Page 87 of Red Ruin

Something moves in the dirt, making chuffing, muddy sounds.

Cut horizontally in half, the groaning kobold is absolutely very dead.

Now it twitches.

Both its halves attempt to stand.

Its chilling moans break the breathless silence as every Sentinel stops to watch the things crawl.

Kobolds rise all around the base.

They don’t attack.

It’s like they don’t even sense that we exist.

Clawing, stumbling, they shamble desperately across the lawn and over broken walls. I spot the kobold with my spear wedged through his ribs. It merges into a shuffling group, every body headed mindlessly toward the mountains.

“They’re being called.” My voice cracks. “Vhex.”

Hellfire blooms around the closest corpse.

Both halves of the dead kobold keep fighting forward, even as it burns.

When the body finally collapses, a wind appears, carrying the ashes in the same direction as the horde—north, toward the collapsing seal.

Holy.

Fuck.

Whatever’s buried down there is stronger than I feared.

I grab Vhex and Remy’s wrists. “No more screwing around.”

Adrenaline gives me a second wind.

I need to go make that call.

“Everyone corral the bodies. Burn them all.”

CHAPTER22

REMY

My Guide tosses commands,then attempts to stumble away.

I follow, unwilling to abandon the reassuring sound of her pulse. “Where are you going?”

Iris.

Iris, Iris, Iris.

I can’t forget her name.

I’m full of holes, but I remember the sweetness of her blood and the soft touch that shields me from the dark.

“Go gather zombies for Vhex to burn,” she says wearily, pushing forward as stubbornly as one of the undead. “I have to call for reinforcements.”

“Ah. Command may be unlikely to send help.”

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