Free The Shadow Realm (The Age of Dawn Book 4) by Everet Martins

bandages and plaster, stained with pink and browns. She favored her left hand, keeping the plastered one pressed against her side. Claw was trailing her and she waved him off. She hoped he would comply, but doubted it.
    “Now, please let’s start again, Senka.” Nyset twisted to avoid a pair of boys hacking at each other with crude wooden swords. “Where are you from?” Nyset put her hand on the girl’s upper back as they started walking.
    “The Nether,” she said flatly.
    It couldn’t be true. That place was supposed to be uninhabitable. There were stranger things that were true though, Death Spawn for one. Anything was possible in these times.
    “The oaths we made to the Tower have been broken. We have failed!” Her wiry hand clung to Nyset’s robe, tugging it around her neck. She was powerful, much stronger than she looked.
    Nyset uncurled Senka’s fingers from her silks, softly smiling at her.
    Senka’s dark cheeks pinked. “Sorry, sorry.” She pushed a hand through her hair, making it stand. “You’re certain you’re the Arch Wizard?”
    Not again. “Yes, I’m certain.”
    “The oaths of the Scorpions, you’re not familiar with them?” Senka stared wide-eyed at a butcher’s shop, slabs of meat salted and scenting the air.
    “I’m afraid not.” Nyset sighed. “I’m quite new to the role. I’m assuming you haven’t heard what happened at the Silver Tower?”
    Senka shook her head and her eyebrows bobbed up expectantly.
    Nyset pointed at the black smoke drifting out to sea. “The Tower burns, or what remains of it. The Death Spawn launched a siege against us. They succeeded.” She swallowed and scratched her chin. “It’s believed that the former Arch Wizard is dead… few apprentices survived and I took her place.”
    “Oh,” Senka whispered, her face growing pale. “Are the Death Spawn the shadow ones?”
    “They are.” Nyset heard the reference in a book generations old. Scorpions, the name triggered a memory now. They were an ancient sect of assassins. Had she come for her? No, she wouldn’t have said the name if she had.
    “The Death Spawn. They found us, the Scorpions,” Senka said so softly Nyset could hardly hear. “We took an oath, according to my father…” She took a long sniff, her eyes wet at mentioning him. It was all Nyset needed to see to avoid probing that wound further. “We swore to protect the Black Furnaces from them, from the demon god, Asebor.”
    Nyset’s feet froze and her jaw hung open. She had stuffed his name away, hoping to avoid facing the demon god today. He haunted her dreams, his malevolent chains sawing through Walter’s neck. There was blood there, so much blood. She felt her legs go wobbly, sick wanting to push out from her guts.
    “Arch Wizard?” Senka was looking up at her, biting her thin lip.
    “Yes. I’m sorry. The gods have not been kind to men lately.” Nyset forced a smile. How long had she been staring at the cart-worn cobbles?
    Senka nodded. “The… the Death Spawn.” She licked her lips, tasting the new words. “They came and killed all of us, the whole village. I was the only one to escape. My father… he died with his oaths.” Senka took a long sniff. “Like I should have.”
    “Nonsense. You made the right choice.” Nyset put her hands on Senka’s shoulders and pulled her in, embracing her. Her body started uncontrollably shaking, sobbing into Nyset’s chest. Nyset placed her hand behind her head, inserted her fingers in her hair and scratched her scalp.
    Nyset heard the scuffling of footsteps behind her and dropped her hand from Senka’s hair. She pivoted around and saw Claw was running and staring at her, black eyes wild and lips curling over his shattered mouth. His arm slipped over his back, drawing a curved sword. He wrenched the blade over his back, winding up for a lethal strike.
    Senka shoved her away, rolling and giving a whooping squeal. She fumbled at something under her robes, the metal glinting