Doom Under the Shadow (The Outcast Royal Book 3) by Aaron D. Schneider & Michael Anderle

Author:Aaron D. Schneider & Michael Anderle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2021-09-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

“He’s sniffing around.”

“Who?” Bilduu growled reflexively and sucked in a breath as she felt another inscribed trap almost seize her.

She poured over a scroll with a piece of red crystal held over one eye. Someone without the right tools could examine the scroll and assume it was filled with all manner of dread stories and sinister prophecies, but that barely scratched the surface of this frightful artifact. Through the crimson window clutched between her fingers, she pursued the slithering script that wove between the mundane scratchings. Even for one as experienced as she was, this was difficult, dangerous work. It required attention and caution and Zar knew that.

The soothsayer imagined that was exactly why he’d chosen this specific moment to provide the distracting and pointlessly cryptic warning.

“The Amur is always sniffing around,” she snapped.

Her quill scratched constantly on a piece of parchment until she saw a spiral of symbols collapse into a tantalizing jumble of sigils. With a hiss, she tore her gaze away from the swallowing sight and squeezed her eyes shut as she beat back the creeping whispers in her mind that had slid in even after such a brief exposure. It took her a moment to ensure that her mind was clear but in the meantime, she lowered the crystal to the table. As she felt the eldritch connection between the specially prepared mineral glass dissipate, she forced herself to take a few bracing breaths.

Things were moving quicker than she’d expected, but she couldn’t fight a battle on two fronts. Her eyes still shut, she rolled the scroll and stowed it in its clay cylinder.

That threat set aside for the moment, she opened her eyes and turned to regard the insidious familiar.

“I did ask you a question,” she said icily, which only provoked his sable smile.

“Oh, you seemed so busy I thought I should wait,” Zar said absently and fluttered one hand toward the scroll case. “Of course, I didn’t realize this until after I’d spoken. My apologies.”

The insincerity that dripped off the apology was almost thick enough to draw a throaty laugh from her, but although she smirked, the first stab of a new headache arose. It turned into an impaling spike and for a second, her vision swam and her hands clutched the table for support.

“Did the scroll bite you?” the familiar asked, unable to hide his interest—which was certainly not the same thing as concern.

“No,” Bilduu managed to reply between gritted teeth and every word became a burdensome chore as her skull felt ready to split. “Her…idol… It’s…”

She decided to not finish the exhausting sentence and assumed he could piece things together.

“My, my, my.” His voice rippled through her rebelling senses as though he darted in close and ran away repeatedly. “That certainly seems like things are turning. How much longer can this last? How much longer?”

His voice felt like it was the only solid thing as she rode another wave of cerebral anguish. Wouldn’t it be better to have something firm to

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.