Walk Through Fire - a Blood and Tears Novella (Blood and Tears Prequel) by Joshua P. Simon

Author:Joshua P. Simon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Joshua P. Simon
Published: 2012-03-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The sludge between Raker’s fingers squished in his hands, releasing a smell that turned his stomach. His palm slipped in the thick layer of waste, pitching him forward. His face sunk into the black muck that had formed on the ledge of the sewer drain. He came up quick, spitting and cursing, trying to wipe his mouth with the cleanest part of his clothing. Nothing was clean.

A whispering voice called from behind. “Raker, you ok?”

“No, I’m not ok. You should be in front. You’re the scout.”

“But Ronav said. . . .”

“I know what Ronav said,” he growled. “If you’d been closer with that light, I wouldn’t have lost my bearings.”

“Sorry.”

Raker grunted and started muttering to himself. “Sorry.” He snorted. “You didn’t just get a mouthful of someone’s crap.” He looked around at the tunnels of a city that stood for centuries. “Watch me catch some disease that had died out generations ago.”

“What’d you say?” whispered the scout.

Raker spun around and met the young soldier’s eyes. “Keep your mouth shut. I can’t think with you yapping in my ear.”

The scout gave Raker a confused look, but nodded nonetheless.

I swear I’m surrounded by idiots.

Raker started crawling again, ducking under a crumbling archway that reduced the sewer drain’s size. As Hell Patrol’s engineer, Ronav had told him to take point as he would be the best judge of the tunnel’s structural integrity. No one wanted to be buried alive in this muck.

That was what he’d been told, anyway. But he’d seen the look Krytien gave him, a knowing smirk.

First he picks me to help him with Ronav when the others get to sleep. And now I’m stuck clearing the way through the city’s crap.

Raker swore, knowing he’d made a mistake in entering Effren’s camp to drink with his men.

Sure, I was the first to go into their camp. But I didn’t force the others to follow. It’s not my fault soldiers won’t pass up free liquor.

His mouth watered a bit as he thought about a good drink. Unfortunately, all that did was remind him of the black residue still on his tongue. He spat again.

Ale would be just the thing to wash this taste away. I could put in some chew. He shook his head. Hands are too dirty and my mouth ain’t much better. It’d be a sin to waste the tobacco.

Sometime later, shafts of moonlight descended into the murkiness. Underneath the dim light hung a rusted ladder anchored deep into the stone sides of the tunnel.

He shimmied up the rungs, slipping and suppressing curses so no one above would hear if they were up in the middle of the night. The rungs led into a smaller chute. When he reached the top, Raker saw he was near a shielded drain at street level, the opening large enough for a man to pass through.

Glacar will have some trouble. Raker smiled at that. Serves the ape right.

He looked around and then climbed out. The area seemed secluded, near several abandoned buildings. It was eerily quiet, too quiet for him.

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