Elderquest: Book 2 (2021 Rewrite)

Chapter 11 - A Home in Ruins

"Come on, Tre, I'm exhausted! I've been training for days! Can we stop for a bit?" Phoebe moaned as she slid down the wall, covered in sweat.

I simply shook my head and sheathed my sword. Drake and I had been working Phoebe to the bone, attempting to get her prepared for whatever stood ahead. At first, she didn't know what to do, but after a few exercises she was getting the hang of her dagger quite well. It was the smallest thing we had for her, and I felt bad when I laughed at her fighting stance.

"Yeah, sure. I think you're ready to do some fighting now, so why don't we call it at that?" I said breathlessly.

She smiled and hugged me as we walked out of the training ring and down to the kitchen. We sat down and ate a good lunch together, then met up with the others outside in the front yard. Drake and Kay were standing over a table studying a map, while Kitt and Layla practiced some maneuvers under the trees.

Drake walked over to me, armor gleaming under his trench coat, "Hey Tre, about time you finished up with her. We were starting to wonder if she could ever use that thing correctly," he said, pointing to the dagger strapped to her belt. Phoebe just blushed and pulled it out, the silver blade freshly sharpened and cleaned.

I laughed and nudged her shoulder, "Yeah, it did take a while. Have we got a plan yet?"

The map was a layout of the mountain ranges and Sazuka City's outskirts. There were red lines drawn, outlining the routes in and out of the mountains and into the city. Kay explained that the plan was to leave the dojo and take the abandoned mining roads towards the city, avoiding the major roads and any lingering patrols of Nazshi's soldiers. We would enter through the smaller back roads in the slums to get to the center of the city.

"There's gonna be some heavy resistance as we near the city. Nazshi's probably got sentries posted along the perimeter of the city as well," Kay pointed out, "it would be best if we only traveled at night. We need to avoid being spotted until we can get into the city and free the army."

Drake looked at her skeptically, "That is, if Nazshi left anyone alive in there. That place is probably a graveyard by now."

"At least have a shred of positivity about this, Drake, and try to have some hope. We're just a few people, but Nazshi's got an entire army. And when we were in Mengele's lab, I saw something," Kay said, folding up the map and shouldering her bow.

"What did you see?" Layla asked.

Kay drew out a sheet of yellowed paper and spread it across the table. It was an anatomical drawing. It showed a mutated, gruesome creation. At the top, scribbled in black ink, was the word "Undin".

I looked at her, confused, "The Undin? Those more soldiers?"

The name seemed to bring a chill to my body, and a cold wind suddenly blew through the trees. Kay stared at me, a disturbing look in her eyes.