Ruein: Fires of Haraden: Action/Adventure Necromancy Series (Books of Ruein Book 2) by G.O. Turner (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

head and probed the wound beneath. No doubt, the carving-twist of such a fat blade would leave little for questioning. Ruein dropped his chin. Its darkening red contents continued to pool upon the table, and paint her fingertips.

Their room’s basin had been replenished with water and bathing cloths. With a dip and squeeze, Ruein wiped away the stains, as well the road dirt from her fall. She settled onto her perfunctory bed, beside her folded black leathers. Ruein began to re-outfit herself, sliding into her leggings.

Her gut churned…as if something ate at her. But, what?

She still hadn’t questioned the farmer. Not that the one she saw would offer much either. A head severed down the middle, or in this case, diagonally, would be too far gone to retain any ability to speak. However, the body did tell plenty.

He’d been cleaved so cleanly. There were no ragged marks from a caught weapon nor repeated blows. A human skull was a sturdy thing. To kill someone in such a fashion would take either incredible swordsmanship or sheer power to drive the blade through.

Ruein slipped on her breastplate and tightened the clasps.

There was no debate as to which the farmer had encountered. His torso made it apparent. Hacked ferocity had levied multiple swipes and split ribs. Whatever finished him seemed a beast, though not the clawed variety.

Strapping on her sleeves, Ruein eyed the goblin again. Her lip curled. “Oh, Scratch. You must’ve been quite the monster to take all those people down.” The absurdity could almost elicit her a chuckle.

Hmm… The day is done. Wouldn’t be a waste to cast now.

Screw it.

Ruein clasped her medallion and ran fingers over its emblazoned skull. The evening stretched as she worked her way through draconic verse, spooling up the runic combinations. The dark extended out through her.

The goblin flinched.

Ruein stepped into her boots and returned to the table.

Scratch’s remains spasmed. Goblin eyes rattled along different courses. His mouth frothed with blood, jaw opened.

“Scratch!” She snapped her fingers over disparate eyes. “Seems something got between you and your prize.”

Ruein held up the fat-bladed dagger.

His dead pupils locked upon the blade. Scratch’s vocal cords garbled. Ruein drew closer. “What was your prize? What was this all for?”

The goblins throat caught, straining. “Ghh…Guh…” His head shook. His paw twitched at Ruein’s side. Drawing it in closer, he tugged at his coin purse.

Ruein snatched it up and dumped the contents. A fistful of gold slid through her fingers. Four platinum settled onto her hand. “Of course… I guess you got what you were already after. So, again, what was your prize?”

Scratch’s jaw became more frenetic. “Ahss… Ahss-m…” She grabbed his scalp to solidify her hold. His eyes began to roam. He twitched in her grasp and struggled out, “Ahn…jell…”

Straining to spit a last response, something popped within. Bubbles of blood and brain spewed from his gaping neck. The corpse went limp.

“Angel, eh?”

His killer was winged, yet was clearly unholy. Huh, that’d make a hell of an angel.

She sauntered to the bed and retrieved her gauntlets. Easing them on, she focused on the unforgiving knuckle spikes. Ruein regarded the mess of remains upon the table. “So, if Scratch was not the killer, then perhaps this…shrouded death angel? She was no taller than any of us. Of course, her wings should allow for an attack from above.” Ruein held open her hand. “Still, the raw power… For someone of that size, it’d take a supernatural level of strength.”

Savaal and his dwitches had been unrestrained in showing how supernaturally powerful a lich could be. She flexed her fingers, tightening them into a ball. The leathers creaked.

What was she to make of all of this?

The blowing of the winds outside buffeted at their chamber curtains. The open balcony was a staccato of showers on stone. Rain came in sheets now, sweeping across the landing as low clouds pirouetted in and around.

Ruein drew closer to the opening.

Stark flashes of azure hit their room with sudden cracks and low rumbles. Councilman Evets had made mention of the Apex’s storms.

Stepping out, chilled dabs wet upon Ruein’s cheeks. Her desiccated skin exposed, trickles ran through the crevices under her eyes. Past its quenching soak, the excess streamed from her face. At least she could pretend the outpour was something more.

The coolness of the showers seeped through, subsiding her roil.

What’s the point? Am I here to appease some high-and-mighty dragon’s want of a better world? Please. Ruein didn’t care about any of that. Rue’s son—little Nayr… He’s so small. The world is already too big for him. He needs time to grow, to become someone stronger.

Ruein closed her eyes, honing in on the coolness streaming down her cheeks. Her sister, Liv, had made these children her sole reason for remaining. So, either her death goddess be damned, or Ruein would be. Only one was going to take that role.

She grimaced, reflecting on Liv’s scoldings. The earlier leap without a look. Since when had she become so reckless?

Was it reckless?

If she was destroyed here, Liv would no longer have reason to stay. She could catch the next carriage back with safe passage to Vandraport. Would Shegar Negrath turn out Liv’s nephew? Abandon Rue’s son without protection?

No damn way a Khorana would stand for that.

How many paths could still achieve Ruein’s ends?

She cast her gaze over the flickering lights of the city below. As far as wealth, this underdark dalliance with the surface was as opulent as Deepwater. Street lamps burned with the telltale light of everburning magics. Between those and the cooking fires throughout, the damp streets mirrored a shimmer across the cityscape.

The necromancer Rue once was had merely been tolerated in the known world. The abomination which she’d become… Well, the underdark was more familiar, at least. Perhaps—

Brilliance arced off to Ruein’s left.

Whipping her gaze, she followed a blue bolt coruscating across the plated buttresses of the Apex. The bright tendril danced and split across the metallic outcrops and artistry. It raced up the side of the Apex and