The Adversary (The Sundering Book 3) by Erin M. Evans

Author:Erin M. Evans [Evans, Erin M.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786964376
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2013-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

Some time later, Oota paused in front of a little shack, glancing around for errant guards before knocking five times on the wooden door. She looked back at Dahl. “This is as far as I’m sure I’ve still got them on my side.”

“What else is there?” Dahl asked.

“The elves to begin with,” she said. “Few packs of dwarves playing the odds. And the stragglers in between—don’t want to throw in with the rest of us, just want to keep pretending everything’s going to right itself one morning.”

“Like Tharra?”

Oota looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “I didn’t say that.” She knocked again, harder.

The door opened and shut so quickly that the squat dwarf man who stepped out seemed to appear out of thin air. He scowled up at Oota, and ran a hand over his bristly black beard. “Did Tharra send you to pester me about that third level?” he asked. “I don’t know if the ground—”

“Tharra doesn’t send me anywhere. You know the dirt. Do what needs doing. Let us in.” Oota looked back at Dahl once more, as if to remind him to keep his mouth shut. The dwarf followed her gaze.

“That the Harper?”

“Let us in, Torden,” Oota answered. “I need to talk to Phalar.”

Torden snorted and threw the door open, ushering them down a rough-hewn stairway that led deep into the ground. The entire building had been filled with excavated dirt. Dahl thought of the other buildings, all shut up tight, and wondered how many had been similarly used.

Despite being built of pounded dirt and uneven, the stairs were blessedly stable. They ended in a level tunnel, where Torden lit a lantern that smelled of old cooking oil and handed it to Oota.

“The bastard’s in a right mood today,” he said. “Don’t let him fool you—he’s bored and he wants to get out.” He looked at Dahl. “Best of luck.”

“Many thanks,” Dahl said, wondering privately at a dwarf guarding a hidey-hole in the territory of a half-orc chieftainess everyone seemed to listen to. Stranger and stranger.

Oota started off, leaving Dahl to follow past several doors. “This is where we hide the ones who’ve manifested. The ones we can catch before the guards do.” She shook her head to herself. “It’s not enough.”

“You do what you can,” Dahl said. “Someone down here can help us get into the fortress; that’s a good start.” He considered the doors they passed. “If you managed to dig this passage, why not dig under the wall?”

“That’s what we were doing,” Oota said. “The magic goes deep, deeper than we could manage without drawing too much notice. Torden keeps going, a little at a time. It’s a lot of dirt to hide.” The tunnel ended shortly after, in a makeshift door. Oota turned to face Dahl, sizing him up. “Son, I need you to promise that you won’t panic.”

Dahl frowned. “Why would I panic?”

Oota smirked, and by way of answer, unlatched the door. The lantern’s light fought its way into

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