Healer's Ruin by O'Mara Chris

Author:O'Mara, Chris [O'Mara, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-11-26T18:30:00+00:00

Seven

The Plains

'It is time to use your bird again, little Rovann,' the Corporal had said, slapping Chalos hard on the back. The slinger had almost fallen from the saddle with the impact. Moments later, Mysa was wheeling through the air, upcleaving, becoming almost invisible as she flew.

'She'll be alright,' Samine said. Her shadamar was right next to the healer's and she was pressed against him, resting her head on his shoulder as her hand stroked his chest. 'She's regained her strength.'

'I know,' said Chalos.

'She won't dare go near the scene of the mountain battle, for fear of taking another Phaeron arrow,' Samine continued. 'She'll stay out of trouble this time.'

But Jolm did not want to know what was happening in the mountains to the west any more than he wanted to know what was happening in the mountains to the east. No, the Krune leader thought only of what lay ahead of them to the north. Somewhere up ahead was the Ruin, the cursed city that the lay at the heart of the Riln Plains. That was to be their bulwark. All they had to do was get there.

And what lies in wait for us? Chalos mused. Not the Wielder. No, he's licking his wounds in the mountains. Not the Riln army either. They died in the thousands up there, before the guardian was unleashed. Then they died in droves again, afterwards, as they pushed the Ten Plains King back up the mountain road.

The thought gave him some satisfaction. He tried to imagine the Ten Plains King fuming impotently as his Ektan collapsed from exhaustion and his front lines crumbled under that second Riln assault. It must have been humiliating.

He was also glad that the Wielder was miles from their position. The Riln hero would have his hands full dealing with the King's army. Surely he wouldn't detach himself from that engagement to chase down a few hundred Krune and the bruised remnants of the Gilt Plates?

Chalos noticed that the Corporal was staring at him, and at Samine, with curiosity. When Chalos met his gaze the Krune snorted and turned away, spitting into the grass.

He's jealous of us. We've found some comfort and joy in the midst of all this chaos. What does he have? Two things: his orders and his doom.

'What's the plan, Corporal?' he asked the Krune to break the uneasy silence as they waited for Mysa's return.

'It hasn't changed,' the Corporal said. 'We head for the Ruin. The Riln are afraid of it, by all accounts. They don't like to set foot in its streets. So we will have no competition for it.'

'So it's cursed..?' Samine muttered.

Chalos frowned to himself.

'Either something the golems planted to keep people away after they annihilated the people,' he said, 'or some remnant of the vile magic the city's mages were fooling around with.'

'Or a fairytale told to Riln children to keep them in line,' the Corporal scoffed. 'What can possibly lie in a city that has been dead for thousands of years that has not turned to dust?'

'What do we do once we are there?' Samine asked.

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