Ruein: Fires of Haraden: Action/Adventure Necromancy Series (Books of Ruein Book 2), G.O. Turner [little bear else holmelund minarik txt] 📗

Ruein continued to carve through the fallen at her feet. She shredded the ones beneath her, not bothering to finish so much as disable.

She spun toward the closing three, taunting. “Come.”

Farther back, double doors opened.

Yes. The dead are mindless and stupid. Yet, they can still be attracted to things. Ruein’s carnage had drawn attention.

Through the entry, a small mob of dead faces locked onto hers. Their instinct to kill reared in their eyes, jaws, and clumsy arms. They plodded forward.

Oh, this is too much fun.

She had no intention of being mobbed. Stuffing a hand into her component pouch, Ruein felt for a soft packet, that bit of folded waxed paper.

Withdrawing the packet, she squeezed till the squid limb burst between her fingers. Wetness became arcane vapors as she embraced the draconic words. Ruein’s hand worked the gestures.

The spell erupted from the floor beneath the husks.

Shooting up, dozens upon dozens of tentacles undulated within the corpses’ midst. They lashed, latched, and squeezed. Long tendrils, born of the eternal dark, enveloped the dead crew. Corpses began to pop.

Yet, where was the satisfaction?

Ruein launched forward, carving into the edges of the writhing field. She severed sinew, caring not as her glaive sliced dead and tentacles alike. It didn’t matter. New tentacles erupted to fill the voids.

Dancing around the outside, Ruein cut down their numbers. Those centered within the black morass succumbed, simply pulled apart or crushed to bursting.

She scanned the mottled field of parts. Hatred seethed through her teeth as she sought out her next abomination.

In answer, the floor of the refinery quaked. Rhythmic stomps foretold the giant’s return. Ruein rounded a corner and came up underneath the monstrosity. This chamber had been cleared, as intended. Now she just needed to take out one not-so-small thing.

The dead giant took in the scene. Scattered bits of his smaller brethren littered the refinery floors. The black tentacle pool continued to lash and toss dismembered limbs.

Ruein peered through the amber glow from the giant’s iron crucible, which highlighted his rotted half-face. Past the exposed portions of skull, clouded eyes fixed upon her. The thing understood. His cracked lips curled. Blackened teeth gnashed.

Spotting a counter-weighted rope between them, Ruein dashed forward. With one arm she grabbed hold. With the other, her glaive severed the line.

Iron gratings beneath her feet dropped away as she flew up.

The counterweights must’ve been massive. Ruein hurtled toward the ceiling, leveling face-to-face with the giant. The momentum from such a yank heaving at her arm socket would’ve been agonizing to anyone else. Ruein knew no such pain.

At the peak of her rise, she released the rope and hurled herself at the giant. Inverting her glaive downward, she punched through his collar joint. Her boots landed on the abomination’s shoulder. Heat from the crucible warmed her backside.

The giant’s head reeled, its jaw opened wide.

Ruein swung on the pole, rounding over and past the rear shoulder. She then hefted all of her weight into a descent. The glaive carved down his back. Upon catching hip bone, the weapon levered over.

She tightened her grip, dislodging the weapon as she fell. Her drow boots clanked hard on the floor grates.

This abomination was massive.

Don’t give it a chance.

Ruein whirled, building momentum through her swing. It intersected with the giant’s calf. The blade cut rotted meat but stopped mid-bone.

The giant shifted. Looking down upon her. His shoulders heaved. The crucible rose as his arms lifted upward.

Oh, crap.

He was going to dump that on her.

Ruein yanked at the glaive. It did not give.

She pressed her boot against the giant’s leg and hauled back. Rather than release, she fell away from the glaive and landed in a pile of her own dismembered handiwork. No good. The weapon was stuck fast.

Ruein’s hand scrambled through the pile of rot until her gauntlet caught hold of something wooden.

Rising to her feet, she swung the heavy sledge around, focused upon her own embedded weapon.

The sledgehammer slammed into the giant’s calf, not only penetrating meat but smacking the backside of her glaive blade. It finished its journey through the rest of the bone to erupt out the other side. Her blade flew across the room and rattled upon the floor. Ruein released the hammer and dove away.

She tumbled through her roll, distancing herself as far she could just as the crucible began to pour.

The hill giant’s leg gave way. The crucible heaved upward, relieving its contents upon the giant. Gouts of molten steam, embers, and flames erupted as the dead giant bathed in the iron lava. Fire raced up its body, igniting what few hairs and hides he possessed.

He crumpled to the ground, collapsing in upon himself. The fire began to consume the remains.

Ruein continued to distance herself while watching the pyre grow. Her satisfaction rose with the flames. She heaved in the smell of burning hair and refinery fumes, embracing the malice which swirled within her soul.

Most abominations had no soul, just empty vessels infesting her world. Karris City’s undead did serve a purpose though. Tonight, it was to satisfy her.

This will tide me over…for now.

She couldn’t stay. The flames would continue to grow. Ruein strode over to recover her glaive.

From a distant chamber, she heard shouts. Someone had taken notice. The giant continued to burn. Bits and pieces fell away. They clumped with a hiss, commingling with molten iron. Wouldn’t be long before it would become an ashen, slagged fixture of the refinery floor.

Ruein edged her way back, finding a quiet exit.

It was a good start. There were still plenty of other Karris refiners for her to return for. She had her own crucible to carry…

…and it was far from spent.

2

Where’s Rue?

Even Lightbringer Liv Khorana wasn’t sure. Her sister-in-law had been gone far too many days.

You’d damn well think she’d show for her own husband’s funeral.

Seated in the front row, Liv dipped her head and made another check of their guests.

She scanned the filled benches, probing for some hint of her. It