The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4) by Garrett Robinson (elon musk reading list TXT) 📕

too much attention. They think they face only bandits. Bandits, themselves, are their own sort of landmark in the lives of the people of Lan Shui. That is an evil they can face, and so they would rather believe in bandits than seek the truth. ‘Only in watchfulness lies safety,’ said a Mystic to me once. But people do not remain watchful forever, and when they lapse, darkness gathers.”

“That is not exactly an answer,” said Sun.

“I wish I had a better answer to give you,” said Albern. “But failing that, I will continue the tale.”

Dryleaf did not seem particularly annoyed when they brought him to our cell, which was a courtesy I had no right to expect of him. He settled quite easily down onto the bench against the back wall, resting against the stone with a sigh. I sat opposite him, on the ground, my back against the iron bars. A quick glance around had told me that the rest of the cells were empty. I took that as a good sign. Ditra did not seem overly fond of jailing people for little reason, it seemed. I wondered if my mother had been any different. I had never bothered to spend much time inspecting the dungeons.

“Well, this is all a great deal of foolishness,” said Mag lightly. She stood at the other end of the iron bars from me, leaning against them with her arms crossed, as though she were awaiting a delivery of barley to her inn.

“Yes,” I said.

“Unabashed, reckless foolishness.”

“It is.”

“Now, Mag,” said Dryleaf kindly. “Do not be too harsh. Tomorrow is the first day of Yearsend, after all. A time for forgiveness.”

“I find her words comforting, actually,” I said. “It is when she gets quiet, or tries to treat me too delicately, that I grow worried.”

“Then I suppose I retract my scolding.”

“So your sister and the weremage used to bed each other, did they?” said Mag.

“They did,” I said. “They were young. Kaita started as Ditra’s retainer when she had seen only eighteen years, freshly returned from the Academy, and she is only a year or two older than Ditra. I cannot believe I did not recognize her in Northwood. There was a twinge at the back of my mind, but I never—”

“None of that,” said Mag. “It was long ago. Your sister did not recognize you, her own brother. Why should you recognize someone you barely even knew?”

I shook my head slowly. “Mag, I … this means something.”

“I know.”

“No, I mean … in Northwood. We both thought Kaita was after you. We thought she bore some grudge against you, though we did not know what. But she was never after you. She was trying to get to me. When she attacked, I shoved you out of the way, and she killed Sten instead.” I looked up at her, tears shining in my eyes. “But she was never aiming for you. It was me all along.”

“I know,” said Mag. “I worked that out for myself. I am actually rather clever, as well as being mighty.”

“And humble,” said Dryleaf.

“Sky above, Mag,” I whispered. “I am so sorry.”

“You should not be,” she said brusquely. “Your actions change nothing. It was not your fault. I would have thrown myself in her path to protect you, and Sten would have done the same. And the only reason he died was that you were trying to protect me. None of us did anything wrong. No one but Kaita.”

Her words were little comfort. I bowed my head into my hands.

“We had a sense that she was stringing us along,” said Dryleaf quietly. “Now we know why. She wanted to draw you here. To your home, and hers. But why? Why not strike at us on the road?”

“Because of Mag,” I said quietly, looking up.

Mag frowned. “Me?”

I nodded. “Do you remember that time we saved Victon from the bear in the jungle?”

Her frown deepened. “I do, but I fail to see what it has to do with anything.”

“That, too, was Kaita.”

Her eyes went wide. “How do you know?”

“You were confused by how it seemed to vanish. I was, too. It stuck in my mind, so that I still remember it all these years later. That was Kaita. I believe she turned into a raven and flew away, which is why the trail ended so. That was the first time she tried to kill me, I think. But you were there to protect me, and we remained by each other’s side for years. She must have given up. And then one day she joined the Shades, and that must have occupied her time too much to think of hunting me down. But then, when she learned that we were together again, and in Northwood … she had the strength of an army behind her. She thought she could try again. But even then, you defeated her. She must have realized that she could not defeat you, that no human could. No human.”

“The trolls,” said Dryleaf suddenly. “She hoped the trolls could do it.”

“Sky above,” breathed Mag. “And it seems she might be right. I was almost as helpless against the troll as you were.”

That drew me just enough out of my dark mood to scowl at her. “If you will remember, it was I who wounded the troll.”

She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I kept its attention so that you could.”

“In any case,” I said, soldiering on, “she knew she could lure us here, because I would not let her harm my family. And here, she has a chance of defeating you. Once you are out of the way, she can take her revenge on me at last.”

“And your sister.”

I frowned at her. “My sister?”

“Of course,” said Mag. “If she only wanted to draw us into conflict with the trolls, she could have done that in the mountains farther south. But she and the Shades have driven the trolls into a war with the family Telfer. She cannot think your