The Wrath Of the Forgotten by Michael Ignacio Read Free Book Online Page B

a game. An innocent man’s life hangs in the balance. Let’s go!”
    Rayko took the lead and moved down the street with even more haste than what Nori had been using. Flara chased after her.
    “Well, we don’t want to be left behind, do we?” Apisa said.
    Nori followed after them. His warrior spirit ignited. His senses sharpened. The grip on his war club tightened again. In the midst of all that, a small degree of excitement also blossomed.
     

     
    TOV EASED HIS back against wall and held his breath. Silence lingered around everywhere, and it was deceiving. Slowly, Tov examined his surroundings. Dark stone and marble spanned the beautiful floors. The ceilings hung above him thirty feet overhead, and sky lights allowed for sun to filter into the grand corridors. Wonderfully calming scents danced on the air. Tov’s stomach turned. How could this place be so extravagant when in the streets outside, people starved?
    That didn’t matter now. All that mattered was that Tov didn’t get caught. In the hustle and bustle of the mid-day shift change, the imperial guards had been careless for only a few moments. To Tov’s great fortune, he managed to slip in. Now that he was in, he was stuck. As good as he was, if Tov was discovered, everything his masters planned for would be for naught.
    Tov peeked around the corner. The long corridors went on forever and had countless rooms attached to each one. How was he going to find the one specific room he needed in this maze of decadence?
    Something moved at the far end of the hallway. A pair of guards exited a room, but they moved away without looking in his direction. When everything returned to a state of utter quiet, Tov slipped out and took cautious steps. Every time he heard a distant echo, he stopped where he stood and crept beside the closest wall. Once he felt safer, he resumed his trek. The room he sought was right across from a statue of a duck. Why in the hell would these stupid humans have a statue of a duck in a palace anyway?
    The minutes melted away as Tov causally crept along the corridors. Eventually, he found the statue of the duck. Without pausing, Tov gently pushed open the door across from it and moved inside.
    Darkness filled the room, with only several beams of light entering through the breaks from the curtains blocking the windows. A large canopy bed sat in the middle of the chamber. Several large couches lined the walls. As he had been informed, the doorway leading to a balcony stood across from where he entered. Tov moved over to one of the couches and sat down. The room was utterly still.
    Tov touched his armband. It had been constructed from gold and had an oval yellow gem embedded within it. Slowly, Tov channeled his magic into the stone. It glowed with a faint hue, and casted oblong shadows on the wall. Tov sent his thoughts into it and imagined a specific person.
    Meet me. I have news for you.
    Tov rested his hands in his lap. He kept glancing at both doors. Several minutes later, the door to the room opened up. A young woman with black hair entered the room. She wore an elegant white dress with various luxurious adornments woven into the fabric. When considering the majority of human women, she was taller than most.
    She narrowed her magenta colored eyes. “What are you doing here?”
    Rather than stand, the woman moved over to an adjacent couch and poised herself on it as if it were a throne.
    Tov eased back in his seat. The softness of the cushion felt great against his weary back muscles. The sense of comfort sent vile spasms reverberating through out his torso. “Do you think I want to be here? I loathe the level of decadence your kind squanders. Do you know how many of your own kind sleeps on the streets every night? It sickens me.”
    The woman crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m on your side. Why do you think I’m serving the Masters? I want balance too.”
    Tov said, “That’s your only redeeming quality, human.”
    The woman’s