Pandora's Box

Their lights illuminated their path enough to see clearly into the surrounding darkness, their fire streaking the black fog. The feeling of terror caught hold of Noelle's innocent soul as she observed the traumatizing spectacle the light revealed. Her jaw fell like the blade of a guillotine. Surrounding the horses and their riders were hundreds of the hyena-like beasts that they previously passed by in the deserted plains. The horses became nervous, experiencing a crippling claustrophobic sensation, created by the massive pack.

Poised and eternally ready for battle, Tamorga pulled another item from her bag. Noelle did the same, retrieving her only weapon, the Energy Pulse Saber. The creatures held their ground, prepared to rush as the strategic time, baring their razor sharp teeth, clawing at the dirt anxiously. Their hungry mouths salivated at the thought of the kill as their glowing eyes cut through the darknes. Noelle, gasped, clutching her weapon, startled by the encroaching predators. She met eyes with dozens, then hundreds. For rows and rows, the beasts wedged forward, hunting, waiting to strike. Tamorga lit the item with the flame of her torch and hurled the sparkling object into the threatening crowd of hungry beasts, its sizzling tail whistling through the air as it spun. The beasts lurched back, slinking clear of the sparkling, flying stick. A large boom shook the earth beneath their feet and dozens of the animals howled out in pain. The blast frightened only the ones near the explosion, while the remaining creatures became increasingly vigilant, droves instantly devouring the bodies of their wounded. Tamorga attempted to ease her way forward into the crowd as they slowly retreated in the front, but closed in threateningly close from behind. Noelle reeled her horse around to face the possible attack from the back, for it would have only taken the combined eforts of half a dozen of the beasts to completely immobilize Onyx or Black Moon. Tamorga, realizing that she could not possibly destroy them all with her limited explosive arsenal, looked to Noelle in hopes of a solution - her torch could only hold them for so long.

Preview of the 2nd book: Special Sneak Preview