Read The Dark Rites of Cthulhu for Free Online Page A

voice was gravelly and rough. She hadn’t spoken to anyone for more than a month. “Do me, and your cock’ll rot.”   
    His eyes were sad. 
    “I don’t want that.”
    She’d heard that before. Looking him up and down, he didn’t look like the men from the Dominion. She noted a big knife in a belt sheath, and the way he kept his hands away from it.  An unkempt mane of white hair cascaded down his shoulders. A long-healed scar ran across his temple, just below the hair line. His skin was dark and weather-beaten, a flowing white beard covered much of his face. The long leather coat was only just more travel-stained than he. A heavy carry-bag was slung across one shoulder. 
    “What’s your name?”
    The rumbling undertones in his voice reminded her of her father, kind and strong. But that was no reason to trust him. She adjusted her grip on her spear. 
    “What kind of food do you want?”
    “A can of whatever you’re willing to spare.” He was still on his haunches, warming his hands over her little fire.   
    “We’ll see. What did you want to talk about?”
    “Can I at least know your name? Mine is Travis Dornier, and I’ve come a long way to see you.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I want to know your name, so I can be sure you’re the right person.”
    She eyed him warily. 
    “Sheila.”
    “That’s not it and you know it.”
    “Mary.”
    “I’m not going away until I learn your name. It’s important.” 
    He didn’t seem like a sorcerer. They had people to do things for them. They didn’t go wandering around alone. She might not understand magic, she’d never heard that anyone needed your name to cast a spell on you.
    That wasn’t enough reason to trust him, though. They were playing this stupid game about her name, and she could feel him trying to make her like him. She looked him over again.  He was lean, probably stronger than her, but she could outrun him no problem. She didn’t want to talk with him, but the need for company welled up in her.      
    “Laura,” she conceded. 
    “I wondered if it was.”
    He reached for his bag, and her spear was at the alert again. With one hand, he made a placating gesture.  
    “I’m not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
    He took a blue box from his bag. It was glossy and shiny, with a picture of a girl. Laura held her breath. She was beautiful, the way only people from Before could be. She had long yellow hair and fine, pale skin that hadn’t seen a lot of sun. And yet, there was something sad and perhaps lonely about her. Inside the box were the mirrored disks that told stories of the Before time.   
    “What’s this?”
    “Laura, I’ve waited more than ten years, and come more than three thousand miles to meet you. I’m so relieved to finally be in your presence.”
    “Me? You’ve come to see me?” She tightened her grip on her spear. “What’s this about?”              
    “Do you see the girl on this box? She was the chosen one who would stand against the Masters – ”
    “Liar. No one knew about the Masters in the Before Time.”
    He looked down at the fire before he spoke again. 
    “Some of us did. Some even tried to warn everyone before the Corpse City rose, and the world went mad and the dead were piled as high as buildings.”
    Laura shuddered. Though years gone, she remembered the nauseous, omnipresent stench of the corpse-piles, some half the size of city blocks. For a moment, there was no sound but the low dirge of the wind.   
    “Maybe if we’d tried harder . . .” He didn’t finish the thought. “We failed. And a lot of people died. But now I have found you, the new chosen one. And you can put this right.”
    There was a lump in the pit of her stomach. 
    “Me?”
    “You, Laura. If you cannot drive the Masters back under the ocean, no one can.”             
    “What can I do? I’m just me.”
    “You are more than you know, Laura. The girl on the