Title:
- Beasts of Barakai, The
Authors:
Genres:
Editions:
| # | Date | Publisher | Binding | Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2001-08-00 |  |
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- Blurb:
- Benton Collins was a graduate student at Algary, working in the bio lab to earn the funding for his degree. With divorced parents who were far more concerned with their own new loves, Ben was glad to be having Thanksgiving dinner with his girlfriend's family. But she hadn't been too pleased when he'd called to say he was running late because he was filling in for one of the other lab assistants.
Still, everything would have been fine if that white lab rat hadn't somehow managed to escape its cage. Chasing the rat into a storeroom that was a maze in its own right, Ben was sure that with a little patience he'd manage to trap the creature again. But when a sudden glimpse of his quarry sent him racing in pursuit, he found his life unexpectedly transformed. After what seemed like an impossible, endless journey, he came out into a landscape that bore no resemblance to the campus. Forests and fields surrounded him, and the only sign of human habitation was the ruins he'd just stumbled out of.
His years of boy scout training made Ben somewhat resourceful and, driven by hunger, he regretfully killed and cooked an amazingly tame rabbit. He'd almost finished eating it when a group of people came riding up. They spoke a language he couldn't understand and swiftly made him their prisoner. Ben couldn't comprehend the harshness with which they treated him, at least not then. It wasn't till he'd learned the nature of this strange realm called Barakhai that he understood the enormity of his offense. For Barakhai was a place peopled by inadvertent shapeshifters, humans forced to spend their day---or night---in animal form. When Ben killed and ate the rabbit he became a cannibal by Barakhai standards, condemned to die for his crime. But there were those who felt otherwise, including the white rat Ben had followed into this world. In his human shape his name was Zylas, and it was he who led a daring rescue, snatching Ben from the hangman's noose.
As Zylas told Ben, not everyone was happy with life in Barakhai, a land where the general population was ruled by those of royal blood---who remained in human form all the time, and who had, over the centuries, become virtual dictators. Of course, Ben was not a shapeshifter either. And Zylas hoped that because of this Ben could become the means to turn their world around. But even if Ben agreed to join their cause, would he only be postponing the moment of his execution and would he ever be allowed to return to his own world again?