His eyes darted back to the shopkeeper with promise as he slid the knife back into its designated sheath. “While I don’t doubt your brain is too full of this cotton shit to hold more information,just remember I know where to find you if I learn you’re keeping important things to yourself.”
The man nodded and scuttled behind a filthy purple curtain, leaving Vesper standing there in despair. Back to square one.
Nef tugged Vesper to the exit and gave him a gentle shove. With more force than necessary, Vesper threw the door open and they both shrank outside into the dank alleyway filled with rubbish.
“Fucking prick. He knew more than he was letting on. Iknowit,” Vesper hissed. “Great so now we have another piece of useless information. What am I supposed to do? Go talk to the same hundred people? Ask them all about some legend? This guy probably pulled that story out of his fat ass.”
Nef took his arm and drew him away from the shop. Her breathing was a little ragged as she said, “Maybe we can go further out? Morana is only so big. I know most of the towns are empty and the farmland is barren but—” She coughed again and this time, she doubled over and clutched her chest like it shredded itself to pieces.
Vesper’s eyes rounded and all his anger died. He held her by the shoulders as she leaned on his abdomen for support, but she barely caught a breath between each spasm of her body. And he could no longer ignore how similar those sounds were to the sickness around them. But how could she have contracted it? They’d been in the north the same amount of time and faced the same exposure. She’d also had a cough before they left for the north. “Let’s go rest for a bit. We’ve been going hard for the last few days. You must be exhausted.”
“I’m alright,” she rasped as she clutched his tunic. Nef heaved a breath and unfurled her spine from its hunch. “I think I might have an idea where to go. The woman that came in—I followed her. And she was in ahurry.” Nef cleared her throat and her voice returned to normal.
Vesper’s heart skidded. “Why did you follow her?”
“She wasn’t sick, Ves. It was odd. I caught her eye and she didn’t have a trace of the bloodlace. I haven’t seen anyone else that hasn’t been infected. And then she—well, let me show you.” Nef swiped away a few flecks of sweat on her temple. Without another word she took the lead.
Vesper followed her through the dismal streets, winding around to a path that led out of the city walls to a giant field of bloodlace.
A frown pulled at Vesper’s lips. “This is barren farmland.”
“It is, but—” Nef pointed far off in the distance. “She was fast, but I caught her just as she … disappeared. I can’t describe it as anything else. She was running and then she sort of dropped off. It was so strange. Right over there.”
Vesper eyed the crooked tree she pointed to. The one the bloodlace had eaten alive at the very far end of the field. It was so distant it appeared as if it were from a miniature model of a landscape. He turned back to Nef. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the inn? I can check it out on my own.”
She waved him off. “I told you I’m fine. Let’s at least go look. If there’s nothing, we go back to the inn and come up with another plan.”
Vesper bit back a protest but she was right. What was the harm in looking?
So, they trekked across the field. The cotton swarmed them like a flurry of locusts. A bad omen, the innkeeper had put it. And he was right. There had been nothing but terrible news since Vesper had arrived here. He had hit dead end after dead end and Nef’s health had only grown poorer. The worst was her refusal to see a healer. Not that there were any here. They would have to return to Ellynne or seek out Delmira, but Nef just claimed it was unnecessary and the cough would passlike any other ailment though her sallow complexion told him differently.
As they reached the twisted tree, they both stopped to scan the ground, kick up bloodlace, and sift through leaves.
Nothing. Not even footsteps. It was like this woman was a ghost.
And just when they were about to give up, Vesper stepped down on something heavy. Metallic. It clanged beneath his foot.
He crouched and surveyed the disturbed dirt and debris. With his gloved hand he uncovered a slab of iron dulled by smears of mud, likely to hide it from the average eye. As he ran a finger along the surface he realized that tiny dip was a handle.
A hatch.
With an anxious wave of his hand, he called Nef over. Vesper seized the handle and hauled the bloody heavy thing up. It hinged open to reveal a tunnel that stretched down into infinite darkness.
Vesper swallowed hard. Their only choice was to go back to the town or do another sweep of the deserted farmland around Morana. And someone had likely hidden this hatch for good reason. A reason he needed to find out.
He lifted his gaze to Nef. “You stay here. I’ll check it out and come back up for you. Alright?”
Nef snorted and started to say something, but Vesper swung his leg over the edge and began to descend. There was no time to lose. The hours, days, weeks were slipping away. Besides, if there was nothing down there, he would climb back up and move on.
The wooden ladder was impressively sturdy, reinforced into the wall with some of the thickest spikes he’d ever seen. His feet moved with intense caution, each step measured as he sought purchase with the toes of his boots. There were so many rungs, in no time his hands ached from his rigid grip. Should he fall, it would likely be a fatal one. So he held tighter.
As he climbed down, the damp air chilled and reminded him of grave plots. The darkness swallowed him. He really should have snagged a torch or something to light the way but—
Abruptly, his foot hit solid ground with the crunch of gravel beneath his boot. After both his feet were sturdy, he spun. He peered through the dark, but couldn’t make out a bloody thing, and not a glimmer of sunlight existed in this tunnel. So, he ran his hand along the wall and followed it like a guide, knowing he could turn around and retreat the same path back to the ladder.
His breath stuttered and his pulse roared like a rampant beast in his chest. If some creature leapt out of the dark, he would surely piss his pants in the most undignified way. But if there was any other life in this dark cavern, it gave no indication.
When a trace of light sparked ahead his heart threatened to implode. In the unearthly quiet, his breathing sounded too loud and clouded the space. Where did this tunnel lead? Would there be answers? And the light ahead—