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

“Mag dismissed my words as preposterous, and the conversation ended soon after. But deep down, she knew I was right, and it did not take her long to realize the truth. Over the next year, something changed within her. Battle and warfare, which she had always loved, suddenly became distasteful to her. She no longer loved to throw herself into a fight, nor to spar with me and the other sellswords. Before, she had loved to practice, no matter how easy it was for her to beat us every time. Now she could hardly be mustered to the practice yard even for mandatory drilling.

“A year later, she officially tendered her resignation, and I did the same. Our captain begged and pleaded with us to stay—Mag more than me, of course—but she would not be dissuaded. We left together, and we returned to Sten, and soon they married and moved to Northwood.

“Sten was nothing special—and I say that as one of his dearest friends. He was a farmer’s son like many others across the nine lands. But he was exactly what Mag needed, in that place, and in that time. The life of a mercenary had nothing new to offer her, but she could not see that. So she met one who would teach her the lesson, instead. The timing was too perfect to be mere luck.

“The same has always proven true, at least in my experience. Mayhap it was chance that put Dryleaf and me in that tavern together at the same time, all that long while later. But I have had my doubts, and those doubts have not slept in the many years since.”

“What else would it be, if not chance?” said Sun.

Albern leaned low in his saddle, and his voice grew somewhat hushed. “Can you look at everything that has happened across Underrealm—everything that is still happening now—and tell me you do not think there is some greater power at work? Some great force we cannot understand, pulling our strings like puppets?”

Sun frowned up at him. “I … what power? What force?”

He straightened and shrugged. “If I had the answer, I would surely sell it to a king for a wagon full of gold. But I will advise you not to be too ready to believe in chance. The smallest actions can have the most profound effects, and we can hardly guess at them. For even the most mundane of occurrences, there may be reasons we can but guess at.”

That was not an entirely pleasant thought, and it lingered in Sun’s mind. If even the ordinary choices in her life could contain some great and hidden purpose, then what of the more consequential ones? She had thought her adventure with Albern tonight was little more than a lark. She did not like to imagine what else it could be.

These thoughts troubled her more and more as they went on, and as Albern resumed his story.

I was somewhat disgruntled after my conversation with Dryleaf, but there was little I could do about it. Mag and I slept well that night, happy to have a mattress beneath us instead of a bedroll on the hard ground. The next morning, we broke our fast quickly and then returned to our room to discuss what we should do.

“I think it is clear what danger threatens the town,” she said. “The people here are frightened of the Shades. They must be terrorizing the countryside.”

“But then why would Yue let us in?” I asked.

“Mayhap they know the Shades, or know what they look like,” said Mag. “You and I are no friends of theirs, certainly. Mayhap Yue knew it when she permitted us to enter.”

I shook my head. “That seems quite a guess.”

She spread her hands. “Do you have a better one?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Then let us carry on as if I am right until proven otherwise, unless you would rather sit in this inn and wait for the weremage to come to us. Any plan of action, carried out with certainty, is better than no plan at all.”

I had to laugh at that. “Do not throw Victon’s words at me after all these years.”

“You obeyed him easily enough when we fought for him,” she said with a grin.

“And that has not been for a very long while.”

Despite my protests, I knew she was right. We had no better ideas, and even if a thorough search did not reveal the Shades themselves, it might lead us to another answer. Still, I was nervous we might draw attention to ourselves. Constable Yue had made it clear that we were not to cause trouble in her town, and we were planning to do exactly that.

For caution’s sake, we set out into the streets with our cloaks on and our hoods up, despite the heat of the day. Soon we were both drenched with sweat. I did my best to ignore it, but Mag complained mightily. We worked our way through shops, ostensibly to pick up supplies so that we could continue on our journey.

“If the Shades are indeed terrorizing this town, the people will know where they are,” said Mag. “Keep an eye out for places that the townsfolk avoid—even if they only avoid looking at them.”

We did so, but we soon realized we had a problem. The town was much the same as it had been yesterday; the people were afraid and despondent no matter where we went. It was hard to find a place they were avoiding when they seemed to be avoiding going outside at all. Few townsfolk would look at us, and in every shop we visited, the owner would conduct business as quickly as possible without speaking. When we tried to make conversation, they gave short, clipped answers or simply asked us to leave. And most curiously, when we told them we were looking for supplies