City of Lifestone (Realm Quest Book 1) by Tom Huddleston

Author:Tom Huddleston [Huddleston, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Warhammer Adventures
Published: 2019-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The Hooded Lady

Kiri fled across the sloping grounds, the rain beating in her eyes. The sky was dark, the clouds low. This had been another garden once – she saw bushes and bare trees in planted rows, their branches intertwined, their roots buried in the dead earth. The Arbour must have been a place of growth and healing, just like in the mural. But like the city it had faded, becoming a place of dust and death.

The defensive wall surrounding the Arbour was made of the same white stone as the building itself. But it was unlike any fortification Kiri had ever seen – instead of one smooth face it was carved into interlocking, almost human figures, facing away from the palace as though standing sentinel over the city. Their arms were linked, their torsos patterned with runic symbols in a language she’d never encountered.

In the centre one shape stood taller than the rest, stone legs apart to form an archway. A black iron gate had once blocked the passage but its hinges had rusted and the gate stood crooked, leaving a gap wide enough for her to squeeze through. Kiri took a deep, steady breath. She was out.

She crossed a wide cobblestone boulevard that ran across the front of the Arbour, turning into a long street leading straight downhill. The city lay sprawled on the hillside below her, ringed by the outer wall. The rain lashed down, the wind whipping at her sodden hair. The sun was lost behind the dense clouds.

Somehow she didn’t feel as relieved as she’d expected to. Those children had saved her life, she knew, back at the theatre. She smiled despite herself, remembering that thieving boy, Kaspar, shinning up the rope, and little Alish the inventor swinging her huge hammer. Thanis might be hard work but she was a real fighter, tougher perhaps than Kiri herself. And that healer, Elio, seemed like a decent kid, if a little awkward. Was she doing the right thing, leaving them behind?

Of course she was, she told herself. She barely knew them; she didn’t owe them a thing.

And what of this Vertigan? The hooded lady’s warning still echoed in her head: he takes children… Perhaps she was just repeating some rumour she’d heard. But what exactly were the Shadowcaster’s intentions? Why had he brought them together, and why did they bear these marks? Kiri was no closer to understanding it than she had been before. But, she admitted to herself, she didn’t think Vertigan was lying. Whatever his purpose, he genuinely believed in it. And the others trusted him.

She lifted her head and gave a splutter of surprise. She’d been so wrapped in her thoughts that she hadn’t paid attention to where she was going – she’d just been following the long downward street. Ahead of her the road opened into a wide boulevard running across-ways, and beyond was a high wall of interlocking shapes, silent under the grey sky. She was facing the Arbour.

Kiri clutched her head.

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