Hello yall!
I appreciate you all reading up to this point! I want to announce, for those of you interested, that chapter 8 is now available to all subscribers on Patreon (free and paid). If you'd like to join me there / on my discord I'd be overjoyed to have you! More chapters will be coming to RR shortly! I plan to keep at least 1 free chapter ahead of RR on Patreon moving forward, so a free sub will always keep you ahead of the curve!
Best regards,
Adrum
Below is an exceprt from Chapter 8:
Chapter 8 - Knight of Bashes
RHODY
Zeph, where was she? This multi-floored labyrinth of gray stone and purple banners was a nightmare to navigate. I was lost and had no time to collect my bearings.
Smoky air burned my lungs as I tore through the halls. That brute rumbled in my wake. When it had found me, I was hot on Zeph's heels, tracking her via the clamor of her advance and the trail of Karich's beaten conscripts. I thought it was Zeph's first mark—its looming, wide figure fit the description of the Warlord Karich Urough.
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The resemblance, however, was only physical. This thing, it didn’t think. It didn’t plan. It ran on instinct. It hunted.
Every corner I passed was a risk to be weighed. I could try to slip the bestial man hot on my heels, but I'd also have to wrestle Zeph's pack around the bend. It did not take kindly sharp turns.
I decided to chance it; my boots slid and carried me into the wall's rough surface. My robe's arm ripped open, and a hot, wet scrape blossomed across my elbow.
“Huhh! Huhh! Huhh!” Its incessant breath echoed around me. If I was caught... I couldn't let myself dwell on that. That voice roared like an avalanche, “AaAaBbLlEeEe," and I felt the blood leave my face. My vision dimmed, but I refused to slow down.
A grand gold-framed mirror hung in an upcoming cross-section. In it, the hulking man galloped after me, using his calloused knuckles like a second pair of feet. Those hands looked like they could hammer bone to dust.
That name, Ablee, the Warlord's daughter. Whatever it wanted from her had been supposed onto me. My stomach tightened like a noose. Damn it, damn it, damn it!
I was back in the alleys, wagering my hide against the pace of a man twice my size.
The anchor on my back had to go, but Zeph needed the ammunition inside, and extracting it would involve slowing down.
Cold fear and hot guilt warred in multiple theatres across my body. I was failing her, my temple, and myself. The next corner came too fast, the bite of gunsmoke still sharp in my throat as my eyes caught a trail of ruby-red droplets cresting around it. My chest tightened. Zeph? It had to be. The forces of Karich's she'd splayed out hadn't moved far enough to make such trails. No, this wasn’t them. This was her. I was sure of it.