Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2774

Chapter 2774: First Symptoms

Instead of simply hiding in Rain’s shadow, Sunny wrapped himself around her body to augment her. Godgrave might have been somewhat safer now, but it was still more or less a Death Zone — with other people around, he could not use his powers freely, which meant that his sister could use an additional layer of protection.

Letting out a sigh, she summoned her bow and a quiver. Then, she started walking east.

Before too long, the mighty merchant caravan had caught up with her. Enormous Echoes were pulling rolling fortresses across the Road of Shadows, each of the scarred wagons protected by several cohorts of seasoned Awakened warriors. The procession looked fearsome, and the head Echo especially so — the Master in charge of the caravan was riding on its head, and was now looking at Rain.

She walked to the side of the road and waved at him.

"Greetings!"

The Master gave her a suspicious look.

"Greetings. You startled me, girl... what is a young Awakened like you doing in Godgrave alone? Walking through the darkness with no lantern to light the way, on top of that."

Skinwalker was gone, but people were still wary of strangers met on the road. This Master, too, was on edge.

Rain simply grinned.

"My cohort decided to challenge a Nightmare, but I chose to stay back. So, I am walking to Red Hill by my lonesome now. And I can see in the dark, so I don’t need a lantern... plus, I can take care of myself. I know these parts well."

He looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her powerful Memories.

"You’re a veteran?"

Rain nodded.

"Seventh Royal Legion, from start to finish. Oh, and then I stayed back to build this road."

She gave the Road of Shadows another satisfied stomp.

The Caravan Master whistled.

"A royal legionnaire, huh?"

He hesitated for a moment, then asked:

"Are you any good with that bow?"

Rain gave the Beast of Prey a little shake.

"Would I still be alive if I weren’t?"

He laughed.

"True, true. Well, if you’re not in the mood to walk all the way to Red Hill, hop aboard. I’d be crazy to refuse the company of one more experienced Awakened. A caravan can never have enough defenders, you know."

Rain gave him an exaggerated bow.

"Much obliged!"

Soon enough, she was climbing over the battlements of the head wagon. There, a group of grimy Awakened welcomed her with tense greetings.

Introductions were short.

Rain stared at one of the guards intently, then said in a tone of disbelief:

"Holy hell. Pill, is that you?"

Out there among the merchant guards, a bearded man with harsh eyes was leaning on an enchanted spear. He gave Rain a confused look, then did a double take.

"Huh... Rani?"

She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Since when are you Awakened?"

The rest of the guards seemed amused.

"Pill, do you know this girl?"

He suddenly seemed excited.

"Of course! We were on a survey team of a road crew together, back in the Song Domain. We were both mundane people back then. Gods, I never expected to see you again... I thought you were dead!"

Indeed, he was one of the laborers Rain had shared the woes of surveying the Moonriver Plains under Tamar’s command with during the construction of the road to Godgrave.

She smiled.

"Well, as you can see, I am very much alive. It’s good to see you, too... but weren’t you going to open a family shop in some nice city south of Ravenheart? What happened? How did you end up guarding a merchant caravan?"

The conversation flowed naturally from there, and soon, Rain was accepted by the grumpy caravan guards as one of their own.

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