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

lost too much time already. It has been two months since we saw Kaita last. If she wished to vanish forever, hiding in some far kingdom where we will never find her, she could have done that by now. If she wished to surround herself with allies, she could have done that as well. We can hardly worsen our situation by spending more time, especially if we spend it strengthening ourselves for the fight to come.”

Mag had been resting her spear across her knees. Now she seized it, shot to her feet, and threw it into a tree five paces away. The spearhead stuck in the trunk, quivering, as Mag’s hands balled to fists at her sides.

“Mag!” I said, frowning.

“What?” she growled.

“You may not like it, but you have to admit he is—”

“I know he is right, Albern.” Suddenly her shoulders sagged. “Of course I know it. I have been thinking of little else for the last month. Sometimes I hardly know why we are even here in northeastern Dorsea. Chasing some half-baked notion from a Rangatira? We have nothing. Nothing at all. And even now, with civil war breaking out, there is no sign of the Shades. I am … I am tired.”

Slowly, she paced over to her spear and pulled it out. Just as slowly, she returned and resumed her seat by the fire. I had sat up, tense for a moment, but now I began to relax again.

“I understand, Mag,” I said quietly. “I am tired, too. And you, Dryleaf, may try to hide it, but I can see the weariness in your shoulders as well. So let us rest. Let us slow down, at least a little. We can stop our wandering, and see what we can learn about this civil war, if there is anything to learn.”

“I cannot stop,” said Mag. “I cannot. I have to find her. I would hate myself if I stopped trying. And you said you would stay with me.”

“Of course I did,” I said. “And I will. Always.”

She looked away from me. “Then trust me. Searching for Loren now would be unwise. Sky above, she will not even kill in a fight. She would be little help in our hunt, and we would only endanger her if she joined it. It would be a waste of time, and we have wasted enough as it is.”

I sighed. “All right, then, Mag. We will keep looking for Kaita. We … we can continue asking around about the Shades. They may have something to do with this civil war. If they do, they may be easier to find now.”

Dryleaf had been listening to us silently, but now his head snapped up. Though his eyes were sightless, I could almost see a light in them.

“There may be another way,” he said. “Loren is not the only ally we could seek. We could find others.”

Mag arched an eyebrow. “And where do you mean to find them? I know few enough people in Dorsea. And if I do not want to spend a month searching fruitlessly for Loren, I certainly do not want to take the time for a tour of recruitment.”

Dryleaf cracked a grin. “You will not recruit anyone. You will be recruited. That Mystic captain in Taitou. Kun, of the family Zhou. If anyone in the kingdom wishes to find and fight the Shades, it will be him. If we can ingratiate ourselves with him, we may learn something of our enemy’s whereabouts.”

I had to admit that this idea appealed to me. We had been listless and wandering in Dorsea for far too long. And Victon always used to say that even a bad plan, carried out swiftly and with certainty, is better than no plan at all. I could think of worse things than allying ourselves with servants of the High King, Mystics though they might be.

Mag, too, had a spark of excitement in her eyes. “It would certainly be better than our aimless wandering. But I do not know if that Kun fellow was as trusting as he appeared. I heard the smile in his voice, but I also heard a false tone in it, and something steely lying beneath.”

“Yet he did offer to recruit us,” I said. “And we can prove our worth to him. Only a fool would refuse to have the Uncut Lady on their side of a battle.”

Mag scowled. “They will not know about that ridiculous title, because you will not tell them.”

I widened my eyes. “Of course not. I would never.”

“Albern.”

“Dearest Mag.”

Dryleaf shook his head, wearing a little smile. “I can hear the eagerness in your voices so plainly, I can almost picture your faces. And I think Kun will be more than grateful to have you.”

A reluctant smile pulled at the corner of Mag’s mouth. “Well, then. Let us try it. It has been a long time since we were sellswords.”

“A long time indeed,” I said. “Let us get some good rest tonight, then. Tomorrow, we ride to join the war for Underrealm’s future.”

“I can relate to your situation,” said Sun.

“Oh?” said Albern, cocking his head. “How is that?”

“Since meeting you, I have also found myself joining battles I did not expect,” she explained. “Though of course, you and I fight no great battles of nations. We are monster hunters, I suppose … and whatever one would call it when we stopped those brigands near Lan Shui.”

“Do not so quickly discount your actions—or, for that matter, my own,” said Albern. “It is easier to see battles on a grand scale when looking through the lens of history. But a king’s army is nothing but a collection of people. In ones and twos they join the fight, and in ones and twos they die—or they fight until they cannot anymore. You hear of them as part of a greater whole. But it takes wisdom to see that one is always part of a greater whole, whether you