Read Online Nightblade: A Book of Underrealm (The Nightblade Epic 1) by Garrett Robinson - Free Book Online Page A

wanted to ignore the fire. Others wanted to steal what they could. But Mennet spurred his horse into the town, for he had heard a babe’s cry. He found her in a house in the middle of the village, her parents fled or lying cold in the dirt. Mennet leapt through a window and scooped her up, but fire blocked his escape. That is when he pleaded with the shadows he had befriended all his life, and they swallowed him. The house collapsed, and Mennet’s men thought he had died. But he stepped from the shadows, the babe in his arms. Terrified, the men fled.
    “Mennet had finished his days as a highwayman, and he turned his talents to doing good. First, he stole the King’s gold and brought it to the villagers who had lost their homes, repaying them ten times for the damage.  
    “Then he traveled across the land seeking other wrongs and turning them right. If a nobleman plotted the death of his lord, he might find his private letters taken and constables soon knocking at his door. If a King plotted a rebellion, Mennet would know, and that King would find the other lands united against him.”
    “I’ll bet he slipped his sharp blades into more than a few backs.”
    Loren shook her head quickly. “No. Mennet never took a life. He preferred cleverness to strength, speed to skill with a blade. No one could bring him to a fight—they found themselves outmaneuvered first, their weapons vanished, their men unwilling to battle. Mennet thought that only Kings could judge, and only if justice lay on their side. When they abandoned justice, Mennet turned it upon them. But even then, he refused to deal it. He never saw it as his place.”
    Annis sat in silence, chewing her quail. Then, in a small voice, she said, “Do you mean to find Mennet, then?”
    Loren stared at the flames. “He lived many and more a yesteryear ago. No. The world has not seen his like in an eon. But when Bracken told me those tales, they stayed in my mind. I could not forget them. And whenever father grew angry and struck, when my mother shrilled and pinched and locked me in a cupboard, I remembered Mennet. I remembered that he did more good with his mind and words than any King with a mighty sword and an army at his back. My father seemed weak then, my mother foolish. And I hoped that one day I could escape and become the kind of person they should have been.”
    “Where is Bracken now?”  
    “Three years ago, he stopped coming. He must have died. He was very old.”
    Silence descended again. Loren realized that she had not yet touched the quail, and Annis had eaten nearly half. “Are you going to eat all my hard-won bird?”
    Annis smirked and took another bite. “Only if you refuse to.”
    Loren picked up a stick, eating without her eyes finding the food in her fingers. She could see only the fire, its red-and-orange shape leaping up and down, swaying with the dancing wind.

ten

    Loren tried to find a place to sleep after they ate. But it felt strange to lie in firelight, surrounded by strange men with long blades. After a time, she rose and took herself beyond the line of wagons where her head rested easily upon the ground. Soon, she fell asleep.
    The next morning dawned bright and early. Loren woke before most in the camp. She felt no surprise to see Gregor had risen earlier still. His gaze fell on her hard as she stood. She gave him a little wave, but he did not even blink.
    The caravan seemed to take an eternity to get moving, and Loren nearly screamed from impatience. But eventually, the drivers mounted and spurred their horses south.  
    Loren had grown somewhat bored with the countryside, so she spent her time inspecting the caravan instead. A pair of carriages led the way, followed by a dozen wagons of varying sizes. The two biggest wagons had eight wheels each and were nearly wide enough to swallow the road.  
    Loren let her course run back and forth across the column, peering into the backs of wagons. She wondered how many hid packages