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

Thwack

The sound of a stone striking flesh echoed in the night.

“What in the dark—”

A guard shot to her feet. She was looking at something Sun could not see.

“What happened?” called a voice.

“Something hit Wen.”

“What do you mean ‘some—’”

Thwack

The voice died abruptly.

“Attack!” cried the woman in Sun’s view. “We are under attack!”

She ran off out of sight. Someone came and threw open the flap of the tent closest to Sun, and a figure stumbled out of it into the night. Sun ducked back until the figure was out of sight.

Trotting, but still trying to remain silent, Sun crept up behind the tent. She stuck one eye out around the edge of it, but it seemed she need not have bothered. Ten or so people were gathered at the other end of the camp, but they were staring in Albern’s direction, away from Sun.

Thwack

One of the figures fell poleaxed to the ground and did not move. A stone bounced away from his limp form.

“There!” A man thrust his finger up towards the hill where Albern was hiding. “I saw something!”

“Find them!” barked another. “We cannot let them bring word of us to Lan Shui!”

Most of them attempted to climb the hill, while two circled around the base of it, likely hoping to cut off Albern’s escape.

Sun moved. Her heart thundered in her ears as she reached the chest holding the magestones and threw herself to the ground behind it. Only then did she see the heavy iron lock that held it shut.

“Dark below,” muttered Sun.

She risked a glance at the hill. The Shades—or whatever they were—were not paying any attention to their own camp. After a quick search, she found a large rock, half as big as her head. She hefted it high and slammed it against the lock. The iron held for two strikes, but on the third, it fell open.

With shaking fingers, she pulled the lock out and opened the chest. It was packed to the lid with packets wrapped in brown cloth. Sun pulled one open to find black, semi-translucent crystals. Magestones.

She scooped all the packets up into her arms and dashed towards the cauldron. She threw them into the flame beneath it, but it was an awkward throw, and half of them fell upon the ground next to the fire. She fell to her knees and tried to scoop them up, wincing at the heat of the darkfire that leaped up, licking at the sides of the cauldron.

A hand seized her hair and threw her backwards.

Sun’s head struck the ground hard, and she rolled away, stunned. A heavy boot struck her in the ribs. She had just enough presence of mind to roll away from it.

“Glad I came back to make sure the camp was safe,” snarled a woman’s voice.

Sun heard her foe’s footsteps approaching. She threw herself to the side as the woman aimed another kick. Fighting to her feet, Sun backed away, trying to take stock of the situation.

One woman had returned to the camp—the one Sun had seen as she approached. Her face was gaunt, with high, sharp cheekbones, and her head was shaved to stubble. Her clothes were all of thick leather and fur, far too hot for the weather recently. It looked as though she had dressed to be more impressive than practical. But the others were all gone, vanished over the top of the hill. Sun hoped that Albern was all right.

Sun shook her head to clear it. She needed time to figure out what to do. “What are you doing out here?”

“You are not that ignorant, or you would not have thrown the stones into the flames,” snarled the woman. She took a step forwards.

Sun drew Albern’s sword and held it before her, the tip a pace away from the woman’s chest.

“Stop.”

The woman paused, but only for a moment. A cruel smile played across her lips. “Do you even know how to use that, girl?”

“Trust me, I do. I am older than I look, if not nearly as old as you.”

That earned Sun a snarl. The woman drew two long daggers from her belt and lunged forwards, trying to batter Sun’s weapon aside. But Sun had spent many hours training in her family’s yard, and she retreated, using her own weapon to block the woman’s slashes and thrusts.

Knives, knives, she thought. What do you do against a foe with knives? She knew she had learned it, but all thought had fled her mind, and she was moving on instinct. It was harder to remember her lessons when she knew her foe wanted to kill her.

She stepped forwards with a wild swing. The woman took two steps away, breathing heavily. Sweat beaded her brow, made all the worse by the heat of the darkfire behind her. Sun hoped she regretted her choice of clothing.

“You do not look like a killer,” growled the woman.

“There is a first time for everything, I am beginning to learn.”

“Walk away. What we are doing here does not concern you. And it will make Underrealm a better place in the end.”

Sun loosened her grip on her sword for a moment, flexing her fingers. “I am told that your sort always thinks that. But I have learned another lesson. It does no good to ignore evil done in the shadows, no matter how often people would rather do so.”

The woman lunged. Again she tried to slap Sun’s blade aside—but this time Sun let her. She spun with the blow, sidestepping as the woman’s other dagger plunged through the space she had been standing.

Sun brought the sword arcing back around, and with the flat of the blade she slapped the woman’s hand. The dagger slipped from her sweat-soaked fingers to the ground. When she stooped to retrieve it, Sun sliced a thin cut on the back of her thigh. The woman’s back arched as she cried out. Sun stepped in