Corruption by Adam Vine

Author:Adam Vine [Vine, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781541022140
Publisher: Lilydog Books
Published: 2017-04-08T23:00:00+00:00

THE BURROW

QUEEN RAT’S SOLAR was small and cramped, all dusty, empty bottles and untouched piles of ancient vellum scrolls. There was a wooden table and four chairs, which I guessed were luxury items in the Night Country, where trees no longer grew; also a gold candelabra with nine candles, a woven wool carpet, and a brick hearth, where the queen waved on a glowmoss log and Zaea and I sat and drank wine while Gator played music for us on his lute to mask our conversation from anyone who might try to eavesdrop from the hall.

The queen went to the bathroom to sew shut the wound in her face. When she returned, the severed flesh of her cheek was raw and swollen beneath the stitches, saliva murmuring through newfound passageways when she spoke.

“You have questions, and I’ve put off answering them for far too long. Of course, you understand why I couldn’t. But now that I know you’re both willing to kill for me, we’ve established a base level of trust, so at last, we can begin,” Queen Rat said.

“Why don’t you begin by telling us what the Hell is going on? No more bullshit,” I said.

Queen Rat rolled her eyes. “Daniel, calm yourself, before you impregnate your trousers. You won’t get to wash them any time soon. I promise.”

I swirled my wine and stared at the fire, listening to Gator play. The bright notes sang in hypnotic succession. The melody reminded me of a church song I’d sang many times growing up, You’ve Gotta Be Good to Meet God. Of course, our little Evangelical congregation only had one singer, an electric guitar, and a keyboard – nothing as fancy or as masterfully played as the beautiful, hand-carved instrument in Gator’s hands.

The Queen drained her wine and hissed as the alcohol scorched her wound. She patted it dry with a gauze pad. “I have long had suspicions of Spider’s disloyalty, so I sent an envoy to him – an anonymous third party – with an offer to assassinate you, myself, and Zaea on behalf of the Crippled King. I had my catspaw tell Spider a rumor that you would claim to be the Wanderer Returned, and that the Crippled King would pay handsomely for your death. Not only that, but failure to kill you would result in nothing less than the fall of the Amber City. Naturally, they had been paying Spider for information about me for years… perhaps even since he was a child.”

Queen Rat smirked into her wine. “Fool that he was, the pickle dick believed my ruse. The scene of the crime was supposed to appear as though you, Dan, had assassinated Zaea and I before succumbing to your wounds. That’s why Spider was carrying your axe head, stolen from your possessions while you were incarcerated, as I’m sure you noticed.

“Whoever found us was supposed to think you were the Crippled King’s spy, and in return, our creeping, crawling friend Spider was promised safe passage to the

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