EXCERPT

Prologue

Spid, the demon troll, leaned against the polished black marble of the imperial throne set atop a stalagmite in a massive chamber, miles below the surface of the earth. With great satisfaction, he looked down at his minions marching on the pockmarked lava flows of the Plain of Misery. He, the Exalted Garboon, had recruited a vast army of demons, ogres, trolls, skrees, grammits, and gronnks. Turning to the squat, muscle-bound ogre beside him, he chortled. “It won't be long now, Yurk. All of earth will be ours."

"Yeah, boss. All of it. Ours." A glob of green drool slid from the protruding lower lip of Spid's second in command. Small, beady eyes, out of place on his massive chopped-meat face, darted from side to side as if yanked on strings.

Acrid smoke from smoldering coal torches rose along with a hellish mantra from the assembled multitude below. The guttural cry echoed among the stalactites that hung far above. “Heek, Hak, Hophul, Heek, Hak, Hophul.” Spid bowed his head in reverence, translating the ancient words into English, the language he’d mastered in order to communicate with those he would soon dominate. “If we take it, it is ours.”

Raising his head, he squinted into the gray, reeking air and saw a thousand skrees circling in formation, hungry to rip the flesh from their opponents, razor sharp talons flexing in rhythm with the beating of their featherless wings. Their limited vocal chords could not form the words of the chant so they were content to scream their own names at deafening volume. “Skree, Skree, Skree!”

It's taken me hundreds of years to achieve this, Spid thought as he watched another wave of troops pass his reviewing stand. It's taken every waking moment since the last convergence of the full moon; the planets, the summer solstice and the mating dance of the Darksuckers, the inhalers of perpetual night. “But I’ve brought them all together,” he muttered. “Through bargaining, bullying and bloodshed, I’ve bent them all to my will, honed them for the battle to come.”

He scowled and twirled the thick ring encircling his stubby forefinger. The stone glittered like a snake's eye. Yes, his troops were ready for the battle. But before that battle he must meet the challenge that would open the portal to the outer world. If he missed his opportunity, it would be hundreds of years before he could attempt to breech that portal again. It might be a millennium before he, Spid the Devious, son of the Troll King Glaub the Wrathful and his captive consort Dismalia, queen of the gammits, could bring enlightenment and discipline to the creatures of Above Skin. Perhaps a millennium before the power of the Darksuckers could be harnessed for the good of...well...of him, Spid.

He scowled again. Only two people stood between him and his dream--a mere boy and his younger sister.