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

in the sky, Mag, Yue, and I slipped out of Kun’s encampment, searching for any clue as to how the Shades had escaped. It was a fine night. Both moons shone full above me, and the clouds had parted, letting the land flood with silvery light. In those days, my eyes were sharper, and I could pick out the details in the land as we went.

I went to the dell where we had wiped out the Shades, or at least the rear guard who let the rest of their fellows escape. The tracks looked much the same—the only things different were the signs of Kun’s force moving south after the battle, and one set of new tracks from Zhen, whom Kun had assigned to search for the Shades.

“There is nothing new, Mag,” I said. “I might have a chance at spotting something in the daylight, but—”

“Albern,” said Mag. “Come now. You have to try, at least. Give me that much.”

I sighed. “I do not know what more I can do. I can think of no way they could have vanished like this. It is like Elf-magic.”

“Let us retrace our steps during the battle, then,” said Mag. “We came from that way.” She pointed to the west.

“No, we came from there,” I said, pointing to the hilltop where the Shade archers had fired at us. “Honestly, Mag, sometimes you are like an infant lost in the woods.”

A shadow passed over her expression, but I did not notice. I had frozen in place, staring up at the hill.

“Albern?” said Yue. “What is it?”

“That hill … that is where the Shades fired at us,” I said. “They killed one of mine. He bore a torch.”

“I remember,” said Mag. “They got two of mine as well.”

“I see where the torch rolled down the hill,” I said. “But I do not see the torch itself.”

We all looked up at the spot together. There was the mark that looked like a wyrm. It was less clear now, for the flames had long since burned out. But there was a black trough burned in the green shoots of new grass, and it looked for all the world like a dragon twisting as it dove to the ground, wings folded back against its body.

“Someone could have found it and picked it up,” said Yue.

“Look at the boulders,” I said. “It should have rolled down them, but it did not. There are no burn marks, no traces of pitch on the rocks.”

I walked forwards, Yue and Mag trailing behind me. And as I climbed up, I discovered the same thing Kaita had seen earlier that day: the hole behind the boulders, invisible unless you were almost inside it. The trail of the rolling torch vanished into the shadows.

“Dark below,” I said.

“In the strictest sense,” said Yue.

“We have them,” said Mag.

“Yes, we do,” I said. “All right. Let us return to Kun and—”

“What? No,” said Mag, looking at me as though I had gone mad. “They cannot be far inside. We have to go in. Kaita could be just a span away from us at this very moment.”

“Mag, you cannot be serious,” I said. “You told Kun you wanted to find the Shades so he could point his troops at them. Was that a lie?”

“It was not,” said Mag. “But Kun refused me. Now we have found them on our own. Let us slip in, kill Kaita, and then return. No one has to be any the wiser.”

“Mag,” I said, shaking my head. “Even if we can get in and find Kaita, and even if we can kill her—and neither of those is likely—what makes you think we could get back out again?”

“Albern is right, Mag,” said Yue. “I agreed to come out here, but I did not agree to throw myself blindly into the midst of our enemies.”

“Then let me do it,” growled Mag. “I can deal with Kaita easily enough if I can only get my hands on her. Albern, listen to me. How many times have we faced Kaita on the battlefield? When she knows we are coming, or when she sees we are within striking distance, she always flees. She did it in Northwood. She did it twice in Tokana. And neither of us can catch a bird, or even a mountain lion, for that matter. We have to take her by surprise. If we do not, she will only escape again. Please.”

I sighed. Mag did have a point. It is perilously tricky to hold a weremage in place when they wish to escape you. And if anyone could slip into the midst of our enemies, kill one of them, and get out again, it would have been Mag. But I was not confident that anyone could do it, not even the legendary Uncut Lady.

“When will you turn back, Mag?” I said. “What if it grows more dangerous? What if they raise the alarm? What if they kill you, or one of us?”

“That will not happen,” said Mag at once. “I will not let anything happen to the two of you. And yes, I promise you: if they raise the alarm, I will turn tail and flee with the both of you.” A sudden smile twisted her lips. “I will probably run faster than you, Albern, for age has made you slow.”

I laughed despite myself, choking it back and trying to maintain a stern expression. “All right. If I have your vow, I will come with you.”

“Then it is settled,” said Mag, clapping her hands. “Do not worry, friends. I will lead the way.”

So saying, she lowered herself into the darkness behind the boulders. I heard her land lightly on the tunnel floor, and then she hissed up from the shadows for us to follow her.

Yue moved to go down, but I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She met my eyes, squinting to see me in the moonslight.

“Are you sure about this?” I said. “Mag and I could go on alone. You could