Warsinger James Baldwin (read this if TXT) 📖

to the control panel of the mech as it swayed to one side.

“Look out!” Karalti cried. “It’s going to stomp Suri!”

“Which button!? ALL buttons!” I growled, hitting every button I could push. The Sandstrider, its leg raised, suddenly pirouetted around and began to run at the wall of the jail. “Oh shit!”

I sprung clear just as the artifact careened through the wall and kept going, ploughing a trail toward the carriage station. Suri was back up on her feet, trailing behind the others on their path to the alley. I was still boosted from Blood Sprint, and caught up easily as they reached the ladder.

[You gain 1100 EXP!]

[Karalti gains 1100 EXP!]

“Gentlemen first,” Suri panted.

“Mmm’lady.” I flashed her a cheesy grin, dropped into the hole, and slid down the ladder for Archemi Sewer Adventure 2: Son of Sewer Adventure.

Chapter 40

Dalim’s mid-city sewers were an interesting experience, and one I never wanted to repeat again. We battled our way through giant larvae-like insects, rats – smaller and meaner than the ones in Karhad – and other trash-tier mobs on our way to the undercity. We emerged fairly close to the laundries and Davri’s house after about an hour. We earned about 500 EXP all up: I was reasonably close to Level 25, though Karalti still had a long way to go until she reached Level 15.

“Christ.” Suri groaned as we hopped down to the ground from a ladder. She pulled her helmet off and ran a hand back through her hair. “I dunno about you guys, but I’m beat.”

“Do we really have to go and deal with that witch tonight?” Vash said. “Surely there’s some place where a man could lay his head down on the generous loins of a young, supple-”

“Wait! You!” Mehkhet billowed forward until he hung in front of Suri. “Excuse me, my lady. What is your name?”

Suri shied back from the shade. “Me? Uhh… Suri.”

“Suri who?” He edged toward her. “What is your maternal clan name?”

She glanced at me. “Hadir. Suri Ba’Hadir.”

“Truly?” Mehkhet brought his hand to his mouth, drifting around her. “Hmm… yes. That brow, the straight aquiline nose, the fierce bright eyes…”

“What?” She scowled.

“You don’t know?” The points of light the shadow had in place of eyes glinted as he drifted back. “Even more interesting. As a Fireblooded woman, you surely know that the Old Kingdom was ruled by the Ha’Shazir line, yes?”

Keeping one wary eye on the street, Suri nodded. “Yeah…”

“When the Old Kingdom fell and the surviving princesses were spirited away, their names were changed for their safety,” the sage said. “Foremost among them was Sachara’s granddaughter, Princess Kaveeta I. After the fall of the Empire and the death of her mother, Kaveeta was raised by her mother’s bodyguard, who changed her matronymic from Shazir to Hadir. But Kaveeta was murdered in her early twenties, and the Ba’Hadir name was not known to have been passed beyond her. It is one of the names listed in the Scroll of the Bastards, a record the Sultir keeps to this day… records which list the known names of Sachara’s descendants so they can be targeted for assassination.”

“Princess, huh.” Suri’s brow furrowed. “Hector. Remember what Jacob wrote?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. ‘Princess’ was their favorite nickname for me.” She grimaced.

Mehkhet made a graceful gesture. “They, being…?”

“The wardens of Al-Asad,” she replied. “Pair of creeps.”

“Fascinating.” Mehkhet stroked his chin. “And you… the Child of the Dark Star. How did you come into possession of that Shield?”

“We found the Arch-Smith’s tomb in Myszno,” I replied. “Off-side a sewer, of all places. Turned out he was buried under the University of Karhad.”

“Unsurprising, given that he founded it. May I?” The spirit gestured to the amulet.

I nodded, took it off, and held it out. “Sachara’s Arch-Smith founded the University of Karhad?”

“The city in Myszno, now a part of modern Vlachia? Yes. That region was settled by dragons, then Aesari, then humans. Arch-Smith Ba’nadi founded a university there the year after the Aesari were driven out of the region by Sachara’s army.” Mehkhet plucked the amulet from my fingers. When it made contact with his fingers, the metal frosted over. “Oh, it’s real. Look at that… I can actually pick it up. Fascinating, most fascinating. I thought you initially cursed me by bringing me back from my repose, but now, NOW, my gratitude flows like an abundant river. To think, I spent all of my life searching for one of these, only to find it in death!”

“You’re creeping me out, specter,” Vash said. He slumped over, his hands in his pockets. “As are you, Hector. This is a base form of necromancy. Did you always know how to do this, or…?”

“No. It’s a Nasaku vampire ability. Pretty recent addition to the arsenal.”

He grunted, eying Mehkhet unhappily. “Perhaps you’re not as immune to corruption as I thought.”

“Well, he’s okay with it. If he ever tells me he wants to leave, I’ll let him go.” I shrugged, then turned back to Mehkhet. “Alright, so before we go back to Davri: What do these Shields do?”

“The Shields of the Firmament are an ancient form of information storage,” Mehkhet replied. “They store vast amounts of knowledge, all of it tightly woven into the script you see here. It was said that, when placed into the right device, one Shield could act as an entire library.”

So… we’d found a magical fantasy thumb drive. I scratched my head. “What kind of device is it paired with?”

“Good question,” the Sage said. “No one has ever found one, but I have an inkling where one might locate such a device. The Shrine of the Anvil. The ancient temple of Khors rumored to be buried under the Bashir Desert.”

Suri tensed. “The Bashir Desert?”

“Mmm, yes.” Mehkhet stroked the void where his chin used to be. “Sources say it is near the border of Napath.”

“C’mon, guys. Let’s go to Davri and get this over with,” Karalti said. “I know you guys wanna rest, but I’ve only got a few hours left on my polymorph spell. If