We’re back to Scars with the conclusion to the Jachenbreg arc! I hope you’ve all enjoyed this series so far and will continue to do so in the future. Below is an excerpt from the chapter, for the full story check the link above.
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“I saw you fall,” Justir told him. “So I knew where you were through the smoke. I was able to get to you and pull you out of the chamber.” He remembered the Haunter’s hateful scream, felt it move past him in the fog. He hadn’t dared linger. “I went back, but I couldn’t find anyone else.”
Kevac pressed his lips together. The taste of ash and the tang of his concoction’s ingredients filled his mouth along with the grittiness of the soot he’d inhaled. “They must have scattered. Any sign of them?”
“There was a body. I think it was one of the guards.”
“You think?”
“I couldn’t tell.”
Kevac fell silent as the half-remembered images of someone screaming as their face and hands melted welled back up, the agonized wail, dissolving along with the victim’s throat. “Have you seen Letha?” he asked. “Or Khy-kala?”
Justir shook his head. He wanted to joke that if they were smart, they’d be heading for the surface to summon help, but that would be in ordinary circumstances. They’d never remember what they were doing or why and by the time any of them did, the Haunter would have slaughtered everyone else down here. He wasn’t going to let that happen. “If they’re out there,” he very pointedly did not say if they’re still alive, “they’ll be looking for us. Khy-kala will be able to find us. We have to locate the others and avoid the Haunter until we do.”
“Aye, and how do we do that?” Kevac asked as he stood back up, coughing quietly into his sleeve.
A terrified cry echoed through the room. “If I know them,” Justir answered. “They’ll heads towards that. Mattio will too.”
“Like idiots,” the dwarf complained. “Didn’t you say we should be avoiding our friend down here?”
“I don’t recall.”
“Hilarious.” Kevac’s jaw worked and he spat a mouthful of ash onto the ground. “Who’s the bigger idiot? The idiots who run towards a scream in the dark, or the idiots who run after them?”
“I guess we’ll find out.” Justir drew his mace, tapping its flanged head against the worn metal of his shield.
“Aye,” the small man agreed sourly. “I expect we will.”
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