Paw-Prints Of The Gods Read Online Free Page B

hatred bore down on her, threatening
to swamp her with fear and drive her into insanity. She was on the
verge of tipping past the point she could take no more, when a
tremor passed through their linked minds, a flicker of
apprehension. A sudden realisation hit her with all the force of
poorly-maintained rocket booster.
    “Those tablets,” she
gasped. “You’re using selective mind wipes! There’s something you
want me to remember. But there’s more you want me to forget!”
    “zz-yyoouur-miind-muust-bee-freeeed-zz,” said Brother Simha, his
voice grating painfully upon Ravana’s ears.
“zz-yoouu-muust-beeliieevee-zz.”
    “zz-aall-thaat-iis-paart-dooees-beeloong-zz!” cried Dhanus.
    Ravana stared at the
monks in disbelief, wide-eyed with terror as she finally remembered
the dreadful encounter with the mad priest Taranis in the Dandridge Cole . She and her friends had witnessed the
dreadful unveiling of the half-human, half-alien cyberclones the
priest called his disciples, created to spread the word of the
Dhusarian Church throughout the five systems. The twelve clones had
turned upon Fenris, Taranis’ accomplice, reaching out with their
hands to destroy his mind in a moment of pure rapture. Brother
Dhanus’ words were exactly what the twelve had chanted as their
victim fell lifeless to the floor. Now she saw both the monks
sported the spindly six-fingered hands of the alien clones.
    “Oh my word,” she
murmured. “You killed Fenris!”
    She did not know how
it could be, but seated before her were two of Taranis’ creations.
As if to confirm the terrible truth, both monks raised their hands
to their heads and carefully pulled back their hoods. Now they
revealed the merciless mask-like grimaces etched upon their faces
and the grey, lizard-like skin stretched tight across their skulls.
Ravana did what anyone else would have done in the circumstances
and shrieked.
    “zz-uunbeeliieeveer-zz!” screeched Dhanus.
“zz-buut-yyoouu-wiill-beeliieevee-zz!”
    “zz-iin-yyoouur-heeaad-bee-iit-zz!” declared Simha.
    Ravana screamed again
and fell backwards off her chair, landing sprawled upon her hands
and knees. She scrambled across the floor towards the door and was
brought up short by two pairs of legs blocking her path. Lilith
stood in the open doorway, wearing an expression that captured her
bewilderment at the revelation of what lay beneath the monks’
hoods. Jizo, stood beside her, looked oddly unfazed.
    “We, err... heard a
scream,” stammered Lilith. “Is this a bad moment?”
    “Yes!” cried Ravana.
“Very bad! Get me out of here!”
    “What scared you,
little runt?” Jizo sneered.
    “zz-thee-paatiieent-iis-noot-weell-zz,” rasped Simha, making Lilith
jump.
“zz-shee-haas-miisleed-yyoouu-aand-reefuuseed-treeaatmeent-zz.”
    Jizo gave Ravana a
disapproving stare. “Is that so?”
    “They’re alien
cyberclones!” cried Ravana. “Created by Taranis!”
    “Taranis is dead,”
Lilith declared. “You killed him.”
    “What?!”
    “zz-taakee-heer-aawaayy-zz!” Dhanus ordered.
“zz-doo-noot-faaiill-uus-zz!”
    Lilith nervously
bobbed her head in reply. Her face betrayed her shock at seeing the
monks unveiled. Jizo stood defiant, radiating a smug superior air.
Lilith quickly recovered and with Jizo, grabbed Ravana’s arms and
dragged her backwards through the door.
    They did not stop
until they reached her room at the end of the corridor. Lilith went
to fetch the usual medication and the look in the nurse’s eye upon
her return was enough to tell Ravana that this time there would be
no pretending. Lilith pressed the tablets directly into the girl’s
mouth and stood glaring until she was sure the medication had been
swallowed.
    Jizo grinned and
pulled a wriggling rat from her pocket. Ravana yelped and retreated
in horror as the nurse did a grotesque mime of a pterosaur
attacking its victim.
    “Lizard men,” Jizo
declared, staring thoughtfully into the rat’s face. She pulled her
flask from