| “A thought – What is it? – shot through Magyar’s mind. Whatever the thing was, it rushed up his body, knocking the blowpipe from his lips. It had the weight of a large animal. He opened his mouth to cry out. To shout … But there was not sound. No terrible pain. Only a great pressure at his throat and a cracking of bone and cartilage. A moment later and he could feel a vise of needle teeth that rendered his jaw frozen. He was on the ground now on his back - and whatever it was held him down with the force and precision of a puma. Like a jungle cat, it had him by the neck, this thing, this black thing that now began to flap its wings on either side of him. It took Magyar a moment to realize that the creature that held him was convulsing, the whole of its body shaking, vomiting fluids directly into his throat and mouth and ...” |
