The Lord of the Plains
ALSO BY SARAH CHAPMAN
The Magekiller
The Mixed Duology:
The Lord of the Plains
The Broken Kingdom
The Lord of the Plains
The Mixed Duology: Book One
Copyright © 2014 by Sarah Chapman
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet
usage, without written permission of the author.
Ebook formatting by Maureen Cutajar
To my fiancé,
I wouldn’t have finished it without you.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank everyone who helped me
with this book. My parents, who were some of the first readers, and
particularly my mother, who read it more times than I did while
proofreading! I’d also like to thank everyone else who helped and
supported me while finishing this story.
Contents
PART 1
Chapter 1
Lestar’s hands were sweating. It wasn’t his
first patrol, or even his second, still, his hands were
sweating.
Over the tree tops the faint glimmer from
the AgriShield was visible. They were out far, beyond the city
limits, beyond the heavily shielded and protected farmland. Out, in
the trees. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves,
dappling the leaf litter on the ground. It wasn’t a dense forest,
it was easy to move through. There was no undergrowth, just dry
leaves. It wasn’t a forest to have sweating hands in. But he had
sweating hands.
A rustle. Lestar swung around, panting, his
SIGPEW pointing. His eyes flicked around nervously. Nothing. An
animal? The animals were dangerous here too. Sometimes he wondered,
were they animals or just extra dumb gemengs?
‘Lestar!’
Lestar swung around again and saw Maz
approaching, a grin on his face. Seeing his partner, his thumping
heart began easing back into a steady rhythm.
It was hard to see much of Maz’s face under
his helmet and visor. It wasn’t enough to protect you from a gemeng
though. Was it? He didn’t know. All these patrols and he hadn’t
seen a single one. But…he wasn’t that far out. Further out, further
than he’d ever been was Garrondin, the gemeng town that formed
Astar’s first line of defence. He hadn’t seen them either. All
Lestar had seen were the
fake
gemengs of the city.
Gemengvals, the worthless creatures that littered Astar.
‘We’re almost done, as soon as Batar and his
team get here we can head back.’ Maz said, his grin fading as he
saw Lestar’s expression. ‘What’s wrong, did you hear something?’ he
asked, an undertone of alarm in his voice.
Lestar shook his head, ‘no, no, it was just
you, but I thought-‘
Maz sighed in relief, ‘come on, let’s
continue our patrol.’
Lestar nodded his understanding and
swallowed. He turned and headed back along the track he had made
through the trees to do another round, Maz following not far
behind.
You didn’t travel alone. Not out here.
Lestar thought he probably should have gone with Maz when he went
to relieve himself. That would have been an opportune time for a
gemeng to jump out and maul him. But he hadn’t gone and Maz was
back safe and sound.
Lestar and Maz were silent as they continued
their patrol. Lestar’s eyes scanned nervously back and forth,
though not so nervous as before. Maz was the calmer of the two.
A rustle. Lestar swung around, though with
less fright this time, pointing his SIGPEW squarely in the
direction of the sound. Maz turned as well, though his eyes kept
scanning the area.
Another rustle. Lestar’s heart stopped for a
moment. Sweat broke out on his face. Slowly, sickly, his heart
started beating again. Slowly. Everything so slow. He took a step
forward. His hands shook on the SIGPEW. ‘W-who’s there?’