Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

airship,” Violetta snapped at the man. “I’ll take him to Ilia and find ways to question him there.”

The Captain resignedly saluted. “Yes, lady. We’ll do that, straight away.”

Violetta gave him a flat, angry stare before turning and striding off toward the doorway we had entered – the carriage entry, where we had left the unconscious guards. My gut tensed in anticipation.

“My lady, the exit is this way,” the Captain called to her, gesturing toward another door. “That route leads to the yard.”

With a sound of irritation, Violetta reversed course, and brushed past the Captain on her way to the front of the building instead.

“Phew,” Karalti breathed. “That was close.”

“We need to bail,” Vash muttered, falling in beside me. “The sage is dead. It’s over.”

“It’s not over until the shadow sage sings,” I said. “I haven’t gotten a quest failure notification, and I’m pretty sure I know why. There’s still a chance we can talk to him.”

“Unless you have a way to make the dead talk, we…” Vash trailed off. “Wait a second. Can you?”

“Courtesy of our friend the Demon,” I replied. “We need to get in that room before anyone else does.”

“Burna forgive me,” he sighed.

We turned the corner and half-walked, half-jogged to the interrogation room. Two men were posted outside the door, still cracked open, and there was movement inside: the sounds of people cleaning up.

“Hey, you three,” the man on the right of the door said in Dakhari. “Did you hear what that bitch said to the Captain?”

“Sure did.” I pulled the Spear, turned it over, and hit him as hard as I could with the blunt end as Vash and Karalti attacked the other.

[Sneak attack! You deal x3 non-fatal damage!]

The guard crumpled to the side, and we kicked the door in to find a horrific scene. Five more men were working around the corpse of Mehkhet the Illuminator. He had been a tall, thin man, his head as bald as a billiard ball. He was slumped against the straps binding him to a large wooden torture chair. There were slivers of wood still under his nails, but it wasn’t torture that had killed him. The man had bitten off his own tongue and spat the gory mess all over himself – and at Violetta, I guessed.

“Huh!?” the guard nearest us exclaimed. “Help! Intru-!”

We slammed the door closed, and rushed in. Without the element of surprise on our side, we had to fight the old-fashioned way.

“You guys take two!” I called out, Jumping forward. The guard parried my polearm with his, taking two times damage rather than the full four times. I swept into a forward push, bowling him over and sending him sprawling as I cut into the other two down. Vash and Karalti didn’t argue, flanking one guard and beating him down. The last remaining one cut around and ran for the door.

“Help! Hel-GRRK!” His scream cut short as Karalti planted her boot in his kidney from behind, pitching him to his knees. She swung her leg around, slashed down with her heel. The blow took him in the head and knocked him to the floor.

“Damn, girl. You learn quickly.” Vash dropped the man he’d been holding and rolled his shoulder, wincing.

“Yeah! Learn ALL the things!” She punched the air. “Learning is the best!”

“I thought food was the best?” I turned my attention to the body, but froze when I heard boots thundering toward us. “Fuck. Hold the line while I see what I can do.”

“Yeah! Come on, Vash!” Karalti punted the fallen guard to the side of the doorway and squared up. “The beatings will continue until morale improves!”

“Oy. What monster have I created?” Vash shook his head, and took stance beside her.

Mehkhet the Illuminator was only Level 27, which meant I had a good 60% chance to be able to summon his shadow. I equipped my Gauntlet and checked the juice in it. There were still two little capsules of mana in there, enough for two summoning attempts.

“Alright, old girl. Don’t let me down.” I snapped the storage compartment closed, drew a deep breath, let it out. Then, I flung my hand out like I meant it. “Suund'karon, Karalt', Binah!”

The mana discharged as dark light that flashed forward and engulfed the corpse. It soaked into the dead man's flesh... but nothing stirred. No whispering voices, no sighing shadows, no awesome necromantic might.

[You have failed to summon Mehkhet the Illuminator]

[Summon effectiveness reduced by 10%]

[You have two attempts remaining.]

“Okay. Fifty-fifty… No worries.” I shook myself out, flinching as the sounds of battle started behind me. “One more try. Suund'karon, Karalt', Binah!”

The second discharge flashed out, and the corpse twitched. I held my breath.

[You have failed to summon Mehkhet the Illuminator]

[Summon effectiveness reduced by 10%]

[You have one more attempt remaining.]

“You have got to be fucking KIDDING me!” It took everything I had not to go to my knees and screech at the sky. I didn't have any more mana.

“Hector! Help!” Karalti was pushed back, bleeding from a slash to the face. The soldiers trying to break through the doorway cried out in alarm.

“Karalti! Come here and bleed on this guy!” I ran from him to join Vash, who was striking away spears from the entry as he battled to close the door. Riflemen were lining up behind the melee fighters, sighting down like a firing squad.

“Bleed on him?”she squeaked.

“I’m out of mana!” I grabbed the edge of the door, struggling to push it forward. “Suri! We need that diversion!”

“On it. Listen for the screams.” Suri cut the radio, and not five seconds later, I heard a small explosion rip through the market square.

Karalti rushed over to the corpse. “Hector, I can’t! He’ll Strange!”

Fuck. I’d forgotten about Stranging. With a snarl, I left off the door, grabbed a spear bristling at us through the doorway, and hauled forward instead of trying to push back. The guard dropped it with a yelp rather than be drawn in, giving us enough time to slam the door closed. There was a