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

archers were inside, and then we waited a moment longer until Mag’s swordfighters had followed. Our squadrons would press down the tunnel, but not too quickly, while the rest of the army trickled in behind us.

Hallan walked near the front, torch in hand. No one else in my squadron held a torch, and Mag’s unit hung well back with their torchbearer, so we had only scant light to go by. But that seemed better than giving the enemy many targets to fire at in the darkness.

That long, slow advance down the tunnel was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I have ever had. It was not like the anticipation of any everyday battle. We knew they were ahead of us, lurking in that darkness. They could not help but see us—we had a torch. Yet we had no choice but to advance straight towards them, helpless in the dark.

We had no grand strategy, not like Kun had devised before. There was no room for it. This would be brutal, messy, and violent. We would fight and die in darkness, in the flash of torchlight glinting off blood-soaked blades. It would be a hard task to clear the Shades from this place, especially if the brute woman took the fore. If that happened, we would have little choice but to pit Mag against her and pray to a sky we could no longer see.

Yet there was no sign of our enemy. We were close now to the great cavern. But no arrows came hissing out of the darkness to fall among us.

When I guessed we were a span away from the large cavern, I stopped. Something about this felt wrong. The Shades would gain no benefit from fighting us in the vast space ahead. It would have made far more sense for them to fight us here in the tunnel, funneling us into a small space. As I sat there in the dark, pondering the mystery, Mag crept up, and not far behind her came Lieutenant Tou and Captain Kun.

“What is it?” said Mag.

“The cavern is up ahead,” I said. “Yet there is no sign of them. I cannot read the tale of it.”

“Mayhap they are trying to hide,” said Tou. His anger at Mag and me was forgotten for the coming battle—or at least he had put the anger away on a shelf in his mind, to be retrieved later. “Mayhap they have holed up deeper in the cave, hoping that we will think they have left.”

“I do not think so,” I said slowly. “I would call that foolish, and nothing they have done so far has shown foolishness on their part.”

“What do you think, then?” said Kun.

“Mayhap they have set an ambush inside the entrance,” said Mag. “They left the tunnel open so that we would think the danger was gone, or at least so that we might grow lax in our caution. They hope we will press into the cavern with speed, and they can strike us from the sides when we are in an open space.”

“That could be,” said Kun. “Very well. Sergeant, take your squadron forwards. Proceed into the cavern cautiously, and keep a shield wall up around you. If they hope to catch us unawares, we must endeavor to disappoint them.”

“Why not let me go in alone?” said Mag. “I will provoke as much of a reaction as my whole squadron, and there is no reason to risk more lives unnecessarily.”

“Do not be a fool,” I snapped. “Mag, even you cannot guard all sides of you at the same time.”

“You know how fast I am,” said Mag. “If they start to fire upon me, I will retreat into the—”

“Enough,” said Kun. “Albern is correct. Take your squadron, Mag. Be careful, and if they fire upon you, retreat.”

A moment passed, with Mag’s jaw working furiously. “Yes, Captain.”

She set off, leading her squadron down the tunnel towards the entrance to the cavern. My archers and I followed behind, all of us with arrows nocked.

Dibu held the torch in Mag’s squadron. The others surrounded him with their shields turned outwards, so that the group of them edged into the cavern like an exceptionally watchful turtle. I tensed, expecting a hail of arrows to fall among them. But no attack came.

A long moment passed as Mag kept leading them farther out into the space. But it was, indeed, empty.

Chills began to creep paths down my spine. I shook them off and pushed into the cavern to join Mag.

“Where in the dark below did they go?” she growled.

“An apt choice of words,” I said. “Hallan, give me that torch. I need to have a look around.”

I took it and went to inspect the place where the Shades had built their camp. There was a great deal of detritus around, small pieces of cloth that must once have held food, as well as some bones and other scraps from finished meals. But there were no tents, no bedrolls, nothing but a few smoldering remnants of the campfires they had managed to build from dung.

“They left,” I said quietly. “But where could …?”

Quickly now, I moved to the wall and began circling the perimeter of the cave. Very soon, I found what Kaita had already seen—three other tunnels leading out of the main cavern. I paused at the southern one. There I saw the smooth stone floor streaked with many muddy boot prints. The Shades had left this way.

I ran back to the center of the cavern. Kun was there now with Mag, and more than a hundred of our soldiers had filtered into the cavern behind him. The captain’s smile had grown very, very dangerous.

“Ser,” I said. He turned his gaze upon me. “The Shades left through another tunnel, this one leading to the south. Either they found an exit that way, or they took it and hoped they would find one. Either way …”

The captain nodded. “Yes, Sergeant,” he said. “It seems we have little choice but to chase them