Chapter 89: Trapped

The surrounding Reapers began checking nearby plants. They found several more stains scattered across the foliage, each small enough to have escaped notice unless viewed beneath the lantern.

Mara looked in the direction they continued. "The Manager was wounded."

"Looks that way." Rook rose and moved toward the next marked leaf. "Whatever drove him off the road managed to draw blood."

Vanessa’s earlier cheer had disappeared. "If something wounded the Manager, shouldn’t we return for reinforcements?"

Rook looked at her. "You’re probably right."

The ease of his agreement worried Mara more than if he had dismissed the concern.

Rook turned toward Frederick. "What do you think? We have a trail now. We can mark the position, return to the Forty-Second and bring a larger group."

Frederick shook his head. "Every hour makes the trail harder to follow. You already said the forest is repairing itself."

"And that means we should chase something capable of injuring your Manager with four field Reapers and someone who finished half a training course?"

Mara looked at him. "You didn’t need to point at me."

"You’re the easiest example."

Frederick folded the route map and placed it inside his coat. "Requesting reinforcements means returning to the Bastion, assembling another team and finding this position again. We could lose two days. This is the strongest lead anyone has found since the Manager disappeared."

Rook remained unconvinced. "If this becomes worse, I stop tracking. I’m not leading everyone into a nest because you don’t want to lose a day."

"I command this expedition."

"And Elara put me in charge of the trail. If you intend to overrule every decision I make, find the Manager yourself."

The two men stared at one another until Frederick finally looked toward the blood-marked leaves.

"If the risk exceeds the expedition’s ability, we withdraw," he said. "Until then, we continue."

Rook accepted the compromise with a slight nod and returned to the front.

The blood trail was scarce. Some stains appeared several paces apart, while larger stretches offered nothing. The Manager had either controlled the bleeding or deliberately avoided leaving an obvious path. Rook marked each discovery with a strip of pale cord tied around a branch, ensuring they could retrace their route if the trail failed.

They crossed a considerable distance before the ground began to slope.

The trees thinned around a cavernous opening in the earth. Its mouth stretched between two large roots and descended at a steep angle, forming a natural tunnel beneath the forest. Cold air emerged from below, carrying the smell of wet stone and old soil.

Mara raised her lantern over the edge. The light revealed a broad cave sloping into darkness.

"Do you think he went down there?"

Rook pointed toward the stone beside the entrance.

A partial handprint stained the wall. Four fingers and part of a palm had been pressed against it, leaving streaks of dried blood where the person steadied himself before descending.

"This is where he went."

Frederick studied the opening. "Then we follow."

Rook remained at the edge, staring into the cave. "There are few worse places to enter while an Abomination is chasing you. Unknown ground, one visible exit and no way to know what already lives below."

"You think the Manager was trapped?"

"I think he was desperate enough to choose a hole over whatever followed him."

Rook opened the coffin and removed a short falchion, several lengths of grave-rope and a fresh thunder charge. He secured the last item inside his coat before descending.

The cave was broad enough for four people to walk side by side, though the uneven floor made a wide formation impractical. Rook led with his lantern in one hand and the falchion in the other. Mara remained close behind his right shoulder, while Vanessa and the anchor wielder followed several steps back. The remaining Reapers occupied the center, and Frederick guarded the rear.

Their footsteps echoed through the tunnel.

The blue lanterns revealed smooth walls, low stone shelves and roots that had forced their way through cracks in the ceiling. Water dripped somewhere beyond sight. Each sound travelled far enough to make its source impossible to judge.

Mara searched the walls and floor for anything Rook might have missed. He noticed nearly everything before she did, though her presence allowed him to concentrate upon the fading blood trail without checking both sides of the passage alone.

The stains grew smaller as they descended. Several were little more than dark spots along the ground. Others appeared where a bloodied hand had brushed the wall.

Then the tunnel divided.

Two passages opened ahead. The left descended more steeply and carried several obvious stains across its wall. Bloody fingers had dragged along the stone at shoulder height, leaving a trail that continued into the darkness.

The right passage contained nothing.

Rook stopped between them and moved his lantern across both entrances.

