Chapter 172: Stolen Water (2)

Chapter 172: 172: Stolen Water (2)

Cedric crouched. "Listen carefully. Go down the left root tunnel. Follow the cold pull. Do not bite anything glowing. Do not drink the water. Fill the pouch and come back."

Puff twitched one ear.

Elowen whispered, "Does it understand all that?"

Cedric said, "Mostly."

"Mostly... it is not comforting."

"Nothing today has been comforting," Lucard said.

Elowen gave him a sharp look. "You stole my line."

"It was useful."

Cedric looked amused, but he did not speak.

Lucard placed two fingers on the ground. Blood-sense spread down into the soil. It followed roots, hollow spaces, old water marks, and faint underground movement. The passage below was narrow at first, then wider near the deeper line. There were other living things in the soil. Small insects. Root worms. A long blind snake sleeping near a warm crack.

Nothing too dangerous yet.

"Send it," Lucard said.

Cedric tapped Puff’s back with his wand.

The rabbit entered the hole and vanished.

The ground became quiet.

Lucard closed his eyes.

Through the faint blood seal on Puff’s pouch, he could feel the rabbit’s movement like a tiny pulse moving through the earth. Cedric’s mana bond guided it from the other side. The two controls did not mix. They moved near each other like two blades inside one sheath.

Uncomfortable, but possible.

Elowen crouched beside them, holding the map open with her good hand. "It should reach a fork soon. The old mark says the upper root path is dry. The lower one is wet but narrow."

Cedric murmured, "Puff is at the fork."

Lucard felt it too. "Lower."

Cedric’s fingers moved. Puff turned downward.

The rabbit dug through wet soil, then squeezed into a natural crack. Its mouth pouch stayed protected under Lucard’s blood seal and Cedric’s crystal skin. The ground pressure increased. Puff slowed.

Cedric frowned. "It does not like the pressure."

"Push it."

"If I push too hard, it panics."

"Then guide better."

Cedric gave him a cold look. "Your talent for encouragement is dead."

"It never lived."

Elowen whispered, "The next part has a warm vent. My mother’s notes say the cold flow is after the warmth, not before it."

Cedric looked at the map. "That is not marked clearly."

"It is written here. The ink is faded."

Lucard looked and saw the small old words. She was right.

Cedric guided Puff away from the first cold trickle and through the warm vent instead. A few breaths later, the rabbit reached a deeper tunnel where pure cold mana flowed under pressure.

Cedric’s eyes brightened. "There."

Lucard felt it too.

Deepwell water.

It had not risen to the main spring yet. Down here, it was purer and thicker, like liquid mana held inside cold glass. Even through the rabbit’s seal, Lucard could feel its quality.

Useful.

Very useful.

"Fill the pouch," Lucard said.

Cedric sent the command.

Puff opened its mouth pouch underwater.

Lucard tightened the outer blood seal but kept it from touching the water inside. Cedric strengthened the crystal layer. The pouch expanded slowly. The pure water entered, glowing faintly through the rabbit’s cheeks.

Then the ground shook.

Far away, Deepwell Spring began to rise.

The pressure underground changed at once. The lower flow surged forward, trying to push Puff toward the main basin. Cedric’s face tightened.

"It is pulling it."

Lucard pressed his palm harder against the ground. "Hold the bond."

"I am holding it."

Puff kicked underground. Its claws dug into the side of the tunnel, but the current was strong. Lucard sent a blood thread through the outside of the seal, not into the water, and anchored it to a root above the tunnel. The thread tightened. Puff stopped sliding.

Cedric looked at him. "Good."

"Do not praise me."

"Fine. Annoyingly useful."

The rabbit’s pouch filled more.

Above the distant spring, faint shouting carried through the mountain air. The gathered people had noticed the rise. The competition had begun. The old man would already be preparing to take his ninety percent.

Lucard did not care.

The best water was below, and Puff was drinking from the source before it reached any hand.

Then a deeper pressure touched the underground flow.

Lucard’s eyes opened.

Cedric felt it too. His smile vanished.

Elowen looked between them. "What?"

"The old man," Lucard said.

Cedric whispered, "He sensed something wrong."

Far away, an old and calm Will pressed down through the water line. It was not a full attack. It was more like a hand passing through a dark room, searching for the mouse that had stolen food from the table.

Puff froze.

Lucard withdrew most of his active control at once. Cedric also softened his bond. The rabbit became almost still in the tunnel, its body hidden beside the warm vent. The pure water remained in its sealed pouch.

The old man’s will moved past them.

Slowly.

Sharp.

Patient.

Elowen did not breathe.

Lucard kept his blood quiet.

For a moment, the old man’s will paused near the rabbit.

Then the distant spring roared.

The main rise must have reached the surface.

The old man’s will withdrew, pulled back toward the greater prize above.

Cedric released a silent breath. "That was close."

Lucard said, "Bring it back."

Cedric gave the command.

Puff turned carefully, its swollen pouch making the tunnel tighter than before. The rabbit moved slowly at first, then faster once it returned to the wider root path. Elowen watched the hole with both fear and excitement. For the first time since the plan began, she looked like she wanted it to work instead of merely survive it.

The ground near the rabbit hole shifted.

Puff’s ears appeared first.

Then its shining swollen mouth pouch emerged from the soil.

The rabbit climbed out, heavy and round, with its cheeks glowing faint blue-white under the crystal skin. It looked proud, terrified, and offended at the same time.

Cedric scooped it up carefully. "Good Puff."

Lucard looked at the glowing pouch.

The pure water was real.

Before either of them could speak, a distant shout rose from the direction of Deepwell Spring.

Then another.

Cedric turned his head. "They noticed."

Lucard’s eyes remained on the water.

"Then we move before they understand."

Elowen looked toward the distant hollow. "What about dividing it?"

Lucard looked at Cedric.

Cedric looked back at him.

The pact between them still held.