Sinbad

John Garavaglia

Description

He's sailed the seven seas and explored unknown lands, fought countless monsters and battled evil wizards, but Sinbad's newest adventure may be the greatest, and most dangerous, he's ever had!

Sujets

• Adventure
• Fiction
• Action

Informations

• Publié par: Markosia Enterprises Ltd
• Date de parution: 29 juin 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781911243939
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

ROGUE OF MARS
A novel by John Garavaglia
Based on the graphic novel by
Greg Thompson, Scott Davis,
Jeff “Chamba” Cruz and
Kiatisak Piewkao




Sinbad: Rogue Of Mars © 2018 Darren G. Davis & Markosia Enterprises, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All names, characters and events in this publication are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Published by Markosia Enterprises, PO BOX 3477, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN5 9HN.
FIRST PRINTING, June 2018.
Harry Markos, Director.
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-911243-92-2
eBook: ISBN 978-1-911243-93-9
Book design by: Ian Sharman
www.markosia.com
First Edition



“A little body doth often harbor a great soul.”
Arabian Proverb



ALSO BY JOHN GARAVAGLIA
AND PUBLISHED BY
MARKOSIA
DORIAN GRAY



PROLOGUE
An alien sun and a massive moon shone through a thick, dusty sky, at levels too bright for comfort. A blue skinned man and his two sons were standing in a barren wasteland.
The man known as Azrak was traveling through the desert with his children while they were on their way home from the marketplace. They had stopped in the middle of the desert for a water break, and Azrak was watching his two boys playing a very rigorous game of tag.
Then over the horizon, a light started to outshine the hot sun, adding to the feeling of intense heat.
Azrak knew something was coming.
He could sense it, feel it in the shaking of the surface under him. The air around the family rumbled louder and louder; the dust, swirling like a breeze, was kicking it up. Yet, the father could feel no wind against his face. Not even his fabrics moved in the high winds.
Something big was coming.
Huge.
But he didn’t know what.
He just waited, facing it, wanting to turn and run; yet not doing so. He needed to know what it was.
He needed to face it.
The air swirled and the dust choked him. The surface under his feet shook, as the horizon got even brighter.
The unknown came closer.
And closer.
He shook off the feeling of dread and tried to calm his fast beating heart. He desperately needed to know what it meant. And what he was waiting for.
Azrak felt the earth move suddenly. Then he heard a loud rumble.
“Father, what is it?” said Sobek, his youngest son. “Is it a quake?”


SINBAD: ROGUE OF MARS


6



“No,” Azrak replied, “there are no fault lines anywhere near here.”
“What’s going on?” asked Matthias, Azrak’s eldest child.
The rumbling deepened, growing into a deafening roar. The boys were frightened, but Azrak was just calmly looking over the horizon as if he couldn’t be less concerned.
“Father?” Matthias called again, but Azrak wasn’t paying him any attention.
He saw the sand from the dunes rose up like a violent sandstorm. It was impossible, but it appeared to him that it was the end of the days.
The children stood behind their father as the sand sprayed over to them. Then they all saw it. A meteor was streaking just above them, right over their heads. It was large and seemed to be made out of wood—not iron ore— and it was about to crash.
Azrak forced opened his eyes, the bright light was hurting them.
There was a sudden thunderous blast.
Then, for a moment, everything was silent.
“Is it over?” asked Sobek.
The answer came just a moment later with a deafening explosion that rattled the desert.
Azrak’s heart was racing. He wasn’t sure what happened. Then he shoved his fears aside.
“Follow me, boys,” he said to his awestruck children. “No dawdling.”
Azrak and his sons rushed over the dunes, and along the way they saw the charred trench, several hundred feet long. Rising from the superheated dunes far out in the desert as hot wind tickled the dune crests, spraying sand downslope in neat sire curves. It was not the cause of the eruption of sand that occurred near the center of one dune, however. Over the hill, they found it. It was still hot and smoking.
There was a deep crater in the middle of the desert. At the bottom of it the large wooden ship was cooling off


