Necropolis (Book One of Book One), Penn Fawn [e book reader android .TXT] 📗

Necropolis

Penn Fawn

Published by Penn Fawn, 2020.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Copyright © by Penn Fawn.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

Chapter I – Nyeusi

Chapter II – The Witness

Chapter III – Nabii

Chapter IV – The Forest Of Souls

Chapter V – Kimbilio

Chapter VI – To Yagan

Chapter VII – The Elephant Graveyard

Chapter VIII – Isle Of The Maimed

Afterword

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Foreword

THESE ARE THE FIRST eight chapters of Book One, pictured below. It is offered as a permafree download to introduce readers to the series.

Chapter I – Nyeusi

THEY APPROACHED THE three from behind with hunched shoulders, stealthily placing one leg before the other, keeping their heads low.

Their friend, one with feet almost as dark as coal, trailed from a distance of about seventy yards. His soles made almost no sound as they came into contact with the ground.

Their targets, focused and oblivious, were fixated on the elephants in the distance. As if acting on a choreographed work they practiced to perfection, they raised their arms with a bow and poisoned arrow in hand, in unison.

The cats sprung.

Startled and dumbfounded, the men did not release. They barely made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn before large canines and claws tore at flesh and bone.

The afflicted caught a glimpse of a silhouetted figure in the not too far off distance. He watched them scream until their cries could be heard no more.

The dark fellow, with the sun to his back, and beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, calmly advanced while a fourth man, a stone’s throw and forty degrees to the west, trembled concealed behind a large rock.

The dark one, Nyeusi was his name, sat under a nearby tree for shade while the cats ate.

He leaned back, rested against its trunk, and closed his eyes. A cool wind swept through his mane of hair and dried the sweat on his brow.

The witness, a certain Daniel Salah, was sure to keep as still as he could.

He waited some twenty minutes after watching Nyeusi rise and walk away from what was left of the carnage. The cats trailed closely behind.

Daniel, having noticed there was no sign of anyone else around, got up and hastily departed.

Chapter II – The Witness

“I WANT TO GET OUT OF here,” Daniel said.

“What? What happened?” his compatriot, Ali Samar, asked. “And, where are the . . . ?”

“They’re dead!” Daniel snapped.

“What?”

“Did I stutter? You heard me! They’re dead. All but one of them.”

Ali fell silent.

“All are dead except for Djembe, who, luckily for him, he stayed back at the camp when we ventured out.”

“What happened?”

“They were mauled!” Daniel exclaimed.

“What?”

“Not what. You heard me!”

Ali listened. “What beasts did this?”

“Lions,” Daniel said.

Ali said nothing.

“Could have been me too!” Daniel added. “I survived because I took a detour to observe a herd slightly off in the distance. It’s the only reason I’m still here. Yes, it was risky to wander off like that on my own in these parts. If even just for a couple minutes, but it saved my life!”

Ali was silent.

“This is a fool’s errand,” Daniel continued.

“How so?” Ali asked.

“’Tis no-man’s-land. It’s so wild. Untamed.”

“You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to this,” Ali said. “These are unchartered . . .”

“No, I didn’t,” Daniel cut him short. “I haven’t told you half the story.”

“There’s more?”

“There is,” Daniel replied.

“Well, go on then,” Ali said.

“The cats. There was a man with them. Like he was part of the pride, leading them on like one would do with a breed of hounds.”

Ali was pensive. “Madness,” he said.

“Is it? Were you there?”

“You’ll excuse me, but you sound like one of the natives now, with their wild imaginary tales. Are you okay, Daniel? The trauma from what happened must . . .”

“Stop it and listen to me! Or, do you want to go back to have a look for yourself at what’s left of the strewn carcasses? That’s if some other beasts haven’t already taken them away. ’Tis no ill man talking, or one who’s delirious. I’m telling you what I saw,” Daniel said, sternly looking him in the eye.

Ali thought there was a look of terrible concern on his face. “Well, go on then,” he said.

“You’ve heard of this man before,” Daniel said, stating what he already knew to be true.

There were none there who hadn’t heard about Nyeusi. Even strangers or relative newcomers like they were couldn’t have resided there for long before hearing about him.

“I have,” Ali replied. “I have, and I dismissed it as superstition.”

“It’s no myth, Ali. I saw him with my own eyes.”

Ali did not reply.

“It had to be him,” Daniel said.

“And, how would you know?”

“Because he was exactly as has been described. A mane of locked hair. More exotic than perhaps any that has ever been seen north of these parts.

“He was tall. Over six feet. Very dark. Impressive build and he did lead those cats. I watched him sit near them unconcerned while they ate our guides alive.”

Ali listened. “Well, this is savage territory. I guess it’s not altogether impossible . . .”

“It’s what happened,” Daniel snapped.

Ali looked him in the eye. “Was there anyone else?” he asked.

“Just him,” Daniel replied.

Ali became pensive.

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, if you are to believe the folk around here, he is supposed to be part of another tribe,” Ali replied.

“And?” Daniel said.

Ali looked him squarely in the face. “A tribe of beastmasters,” he said.

Daniel listened.

“And, the story gets much more elaborate, doesn’t