Rend Hope Read Free Page A

of nourishment.  Still, the thought that this meat might have come from a fellow human gave her pause.  The internal debate continued for a little bit until her stomach growled again.  Finally deciding that some food in her stomach, no matter what it was, would be better than nothing, she stuck the small portion of meat on a stick and put it near the fire.
                  They sat in awkward silence as they waited for the campfire to warm their meals. 
                  "Okay, so if it's not human meat what is it?" Marie asked him, Markus extracted his portion of meat from the fire and poked it hesitantly.  He smiled in satisfaction at the meat's temperature and took a big bite out of it.  The short blonde-haired man chewed a few times before swallowing.
                  "It's cat." He said with a smile that was very mischievous.  The black-haired girl almost dropped her meal in the fire.
                  "C-cat?" she said hesitantly.  Markus' grin grew wider.
                  "Oh yes he was pretty plump too.  Caught him in the last village I was at.  Damn thing was eating a bunch of rats in a wine cellar." The "Ordinary" magi chuckled.  "I think that cat was eating better than I was."
                  Marie nervously laughed, even though cat meat was better than human.  She only felt a little better, she rather liked cats.  In her thoughts she pictured a cute and fluffy black cat, the feline mewed at her before bursting into flame.  When the fire subsided it revealed the small portion of meat she was currently cooking.  The color drained from her face.
                  "You okay over there?  You look like you’re about to puke." Markus questioned.  The teenage magi laughed and rubbed the back of her neck with her left hand nervously.
                  "Me? Oh I'm just fine!  Never better!  Can't wait to dig in!" She exclaimed overexcitedly.  Markus leaned back, clearly perplexed.
                  "Er, okay.  If you say so." He replied, turning his attention back to his meal.  Marie looked at the cooked meat impaled on a stick before her.  She said a silent prayer, asking for forgiveness of the dead cat's soul she was about to devour.  When she was finished with the prayer, she took a small bite out of the meat.
                  It tasted like chicken.
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                  Ebrim Thrave's eyes roamed dismally over the destroyed cannibal's camp, the sun just barely peaking over the horizon, shedding some much needed light on the scene.  Finally, his gaze rested on the severed head of the ghoul he had created several weeks ago.  He frowned at the state the ghoul was in, sliced into pieces and strewn about all over the ground.  Whoever had done this was either one hell of a swordsman or a powerful wielder of sorcery.  His lips peeled back from his whiskered chin and lips, forming a snarl.  He had put a lot of time, effort and magic energy into that damn ghoul and now it was gone!
                  He put a hand to his chin in thought.  Ebrim was a tall man, with short dark hair.  His face was decorated with a dark mustache and goatee.  He wore a blue scarf around his neck, black shirt with some elbow length dark brown leather gloves, worn denim jeans and brown boots.  A brown pouch rested on his left hip. It was hardly the look you would generally expect from a necromancer.  In this dark age of humanity however, well-tailored clothes were pretty hard to find.
                  Whoever had destroyed his ghoul had hidden their trail well.  There weren't even any tracks in the sand to follow, the work of sorcery no doubt.  Ebrim shook his head in disgust.  He had used his ghoul to infiltrate that band of cannibals in order eventually have more fuel for his necromantic experiments.  Unfortunately, the stupid undead idiot had not only got himself