Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

people. There you will defend what is yours, in the concrete catacombs beneath what was once a great city.” She pauses. “The UW troops will have to deal with the goblyns—your first line of defense.”

As will we. I cringe inwardly, knowing my doubtful thoughts are far from private.

“Do not fear. I will go before you, blinding the goblyns’ eyes to your movement across the desert. But I will not be so gracious to the United World soldiers. They will encounter the goblyns, and those who survive will press through to the city above Eden. There, the man named Willard will have his own line of defense: goblyns he has trained as pets to do his bidding.” She smiles at the look on my face.

“How is such a thing...possible?”

“Willard and his people are masters of technology. They have reconstructed a life for themselves under the earth, one that you will find familiar: the world of your youth. Running water, lights and electricity. Very little is beyond them.”

It sounds too incredible to believe; but I do not doubt Gaia’s word.

“Have your men bring the five UW scouts to you. Before first light. Let the Argonaus see their skewered bodies greet the day.”

I like the sound of that. “As you wish, Mother.”

“Then gather all of your people and go into the desert. Move with great haste.”

“How will we find Luther?” He usually comes to us. My abdomen tightens at the thought of joining forces with the infidels.

“I will guide you, my son. Through the desert, you will follow me as a pillar of dust in daylight, and at night you will see me as you do now.” She touches my face, tracing the shape of my jaw with her fingertips. “You alone are blessed to see me in this form.”

My heart swells beneath her gaze, and I lower my head, eyes stinging, suddenly overwhelmed. “I am unworthy.”

She rests her hand on the back of my head. “I have chosen you to be a great leader among your people. You will be their Moses. They will follow you in victory against the United World and its evils.” She wriggles her toes in the ash. “The old has passed away, burned in the fires of judgment. But now behold, all things will become new.”

Twin streaks trail from my eyes as I turn my face up to her—

But she has vanished.

I cough self-consciously and scrub away the tears. Then I rise and turn to face the breeze, blinking my eyes at the barren moonscape beyond the barbed, bullet-notched fence of our compound. Not a single goblyn in sight.

Our first line of defense. I almost chuckle, shaking my head at the thought of it. Gaia surely moves in mysterious ways.

A confident excitement stirs within me as I return to the ocean liner and climb through the hatch, leaving the door to clang shut behind me. I shrug out of my cloak and make straight for the Temple where three guards stand at attention, more or less.

“Lord Cain!” one of them greets me, jerking into a rigid posture. The other two follow suit, their idle conversation dying at once.

“You—gather the chieftains. Go,” I direct the one on the left who scurries to obey. “Dismiss the faithful from the Temple. The gathering is over,” I command the second guard. “And you,” I turn to the third, placing a fist against the young man’s chest. “Summon Lady Victoria to my quarters. I require her presence.”

The guard looks dumbfounded. He lingers, unwilling to enter the Temple as the other two have, unable to decide what to do with his eyes or his mouth.

“Why do you delay?” I scowl at him.

“My lord, I—”

“Do you have something to tell me?”

“Yes. I—that is, Lady Victoria—”

“Spit it out!”

The guard nods, a startled jerk of the head. “Lady Victoria is not in the Temple. She asked to be excused—”

“And you let her leave?” I narrow my eyes, glowering down at the youth. “Without my consent?” Such a thing is unheard of.

The guard swallows. “I—that is, with her condition, I assumed she must have needed to...” He cringes slightly. “Relieve herself.”

I almost smile. This late in her pregnancy, there is little else she does as religiously. “Very well. Send her to my quarters when she returns.”

The guard hesitates. He leans toward me, prepared to speak, but no words appear.

“What is it now?”

“My lord—Lady Victoria—she...”

I grab the front of his tunic and hoist him up onto his toes. “If you have something to say to me about my wife, then you had best say it now.”

“Yes, my lord.” The guard nods. “You see, Lady Victoria, she...was not alone.”

“Explain.” I will shake it out of him if I have to.

The guard seems to realize this. “She had an escort.” He winces, predicting the reaction the news will elicit. “It was Lemuel.”

I bare my teeth. “How long ago was this?”

“Just a few minutes after you left the assembly.”

Long enough. I release the guard, sending him sprawling against the bulkhead. I jab a thick finger in his direction. “No one else hears a word of this.”

The guard nods in a rapid succession of jerks.

“Go!”

My roar sends the young man floundering into the Temple. The faithful will wonder why the assembly has been cut so short, but I do not answer to any of them. Gaia’s word is my command, and right now I need to be in communication with the two men I sent after those UW scouts. There is only one among my ranks gifted with far-speech, one who can send word to my men to capture the scouts and bring them back.

“Victoria!” I stiff-arm the hatch to her compartment, breaking the chain on the inside—a futile attempt at ensuring privacy.

A cry of alarm comes from the bed, but it is not from a woman’s throat. Lemuel stands naked, gangly and pale, with both hands cupped over his crotch. His eyes bulge from their sockets and his mouth gapes open, having ceased to draw breath.

“Welcome, husband.” Lady Victoria lies sprawled