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

warlock for help.” Dtu’s fur stood up on his back as his hackles raised. “I will not.”

“Do you have another suggestion?” Maverick had finally stopped muttering under his breath about the sores on his feet, but his mood had not improved.

“We fight.” Dtu dug his claws into the dirt. “We can stop him ourselves.”

“And then what?” Maverick shook his head. “Even if you are right and we could defeat him, which I sincerely doubt, then what do we do with him? We cannot kill him. You know that.”

“You assume he is a king. You assume he has the power of an Ancient behind him.” Dtu snarled. “There are seven Ancients. Not eight.”

Lyon’s expression was grim. “No. There are eight. I have seen the altar myself. This new Ancient…I believe it is the cursed creature that was destroying Gioll. I think our newcomer is their Dread God, and it resurrected Rxa as its king.”

“What do you know of this Dread God, Jakob?”

The young man blinked. “Ah. Nothing, honestly. Ember?”

“Only what they taught us when we trained.” She shrugged. “That eighty years ago, it came without warning and unleashed a plague amongst my people. The old world and all its technology fell quickly. The infrastructure we had placed around our civilizations crumbled as the dead fed upon the living. The old gods rose to fight the newcomer, but by the time I was trained as a graedari, no one had heard from them in a long time.”

“From whence did the Dread God arrive?” Maverick asked.

“I don’t know. No one does. But our moon turned yellow, and the world ended.”

Maverick ran his hand over his slicked-back hair. “Assuming that it came from another world and was not merely lying dormant, then we can assume its behavior will continue here. That it will not stop until it has consumed Under.”

“But what of the other Ancients? Can they not fight it?” Jakob frowned, his shoulders curling in. “Why would your gods let it happen?”

Kamira shrugged. “Our gods like to watch us die for sport. They’ll let this whole world hang on by a single thread before they intervene to help us.”

“I believe we should be extremely cautious before we commit to killing Rxa.” Maverick looked to Dtu. “I dislike asking Aon for help either, but it is the only way to capture Rxa and question him before a more permanent solution can be found.”

Dtu growled and lowered his head. “I refuse.”

“Then you do not have to come.” Maverick shrugged. “I do not feel like arguing with you over your old feud when we are in extreme danger.”

“Feud?” Dtu stood. “You would belittle what passed between us by calling it a feud? Do you wish to insult me?”

“No. And I do no such thing. But you are insulting us all by wasting our time with your assertions that you will not see the King of Shadows to ask for his aid,” Maverick lectured. He sounded like every tutor she ever had growing up. “If you wish to bark about it, very well. But we have no other logical course of action. We will need everyone to defeat this new threat. Including him.”

Dtu snarled, his claws digging deep into the dirt. “Mind yourself, Elder of Words…”

“I mind myself plenty. I believe that’s why I no longer sleep.” Maverick sneered at the Varúlfur. “Now, either suggest a viable alternative, or sit down and understand we all do things we do not enjoy in the name of the greater good.”

Ini placed her hand on Dtu’s leg. “Please, sweetheart…”

With a long growl, Dtu sank back down to the dirt. “I despise this plan.”

“Noted, old dog.” Kamira sprawled out to lie half in Lyon’s lap like a large cat. “I think we all despise this plan.”

“Should I be concerned about meeting Aon?” Ember whispered to Maverick.

He looked down at her, one golden eye visible. He looked exhausted. But his annoyance at the world seemed to soften a little at her question. “If you are lucky, you will not have to.”

“What do you think is going to happen to us?” She gestured at the other survivors.

Maverick frowned. “I haven’t the foggiest idea, to be honest.”

“From everything I’ve heard about the King of Shadows, I get the distinct feeling he won’t like a pile of refugees appearing on his doorstep.” Ember took a bite out of the cooked steak she had been given. She had managed to get some for herself now that Cricket was appropriately fed.

“No. He won’t.” Maverick grimaced. “And if we are lucky, we will keep you lot from becoming too interesting to him.”

“It’s dangerous to be interesting?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Immensely.”

Great. “When do you think we’ll get there?”

Maverick looked up at the stars for a moment. “Late tomorrow.”

“At least I’ll only have a day of everyone staring at me.” Ember could feel the weight of the stares from the other survivors. Jakob had invited her to sit with them, but it was clear she was not welcome with the others. Hunters were strange to them, and she didn’t blame them for their whispers and mutters.

“Let them stare.” Maverick began idly cleaning his cufflinks. “Either their prejudices will fade when they realize their world is truly dead and their distaste for you is meaningless, or we will all die, and it won’t matter.”

“Maverick!” Ini gasped in horror.

“What?” He arched his visible eyebrow at her. “Am I wrong?”

“No, but, you don’t just say those things,” the woman in blue scolded. “You really must have been a terrible doctor.”

“I was a fantastic doctor. Just a terrible nurse.”

Ember laughed. She wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t really meant to be a joke, but it struck her as funny anyway. She stood from the fire. “I, for one, am exhausted. Who is taking the first watch?”

“Sleep, little mortal.” Dtu was watching her. The eye sockets of his skull were large and empty, save for green pinpricks of light that flickered like fire. “My people shall stand guard.”

Trust no one. She glanced around the group. Save