JOHN GARAVAGLIA


7



from the heat of entry. He stretched out his foot to see how hot the ground was. The heat rushed up to his nose, and without meaning to, he pulled back instinctively. He could feel his pulse beating. It was loud and painful, but he braced himself and started again.
The craft was unlike anything Azrak had ever seen before. The ship wasn’t built with metal and rivets. It was made of wood, and it had sails. This was certainly no spacecraft. It was a nautical vessel. The question running through Azrak’s mind was what a ship of that purpose would be doing in the middle of the desert.
It looked like the ship had been through a terrible storm. The sails were ripped and tattered. The three masts were all entwine and cracked. The hull was damaged beyond repair. It was as if the entire ship had fallen from the sky.
“Over here, Father!” exclaimed Sobek.
Azrak followed his son to the starboard side of the ship to discover a humanoid alien life form. It had pink skin and also appeared to be male. It was wearing some sort of hat on its head, and the sun caught the glimmer of the golden medallion hung around its neck. The man’s face was bruised and battered, more black and blue than anything else. One arm was bent in a way that told Azrak it was broken in at least two places. The outlander was suffering trauma from the crash. The foreigner was on the verge of dehydration and he was also starving. Azrak looked him over and faced his oldest son.
“I need my bag, now!” he ordered.
Matthias ran to his father and handed him the bag. Azrak ran through the contents and pulled out a small medical kit. He opened the case to reveal bandages, anti- toxins, rations, and disinfectants. He unlocked the rations compartment, and retrieved several morsels of food.
He placed his fingers on the stranger’s neck to find a pulse. Azrak found a very faint trace of life in the strange visitor. Then the blue caregiver took a piece of food and placed it in the outlander’s mouth.


SINBAD: ROGUE OF MARS


8



Desperate for air, the man coughed violently. He hacked up plugs of putrid sand from his mouth and nose.
Matthias pointed to the stranger’s face. “Its eyes are opening, Father!”
“Here,” Azrak said to the pink life form, “take this. You have traveled a long way, my friend. It is my honor and privilege to have found you.”
The man opened his eyes to discover the silhouettes of three oddly shaped strange beings standing over him in front of a blinding pink sky. Their eyes were much wider than any human being. Their skin was as blue as the sea itself and neither of them had any noses. He looked at the adult through half-closed eyes. His lips, dry and parched, quivered as he struggled to talk.
Azrak feared that the impact from the crash might have given the injured stranger a concussion. He had to keep him awake. It didn’t matter what the subject of the conversation would be; as long as the Azurian man would keep the man awake.
“I know you must be in terrible pain, my friend,” said Azrak, looking over the strange man’s wounds. His attention was fully focused on the dislocated arm. “But can you move your arm?”
The man grunted with effort, and sucked his teeth in pain. Beads of sweat dripped through the pores of his forehead, and his face turned red.
“I think it’s broken,” he answered the tall blue man.
Azrak studied the severe ailment. “It’s not broken, only dislocated.”
“Can you put it back into place?”
“Yes, I can,” Azrak replied, placing his hands on the man’s shoulder. “I must warn you, the pain will be excruciating.”
The man took a breath and looked at Azrak in a state of readiness. “Then do it.”
Azrak gripped the man’s shoulder. “Be still. I’m going to do it on the count of three.”


JOHN GARAVAGLIA


9



The man closed his eyes and muttered a prayer in his native tongue.
“One…” the blue man began, and then a loud popping sound erupted inside the man’s eardrum. The man howled in pain.
“I thought you were going to count to three!”
Azrak gave him a small smile. “I am very sorry. I thought you would back out at the last second.”
He expected the bizarre pink man would be angry. But he was surprised to hear the sound of laughter.
“I would have too,” the man laughed. “Well played, my friend. Well played.”
Azrak laughed along with him, while he checked the arm, which was now placed back into its socket.
“Your arm looks better, but it’s going to take some time to heal. What is your name, stranger?”
The adrenaline from the minor operation was wea