Shadow Slave novel Chapter 1817

Among Tamar's Memories, there was an enchanted cloak. Its enchantment wasn't very useful in their current situation, but the cloak itself was just what Rain needed.

Harvesting two long branches from the dead trees, she used it to create a makeshift stretcher. Rain held the front end of the stretcher, while the rear end dragged on the ground. For the young Legacy, it wasn't the most comfortable way to travel - but if she was suffering, she did not let it show.

As for Rain herself, she quickly warmed up from the strain. Hauling Tamar over a long distance in this manner was not very plausible, but luckily, they weren't going far just yet.

For now, their plan was to find shelter and wait for about ten days before summoning the Echo. That much time should be enough for the survey team to return to the main construction camp, or at least get close to it. So, all Rain and Tamar had to do was survive that long.

It was especially important that Tamar remained alive, because with her death, the Echo would disappear as well. Then, the survey team would be in peril...

Remembering the porters she had become friends with, Rain grimaced. She had put on a cynical facade in front of the young Legacy, and although there was some truth to her words, in all honesty, she wasn't willing to save herself by sacrificing those people, elther.

Plus, Rain was not helpless. Although the Moonriver Plain were much more dangerous than the wild reaches around Ravenheart, she still stood a fair chance of surviving here.

‘I'll take it one step at a time.’

For now, they had to find shelter. Then, procure food and water. After that... she was going to think about it later.

Soon, the ruins drew near. They were too large to be a solitary building, but too small to be the remains of a town. Stone walls rose from the ground, once tall and magnificent, now crumbling and covered in cracks. Rainwater was spilling out of the cracks, and it seemed as if the ruins were weeping.

There was no telling what that place had been once, and currently, Rain wasn't that interested in solving the mystery.

Instead, her gaze fell on the ground and grew tense.

'Damn it.’

She stopped without approaching the ruins and gently placed the stretcher on the ground. Tamar's face paled from the jolt, but she stubbornly refused to let her pain show.

"What is it?"

Rain studied the ground with a somber expression. A few moments later, she sighed.

"There are prints on the ground."

Tamar turned her head to look.

There were indeed traces of something having stalked this area in the mud. The prints weren't too large, and were clearly animalistic in nature. Judging by their size and depths, the creature - or creatures - weren't too large.

Still, it was a cause for concern.

The ruins Rain had hoped to take shelter in were occupied.

The two young women looked at each other silently.

Eventually, Tamar asked:

"What do you want to do? We... we can go further away from the canyon."

Rain remained silent for a while, then slowly shook her head.

"There's no point. Whatever it is that lives in the ruins will be faster than us, by far. Once it crawls out and catches our scent, it will find us no matter how much distance we can cover before nightfall."

Which wasn't much distance at all.

The state of the paw prints hinted that they had been left many hours, but less than a day ago. So, Rain suspected that the inhabitant of the ruins was a nocturnal predator, Even if she hauled Tamar away with all her strength, they were not going to outrun a Nightmare Creature.

She sighed.

"It has to die."

Rain looked at Tamar, then asked her to summon her Memory weapons. Soon, a small arsenal appeared from sparks of light on the ground in front of her.

The brutish zweihander was a beautiful and fearsome weapon... not to mention utterly deadly. Unfortunately, Rain could barely lift it - she could muster just enough strength to swing it from side to side in a crude and graceless arc, but there was no hope of doing that with any semblance of speed and accuracy. . Which meant death in an actual battle.

To her delight, Tamar possessed an enchanted bow and a quiver of arrows, as well. But... Rain could not even draw the bow. It was too heavy, and one would have to have a bear's strength to bend its limbs.

There was a beautifully austere battle spear, as well. Sadly, it was even worse than the zweihander. While its weight wasn't as great, the balance was different, so Rain almost toppled while trying to lift it.

Dejected, she stared at Tamar for a few moments, gaining a new appreciation for the younger girl's slender physique.

'How is she so strong with a body like that?’

The young Legacy had been brandishing the brutish greatsword with elegant ease, and even Jumping over canyons while wielding it. Awakened possessed Immense physical prowess, but Tamar seemed especially strong, or at least knew how to utilize her strength especially well.

Shaking her head, Rain gave up on the youg Legacy's main weapons.

Instead, she only picked up a kindjal - a simple double-edged dagger with a straight blade and a sharp tapered tip. It had no guard or decorations to speak of, but there was a lethal beauty to its simplicity.

The length of its broad blade was a bit too long to be a dagger, but a bit too short to be a short sword.

Rain weighed it in her hand and nodded.

"I'm off."

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