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

I sniffed, checked the battle, then looked back down at her. “You know something? Other than Baldr Hyland, you are the singly most boring person I have ever met.”

“Then you know nothing about either me, or Emperor Hyland.” Davri bared her bloody teeth at me, an expression that faded as I turned to rejoin Karalti and Suri.

“Wait!” she cried. “Don’t leave me like this!”

The terror in her voice gave me pause. I half-turned back, gripping the Spear tightly. The weapon was still billowing with black flames that coiled and streamed off into the air.

“I won’t.” I drew a deep breath, and rushed back at her.

[Shadow Lance deals 3262 damage!]

[You have killed Davri the Laundress! You gain 2021 EXP!]

[Congratulations! You are Level 25!]

[You have one new Mark of Matir ability]

[You gain a new Badge: Clean the Streets!]

[Congratulations! You are the first to achieve this Badge. You get 500 bonus EXP!]

[You have found: 1 x Promissory Note for 50000 Dinar (10,000 olbia); Davri’s Dagger, Bangle of the Master Thief, Mother’s Coin.]

Numbness rolled through me as I pulled the Spear blade out of the back of Davri’s head and assessed the rest of the battle. Karalti was still standing. Vash was fighting Davri’s guards at the remains of the garden entrance. Suri was locked in combat with Nicolas, now bleeding heavily from several massive slashes across his chest and arms. Jacob was cowering near the doorway, his spellglove destroyed, and screamed as another hunk of plaster and wood dislodged and smashed down right near the end of his feet.

“Hector! Help! My mana's almost gone! I'm gonna pass out!” Karalti spat fire into the mob as the Sandstriders dashed around through the bent and twisted gates toward the house.

“Coming!” I left Davri’s half-frozen corpse and Shadow Danced to Karalti’s side.

The Sandstriders were headed right for us. Karalti recoiled, nearly crushing me as she limped back, opened her jaws, and sprayed both machines with a whip of blinding white liquid flames. The guards' bravado turned to terror as the Ghost Fire slagged the Sandstrider's spindly legs and pitched them to the ground. Molten metal splattered everywhere.

“Karalti! Come down here! I have to stop the bleeding!” I chugged a potion, then pulled the dragon-sized potions I'd brewed at home: two full gallon jugs of Green Moss Tinctures.

Karalti swung her head down and opened her jaws. I poured them in, ignoring the enervation of the mana. I saw Nicolas break away from Suri, then turn and lumber into the surging crowd of goons with my girlfriend in hot pursuit.

[You heal Karalti for 400 Damage!]

[Karalti is no longer bleeding!]

“We need to get the hell out of here,”I muttered. Karalti’s blood was boiling and crawling along the ground, as if magnetically drawn to the corpses of Davri and the slaves. “Like, right now. Vash! Suri!”

“Coming, dear!” Vash trilled. He had a guard’s head trapped under his arm – an ex-guard, as he flexed, wrenched, and broke the man’s neck.

As soon as Nicolas was outside the range of his own anti-magic sphere, he snarled the words of a spell. There was a familiar push of unseen force through the air, and he vanished.

“NO!” Suri screamed after Nicolas, charging heedlessly toward the oncoming tide, even as the wailing cries of quazi pierced the din of battle. “GET BACK HERE, YOU FUCKING MONSTER!”

“Karalti! Grab Jacob, but don’t kill him!” I Jumped onto Karalti’s back as Vash slid into a mass of shadows, then appeared on the saddle beside me. “Suri! Come on!”

Suri wasn’t listening. Consumed with rage, she struck down soldier after soldier, ignoring half a dozen bloody cuts on her face and torso. She didn’t even see Jacob, cowering under the rubble of the walkway with his arms over his face.

“Fuck. Karalti, grab her too!” I dropped down to clench the saddle grips. “Hold on!”

Karalti let out a piercing cry as she thundered forward, mantling her wings. Jacob’s cries turned to squeals as the dragon speared him out of the wreckage like a heron catching a fish, bulldozed her way out of the fragile retaining wall, and snatched Suri in one hand. She built up speed, scattering mobs out of the way, and flung herself into the air – what air there was. We were in the undercity, and the plates supporting the level above us were barely a hundred and fifty feet over our heads. There were pillars, chains, drains, catwalks and who-knew-what else hanging over the buildings.

“Head for the ocean! West!” I bent down over Karalti’s back like a motorcycle racer, the Region Map hanging open in my HUD.

“I’m trying! But those quazi are right on-URGH!” she moaned as a bullet impacted her scales and split one. “Suri! Stop struggling!”

There was a screech behind us, the sound of an eagle on steroids. I let go of the saddle grips and turned to see a pair of quazi hurtling toward us, beaks open, talons outstretched. Vash swore and flattened himself down, but I was a second too slow. One of them snatched me in its claws and dragged me up. It was so strong that the armor buckled in its grip, crushing my shoulder and armpit. I thrust the Spear up under its wing, only to have it caught by the rider's weapon, some kind of hooked polearm I'd never seen before.

I wasn't getting anywhere with the Spear, so I started punching the bird-like dinosaur up under the keel. It screeched with irritation, swinging me in its feet to try and stop me from laying into it. “Hey! If you're going to drop me, you bastard, you better get nice and high!”

“Hector! Hold on! I’m coming!” Karalti’s body was arrow-straight, wings pumping as she closed on the birds now striving to get away from her. My ride banked sharply, but there was no escape while they were carrying me. I was heavy, and Karalti was gaining.

“Have a nice fall!” the rider called, voice sugary with sarcasm. He whistled, and the quazi dropped me before it surged