Mask of Poison (Fall of Under Book 1) by Kathryn Kingsley (great novels to read txt) 📕

“Kamira found her husband, another king of Under. He relayed news that was…upsetting.”

“Which was?”

Dtu paused. “It isn’t important.”

“I don’t believe you.”

The wolf sighed heavily and lowered his head onto his paws. The glowing green fire of his eyes went out, as if he had shut them. “Our capital has fallen to the creatures that overtook your world. They are being led by a king who died four hundred years ago, and now has risen from the grave to wreak vengeance on us all.”

Jakob blinked. The King of Moons sounded…hopeless. As if he’d simply accepted the world was coming to an end. Jakob decided he hated the sound of it. He needed to find a way to cheer up the strange monster immediately. He thought through his possible responses and picked the long shot. “Oh, is that all? Sounds like a regular day to me.”

Dtu laughed. His shoulders shook, even if the jaw of his rotted skull didn’t open. When his laugh quieted, he picked up his head, and those pinpricks of green fire that served as his pupils were fixed on Jakob again. “You are an odd man, Jakob.”

“Says the giant undead wolf.” He smiled all the same. “But thank you. I think.” He took another bite out of his meat on a stick. “What’s the plan now, then? If going to your capital is out of the picture.”

“We wait here for Lyon, the other king, to arrive. And then we decide whether or not we are to march on to—”

“Oh, thank goodness!” a female voice cried.

Jakob shrieked as a woman appeared out of thin air. Just blinked into existence. And to make matters worse, she was floating! And blue. But the color of her skin was the least important part of the equation at the moment.

Dtu shot up from the ground. “Ini?”

The floating blue woman threw her arms around the thick neck of the werewolf and hugged him. “Oh, Dtu—Dtu, I’m so happy to see you. It’s terrible! Absolutely terrible what’s happened. The whole city is just a sea of the dead now, and they’re in so much pain and—”

“Calm yourself, sprite. I can barely understand you.” Dtu chuckled. “One thing at a time.”

“Good. Someone else for her to ramble at.” Another man approached. He looked rather road weary, and utterly not dressed for the occasion. The man was dressed in all gray, with a matching mask over half his face, etched in purple ink.

“Hello, Maverick,” Dtu greeted the other man. “Good to see you are well.”

“I am alive.” Maverick grunted and sat down on a log by the fire. It looked like the motion hurt him. “Whether or not I am well, I do not know.”

“Alive is enough for now. It’s more than most people have.” Ini finally let go of Dtu and floated a foot away, her hands clutched together and pressed to her ample—and visibly bare through layers of sheer blue fabric—chest. “Oh, Dtu. You should have seen it…it’s terrible.”

Dtu sniffed the air. “You came with others. But not many.”

“No. We sent the majority of the survivors north toward Evie and the House of Flames. We are heading west, and it won’t be safe for them where we’re headed.”

“West?” Dtu tilted his head. “Why are you going west?”

Ini floated down to sit on the log next to Jakob. He went stiff, watching the woman with wide-eyed fascination. Her whole face was hidden behind a full and ornate porcelain mask, adorned with blue jewels and gold filigree. She was absolutely beautiful, her long, ocean-blue hair swirling in the air around her like it was caught in a stream.

“This world is incredible,” Jakob murmured without realizing it.

Ini turned to look at him. He couldn’t see her eyes—there was only darkness there, like all the others whose masks hid their eyes. But she lifted her shoulders and giggled, and Jakob knew she was smiling. “Such flattery. Hello, sweet boy.” She reached up and stroked Jakob’s hair, and the touch felt like a summer breeze.

He leaned into her hand.

A low growl broke into his thoughts, and Ini pulled her hand away. The growl hadn’t come from him and certainly not from her.

It had come from Dtu.

Ini turned to the wolf. “Well. My apologies, sweet brother.”

“It’s nothing.” Dtu looked away.

“Mmhm.” She giggled. “Nothing at all.”

“Were you two traveling on foot?” The wolf changed the subject. Away from what, Jakob didn’t know. He was still trying to figure out what had come over him when the strange, blue, elven woman had touched him.

“We were,” Maverick complained. He was pulling off his shoes to rub his feet. “We had horses, but we left them behind for Lyon and Ember, another refugee.”

“There are other survivors from Gioll?” Jakob perked up. “That’s fantastic! How many?”

“I have only met the one, I’m afraid. The others I have met from your world were not…shall we say…quite alive.”

Jakob’s shoulders fell. He frowned. “Just one? I hope there’s more…I hope more people made it.”

“I am still not sure what we are meant to do with you either way.” Dtu lay back down, resting his head across his paws again. It struck Jakob for the first time that the wolf might be tired. He hadn’t seen him sleep since they met. “A pack of mortals is ill-suited for our world. My plan to dump you on the King of Blood seems to be dashed.”

“Speak of the vampire, and he arrives.” Maverick motioned his head toward the far end of the clearing.

Jakob turned to watch two figures on giant insects that vaguely resembled horses ride into the clearing. One of them was a tall man in all white who looked as pale as a statue. He was bizarre and otherworldly. But it was the young woman on the other horse who caught Jakob’s attention.

Mostly because of the black mark across her face.

All conversation amongst the survivors in the clearing stopped. All he could hear was the crackle of the fires and the chirping of animals in the forest.

A hunter! A graedari.