Path of Ruin by Tim Paulson

Author:Tim Paulson [Paulson, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ikkibu publishing
Published: 2019-12-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

"The Chevalier chassis must have at least four cubes of veil powder at every meal, this is required to keep her healthy and in good spirits."

-Fenasian Goltech training manual, 1610

“Are you coming?” Harald called back to Henri, yarn hands on his hips.

“Yes,” he said. “We just need to drain Adem and we can-”

“No!” Adem said.

“There's no need for that. Just follow,” Harald said.

“Follow you where?” Henri asked. “There's nothing here but old ugly pines.”

Harald ignored him, waddling forward on his stubby little legs. “Mia, come pick me up.” he said.

Mia complied, wordlessly, without even a hint of a glance in Henri's direction. It was as if nothing had happened between them at all.

“Pick up the boy and let's go. Use the rune I gave you to put him to sleep if you must,” Harald said from Mia's shoulder.

Henri shook his head, imagining pulling the stone from Harald's stuffed center and crushing it to powder. Would such a thing count as murder if the person was already dead?

Still, he complied, for he had no choice. He fished the stone from his pocket, careful to keep his hands on the cloth.

“Adem, look at this. Harald made it for you,” Though this was technically true, it made him ill to say it. Even more so when he watched his little boy's eyes light up.

“What is it daddy?” Adem said, as his hand reached out for the stone. As soon as the fingers touched it, the boy collapsed into Henri's arms.

Held close Henri could detect a rank odor to Adem, like sour milk. His skin was too warm as well, like the start of a fever. It made Henri sad to notice these things. He wanted it all to go away. His poor little boy, he didn't deserve this.

He followed Harald as he directed them into the pine forest where improbably tall trees jabbed the sky like the lances of an army of gods. As they went deeper into the trees Henri realized something. There were no birds. It was as if something in this forest hated life and kept it away at all costs. This did not give him a good feeling.

“Halt! Who dares to enter this haunted wood!” said a deep booming voice.

Mia jumped, drawing her glowing blue rapier in a flash and scanning every direction. Harald nearly fell from her shoulder.

“You know precisely who it is you fool,” Harald said.

“You're late, he's been waiting,” said the voice.

It sounded as though it came from all directions at once. Then one of the trees moved and Henri's mind fought what it saw. At first it appeared to be a moving talking tree but the longer he looked at it the less it looked like a tree and the more like a construction of some kind, an animated creation of wood with joints and plates like any goliath might have. It was quite tall with long arms that reached all the way to the ground.

“Unavoidable. We ran into some delays on the road but we're here now, so open up,” Harald said.

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