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

so I did as she suggested. We nudged the horses into the woods, and I kept my eyes fixed on the ground, only lifting my gaze every so often to take stock of the land around us.

It was unsurprising that the vampire followed no trail I could see. Its path plunged straight through the trees and underbrush, paying no heed to any obstacle in the way. It was also unerringly straight—wherever the vampire had been heading, it knew the direction well.

The light was dim in the sky when we came to the end of the trail. It led into the mouth of a large cave, which came looming at us from the side of the slope ahead. We stopped half a span away. Oku began to whine immediately. I glanced down at him.

“I think we have found what we are looking for,” I said.

“So it seems,” agreed Mag. “But we do not have much time.” Daylight was vanishing quickly.

“Let us tether the horses a little farther away and make ready.”

We did so in short order, leaving them back down the trail we had followed to get here, their reins tied to the springy branches of a willow tree. Oku stuck close beside us now, and he began to whine the moment we approached the cave again.

“If we take care not to get injured, it should not be too difficult of a fight,” I said. “You have your spear, and I have my arrows. If we pierce it through, the wood should do the rest of the work for us.”

“Simple,” said Mag.

We took up position near two trees that stood close to each other. I pulled some dried meat from a pouch on my belt and ate it, suddenly realizing I had not had a meal since the morning. I hoped I would not regret that in the coming fight. As the light faded further and the blue edge of night bled into the sky, the moons showed themselves in the east.

“I think I should lure it forwards,” said Mag. “It will see me with my spear and, I think, approach me first. You can lurk in the trees, and when you have a clear shot, you can take it. Hopefully that will end it quickly.”

“A good plan,” I said. “As long as you do not let it spring upon you.”

“It will be your fault if it does,” said Mag with a wry look. “Do not wait too long to shoot.”

I snorted. “As you say.”

“And take the dog with you,” she said. “It might distract the beast if it remains by my side.”

“Careful,” I said, glancing at Oku, who was watching Mag with his tongue lolling. “He is a clever hound. You would not want to insult him.”

“Would I not?” said Mag indifferently.

I chuckled despite myself. “Tiss, Oku.”

The dog leaped up and trotted to my side. Mag looked at me and frowned. “You said that earlier. What is it?”

“Tiss,” I said. “A common command for trained hounds.”

“How do I tell it to go away? I suspect I shall want to.”

“Now you are just being cruel,” I said, reaching down to scratch Oku behind the ears. His tail wagged with delight. “Do not listen to her, friend. She is nowhere near as fierce as she sounds.”

Mag snorted and rose at last to her feet. The sunlight was nearly gone. I took Oku off into the trees, finding a place to stand that gave me a clear view of the cave mouth but did not put Mag in my line of fire. To the left of the cave mouth was a sort of natural wall in the side of the slope. The top of it was almost flat, and it climbed like a jagged stair up the side of the mountain and wound away out of sight in the woods. I guessed it would carry one closer to the peak of the spur, though I would have been hesitant to try the ascent with any speed. But I took position near it, one arrow held loose in my hand near the string.

Night advanced, and the stars twinkled above us. Still we saw nothing, heard nothing. When would the vampire rise? Did they ever have nights where they did not rise at all, but slept through to the next day, like a soldier just returned home from campaign? I wished I knew more about them, or that someone else in Lan Shui had been able to explain more—but then, if they had, they would likely have dealt with the creature themselves.

And then Oku growled.

I grew alert at once. The hound bristled, his nose pointed straight towards the cave, his paws spread. But his growl would not carry to Mag’s ears. I hissed, and she glanced over. I pointed to Oku and then at the cave, hoping she could see the gesture in the moonslight. She nodded and hefted her spear and shield, planting her feet wide.

A few moments later, we heard a scraping sound. And then the vampire emerged into the night. It walked on two legs like a man, but it was grotesquely hunched, bent almost double so that its hands nearly scraped the ground. If it had straightened, I know it would have stood at least three heads taller than me. Its skin was mottled, pocked, and pallid. It reminded me of the skin of those who have been badly burned and then healed, covered with a mass of scar tissue. Its hands and feet ended in curved claws each as long as a human hand, and it clicked and clacked them against each other as it moved. Its eyes were black, black as a wizard’s who had eaten magestones, and its pointed ears, which jutted backwards, flitted and twitched, straining to hear any sound. But once I saw its mouth, I forgot every other detail. It was round and wide, almost a circle, and the teeth were bared in a constant grimace. Those teeth were long and pointed and sharp, and