Redhand’s Daughter by William King

Author:William King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-08T08:05:07+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Treasure, Traps and Guardians

Late afternoon found them high up the volcano’s side. The road had ended. They looked down into a valley full of ruins. Once there had been a large city here, Felix was sure. Several of the ruins were stepped pyramids that reminded him of things he had seen in Albion. Others were massive halls, perhaps palaces. The jungle had swallowed the place. Trees filled what had once been streets. Creepers obscured the walls of many buildings. It had been an age since this place was occupied.

‘Quiet as an elvish wake,’ muttered Narli.

‘This the place?’ Gotrek asked. Katja nodded.

‘I hope we don’t have to search it all,’ said Urli.

‘No. We find the central hall. That’s where my father left his treasure.’

‘And this magical jewel?’ said Gotrek.

‘That’s there too.’

‘Let’s get on with it then.’

They pressed on through the heavy undergrowth and down into the ruins of the dead city.

‘Quiet here, isn’t it?’ said Felix.

‘It was until you started talking, manling,’ said Gotrek. The Slayer seemed pre-occupied, straining to hear something, his head tracking from side to side warily.

‘It is though,’ Felix insisted. The quiet was unnerving after the cacophony of the jungle. It seemed like even the beasts were scared into silence here, and Felix did not blame them.

Katja led them onwards through the streets. They were laid out in a rectangular grid pattern between the pyramids and the palaces. They would have been easy to navigate before the jungle came.

‘Makes you think, doesn’t it?’ he said to Katja, just to break the unnerving quiet.

‘About what?’ she asked. Like the Slayer, she seemed preoccupied, but in her case it was doubtless because she was so near to finding her father’s legacy. Felix could see the tension and excitement in her very stance. Her face was pale. Felix doubted it was because of fear.

‘About how this happened. Maybe one day Altdorf will be like this, swallowed by the endless forests.’

‘We can only hope, manling,’ muttered Gotrek. He glanced at the nearest tree as if considering taking his axe to it. ‘I hate trees,’ he muttered apropos of nothing.

‘You’ve come to the wrong place then,’ said Felix.

Urli returned from scouting along a sidestreet. ‘There are orcs here,’ he said. ‘In this city. Tracks are everywhere. Climbed up onto the roof. I thought I saw our friend Goldtusk and a horde of goblins.’

Felix looked at the dwarf. ‘What is he doing here?’

‘He knows the treasure is here somewhere,’ said Katja. ‘I told him.’

‘It’s more than you told us,’ said Felix. ‘When did you get so friendly with him?’

Felix noticed that Katja’s expression was angry. Her fingers were flexing in complicated patterns that reminded him of the way Max Schreiber’s used to when he was about to cast a spell. Did the girl know sorcery, Felix wondered? Abruptly she seemed to realise what she was doing and her expression changed.

‘When he threatened to torture me,’ she said. ‘I had to tell him something.’

‘If we hang about here,’ said Urli. ‘He’ll come and torture us all.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.