Within Ruin by Darrell Drake

Author:Darrell Drake
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Sword and sorcery
Publisher: Darrell Drake
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

…

Descarta followed the eldritch hymn down foreign corridors. The tune carried an absurdly tuneless pitch, but the elven lyrics were entwined with a mysterious capacity to incite a state of drowsy sedation. More importantly, they belonged to the quarrelsome pair she sought. Twinkling pinpricks had taken over the dome above, sending their smoldering cousin to its diurnal reprieve. In turn, the passageways had assumed a state of near-darkness without the supplementary light of day. Descarta didn’t need much illumination to navigate; yet the fey hymn coupled with empty passages did nothing to settle her.

The lullaby eventually placed her before two narrow-eyed elves, regarding her with open disdain from their belly-to-belly respite. Almi and Merill had ceased their hymn when they noticed her approach, never lowering their judging gaze. “What do you want?” asked Almi from beneath her twin.

Descarta shifted her attention to the phoenix emblazoned door beside their heads. “This is Virgil’s room, isn’t it?”

The elves ground their foreheads together in agitation.

“Could you let me in?” asked Descarta as sweetly as she could manage.

“Our Virgil told us to leave you alone,” said Merill.

Almi rolled over, showing Descarta her back. “He didn’t tell us to be nice. Thieving harlot-shallots don’t deserve it.”

Frowning, the homunculus lowered to the dusty floor. “You were nice to me before. I thought we were friends.”

“No, not friends,” said Merill.

Almi shook her head in agreement. “We took care of our Virgil. Not you. You broke him. He’s ours now.”

“You can’t take him back.”

Descarta’s frown deepened. She concurred with the elves. They were here to protect him while she abandoned him. Prevailing fairness was uncommon, though, and she had been dealt enough unfair situations herself. Foremost, being thrust into a life-altering ritual and, utterly unprepared for real choices, made to make one that would drastically change the following five years. Descarta often wondered if it would have been better for Virgil to force her to stay. “I’m sorry,” she stated, extracting a pair of brioches from a sack at her side and offering them to the elves. “I brought these from Vanathiel for you.”

Doing a poor job of masking their excitement, Almi and Merill each snatched a pastry and ravenously bit into the treats. Thinking herself safe with the girls occupied, Descarta stood and started for the ingress marked with a reborn bird. Intransigent claws snatched her ankle, pulling her attention back to the elves. “We’ll know if he tastes different,” warned Merill, peering up through solemn scarlet orbs.

Descarta jerked her ankle away, huffing. She did not want to know what they meant by that. Hesitantly, she knocked thrice on the portal, so thick it was like knocking on a wall. She doubted the sound penetrated at all. “Virgil,” she called. “May I come in?” There was no response, so she called again.

“See, he wants you to leave,” snapped Almi.

“Shhh. Remember what our Virgil said,” Merill gasped, covering Almi’s mouth with both hands. “He’ll be angry.” Almi bobbed her head in understanding.

Growing tired of the berating, Descarta nudged the portal open, timidly calling out.

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