Empire of Chains (World in Chains Book 1)
Page 53
The first Imperial Guard narrowed his eyes. "Somewhere you can't go, so I suggest you stop asking about it if you value your life. We could kill you just for trespassing here."
"That seems rather harsh," Nadia said.
The second Imperial Guard laughed. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a harsh world we live in. Count yourselves lucky some of our comrades aren't awake. We're not all so lenient."
"Well, thank you for being kind to us," Nadia said.
Markus noted that neither man carried a bow. He glanced at Nadia and Rik, then peered toward the passage off to the right, the forbidden one. Their path out of the Empire.
Nadia and Rik nodded, and they all took off at once.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" demanded one of the Imperial Guards as they gave chase.
Markus raced along the passage, hanging a little behind Nadia and Rik. Rik had lit the tip of his staff, but natural light now streamed into the cave. If they'd judged correctly, that light was outside the mountains.
"Get back here!" shouted one of the guards, but the party kept running. The passage brightened, and the exit appeared ahead. As they raced through it, Markus felt a moment of resistance. The barrier.
He turned back to the cave.
"Well done," said the first Imperial Guard. "You certainly fooled us with that innocent act."
"So you can't cross the barrier?" Markus asked.
"No," said the second. "The Imperial Guard seal prevents it. It might have a lot of uses, but the drawbacks are rather annoying." He smiled. "Good luck out there."
"You don't seem all that upset," Rik said.
The first shrugged. "Well, the way we look at it, people who head out aren't gonna come back. So no one ever has to know about this."
"Interesting way to see things," Markus said.
The second chuckled. "As long as you don't come back telling people how to get out, we don't really care what you do." His gaze hardened. "But don't let us see you again."
The men retreated into the dark passage.
"I can't believe it," Markus said. "We're actually free."
Nadia had tears in her eyes. "It is nice, I suppose—the best outcome under the circumstances. I might not have killed Warrick, but at least I have you, Markus." She gave him a quick kiss. "I think I can live with that."
"I think I can, too."
Ahead of them stretched rolling hills dotted with occasional trees. Markus thought he saw a faint plume of smoke in the distance. Some kind of settlement, he hoped.
"In a way," he said, "this is how it always should've been."
"What do you mean?" Rik asked.
"Well, all these years, escape was my only future worth living. For a while, I joined with Nadia's quest, but I'm not sure I ever thought it would really happen. Always, somewhere in the back of my mind, this was what I wanted. After all, who are we to change the world?"
Nadia sighed deeply. "As much as I hate to say it, perhaps you're right. I think my mother would be happy to know I've escaped Warrick. That I tried at the very least. That I've found a man I truly love and a good friend in Rik. I shouldn't be happy, but I am."
Finally. Markus had wondered how long Nadia could go dwelling on her failures. Even she had to see that they'd taken on the impossible. There was no shame in their failure.
The three of them wrapped arms around one another. Markus felt a twinge of pain where the snake's fang had pierced his arm, but he wouldn't let that bother him.
"It's an endless world out there," Rik said, "and I'm looking forward to it."
* * * * *
Darien leaned back in a wooden chair, feeling more relaxed than he had in a long time. The last few days had given him another difficult stretch. Once again, he'd told his Imperial Guards to give a convincing act in chasing Nadia, Markus, and Rik. Letting them go too easily would have thrown all Darien's plans into chaos.
He smiled, appreciating the party's skill and resourcefulness. Despite his manipulation of events, many people could have died at some point throughout that insane quest.
Now they were outside his control. He saw many futures that brought them back into his plans, but there were just as many in which they chose their own paths. Normally, this would have bothered him, but now he felt strangely at peace. He had time to recover from the exertions of recent weeks, of the many years before that.
Saving the world was a difficult job.
Thank you for taking a chance on my story. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to be the first to know about new releases, you can sign up for my mailing list at ryanwmueller.com.
About the author:
Ryan W. Mueller is an author of fantasy and science fiction for all ages. He enjoys talking about himself in the third person (who doesn't?). Currently, he has written all four books of the World in Chains series, with the first, Empire of Chains, scheduled for release on June 30, 2017 and the next three to follow over the course of the next year.
He's a big fan of Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Jim Butcher, and many other fantasy authors. He first decided he wanted to be a writer at the age of 11 after he started reading Harry Potter. Between that and Super Nintendo RPGs, he was pretty much destined (or perhaps doomed) to become a fantasy writer, though he does like to branch out to science fiction occasionally. His fantasy is classic fantasy with modern twists. That is, you'll see a lot of familiar tropes, but he tries to put his own spin on them (hopefully with some success). For him, part of the joy of fantasy is the tropes, and as TVTropes would tell you, there is nothing wrong with tropes. It's all a matter of how you use them.
He enjoys connecting with readers and other writers. You can find him on Facebook as Ryan W. Mueller, on Twitter as @RW_Mueller, and on various fantasy forums including Fantasy Faction, SFFWorld, and Best Fantasy Books.
For excerpts, please visit his website at: ryanwmueller.com.