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

I see a rope,” she said, backpedaling. “I can make it, then throw it back.” She loaded herself into a charge. Launching out through her legs, Ruein sprang away.

The half-orc’s arm blurred to snatch her cloak. Pulled back again, her boot-tips danced upon the gravel. “Ruein, that is clothesline.” He released. “Also…Ceer say, Ceer can make jump. Not so Ruein.”

Liv’s eyes widened. “What?” She raised her gauntlets, presenting left, “Looking—” then right, “Leaping… Did your morning face-plant teach you nothing?”

Ruein stood there, rain spraying off her vacant face.

What cobwebs were rolling through that dusty space between her ears? “Hello!” Liv panted. “Is any of this getting through to you?”

Ruein looked back the way they’d come, then rounded upon Ceer. Thrusting her face into his, she jabbed a finger back at Liv. “You’ve got a way? Do it. We need to get her out.”

“Well…” Twigs called from a side corner, “what if we use this ladder?”

The wall-embedded metal rungs meant that roof vaulting was no longer necessary. Fuck all that crap of slip-sliding across Haraden rooftops. The solid ground was Liv’s sole consolation to this group’s alley skulking.

Swaying streetlamps reflected off the wet cobblestones. One of the puddles blossomed with a reddish tinge under sandaled feet. The showers kept Ceer’s back wet, his wound open. Oh, yeah. The last thing they needed was to be trailing their escape in blood.

Liv clutched the half-orc’s wrist, motioning him to kneel in the dark alley. Ruein gave a knowing look then expanded her cloak around them. It would manage to hood the radiance of her Lightbringer’s touch.

With a celestine word, joy swelled within Liv’s heart. Her gauntlet spread over Ceer’s gash. Warm, glowing fingers clasped and squeezed the wound. Divinity winnowed its way through gashed tissues and severed vessels. Rain washed away the last red drabs as his wound knitted under her touch. It wasn’t perfect— he’d certainly be left with a scar—but it would do.

Turning from them, Liv pursed her lips toward the heavens.

This was an unmitigated clusterfuck. She’d been sent here as a representative of Shegar Negrath. More than anything, Liv wanted to be that beacon against an ever-encroaching dark. The light she could bring would show for others another way.

Was she doing that now? Fuck no. Now they were hiding as something worse than common criminals. They were fleeing assassins.

Doing what was right had become…complicated. Considering the marauder’s fate, Ruein, Twigs, and Ceer weren’t likely to fare any better. None of them would be coming back from Haraden. She’d need more than faith and truth now.

Liv let out a huff. It wasn’t beyond her to hold back her calling, but only for the time being. She’d get them someplace safe, then sort this shit out.

They stuck to the back alleys, avoiding lights and locals. Circumventing posted Elites required an occasional backtrack. Their singular goal, getting far from the Apex, brought them midway through the city walls.

Rounding another corner, Ruein glanced up and signaled for them to stop.

Liv waited. The darkness and rain hampered what she could see. Yet, the half-orc and Ruein would be well aware. Something snared her attention. Liv leaned, tightening her eyes in hopes of her own glimpse.

The sky brightened from the lightning behind. Its momentary flicker highlighted two figures on the building above. Their postures—odd, unmoving. Their chain shirts glinted in the discharge. An Elite skywatch, but they were slumped at their perch, arms dangling.

Ruein squinted up at them. “Blow darts. Both of them. I can see they’re still breathing. I guess dark-orcs are not immune to sleep.”

Liv’s jaw dropped. “We would have wandered right into them.”

“Maybe.” Ruein shrugged, waving them forward.

Passing under, Twigs pointed to a busted heavy crossbow on the cobblestones. He looked to the others. “Is no one going to ask why there are two darted Elites?”

A pang of guilt knocked at Liv’s gut. The reason was obvious enough. It was her. Hard to be stealthy when you’re an armor-plated Lightbringer. No doubt, Ruein knew as well.

They were being followed.

They paused at the alley’s end, before one of the broader avenues. Haraden’s inner gate walls sat open to the night. Sheets of precipitation washed deserted streets. Everburning lamps dotted the intersections. The creak of windblown signage was their only greeting.

They watched the empty ramparts over the three-story gate arches.

Liv twirled her mace, the drive to get clear egging at her. Was there a point in hiding in shadows? It’s not like it would work against those with darkvision.

Ceer leaned out, peering back along the street. His bald head slowly canted as he arched a brow. He was tracking something.

Pushing between Ruein and the half-orc, Liv strained for a glimpse. One of the mounds paralleling the street undulated as a lump passed them and went on through the gate.

Ceer sucked in a breath and regarded Ruein.

She rested her glaive upon the cobblestones. “The longer we wait, the more the noose tightens. Some things…we have to chance.”

Climbing onto the half-orc’s shoulder, Twigs added, “Well, if now’s as good a time as any, I’d prefer Ceer had bark to go with his bite.” The gnome’s fingers flitted along his staff’s grain as he sank into druidic speak. Pressing the stave into Ceer’s back, his friend’s flesh took on a matching wood grain. The soft crinkle of fibers hardening rippled over his musculature.

The big old lunk turned and smiled back at Liv. His rain-soaked orcan face took on a textured husk, his teeth a varnished casing. Ceer flexed his arms, cracked his knuckles, and gave Ruein a nod.

From far overhead, the metallic clink and roll of something small came from the arched gates. Billowing against the showers, dark plumes welled up, spreading across the span of the gate’s parapets. A black cumulus formed, pouring over the walls and dumping onto the cobblestones below.

“What? You need a bigger sign?” Liv glared. “Go!”

They broke from the alley, a mad scramble for the arched passage. Twigs bounced but held onto Ceer’s hair tuft.

The black smoke enveloped the upper gate,