Excerpt: Sankmarray: Clouded Hearts

Excerpt One

Alluring shrank back, chewing ner lip to work up a few tears. Ne said "Taupeshank, I'm really sorry I attacked your crew."

The pirate stared at ner. Just stared. Alluring, always given to romantic imagination, felt as though those big brown eyes were reaching into ner very soul. The wordless moment stretched out, second after second, until Alluring was sure ne would have to break the tension by looking away.

And then Taupeshank said "No you aren't. You're regretting it because you're scared, you're personally inconvenienced and your friends might say cruel things behind your back. I doubt you know what sorry means."

Alluring really didn’t want to admit that the pirate was right.

Excerpt Two

Within minutes Taupe was standing on the flight deck, looking out at the swirling surface of the halosphere in which their aircraft ‘floated’. The Errant Buoy was moving at its optimum cruising speed, its engines on a quarter power, taking advantage of the buoying properties of the halosphere to keep its ship-like hull afloat - a net saving that far outweighed the cost of the increased drag, at least at low speeds.

The Endemic Sea was well outside the main shipping lanes, which of course suited the crew of the Errant Buoy on this occasion. However, the reasons this was the less-travelled route lurked just beneath the cloud-like surface: giant roots by the thousand, roots of the strange plants that grew, spawned and died up here in the halosphere, never seen by the sea creatures six or seven kilometres below, except on the odd occasions when a sickly plant might break away from the tangled root system and tumble to the water below, startling tuna.

Here and there the leaves themselves broke the surface, dark green blushing in places to a deep, blood red, while a few night birds zipped between them or hunted among the roots. If the sky fowl dove too far in search of the smaller, tastier members of the food chain, they would fall below the bottom surface of the halosphere and have to beat their wings furiously in the thinner air to bring themselves back up. It was an entire ecosystem completely independent of the world below: a miracle of evolution.

“Devils take it all,” Roseeye muttered.