Chapter 358 (1/2)

Chapter 358: Blood Relic II

Feigning nervousness, I crept warily through the tunnels behind thefro like a knotted rope We moved cautiously and stopped often to listen and peek around corners, but the zone was quiet except for the light scraping of Rat’s foot as it dragged behind hi Caera with all those is said, the war around ed I can’t fathom what she’ll do to them without us there to keep her in check

We passed a collapsed section of the tunnel, and I noticed a churned, loose patch of wall that h the dirt Thinking back to Kage’s rapid appearance at the zone’s entry portal, it h solid earth was fairly coes back in Dicathen

We took a right turn that reversed sharply back on itself aThere were ested someone travelled this way often, and the veins of red rock that lit the passages grew thicker and brighter the longer we traveled

The aether in the at the air like a purple ht way, and that I could find the shrine even without hi the ambient aether

I expandedeach point in space around e these networks of tunnels and caverns were, it was impossible toas it was getting to watch you act like a pansy woggart, I’ll adht call’

I know That’s why I so rarely listen to you, I mocked

“It’s unfair, isn’t it?”

“Excuse uard when Rat suddenly started speaking

“Hoe are expected to serve like pets, but in the act of doing so, we becoth to keep us safe” The pale, quiet ht-lipped se?” I asked, altering my inflection to sound as if I was afraid to even say the ed “His brutality has made his orse before he came”

“You…don’t think he’ll hurt Lady Caera, do you?”

Although I wasn’t particularly worried about Caera, knowing her to becare of herself, I hoped to strike an eet hiate to the truth of as happening in this zone, including finding out how to escape it

Rat’s back hunched further at my question When he spoke, it was hardly e and his men are…not kind to wohtened noise fro to face ly “We should keepWe’re still some distance from the shrine”

Rat’s ears twitched and he paused for a second beforeon We travelled in silence for a tirown fro the way forward Rat reversed course, finding another tunnel that he said would bypass the overgrown passage

“How long have you been here?” I asked softly

“A year…maybe“I fought for a while, like the others Then hid Then Kage caure out how to claim the relic”

“Do you really think it takes a blood sacrifice to get it?” I asked, unsure

Rat sniffed and spat on the ground as he led us through a crossing of several different tunnels “I’ve seen a year of blood drained into the glyph, and it’s never been enough A few ed all the ascenders he’d imprisoned to the shrine and had their throats cut at the sah blood at once…but even that wasn’t enough” Rat halted, listening around before addressing me “There are so else That …” A shi+ver ran down his spine, and I could practically see the weight of those deaths pressing down on hiain giving ements for you to see more than just the shrine”

I watched hi

“I think we are very much the sa his words “We may not be made for bloodshed and battle, but we are worth ive us credit for” He hesitated, then shook his head with a nervous smile “My time here has dulled my manners I haven’t even asked your na his smile aardly “Do you have a na the back of my neck

He frowned sadly, but said, “Ahtened “Grey, I think that together, we can end this awful cycle I’ain, his frown deepening “I have a mother…and brother…who probably think I’ain, not having to feign ht of Ellie and my mother, hidden away under the Darvish desert, with no idea that I was alive

Clearing his throat, Rat continued “I hope you can appreciate the risk I a you this but…for soe to the other factions in this zone”

Regis chortled ‘So our Rat is actually a e and his people have been allowed to see the relic, or the ward that protects it Although Kage keeps soent”

“And fresh eyesa line fro I had read while still a student at Xyrus Acadereed “So…you will help me?”

I nervously opened etin acknowledge me to the shrine, which wasn’t far from where we’d stopped to talk Several turns later, we found three wo in the tunnel, their weapons drawn

I froze, but Rat kepttoward thehtly-braided hair asked, pointing her golden spear at my chest

“He’s new,” Rat replied breathlessly “Not one of Kage’s”

“Why is he here?” Her liquid brown eyes tracked distrustfully across er around my sternum Her frown deepened

Rat scratched behind his ear “The saue, but moved to the side of the tunnel Rat slunk between the woering on their weapons

Ilike sentinels to either side, regarding me coldly

We ca away to the left and right Rat circled around to the left, then stopped at a bare patch of wall He closed his eyes and pressed a hand against the wall, and a hue

Like a curtain being drawn to the sides, the wall opened, revealing a chamber coged and filthy—obviously part of Kage’s gang—brandished weapons, then backed down at the sight of Rat

An ogre of anearly to his belly set the butt of his round and rested his hands on the head He leered at the three wo off a mouthful of crooked, stained teeth, but his expression fell when he noticedabout another e—”

“Would I be here if our rows impatient for the relic This e has instructed that he be allowed to see the shrine along with T’laya and her wouard didn’t see us skeptically

“Do you ever wish to leave here, you bloodless oaf?” Rat snapped, shoeing the three guards off of a huge carving that took up ht about this for a moesturing to the floor

My eyes were drawn past it, however, to what could only be the relic so many had killed and died for

My iarht, was best described as arrayish broith dark leather pauldrons, vaet Runes were ees of the leather ar the dated style aside, the relic arre rather than ,’ Regis said thoughtfully ‘Aabout the way the aether was ht low of aether infused the armor

‘Is that…?’

I think so, I confirmed, enraptured by the way aether seehout the zone That’s why the atmospheric aether is so much thicker here

T’laya crossed in front of lyph, her fingers tracing the deep grooves in the stone floor

The glyph was a coed into concentric circles It was ingenious, like painting a picture ords, but it was an untraditional design I couldn’t help but think that even a professor of djinn runes would struggle to divine the exactThis was made ed over tirooves were stained reddish brown from all the blood that had been spilled here

At the head of the glyph, it ed into a second, smaller symbol, where the suit of armor hovered within its protective barrier

I bent down for a closer look, uide me…” one of the ascender women breathed in wonder as she took in the shrine

Rat sniffed “What do you ured out how to get the thing That glyph is a is said helpfully

I reread the sa with the construction of the runes

“It begins here,” Rat said, pointing to a break in the concentric circles near the golden light and the relic “Perhaps it would help if you read fro to end”

I an to translate with Regis’s aid

‘That’s a lot of blood for a race of pacifists,’ Regis thought

He was right When Kage and Rat had revealed the reason for the violence infesting this zone, I had expected to discover that they were fools and had lyph was thick with references to blood

‘…the blood of one hat’s that rune say?’

I don’t recognize it, I aded

‘…of one who so blood of our blood, may…be burdened? That doesn’t make any sense…’

T’laya pointed out the sa if anyone could read it, but they couldn’t