Grudges: An Epic Fantasy Adventure by J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory

Author:J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory [Rain, J.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rain Press
Published: 2020-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Cade

The healing oblation took hold for the third time on Ma’s battered, bloodied body. And for the third time, the wounds suddenly reopened again, worse than before. “By all the gods, no!” I hissed as I moved to staunch the bleeding with bandages from my pack.

Just having my healing oblation reverse itself continually would have been hard on the strongest of nerves. But there was also the fact that I was doing this within the connecting tunnel between the mines and the Glistening Cave.

Our foes were still being held back by the second wall of light I had summoned to cover the tunnel entrance after Mr. Gurag dragged Justiciar Aram back to us in the aftermath of that foolhardy Horncall confrontation. While we had made better headway downward than expected, too many members of the party had suffered severe injuries.

To her credit, Ms. Rogue recognized our lowly state and deemed continuing on counterproductive. She called for a quick halt once we were in sight of the second level’s entrance. I was about to summon forth a third wall for insurance before Ms. Rogue sensibly asked me to save my strength for healing.

While Lady Regina focused on the Justiciars—and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Gurag—I focused on Ma. After the third failure, I was beginning to wonder if it should have been the other way around.

I looked over my shoulder at the passage back to the mines, yet again. Much to my surprise, there was still no sign of approaching orcs. By this point, I was certain they should have knocked down my second wall of light and been on top of us.

Ma coughed and whispered, “They’ll... not be following... hierogladius. With their... chieftain dead... can’t... decide on...” Further coughing cut off her words, but I understood her sentiment.

And it made sense for two reasons. First, orcs without a chieftain are just a leaderless mob with hate to burn. At heart, they are a practical enough people not to let such a lack stand for long. Second, there was no real hurry to catch up with us. They could catch up with us at any time after they had determined who should lead them.

I wrapped another set of bandages around Ma’s chest. “Please, Ma, refrain from speech. I need to stop your bleeding.”

She impatiently shook her head. “Don’t... go save... the others... I’m done.”

Despite my exhaustion, the outrage of that statement injected fresh energy into me. “Respectfully, you are done when I say you are done.” I realized that saying such a thing directly contradicted the Tenet of Hubris—“What belongs to the gods should never be presumed to belong to their followers”—but we had barely begun our journey. To lose our most informed party member was an affront to me.

Wanting to distract myself from my cycle of failure, I sought out the rest of my companions. The Lady Regina had just finished healing Justiciar Ulm from his own injuries. I could see the toll on her exhausted face, possibly because she had just healed the now-awakened Justiciar Aram.

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.