Intruder: Eight Factors, #5

By Meyari McFarland

Young dragon Marikellian traveled through dimensions, exploring the universe. It was lonely but Marikellian didn't mind. Much.

At least until he encountered a deadly dimension like none he'd ever seen.

Sucked in to be eaten, he gambled on his wits and will power.

If he won, he would save all of his people's lives but that meant influencing the evolution of a new breed of deadly predators: Humans.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MDR Publishing
• Release date: Mar 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311717948

Meyari McFarland

Meyari McFarland has been telling stories since she was a small child. Her stories range from SF and Fantasy adventures to Romances but they always feature strong characters who do what they think is right no matter what gets in their way. Her series range from Space Opera Romance in the Drath series to Epic Fantasy in the Mages of Tindiere world. Other series include Matriarchies of Muirin, the Clockwork Rift Steampunk mysteries, and the Tales of Unification urban fantasy stories, plus many more. You can find all of her work on MDR Publishing's website at www.MDR-Publishing.com.

Book preview

Intruder

By Meyari McFarland

Some Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

Matriarchies of Muirin:

Coming Together

Fitting In

Following the Beacon

The Solace of Her Clan

Debts to Recover:

The Nature of Beasts

Assumptions of Debt

The Manor Verse:

A New Path

Following the Trail

Crafting Home

Finding a Way

Go Between

Like Arrows of Fate

The Drath Verse

Clash of Lines

Joining of Lines

Consort of the Crystal Palace

Fragments of a Chain

Stranded With You

Reunited Hearts

Copyright ©2017 by Mary Raichle

Copyright ©2014 by Mary Raichle

Cover image

© Malchev | Dreamstime.com - Superhero Versus Robot Photo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be emailed to [e-mail].

This book is also available in TPB format from all major retailers.

Dedication:

This story is dedicated to my husband for putting up with my endless writing, my beta Kay for being a wonderful person who gives me lovely feedback, and everyone who's ever dreamed of other worlds.

Table of Contents

1. Explorer

2. Incoming

3. Ally

Excerpt: City of the Dead

Afterword

1. Explorer

Marikellian's hide rippled as he slowly slid through the dimensional barriers. It was a pleasant sensation, rather like swimming under the water in a fast flowing river. The various dimensional forms he passed were somewhat analogous to boulders to be skirted. Smaller dimensions felt like rocks under his belly. The vastness of the universe itself was the water he swam through, the air he breathed.

He hummed and scented the echoes that returned from the dimensions surround him. Most smelled dreadfully dull, determinedly looking inwards so that nothing outside of themselves impacted their awareness. None of them seemed to have the slightest interest in the wider universe, nor any desire for conversation. A pity.

It had been rather a long time since he'd last encountered a member of his own species. They tended to congregate far closer to the slowly swirling core of the universe, that shining place were new dimensions were spawned all the time. Far better eating there and, truthfully, far better conversation even if everyone tended to dismiss Marikellian's conversation with comments of 'idealistic', 'overly optimistic', and 'shouldn't you have grown out of that by now?'

But it was boring at the source. Marikellian understood the other's fascination with the young dimensions. They were bright and excited, growing rapidly and so malleable. You could affect so much change with such little effort. Just the touch of your mind here, the graceful flash of a claw there, and the young dimension took on a whole new form.

The dimensions that Marikellian wandered through now were old. Staid. Set in their ways and unwilling to change for anyone or anything. They'd seen their time in the focus of attention only to be cast off when a new dimension was spawned. They had no interest in conversing with Marikellian, no matter how hungry he was for intelligent discourse.

After all, each of the dimensions surrounding him contained multitudes within themselves. Just as the universe surrounding Marikellian had an infinite number of dimensions large and small, the individual dimensions had near infinite numbers of planets and stars within their bodies. And on each planet life burgeoned, responding to the dimension's touch much the way the dimension had responded originally to Marikellian's people's touch.

And within the living beings are multitudes of microbes, Marikellian crooned, amused by the endlessly recursive nature of reality, which contain multitudes of molecules which contain multitudes of atoms and then, well, then…

He chuckled. His people couldn't see any deeper than that. Honestly, he wasn't entirely certain that microbes existed though certain scientists back home had sworn that they had created special viewing devices that had allowed them to magnify enough to verify their existence. It had unfortunately sterilized the dimension in question, effectively killing it, but if one dimension was filled in that fashion it made sense that others must be too.

Logic, Marikellian mused.

He stopped to sniff at a tiny dimension that was slowly contracting back in on itself as it died. Its core glowed nearly as bright as the core of the universe. Marikellian couldn't feel any life left in the dimension. The heart of it still beat but the mind, the soul,