? I’ll know the answer soon. If the
stories are true about the interrogators, I’ll either be dead or a traitor to
my people by morning.
CHAPTER ONE
Subject: Raeth Arteres
Date: March 8, 2185
Species: Neumarian
Status: Captured
Tick-tock…tick-tock…I clutch the sides of the
steel bed in my cell and push up on my elbows. The clock, with its bronze rim,
hangs high on the wall, taunting me. The long black arm of the second hand
struggles up the side of the enormous disc, ticking away the last few moments
of my life.
Tap…tap. Footsteps, two by two, march to the cell door. Sucking in a long breath,
I embrace the rhythmic sounds of the airship, with the occasional interruption
of an engine sputtering.
Tap…thump.
The Queen’s unmistakable
gait interrupts my dream-like state. It matches the sounds of the ship, as if
she is an extension of the heap of metal propelling us across the desert
wasteland.
“Open the door.” Her voice
echoes down the narrow hall.
Tick…
The hand struggles to reach
the twelve. If it doesn’t make it, maybe the door won’t open. It teeters and
shakes, then slides straight up in unison with the door.
…Tock.
“Be quick, before the parasite
uses her curse on us.” Her raspy, artificial voice sends a quiver to my core.
A guard races in with a
handheld device and points it at my neck. I’ve been collared like a dog. I
clutch the slick metal ring around my neck, pulling it from my skin, but current
zaps through my shoulders and my arm juts out to my side, shaking. Searing pain
runs along my veins.
After all these years of my
brother hiding me, it was inevitable I’d get caught.
Darkness swirls deep
inside, brewing a storm. I can’t remember what it will do if I release it. Is
it a gift, as my brother told me, or a curse, as the Queen believes? All I know
is that if I unleash it, the Queen will have what she wants, so I push it down
deep, keeping it hidden from her.
A man in a grey coat
approaches with a syringe in his shaking hand. His left eye has been replaced
by a bronze implant that clicks as it grows wide. I concentrate on remaining
calm. “I-I see you s-still need me.” It is a struggle to speak against the
rising will of the gift trapped inside me.
“Need you? I only need your
wretched, cursed body. We must ensure your kind never threatens the world
again. When I’m finished, you will serve me, and only me.”
Acid boils up in my throat
but I force it down. The beast caged inside me longs for release.
“Make her cease that
ridiculous tapping,” the Queen orders.
The guard grabs my hand and
pulls me down on the bed. I hadn’t noticed my fingers rapping against the
metal. My body sometimes has a mind of its own. A way of keeping me focused
when my brain no longer can.
Princess Semara edges into
the room. “Mother, must we—”
“Silence!” The queen whirls
on her. “Do you question me, Semara?”
“No, Mother. I only wish to
discover the truth about the Neumarians. It will help us in our fight to—”
“The truth? The truth is
they are parasites that suck the life out of people, and no one on Earth is
safe as long as they live.”
The long needle penetrates my arm and icy liquid shoots
up my veins. The room spins. Focus. I must concentrate if I am to keep my secret.
“Take her to the Alteration
Room.” The Queen smirks, her flaming-red hair dancing above her head and her
mechanical eye widening to a pool of pleasure.
“N-no. I w-won’t—”
The Queen’s skirt billows
with her movements. A cold metal hand brushes my cheek, sending a tremor down
my arms to my fingers. “Tell us what we want to know, and you will be returned
to your people unharmed.”
Princess Semara dances from
foot to foot. Yards of red and black material sway with each step. Her eyes
plead with me to tell what I should know, but can’t remember.
Or maybe I do, but am not
allowing myself to.
“I know n-nothing.”
The edge of the Queen’s
knuckles catches my cheek. A trickle runs down my face, the odor of my blood
matching the smell of the ship.
“Take her.” The Queen stalks
to her daughter. “And no lasers. Do it the old-fashioned way. No anesthetic.”
Tears well up in Princess
Semara’s eyes, but she blinks them back.
“Take my daughter with you
as a witness,” the Queen says to the man with the needle. “You’ll serve your Queen
Mother, won’t you, darling?”
“Yes, Mother,” Princess
Semara whispers. Her pale arms wrap around her black corset as if to hug her
fear inside.
