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

Yue chewed on the inside of her cheek, seemingly unappeased. “Show me,” she said at last.

We took her to the Shades’ hideout and down the secret staircase to the underground chamber. She stood awestruck in the doorway, looking at the size of it.

“How under the sky did they build this?” she muttered.

“I think they had an alchemist, or more than one,” I said. “The people we killed here … they have many powerful friends across Underrealm, powerful and evil. I would wager they had whatever resources they required.”

We showed her the cauldron and the pit beneath it where the fires had burned. Her expression darkened considerably when we told her of the magestones.

“If magestones are involved, then we should notify the Mystics,” she said.

“You have tried to reach them already,” Mag pointed out. “And even if you could, how long would it take them to reach us?”

Yue did not seem to have a counterpoint to that. “So your plan,” she said slowly, “is to lure the creatures using this cauldron? Can they even smell it from outside?”

“They smelled it from leagues away,” I told her. “It is what brought them to Lan Shui in the first place.”

“We fight them first on the streets outside,” said Mag. “They will be focused on an objective, and we should be able to kill some of them as they move towards it. There are only five left.”

“Only?” said Yue—at the same time as me. It had slipped out of me despite myself.

Recovering quickly, I looked at Yue and gave her a sage nod. “Only.”

“But if we need to fall back,” Mag pressed on, glaring at me, “we can do so safely. We can fight them in the house above, while they try to figure out a way down into the basement, and if any of them make it to the cauldron, we can attack them while they feed.”

“Try and explain, again, how this is better than fighting them at the walls,” said Yue, folding her arms.

“What are walls to these beasts?” I said. “They can leap up them in one bound.”

“Did you ever serve in a king’s army? In a mercenary company?” said Mag.

“No,” admitted Yue.

“Then take it from the two of us, who have fought on many battlefields across nine kingdoms,” said Mag. “An enemy who dearly wants an objective is easy to manipulate. If you can force them to approach it, you can plan your attack. Our enemies have an advantage in their speed and their strength. But we also have an advantage, for they are little more than animals. We have to out-think them.”

There was a long moment of silence while Yue looked slowly between us and the cauldron in the center of the room.

“Very well,” she said at last. “But we will take additional precautions.”

“Such as what?” I said.

“They must be watched as they enter the town,” said Yue. “To make sure they do not deviate from the course you intend them to take. I will not invite them into Lan Shui, only to have them turn aside and rip open the homes of innocent villagers who will be unable to defend themselves.”

I glanced at Mag. “Constable, you have seen how quickly the beasts move. Mag and I cannot track them from the walls all the way back to this house quickly enough to try and defend it.”

“No, you will remain here,” said Yue. “Ashta and I will see to the safety of the town. I am sure some others will want to help, as well.”

“Your lives will be in grave danger if you do,” said Mag quickly. “You would do better to—”

“No,” said Yue, swiping her hand through the air like a knife. “This is my town. You may go through with this plan, but only if you do as I say. We may be at some risk, but we would rather face that danger than let others face it in our stead. And once I tell the townsfolk what you plan to do, I doubt you will be able to keep at least some of them from trying to help. Better to accept the help, if it cannot be turned away, and use it to ensure that as few lives are risked as possible.”

Mag could hardly argue with that. “Very well, constable,” she said. “I wish you would allow us to face this danger alone. But I thank you nevertheless.”

“And I, for one, do not wish to face it alone,” I said. “If that matters to anyone, which it does not seem to.”

Mag held forth her hand. It took a moment, but Yue grasped her wrist firmly. “Just make sure you kill the things.”

“We will,” I promised.

The rest of the day was spent in frenzied preparation. Yue and Ashta put word out through the town, and the folk of Lan Shui rushed to secure themselves in their homes. Of those who were physically fit to fight, many volunteered to take up arms against the vampires. Yue took most of these and stationed them throughout the town, to hide with the others and act as guards. If the beasts deviated from the path we had planned for them, these guards would be the first to respond. The rest, mayhap a dozen of the fittest townsfolk, were stationed between the walls and the house—the first line of defense if the vampires should turn aside from their hunt.

We finished our work just in time. The sun lowered in the west, its edge just beginning to slide beneath the top of the land spur. The warm day had begun at last to cool. Someone brought a cold meal to Mag and me at the Shade hideout, and Yue joined us there to eat. We sat on the ground outside the house, scraping the last of the food from our bowls with our fingers. While we ate, I noticed Yue giving us sidelong looks—though she did not seem