Drafted Into Darkness, Page 4

four legs bound together and its snout tied closed so it couldn’t spit out a gag. Igon and his companions moved swiftly to the various places Herauts hid his wealth. They left the house burdened with treasure. Gorri Otso also carried Herauts, vainly trying to articulate pleas, protests or curses, over one burly shoulder.

  Pre-dawn lightened the eastern sky when they stopped at a butcher shop in a poor neighborhood. The butcher, woken at such an odd hour, must have thought he was buying a stolen pig. Zaharo’s willingness to sell the animal for far less than it would bring at any honest market only reinforced the impression. As they walked away Igon heard Herauts’ muffled squealing suddenly cut short. The butcher already converted a pig that might be recognized as stolen property into unrecognizable cuts of meat.

  Zaharo spoke to Igon.

  “The only reason you’re not facing a lifetime as a beast of burden is because you met me. Now, are you ready to serve me for ten years, in good faith, in spirit as well as word?”

  I am, master,” said Igon and realized he meant it. With that, he began his dark apprenticeship.

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  About the Author

  Robert A. Van Buskirk is still trying to decide what to be when he grows up. He has shoveled manure, strung barbed wire and dug fence posts. During an enlistment in the US Air Force he worked in warehouses, dining facilities and command posts. He has visited the Philippines, Okinawa, Korea, Pakistan and Oman. At one time he drove eighteen-wheelers and cement mixers. His heroes are inventors, and he holds a patent for gaming dice with five to twenty-one sides. His ambition is to live somewhere green and hilly.

  Other books by this author

  The Wakening Cycle.

  Anglers