What I Read in June 2023
(via Frankenstein Daily) I thought honestly that every character gets done dirty in most movie adaptations, and also that if Viktor stopped having fevers every five seconds things might have not gone so badly.
I really liked this one, where it didn’t romanticize his disability but also didn’t focus only on the negatives either, and also how the author let our main girl actually have a voice when she wishes to express her feelings.
I want to smack both this poor girls families.
result of my brain deciding that harry potter was my new hyper focus subject. ^_^’ (I enjoy the books, please do not infer that I agree with or support the author in anyway.)
A fun beginning, should be interesting to see where it goes.
I enjoyed this volume, would like to have more of a look into his view of finding out he turns into a tiger though.
these were quite fun, I love this video game stuff, interesting that he’s the only one “playing” so far.
So good! (pulled the other two out of my closet to read right after finishing. )
still loving this series and how attached everyone is getting to each other.
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Whumptober '22, Day 2
cw: violence, mention of cannibalism
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Terms:
Karbi: an ethnicity in the west of the empire
Thæli: an until-recently isolated ethnicity north of the empire
Usevuth/Useveu: a reptile of human-level intelligence that stands on four legs and is five to nine feet tall at the head
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By the time Narak's head stopped spinning, it was evening. He regained his senses silently, remaining slack on the rough wooden floor of the cage until he'd gauged the threat levels of those around him. All eight of them were in a cage, being jostled and bumped along the road they were being dragged down. There were only two other Thæli; everyone else in the cage was Karbi. The memory was muddy, but he was sure now they'd been taken from the battlefield.
Once he was sure it was safe enough, he gathered his limbs beneath himself and sat up. He stayed hunched forward, slumped, staying small and unthreatening as he scanned the area around the cage.
There were several tall, scaled heads around them. At least ten. There was another cage, with another set of resistance fighters behind them. Narak kept his eyes hidden under his black hair, next looking to the humans. His eyes fell on one in particular.
His hands were trembling. The quality of his skin was… off. He threw a glance at the cage Narak was in, and there was a very familiar look in his eyes that made Narak's guts churn.
He had to get everyone out of here.
He looked quickly across the others in his cage. Despite all of them being fighters, there were no warriors. The cage was particularly populated with the young and timid fighters, the ones with softer muscles and smoother skin. He wondered faintly how he'd made it into the group. Perhaps his long layers had hidden enough of the scars.
There were no warriors here, but there was another hunter. He was pacing one side of the cage, his eyes hard as he looked at the red and orange faces alongside the wagons. Thæli, and by the look of his jaw and the thinness of his nose, he was an Easterner.
Narak flicked his hand out low, along the wood, beneath the line of sight of the Useveu. The hunter caught the motion precisely as he anticipated, and he made direct eye contact with the man.
The other hunter looked away, and so did he. He pulled his legs in, hugging them tighter to his chest. The other hunter paced thrice more, then stepped over and sat down beside Narak, putting his back against Narak's right arm. It made the pain in his skin worse, but he didn't shy away.
"They're going to eat us," Narak said very quietly. He didn't want anyone else to hear, especially not the Useveu with their wolfishly sensitive ears. The other hunter nodded. "We need to get everyone away," Narak breathed, resting his chin on his knees.
"There're no weaknesses in the cage," the Easterner muttered. "And we're hopelessly outnumbered." Narak nodded his head subtly.
"We'll have to wait until they open the cage, then," he whispered. He glanced around for perked ears or watchful eyes. "I'll draw their attention if you can get the others away."
"What about the rest?" the Easterner muttered. Narak looked mournfully to the wagon behind them. Each cage had what must have been a lock. He couldn't remember how those came free.
"You won't have time."
The two of them were silent for a moment. The Easterner's weight jostled against his arm, and it made his skin ache and sting. But he couldn't shift too much and risk drawing attention to them. He had to suffer through.
"When you leave," Narak uttered, "you must get as many as possible to safety. But you cannot be caught." The Easterner turned his head slightly, but Narak couldn't see his face. "They're going to need you afterwards." Narak looked down at the wood.
"One of them is injured," the other hunter whispered. Narak reached up and scratched his ear, turning his head to look at the corner he hadn't closely observed. The person in question was the other Thæli, a younger Westerner, and she was holding one of her legs.
"I'll tend to her," Narak uttered gravely, curling tighter into himself. The other hunter nodded subtly. "Do not let them catch you."
"I understand," the other hunter whispered miserably.
The ride went on into the night. Narak and the other hunter quietly made their way around the cage, telling the others to be ready to run once Narak provided a distraction. Narak asked the injured one to sit with him by the door, so he could best help her escape.
At last, torchlights came into view. Everyone in the cage was tense, and only the hunters were able to hide it with any reasonable success. As they were pulled into the camp, Narak's hands started to shake. He took slow, silent breaths.
Many more faces pressed up to the bars, peeking in at them, hungry eyes roaming over them as the cage at last came to a stop. Narak held down the nausea, the intense stinging in his fingers and up his right arm. A man came to the door, pushing something into the lock and twisting until it clanked open. He was already yelling at them to stand as he pulled the door open. Narak climbed to his feet along with the others, his palms sweating. He kept his head down, helping the young Westerner step out of the cage.
They were closely guarded by many Useveu, all standing two and three heads taller than Narak. Their rust-stained armor was dim in the firelight. Narak looked side to side, carefully hiding glances behind him. His heart shook his body with each beat, and he counted footfalls until all of them had stepped out of the cage.
He reached forward, gripping the young Westerner's head and yanking with all his focus, shattering her neck and letting her fall in a heap.
He lunged to the nearest Usevuth as there were gasps and cries, kicking high with his heel and hitting their neck in the soft line where their arteries were grouped. The monster fell like a rock and he bolted headlong away from the cage.
He didn't dare to throw a glance back to see how the others were doing — he couldn't risk their safety by drawing attention to them. He needed to keep all eyes, and so he howled his fiercest war cry and lunged at a nearby human, throwing a powerful punch into their jaw. They spun and collapsed, and he could hear the clinking and rustling of armor, he could feel the pounding of Usevuth feet.
He spun, aiming blind, and delivered a heel kick to a striking beast, hardly breaking stride. It stumbled, tripping the monster behind it, and Narak turned to his other side, but didn't have time to do anything about the enemies stacking up around him.
He stumbled when a spear was plunged through his shoulder.
He'd hardly caught his footing when a pair of fangs sunk into his forearm.
He planted his feet and punched the beast hard in the eye, but it glared up at him with pure hatred and lifted him up off of the ground. He gasped, buckling, the spear twisting as his arm was pulled, and he heard himself howl in pain as his ribs were twisted against the wood. The beast dropped him then, and he wasn't able to catch himself with the spear in the way.
He scrambled to his hands and knees, surrounded on all sides by Useveu and humans, his body already going painfully numb where the agony kept him from thinking. They didn't stop him from standing, from wobbling to his feet as his left arm went slack and he struggled to draw a breath. They were waiting. They wanted to see the venom work on him. They wanted to see him suffer.
He couldn't let them get distracted.
Against every drop of his soul, against every instinct telling him to bow and be small and let them have their fun, he sneered into the gathered.
"I've suffered worse," he growled.
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