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eBook Category: Erotica/Erotic Science Fiction/Science Fiction
eBook Description: Entombed in a secret laboratory, it is the powerful warrior Khan, Chieftain of the Kota people, who awakens Dionne, a woman bio-engineered to be the ark of humanity--the savior of mankind. Awakened a thousand years after the fall of civilization, Dionne needs Khan to help her bestow the gift of renewal upon mankind. But Khan is her nemesis as well as her ally, for she can not belong only to one man, and yet she finds the barbarian's caresses nearly impossible to resist. Rating: Graphic sex, explicit language, profanity, some violence.

eBook Publisher: New Concepts Publishing, Published: 2005
Fictionwise Release Date: August 2005

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"Legend has it that long, long ago the gods grew angry with the world because their chosen people had not cherished the gifts that they had given them. For many ages, the gods had smiled upon them for their cleverness and the people had flourished. The people had built great cities filled with wonders unimaginable, cities that reached up into the clows. They had built marvelous machines that flew across the hvens, carrying the people from one great city to another like the wind. As they flourished, the people learned many things to bring comfort to their lives. They had great healers to bring succor to the ill and even to give them life once more when the evil seeds came upon them and caused them to wither.

"But they had also built terrible wepons to kill, wepons that were so powerful that they could level whole cities of their enemies with great fire that turned all before its wrath into ash.

"In time the People grew lazy, weak, slothful. They had raped the life giver, the mother Eirt, and taken so much from her that she became weak and sickly. The strong preyed upon the frail, the clever upon the weak of mind, the young upon the old.

"A day came when those who called themselves god sayers, who worshiped in the temples of the gods, were overcome with a fever of the mind. They began to believe themselves to be the hands of the gods. Ignoring the teachings of their gods, they took vengeance and judgment upon themselves. They killed in the names of the gods, destroyed, did all that they could to deprive those they considered unlike themselves of the right to life and liberty, for they had come to believe that only they knew the true way, only they had the right to the gifts of the gods, only they had the right to prosper. All had to believe as they believed, or it was their duty as the hands of the gods to smite them down and destroy them.

"The gods grew angry and fearful of these tortured souls, fearful for their wandering children. For, like doting parents, they had felt joyful when their children had grown wise and strong and begun to make their own way, to walk alone. They had forgiven their follies, knowing that in time they would attain the wisdom to use the gifts they had given them wisely.

"When they saw that the blasphemers, those whose minds had been eaten with a sickness that made them believe that they were higher and more favored than the other children, would inherit the Eirt with the blood of their brothers, they looked for a way to protect the people. But they could find no way pluck them from the path of destruction of those who called themselves god sayers. They saw that the only hope for their children was to wreak their anger upon all, to cleanse mother Eirt and allow the people who survived the chance to learn from their mistakes and to begin again.

"For many days, they rained fire upon the land to cleanse it. And when the great cities of the children sank beneath the sea, they blew their breath upon the land to cool the fire, making of it a frozen land. In time, when they saw that only a few of the people remained and they were miserable with cold and hunger, they took pity upon their children and blew their breath upon the land again and brought warmth to mother Eirt.

"And they wept for what they had had to do to their children, bringing green growing things to the land so that the people were no longer hungry. It was then that the people discovered that the gods had left one gift to their children on mother Eirt to show them that they were forgiven and that they would be allowed to prosper again. They placed this gift upon the lifeless plane, where none could deny that it was a gift from them, and them alone, for it sprang from the withered, lifeless soil in that place where nothing else grew. And this is why, each year, we travel to that holy place and offer prayer and wait for the sign that we are smiled upon once more. Each year, at the time of the spring solstice, the gods lift their eye upon us to see if we have learned our lesson and are worthy of the gift they left us."

The children around the fire were silent as the village Speaker ceased his sayings, their eyes wide as their imaginations ran rampant, scurrying to conjure the wonders the old man spoke of.

"What gift did the gods leave us?" one of the younger children asked in an awed voice.

Most of the older children tittered nervously at the child's audacity, but others glared at the child for interrupting their favorite tale, fearing the Speaker would grow angry and refuse to finish the telling.

The village Speaker merely smiled at the child, however. "We do not know. There are many legends that surround the holy place, but we can not say which are true, or if any are true, for few have ever dared approach beyond the ridge that surrounds it."

The child frowned. "Then how do we know that this is a gift of the gods?"

"We know," the Speaker said with finality.

Rebuked, the child was silent for several moments. Finally, ignoring the elbow his older brother plowed into his ribs, he spoke again. "What is the gift?"

The speaker smiled as if he had been waiting for the question. "Renewal."

The child looked awed at that for several moments, but then frowned. "What is renewal?"

The Elder chuckled. "You will not understand if I tell you."

"Tell me!" the child demanded. "I can not understand what I am not told!"

The Speaker studied the child with a mixture of censure and approval in equal measure. "The gift of all that was lost."

The child's jaw dropped. He considered that for many moments and finally frowned as he discovered a flaw. "But--the holy place is quite small! It is hardly bigger than my father's lodge. How could it hold so much?"

"You ask too many questions, Khan!" one of the older children said angrily. "We will not hear the rest of the legend if you make the Speaker angry with your silly chatter!"

Khan, stood abruptly, glaring at the older boy, silently daring him to take action beyond the use of his tongue.

The Speaker studied the child with both amusement and interest, for Khan was sturdily built for all his tender years, brave and wise beyond his years, and showed promise of being a great warrior some day, a leader of the people, possibly even greater than his father was.

Summoning Khan before his youthful determination could lead him to openly challenge the older boy, Notaku 'growing bear', who was easily twice his size, the Speaker bade the child to sit at his knee.

"The legends say," the Speaker continued, "that one day a great warrior will be born unto the people, a leader with wisdom, and skill, and strength, and without fear. And this great warrior will pass unharmed beneath the watchful eye of the gods and pluck the gift that they have left for us and open it for the people. But the unworthy shall not pass."

Khan digested that in silence before another question rose to his mind that demanded answers. "How will he know he is the chosen one?"

"The gods will not smite him down as they did others who tried, lackwit!" Notaku snarled angrily.

The Speaker placed a hand upon the thin shoulder of Khan before he could leap up to face the challenge.

Khan tamped his anger with an effort, but the Speaker was pleased to see that he could master his anger and find wisdom. "This is true, Speaker?"

The Speaker shrugged. "Yes. Some have grown bold in their prowess as warriors and come to think of themselves as the chosen and they have tried to open the gift of the gods and failed--because they were not worthy."

"I saw one!" Rikard, Khan's elder brother volunteered excitedly. "He approached the dwelling of the gods and the box sang to him at his touch and then the red eye of the gods fell upon him and burned him to dust!"

The Speaker gave Rikard a chiding look. "Because he had strength and fearlessness, but not the wisdom! The chosen will be gifted with all three.

"Go now, young magpies, for it grows late and you will need rest if you are to grow into strong warriors."

The children glared at Khan, certain his questions had ruined the mood and cut short the tales the Speaker wove for them, but they bowed respectfully to the elder and scurried toward the lodges of their fathers.

Khan watched them with a mixture of resentment and uneasiness. "They are angry with me for asking questions," he said, looking up at the Speaker. "It was wrong?"

The Speaker smiled, patting his shoulder, and then guided the child toward the lodge of his father protectively. "It is never wrong to gather knowledge, for knowledge leads to wisdom, and one can not find that without questioning the world around them. You are not bound by what others believe. Seek the knowledge you desire, Khan. The gods will favor you."