"We take the right."

Mara looked at the blood along the left wall. "Why? The trail goes that way."

"That’s why."

She waited for him to explain.

Rook approached the marked passage without entering it. The blood appeared in long, regular streaks. Several partial handprints had been placed against the stone, each separated by nearly the same distance.

"It becomes clearer after the split," he said. "The Manager lost less blood the farther we travelled, then suddenly covered half this wall with it."

"Maybe the wound reopened."

"Then we’d see drops on the ground."

Frederick examined the left passage. "The previous trail also had handprints."

"They were irregular. He touched the wall when he needed support. These are placed where anyone carrying a lantern will see them."

"Who would create a false trail?"

"The thing that knows people follow blood."

The swordsman glanced toward the unmarked tunnel. "There’s no evidence anyone went right."

"There’s too little evidence," Rook said. "The floor is cleaner than the rest of the cave. No loose stones, no drag marks, no dust disturbed by dripping water. Someone removed the trail."

Frederick remained near the bloodied passage. "Or no one entered it."

"You told me to lead once the Manager’s marks ended. I’m leading."

"We should at least check the obvious trail."

Rook’s expression hardened. "That path is trying too hard to be obvious. I’m not walking into it because whoever prepared the trap was considerate enough to provide directions."

Frederick disliked surrendering the choice, though the rest of the group had already begun looking at the bloody tunnel with greater suspicion.

Rook entered the right passage.

Mara followed him first. Vanessa came next, and the others reluctantly moved behind her. Frederick remained at the split for several seconds before joining them.

The unmarked tunnel continued downward in a gradual curve. Its floor remained unnaturally clean for the first hundred paces. Rook found no blood, broken stone or marks along the walls.

Mara began wondering whether Frederick had been right.

Then Rook stopped.

Near the edge of the lantern light, a partial footprint pressed into a thin patch of dust. Only the heel and outer side remained. Someone had wiped the rest away and missed the faint section closest to the wall.

Rook crouched beside it. "There."

Mara compared it with the boots worn by the expedition. "Human?"

"Close enough."

"Then someone cleaned the tunnel."

"Someone tried."

Frederick looked back toward the distant fork. Whatever disagreement remained on his face, he kept it to himself.

They followed the passage farther underground. More signs gradually appeared. A scrape marked one corner where a weapon or piece of armor had struck the stone. Several steps later, Rook found a thread of dark fabric caught inside a crack.

The tunnel ended before a man-made wall.

Old stone blocks filled most of the passage from floor to ceiling. Mortar joined them in uneven layers, and several symbols had been carved along their exposed surfaces before being scratched away. A narrow opening remained near the right side, though Rook’s coffin could not pass through it.

"Interesting," he said.

He placed one hand against the blocks and pushed. Nothing moved. Even after bracing one boot against the ground and driving his shoulder forward, the wall remained fixed.

Rook looked toward the anchor wielder. "Can you do anything about this?"

She lowered the anchor from her shoulder and allowed the chain to unwind around her arm. "I can break it."

"That works."

The others moved back to give her room. She planted both feet, tightened her grip around the anchor’s shaft and lifted the huge weapon over one shoulder. Dust shifted from the ceiling as the metal brushed the stone above her.

A low growl rolled through the tunnel.

The sound came from behind them.

Mara turned first.

Something enormous stood in the passage they had just crossed.

Its body resembled a black leopard expanded to nearly ten times its natural size. The creature’s shoulders scraped both walls, forcing it to crouch beneath the ceiling. Dark fur absorbed most of the blue lantern light, leaving only the outline of its head, the curve of its spine and limbs thick enough to crush a person beneath one paw.

It had followed them through the forest.

It had avoided the caltrops, entered the cavern without making a sound and chosen to reveal itself only after they reached the sealed wall.

Two pale eyes stared past every armed Reaper in the tunnel.

They were fixed upon Mara.

The anchor wielder remained poised before the wall, her weapon raised for a strike she could no longer complete. Frederick and the others stood trapped between her and the creature blocking the only path back.

Rook drew his falchion and moved in front of Mara.

Whatever had followed them had waited until there was nowhere left to run.