Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller by Brandon Ellis (easy to read books for adults list txt) 📕

face, telling her how useless she was, seeped to the surface and she yelled loud and hard. It only strengthened her and she ran faster. “Watch this, Dad. I’d like to see you attempt this.”

She took another step and leaped over the wall and without stopping, advanced when her feet hit the ground on the other side. Kelhoons were scattering, taking orders, jumping into hover-vehicles. They didn’t notice her. “Last one dead is a rotten egg.” A drip of blood fell from her lip. She wiped it away.

A Kelhoon loading an energy pack into his weapon glanced up at her words. He cocked his head to the side, then widened his eyes. He backpeddled. She watched as he realized what she was—a young, beautiful, healthy woman. His expression transformed and murder filled his eyes. Or was that hunger? To him, she was no longer the predator. She was the prey. The feast.

“I ain’t your food, lizard-face.” Rivkah raced in his direction and the Kelhoon ran toward her. He pulled the trigger.

She side stepped as the charge zipped by. She slid and barreled into him. Wrapping her legs around one of his, she twisted and snapped his knee.

“Kajanka!” he yelled, rolling forward in pain, grasping at his new injury.

Rivkah grabbed his weapon and stuck two shots into his temple. She hopped to her feet and sprinted left, just as a dozen razor sharp slugs rained on her position.

“Where am I going, Bogle?”

“Follow Fox’s trail. You’ll sense it.”

A gang of Kelhoon rushed her. One dropped to a knee and placed a heavy pulse cannon on his shoulder. He adjusted the scope and fired.

Whooshka!

The cannon vibrated and a ball of electricity expelled. Jumping to the side, she rolled and the ball slammed into a Kelhoon tank. It lifted off its sleds and bounded into the air, crashing back down. Fire erupted at its base.

Rivkah hustled in the opposite direction and pumped Chi into her legs. They heated up with every step, pushing her farther from the oncoming Kelhoon soldiers and toward dozens of one to two story buildings.

She darted in between a make-shift alleyway with several large buildings on either side butted up against the eastern wall.

Pumping hard, breathing heavy, she skid to a stop and leaned against the wall to assess the situation. She curled around a building and crouched in a shadow.

A hand covered her mouth and an arm wrapped around her hips and brought her to her feet. She was pulled backward. She dug the edge of her boot heels into the ground. She flailed her arms and swung them in an attempt to wrestle free. But whoever had a hold of her was strong, and somehow had the power as well.

A door creaked open and Rivkah was pulled into a building. A moment later, the door shut. Blackness. The dull thumps of the battle outside.

The capturer let up and Rivkah pushed away. She went into her customary Muay Thai defensive crouch, waiting for whoever it was that nabbed her. Probably a Kelhoon, or many of them.

She brought the Chi back into her hands and arms. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“I would hope not.”

“Bogle?” She dropped her arms. “What are you doing?”

The Kelhoons who were giving chase, pounded past the building. They shouted incoherent noises at one another.

Rivkah faced the sounds, ready for the Kelhoon to break in.

“Don’t worry about that now. I have the door and building energetically locked. I don’t know how long that will hold, but it will hold for a while.”

“What? How do you energetically—”

“Their sensors will detect us any minute, but they won’t dare blow this building. It has their most precious artifacts.”

“Like what?” Rivkah unclipped a flashlight from her belt and turned it on. She yelped and dropped it, took a step back, and covered her mouth. “You’re sick!”

A fist pounding on the door told Rivkah that the Kelhoon had found her locale.

28

Kelhoon Leader’s Ziggurat, Callisto - J-Quadrant, Solar System

Fox’s hands and legs were bound to a metallic chair by an energetic chord. Okbak leaned against a crystal table, several battle-weary warriors stood in the room with him.

Fox narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going to get anything out of me, so why don’t you just kill me now? You can torture me all you want, but get it done and over with. Staring at your ugly mug is worse than torture. So please, take out my innards, shove a sword up my ass, anything. But don’t make me stare at you for two more seconds.”

“Mojka Goojkanga, moozkanja. Jaxx myonjinxa, mooinanaj.”

Fox rolled his eyes. “I don’t know Jaxx’s location. You keep thinking I’m lying, but I’m not. Now, get it over with and end me.” He spit in Okbak’s direction and the soldiers leapt forward, ready to do Fox’s bidding and finish him.

“Gookja!” ordered Okbak.

The warriors halted and slowly moved away. “Jaxx kejka nona zom zom.”

Fox stretched his neck from side to side, the crackling and popping of his bones filled the small room. He knew for a fact that their salivary glands were now erupting and the Kelhoon warriors were doing everything they could not to bite into the muscle, tendons, and ligaments that held him together.

Fox laughed. “I’m pretty tempting, eh?” He winked. His smile evaporated. He remembered the one person who always winked—Slade.

Another memory of the prick surfaced. Fox orbited Callisto in his Oospore ship in wait for Slade and Starship Atlantis to arrive. He intercepted a message from the traitor, a message that told him that Slade was selling out to the highest bidder—Okbak.

Slade, of all people, had turned on his own race. The bastard deserved to die, and Fox would do anything to carry out that death sentence.

He cleared his throat. “Okay, you need Jaxx because he’s the key to a pyramid network and you want him in order to control the network? Sounds like a perfect plan. It’ll work.” He nodded, pursing his lips, hoping they didn’t catch his sarcasm.

There were a million reasons Okbak wanted control