My stomach flops and the
dark swirl inside me means to escape. I rock back and forth, trying to subdue
it. “N-no, p-please. You must not—”
Thump…tap.
The Queen’s metal leg beats
against the floor with every other step. Soon, I will be the same.
“Please, don’t l-let her,”
I plead.
The Princess remains still,
the corners of her lips arched down, marking her smooth face.
“Bring the gurney,” the
grey coat yells out the door.
Squeak…squeak.
The screech of the wheels
makes the hair on my arms stand at attention. Will my robotic leg mimic the
high-pitched noise each time I take a step? Does it matter? Even if I escape the
ship, my people will see me as a Slag now. Never again will they look at me as
one of them.
Arms snake beneath me. My
body lifts and lands on a coarse, white-sheeted surface. The gurney under me
bounces.
“Raeth, please, you must
tell my mother what your people are plotting.”
“They plan n-nothing.”
The grey coat pushes me
down the hall. “Lies, that is all they do, tell lies and torment our people.
They should all be exterminated.” His face hangs over mine with a derisive
smile. Glaring lights fly past overhead until we turn into a room.
Doors swish, sealing shut
behind us. Massive silver devices hang from the ceiling and walls. This is the
Alteration Room, with all the tools of torture pointing in every direction. Why
do they alter themselves, shove techno-implants into their bodies? Terror
ripples through every muscle and my hand taps in a soothing rhythm.
They lift me from the
gurney and strap me down to a cold, solid surface. Silver bands snap around my
wrists, ankles, and head. Salty tears flow down my face and over my lips.
Princess Semara wipes them away.
“Why do you fuss over her?
You are a princess. If your mother saw you—”
“I only clean off what
could interfere with the lasers.”
“You heard your mother.
There will be no lasers.” The grey coat spins on his heels and stalks behind a
wall. “Besides, I’m taking her leg, not her eyes.” A deep chuckle echoes in the
room. “Not this time, anyway.”
My heart races so fast I
wonder if one of the machines is pulling it from my body. I try to lift my
wrists to clutch my chest, but my hands remain bound by my sides.
“There isn’t much time.”
Princess Semara holds up another syringe. “This will keep you from suffering
while he—he—”
“Removes my l-leg?”
“Yes.” Semara wipes a tear
from her own face. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to see you suffer. Why won’t your
people let us live in peace? Why do you want to harm us?” Her voice shakes and
her lower lip trembles. Does she not believe her own words?
The deep revving of an
engine brings the blackness close to the surface. I clutch my fists and scrunch
my eyes shut, trying to free my mind from the squealing sound I know to be a
saw.
My body shakes and rattles
the metal binds.
The pinch of a needle
causes my eyes to shoot open.
Princess Semara stumbles
back from the table.
My insides feel gushy and
my head floats despite the restraint.
I taste something sour and
click my tongue. The saw quiets for a moment and the grey coat stands over me.
He grins, revealing crooked
teeth. “Last chance to tell us of the plans to overthrow the Queen.”
My eyelids grow heavy. He
slams his fist down on a large orange button, and the blades rotate at a rapid
speed.
He lowers the saw and I
hear screams. My screams.
Then darkness.
***
Ciara writes to ‘Defy the Dark’ with her fantasy and
paranormal books. Her debut novel, The Curse of Gremdon, was released to
acclaimed reviews, securing a Night Owl Top Pick and five stars from the
Paranormal Romance Guild. Also, book I, Rise From Darkness, from her debut
young adult Battle For Souls series, secured glowing reviews and won July Book
of the Month from Long and Short Reviews.
Her first love,
besides her family, reading, and writing, is travel. She's backpacked through
Europe, visited orphanages in China, and landed in a helicopter on a glacier in
Alaska.
Ciara is extremely
sociable so please feel free to connect with her at her blog, website, Twitter, Goodreads, or Facebook,
Upcoming
books in The Neumarian Chronicles:
Escapement (Book I) - Early 2013
Pendulum (Book
II) - Mid 2013
Balance (Book
III) - Early 2014
Other books by
Cara Knight:
Battle for Souls Series
Ascension of Evil -
Coming in October
