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

then she settled herself on the ground next to Albern, staring into the flames. It was a little while before the old man looked at her, his eyes alight with interest.

“You seem to be deep in thought,” he said. “If it is no imposition, may I ask what you are thinking about?”

Sun looked at him like one just waking up. “Hm? Oh, it is no great matter. Only, I do not quite understand what a vampire is. I have heard the name, but never a proper tale of them.”

“Ah,” said Albern. “A fair question indeed. Vampires were rare in those days, and they are more so now. But there is not much to tell beyond what I have already said. They subsist on blood. Though they will gnaw on corpseflesh, they seem to do so only to drain as much blood as possible. No hair grows upon their bodies. Their ears are pointed like an Elf’s—though of course they are in all other ways entirely different from those terrible beings—and they walk sometimes hunched on two legs, sometimes on all four. They can leap several paces from a standstill, and their claws are sharp enough to sink into wood and most stone, meaning that walls are no proof against them.”

Sun shuddered. “How horrible.”

Albern nodded. “Yes. They are quite terrifying, especially if one does not know how to defeat them—which I did not, before Dryleaf told me.”

“A good thing that he was there,” said Sun. “You were most fortunate.”

“Was I?” said Albern, and his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “I have already told you my views on fortune and luck. But if I may, as an aside—would you hold my bow?”

The question was so unexpected that Sun stared at him for a moment, blinking. “I … yes,” she said at last. “But why?”

“Because we are in the woods at night, of course,” said Albern. “I doubt anything like a wolf will approach our fire, but just in case it should—well, let us say that I am not quite the shot I used to be.”

He lifted the stump of his right arm, and Sun could not help but laugh. Albern’s smile deepened, and he reached for his bow, which he had placed on the ground at his feet. Sun took it with reverent hands. She had heard enough tales of Albern to know how much he had accomplished with this bow, what deadly foes he had faced armed with nothing else. He handed her the string, and she strung the bow, marveling at the ease of it. Then, seized by a sudden impulse, she drew. It pulled far more easily than she had thought it would, and yet she could feel the power contained in it. She felt that she could shoot farther, and with greater power, than any bow she had ever held in her life.

“It is a masterpiece,” she breathed. “You made this yourself, did you not?”

“I did,” said Albern. “And if I may be forgiven a moment of pride, I am glad you knew that.”

“Whenever you are spoken of in tales, your skill with a bow is always listed first among your traits,” said Sun.

Albern laughed at that, shaking his head. “If only those tales were true. I am a talespinner myself, and so I know something of how the truth of my stories must have been twisted through the years, becoming a count of accomplishments that I would scarcely recognize.”

“Yet I have heard it said, on good authority,” said Sun, “that tales are not meant to be believed.”

“Then you have been well advised.”

Sun smiled, but it died quickly upon her lips. “I must ask you another question, if I may be so bold.”

“You have well earned at least one more honest answer.”

“What under the sky are we doing here?” Sun gestured at the empty clearing around them, at the stars above and the black, looming mouth of the cave not far off.

Albern nodded, pursing his lips. “A fair enough question. Let me answer only that I am expecting someone. Do not trouble yourself overmuch; I expect them before long. After they have arrived, and then left again, we can be on our way. You can go back to … well, to whatever you were doing before you found me. Does that answer satisfy you?”

“Will you give me a better one?” said Sun, her brows rising.

“Not at present,” said Albern with a grin.

“Then I suppose it will have to do.”

“I thought it might. And now, would you like me to continue the tale?”

“Please,” said Sun, settling herself upon the ground.

We rode into town with Liu and Oku. Guards must have spotted us approaching, for we found a small reception when we arrived. Several of the folk of Lan Shui were there, as well as Constable Baolan.

“What are you doing back here?” said Yue as we pulled to a stop before her. Her glare did not look promising.

“We found this boy near his homestead,” said Mag. “We heard that it was attacked only a few days ago.”

Yue looked at Liu again, and color rose in her cheeks. “Sky above. The Ton boy.”

“Just so,” I told her. “Is there anyone here who can care for him?”

“Give him to me,” said Yue, rushing forwards. She extended her hands for Liu, but the boy recoiled, pressing back into Mag’s body.

“Go with her, Liu,” said Mag, urging the boy forwards with a gentle push. Though he still seemed reluctant, Liu let himself be pulled down from the saddle and into Yue’s arms. She handed him off to a man from the town, who took off his coat to bundle Liu up in it.

“Now then,” said Yue. “What are you doing back here?”

Mag and I both balked at that. “We returned a boy you thought was dead,” I told her. “That should earn us at least some leniency.”

“I do not deny our gratitude,” said Yue. “But I thought you left this morning, for good, and I was not sad to see you go.”

“We