The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone Read Online Free

magically enlarged and strengthened. The
broadsword that hung in a scabbard from his belt looked like a toy.
As he walked, he picked up rocks and crushed them, chuckling. Gearn
glanced back at him, irritated by the constant chortling. Murdor
met his eyes and grinned.
    "I can't wait
to meet this puling man and crush his flesh instead of stone. It'll
feel good to make blood flow."
    Gearn forced a
weak smile, shuddering. They had no need to carry supplies, for
whenever they needed food or water, Gearn conjured it, using the
collection of potions and magical items in his pack. By following
the warrior mage's trail, he was confident he would avoid the
curse, although sometimes his skin crawled, his magical aura alert
to danger.
     
     
    After four
hours of walking through sparkling gem trees, the tell-tale
flickers of brown and green shot through the land.
    Purr yelled,
"Change!" and raced for a dull brown boulder ahead. Sabre grabbed
Tassin, who yelped in surprise, and dashed after the mosscat.
Leaping onto the rock, he hauled her after him, almost jostling
Purr off. The boulder was barely large enough for the three of
them, and Sabre was forced to hold Tassin close to him. Her eyes
widened as the landscape warped and changed.
    The swirling
whiteness of a snowstorm engulfed them, fat flakes drifting from a
bitter grey sky. Sabre helped Tassin off the rock, sinking knee
deep into soft snow. There was still no sound or smell, but the
cold was real enough. A shaggy creature approached, and for a
moment he did not recognise Purr.
    The mosscat
padded over the snow on broad feet, perfectly adapted to his new
environment. Tassin rubbed her bare arms and shivered, her teeth
chattering. Warmth suffused Sabre as the cyber increased his
metabolism, snow melting on his shoulders. He dug in the pack and
pulled out the ragged petticoats they had used for shade cloth in
the desert. These he wrapped around the Queen's shoulders, and she
clutched them to her.
    "Come on, keep
walking, it will warm you," he advised.
    Purr shook his
head. "No. Too dangerous. We can't see the monsters coming."
    Sabre glanced
around and cursed. Visibility was reduced to less than a metre, and
he had to agree with the mosscat. They seemed to be in the middle
of a blizzard, and without the scanners he was as blind as everyone
else. Sabre sat down on the boulder and pulled Tassin onto his lap,
enfolded her in his arms and held her close. She snuggled up to
him, warming her hands on his chest, her cheek nestled against his
neck. He marvelled at how her fiery independence evaporated as soon
as he was the only form of foot warmer available, then brushed the
cynical thought aside. She was little more than a child, and needed
his protection no matter how much she denied it. Purr curled up in
the snow, and they settled down to wait.
    Tassin clearly
enjoyed the intimacy she had not shared with him since the mountain
cave. He was ill at ease, however, and shifted, fidgeted and
glanced around, trying to ignore her presence. Once he looked down
at her suspiciously, but he could not accuse her of anything other
than being cold. He found her proximity discomfiting, confused by
the strange feelings it evoked.
    Cybers were
not supposed to have emotions, but with his freedom had come odd
reactions to things that previously had not bothered him. He
wondered if what he was experiencing was normal, or if his reaction
to this, like so many of his other responses, had been changed by
his training and the years of subjugation by a computer's cold
control.
    Even a damaged
cyber could not afford to have emotional attachments, but was he
still a cyber? He was still part man, part machine, but now that
the human side was in charge, what did that make him? The mosscat
gave a purring chuckle, his eyes gleaming, and Sabre schooled his
features in an effort to hide the confusion Purr had obviously
noticed, making the mosscat chuckle again. Sabre spent the next
three hours acutely aware of the girl