Nightshade City Read Online Free

began to pump as he imagined a potential conspiracy in his midst. Her clan could not be trusted. Abruptly swooping down to her level, he displayed his barbed, yellow teeth in a crooked scowl. “Now, for the last time, girl, who and why is this brazen rat hiding in your quarters?” His eyes bulged and his torso heaved. “Out with it!” he hollered.
    Her heart thumped in her elfin-sized chest. Through her young life, Clover had told many tales to the Ministry, just not with Billycan towering over her, his teeth dripping with icy drool. A thought finally came. “I give you my word, High Collector, he is not hiding. This is my grandfather, my guardian, Timeron. He is stricken with plague, unsightly to behold, and highly contagious. The disease has left him ravaged—disfigured. Like you, grandfather is a proud rat, not wishing anyone to see him in such a dreadful state. I told you he was Topside so that you wouldn’t look at him—to save what pride he has left—to keep you from catching it. I fear he will soon be at rest with the Saints, but as my late father always said, the living must do just that—live.”
    As much as Billycan wished otherwise, her explanation soundedreasonable. He composed himself. “Yes, they must indeed live, as must Billycan,” he said. He took a step backward, wondering what ghastly deformities awaited under the mucky shroud. He resisted his urge to check.
    Billycan held up the scroll for Clover to see. “Well, young Clover, it seems my purpose is quite a fortunate one for you. As your guardian will soon be meeting his maker, by right it’s off to the Kill Army kitchens with you.” He tapped on the scroll. “This saves you from that abysmal fate—at least for a time.” He quickly changed his voice to a more official one. “Billycan has a sacred decree in his possession that he and only he can make official. It must be read to the Chosen One and read now, as mandated by the High Ministry.”
    On occasion, Clover had contemplated this day, but with the thousands of females the High Minister had to choose from, she had never really considered herself a likely candidate. She had grossly underestimated herself.
    She was quite lovely, with smooth cocoa skin, and light fur, buff in color and downy soft, more suited for a snow hare than a rat. She had a short, rounded nose and a sculpted, refined muzzle. Eyes the color of citrine offered up varied hues of yellowy brilliance, round and open. Despite her beauty, she had an approachable sweetness, modest and shy.
    Clover had been educated in secret, since school was strictly reserved for males by the Ministry. Well aware of the evils of the Catacombs, Clover did not dream of the High Minister like the other females. She thought Killdeer a swine, a fleshy pig masquerading in the pelt of a rat.
    Billycan stretched out the rigid parchment. Clover knew the general substance of the edict. She had witnessed a reading as a child and remembered the excitement that whirled around the Chosen One. She had exclaimed innocently to her mother, “I want to be a ChosenOne when I grow up. I will be with Killdeer!” Without hesitation, her horrified mother yanked her by the arm and pulled her forcefully down a dark passageway. She explained to Clover exactly what a Chosen One embodied and what her so-called duties to Killdeer would involve.
    From that day on, Clover’s worried parents decided to teach her along with their boys. After their death, taken by the second wave of the Great Flood, her uncle continued the practice. The power of wisdom far outweighed Killdeer’s law against the schooling of females.
    Billycan cleared his throat and stretched his bristly chin from side to side. He stood rigid in military stance. “Gather round, one and all!” His shrill voice bounced down the corridors as he beat his billy club against Clover’s doorframe and slapped his serpentine tail against the ground. “The High Ministry of the Catacombs is here to announce an