Tim Waggoner - Lady Ruin

“We can’t leave yet!” Ksana protested. “I need to tend to our injured first, and we can’t leave the dead unburied. Not only would it be dishonorable and an affront to the gods, our dead deserve better than for us to leave them for the scavengers to feast upon!”

“Honestly,” Ranja said, “as bad as the dolgrims smell, I doubt even the hungriest of scavengers would come near this place.”

Lirra gave the shifter a look that said, you aren’t helping . Then she turned to the cleric. “I would never make light of your beliefs, Ksana. You know that. And I would never wish to dishonor fallen comrades, whether I served with them for years or, in the case of our new garrison recruits, only a short time. But even as we speak, Elidyr is working to repair the Overmantle. For all we know, he may have already finished. We have to reach him before he can activate it again and reopen the portal to Xoriat. And that means we can’t afford to waste any more time.”

Ksana’s normally placid face clouded over with anger, and she gestured sharply toward a mass of dead soldiers. “You consider them a waste of time? Has your spirit become so poisoned by the corruption you carry with you that you’ve lost all common decency?”

Ksana’s words stung, but Lirra did her best not to let her feelings show. She started to answer, but Vaddon put a hand on her shoulder-it was the first time he’d touched her since she’d joined with the tentacle whip-to gently silence her.

“Lirra’s right,” he said, “and you know it. Sometimes hard choices have to be made on the field of battle. This isn’t the first time we’ve faced them. We’ll leave the dead for now, and if possible, we shall return to give them a proper burial. As for the wounded, quickly tend to those who cannot travel. The rest you can heal as we march.”

Ksana looked as if she might argue, but then she let out a sigh, nodded, and left to inspect the wounded. Vaddon raised his voice so that the rest of the surviving members of the Outguard could hear him.

“We march in five minutes, people! Make ready!”

Vaddon then turned back to Lirra. “Good enough?” he asked.

“I suppose it’ll have to be.”

He nodded then walked off to make sure his soldiers followed his orders. She turned to the two warforged and gestured to the dolgrim she’d questioned.

“Longstrider, carry him a safe distance away from this place and tuck him into a tree. Not too high, mind you. Shatterfist, you stay here and stand guard while we regroup and prepare to move out.”

Longstrider nodded, scooped up the dolgrim as if he weighed nothing, and strode off into the forest. Shatterfirst looked around at the carnage that surrounded them.

“As I understand it, humans sometimes use humor to lighten the mood after a tragic event has occurred. Perhaps I could-”

Lirra, Ranja, and Osten turned to the construct and shouted in unison.

“No!”

The warforged crossed his stone and metal arms over his chest. “Fine,” he huffed. “Look, this is me, standing guard.”

A few moments later Longstrider returned, and the Outguard was ready to march. From a group of around sixty soldiers, they were down to just over twenty. A hard loss, especially after only a single encounter with Elidyr’s forces. Lirra wondered what else her uncle had in store for them. She supposed they would soon find out.

Vaddon gave the command, and the Outguard started marching.

They found the cave entrance precisely where the dolgrim said they would. The hill was barren, rocky, and rather lopsided, as if somewhere in the distant past a mountain had tried to thrust its way up through the earth and had barely gotten started before giving up.

The entrance to the caves wasn’t hard to spot. It lay at the southern base, and the opening was large enough for the soldiers to fit through one at a time, warforged included, though just barely in the constructs’ case. Lirra assumed the tunnels would be narrow, though passable, since Elidyr, Sinnoch, and Rhedyn had been able to make their way through. Lirra felt a rush of anger at the thought of seeing Rhedyn again. Right then she wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around his traitorous neck and-

That’s right, get good and mad. We’ll be able to use your anger when it’s time to shed blood again …

Hearing the thought-voice’s words, Lirra forced herself to calm down. The last thing she wanted to do right now was give her symbiont a stronger grip on her mind, and if she allowed herself to be carried away by anger, that’s exactly what would happen.

“Here you go,” Ranja said. “As promised. Now that I’ve led you to Elidyr’s lair, my job’s finished, and since there’s an excellent chance that none of you will survive to leave the caves, I’d appreciate it if you could pay me my fee in full before you enter.”

Osten took a step toward the shifter, his hand falling to the pommel of his sword.

“Why you mercenary little-”

Lirra shushed Osten and laid a hand on his arm to keep him from moving any closer to Ranja. But the shifter took a step toward Osten, her features becoming a touch more feral.

“I was hired to do a job and I did it,” she said. “There’s no shame in that, nor is there any in my wanting to be paid for my contribution.”

Vaddon scowled, but he reached inside his uniform and withdrew a purse full of silver from a pocket. He tossed it to Ranja, and the shifter woman caught it easily and made it disappear into one of her own pockets. She then flashed Vaddon a smile.

“Pleasure doing business with you, General.”

“So what will you do now?” Osten asked. “Head back to Geirrid while we risk our lives to stop Elidyr?”

“I think I’ll stick around for a bit longer, just to see how things turn out,” Ranja said. She turned to Vaddon. “I assume you’re going to station some people outside the entrance to guard the backs of those going in. I’ll remain out here with them, if you don’t mind.”

“Suit yourself,” Vaddon said. “But don’t think you’re going to get paid any more for staying.”

“Of course not, General. I’m well satisfied with what I’ve acquired.” Ranja looked at Lirra and gave her a quick smile.

Lirra understood. The shifter spy had gained all the knowledge she needed, and if she couldn’t find a way to blackmail Bergerron, she’d simply go ahead with her original plan and deliver the information to Raskogr. Either way, more silver lay in her future. Before she’d joined with her symbiont, Lirra would’ve reacted to the shifter’s mercenary nature much the same way Osten had-with hostility and derision. After all, Lirra was a Karrnathi soldier, and she performed her duties out of loyalty to her country and a desire to serve its people, not in hopes of lining her own pockets. But now she couldn’t find it in herself to think badly of Ranja. As much as Lirra had been raised by her father, and later trained at the Rekkenmark Academy, to view the world in simplistic black-and-white terms, in the last few days she’d come to realize that, in truth, existence all too often consisted of varying shades of gray. Lirra knew she and the others wouldn’t have gotten this far without Ranja’s help, and she was grateful for the shifter’s aid. And if this was where they parted company, then so be it.

Lirra gave Ranja a nod before turning to her father.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked.

Vaddon raised an eyebrow, and Lirra smiled. “You are in command of this mission,” she reminded him.

Vaddon selected a half-dozen men and women to stand guard outside the cave. Lirra noted that he picked those who had been most seriously wounded during the battle with the dolgrims, and she could well guess why. While Ksana had used her healing powers to repair the soldiers’ injuries, they were still somewhat weak. Better they guarded the others’ rear flank than enter the caves to face whatever threats might lie within.