Immortal Swordslinger 5 by Dante King

Author:Dante King [King, Dante]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Ithili spoke to Faryn and turned her earnest eyes toward me. I gave her a nod and a friendly smile, and Faryn translated her slew of Elvish for me.

“She says she can’t thank you enough. And she wishes you the gods’ blessings.”

“I’ll be back with the others,” I promised her. “All right, team, mount up.”

Nydarth glided to my side with a feline grin on her face. Her scouts bounded out from their vantage points and lunged toward her. The fiery drakes disappeared into the dragoness’ silk robe, and I twinged at the flash of Vigor as they dissipated. Kegohr, Vesma, and Mahrai fell into step behind us. The half-ogre rested his trusty maul on his shoulder and rolled his head with a series of rippling pops. Vesma made a face, but she mirrored his posture with her bright spear and swept her keen eyes over our surroundings. Mahrai caught hold of Tai’s chains and pulled her none-too-gently to my side.

“Up front, where we can keep an eye on you,” Mahrai snarled.

“Could you at least get me out of these things?” Tai asked.

I cast an eye over her restraints. Her arm dexterity was a little muted, but aside from that, she could still run and move easily enough. I tapped the black knife tucked into my belt and decided against it.

“You’ve given us potentially useful information so far,” I allowed. “But I don’t know how much of it is bullshit. Put yourself in my shoes. If you were me, would you let me out? Knowing what I can do and what kind of terrain we’re walking into?”

Tai’s eyes narrowed, but she shook her head without a word.

“Tell you what,” I said. “I’ll throw you a bone. If you lead us to the prisoners and help us get them out in one piece, the chains come off. I might even throw the knife in. Prove you really mean what you say, and help us with the jailbreak. Then you get some of your freedom back. Has a nice symmetry, don’t you think?”

Tai almost smiled. “I suppose it does.”

Kumi hurried to keep up with us. Her skin glowed in the dappled light from the water of the baths, and her hands were full of waterskins. She offered two of them to Kegohr, who easily tied them onto his pack and gave the Qihin princess an opportunity to inspect her daggers. Mahrai brought up the rear, and her eyes didn’t waver from Tai for a moment.

We reached the mouth of the tunnel once again. Patches of scorched grass surrounded the way down into the Shadow’s lair, and a thought occurred to me.

“What happened to the ninjas?”

“Reduced them to ash, Master,” Nydarth said. “Seemed lazy to leave them behind. Unless you’d have preferred to keep their bodies intact and strike fear into your enemies?”

Tai flinched, and Nydarth’s grin widened.

“Ashes are fine,” I said. “Hopefully they’ll help the grass grow again. Hopefully, in time, a new Zone Core will find its way here.”

“They always do,” Choshi murmured.

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