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

The wind picked up, needling them all with frozen rain scouring their skin. Again Yue pounded her arms to warm the blood.

“In Lan Shui, I was in charge,” she said. “And I knew most everything about my job. Nothing went on in my town that I was not aware of. But here, everything is different. I am not them.” She tossed her head in the direction of Mag and me, who were busy with our squadrons. “I am a fighter, and I have been one for most of my life, but I am new to this kind of fighting. Before I met you all, the closest I came to war was when the vampires attacked my town. And waiting for them to come … I suppose that the threat seemed great, but at least we had a plan to fight them.” A spark seemed to light in her eyes, and her squadron saw it. “But that was not why I felt confident. I felt confident because of them.” Again she nodded to Mag and me.

One of her soldiers snorted. “Mostly because of her, I suppose.”

“No,” growled Yue. “Both of them. Albern may not be … well, he may not be Mag. But he is no slouch, either. I would lay ten gold weights on him against anyone in this little army, except Mag herself. I thought he was a dark-damned steer when first I met him. And do you know what? He is a steer. But he is a good steer. He is my steer. Not just kind of heart, but skilled and wise as well. If there is anything wrong with him, it is that—”

She cut herself off. Her squadron stared at her curiously.

“What, Sergeant?” said one.

“It is that he cannot keep his fool mouth shut when he should,” snapped Yue. “Much like others I could name. Now heft those spears. We have a battle to fight.”

But before she went to fetch her weapon, she looked at me again, and then at Mag. The wind blew a curtain of rain before her, blocking us both from view.

It was a cold night, and the wind whistled low. I shivered against it, pulling my hood tighter around my face.

My squadron stood in the darkness around me, rubbing or slapping their arms as we waited for the order to march. I walked among them, seeing that they and their equipment were in shape. Here and there I caught a loose buckle or strap and helped to tighten it, and I ensured no one carried anything they did not need.

Chausiku had been called back from sentry duty, replaced by an archer from Zhen’s company. From what the other archer had said, Zhen was not pleased to remain behind while we marched off to glory. I was not sure whether the captain was leaving him because he wished to protect him, or because he felt Zhen was a lieutenant he could trust absolutely. Either way, if I could have chosen to remain behind, I would have. Fighting a desperate, deadly battle in narrow tunnels beneath the earth was far from my idea of a good time.

“Remember,” I said. “We will be going in first, but only until we make contact with the enemy. As soon as we see them, we are to loose a volley and then run like Elves are after us. Green Squadron will take it from there.”

“Yes, ser,” said Jian fiercely. She was projecting all eagerness for the coming battle, but I could sense the nervousness beneath. “And mayhap we will have the chance to loose one or two extra shots into the traitors.”

“Hopefully, it will be over too quickly for that,” I replied.

“Will they not see our torches coming in the darkness?” said Chausiku. His anxiety was much plainer to see than Jian’s.

“They might, but there is little we can do about that,” I said. “They could do one of two things. They might attempt to hold the tunnel against us, for it is narrow and will render our numbers no great advantage. Or, they might seek a pitched battle in the large cave where they have made camp.

“If they try to hold the tunnel, Jian may well get her wish. The captain will not send our fighters to die against that brute woman who leads them. Instead, we will pepper them with bowfire until we whittle them down enough that they have to retreat. Either way, it will likely end with a pitched battle in the large cave. There, we should be as safe as we were in the battle in the Greenfrost.”

Hallan’s great red beard jumped as he chewed on a piece of meat, pulled from a pouch as a midnight snack before our foray. His eyes would rest upon me for a moment before darting away. He seemed less than pleased. I had not told him about my plan with Mag before we left. It was strange to feel such disapproval from the man, who was usually the friendliest archer in my squadron.

“Easy enough, ser,” he said gruffly. “Anything else?”

“No, that is all,” I said. I turned to speak to the rest of them. “Tonight has held more than its share of bad decisions, and for my part in them, I am sorry. But we are all making the best of a bad situation.”

Hallan spat. “S’pose you did what you thought was best.”

“We did,” I said. “And with luck, we will be proven right in the end.”

“Hm,” said Hallan.

The wind whistled colder, and I shivered again.

It was a cold night, and the wind whistled low. Mag’s squadron buckled on their swords and hefted their shields. Dibu and Li swung their arms nervously, trying to stave off the cold just like the rest of us. But Mag seemed unaffected by the weather. The sharp wind’s only effect on her was to send her cloak and hair swirling. Frozen rain tried to slice at her face, but it could not find purchase,