by J. K. Holt
∞ ∞ ∞
It took the rest of the day to find and stake out the three abandoned farms east of town. One seemed half returned to the earth by now, the roof collapsed in on itself and the rest of it eaten away by the elements. The second was still in working order, but had no signs of life. They waited for several hours, but no one came to or left the house. The third was several miles further along still, the road narrowing as it wove through large copses of trees and through a shallow creek bed. They’d brought the mules in case they needed a hasty exit strategy, but couldn’t risk having them too close either, so they found a place to tie them in an overgrown pasture, removed from sight of the road as they closed in on the last farm on the map.
This single-storied house was occupied. Built of wood logs, it reminded Tess more of a cabin, which tweaked something in her memory- perhaps Reydon had referred to it that way during their exchange in his head. And it was occupied- smoke rose from the chimney, and horses roamed in a nearby pasture. A man would sit on the porch, while another seemed to roam close to the house. They would relieve each other regularly, though the group never saw more than three at a time, and from this distance, they had similar builds. They couldn’t know how many were inside the house.
They waited until dark, and then Tess went to work. “There’s just the two outside right now,” she said as they watched from the trees. “Looks like they’re sticking to the same pattern, with one guarding the front door and the other walking around.”
“How many are inside the house?” Rosie whispered behind her.
“I can’t see through walls,” Tess replied. “So I won’t know until we’re closer and I can maybe peek in some windows.”
“We need to take out the two men outside first,” Dray said.
“Agreed,” said Fish. “The three of us will go. Tess, keep an eye on the front and whistle if more come out. We can regroup back here again.”
They split off, leaving Tess anxiously behind. She waited for several minutes, watching as the man walking the perimeter looped in lazy circles around the house. They seemed at ease, as though they weren’t expecting any threats. If Alice was right, they’d been here for months, perhaps growing complacent. Hopefully, that would work to the group’s advantage.
Tess crept forward, to be in a position to help if need be. She watched the guard disappear behind the house and waited for him to emerge from the other side. Thirty seconds went by, then a minute. A low noise that seemed like a call came from behind the house, and the man on the porch stood up. Tess recognized the voice as Dray’s and stayed put.
The man on the porch hesitated, calling softly back. When no reply came, he opened the door to the house and ducked inside. Tess swore to herself. She whistled, but the wind had begun to pick up, and she couldn’t afford to be any louder. She crouched, jogging quickly toward the house. Two men had emerged from the house now, clattering down the porch steps and rounding the house. She stayed behind them, gaining as she went. Her pulse was pounding, but she forced herself to stay calm and pulled out the knife she’d slipped into her belt. She would fight if she needed to.
The men rounded the house before her, but she was close behind. The scuffle was already in progress, and Tess could easily see that both of the men had been set upon by the group. Dray and Rosie had tackled one man to the ground, while Fish faced off with the other, both in a sparring stance. Tess used the element of surprise to catch up to them, sinking her knife into the man’s thigh. He yelled and turned suddenly, catching Tess in the neck with his elbow. She fell, a searing pain flying down her spine, and kicked out reflexively, catching him in his knee. He fell beside her, and Fish caught his fist before it made contact with Tess’s body. Then Rosie joined, knife glistening in the moonlight, and finished it.
Rosie and Dray dropped down on either side of Tess. She was having a hard time speaking as her throat constricted in pain, but she shook her head when they asked if she’d been hurt. Dray cradled her head while Rosie rose and disappeared from view. “Just breathe,” he coaxed. “It will feel better in a moment or two.”
She took his advice, waiting until the pain had reduced to a dull throb, grateful to find that she could move all her limbs and her voice was working, though a little thready. “I’m alright now.”
He pulled her to her feet as she looked around, only spying Rosie’s and Fish’s aura’s in the dim light. “Did you kill all three?” she asked.
Dray nodded. “We had to be sure.”
No one else had emerged from the house, and they slowly crept around as Tess peered inside darkened windows. Aside from the light in the living area, the rest of the house was dark. Once they made a full circle, she briefed them. “Just one person on a bed in one of the rooms, laid out, probably asleep. I didn’t see anyone else.”
“Alright,” Rosie said. “Tess, stay on the porch, keep watch for us. The rest of us will go and get him.”
Tess was as curious to see the high scholar as any of them, but she agreed- it made the most sense. She sat on a chair on the front porch, massaging her neck, as the others entered. A minute later, she heard a yell, and a loud crashing sound. She turned and flew inside, reaching for her knife only to realize she no longer had it. She followed the sound of voices and burst into a small room to find the three of them standing over a body, motionless but still swirling with an aura.
Rosie rubbed her forehead, where a bump was already beginning to form. She kicked the figure on the floor. “Stop! What are you doing?” Tess said.
Rosie looked at her incredulously. Dray pulled her out of Rosie’s immediate reach. “It’s another lamprey, Tess. He was asleep, but still almost managed to do some damage when we woke him. We didn’t think he would be an enemy, so we weren’t as prepared as we should have been.”
Tess looked down at the figure. “Are you certain?”
Rosie spit, a mixture of saliva and blood. “Aye, pretty rotting certain.” She knelt and pulled her knife from his throat. As she did so, his aura dimmed, and then diminished. “He’s dead, too,” Tess said.
She exited the room and began to check the others. “Maybe I missed something,” she said in answer to the questioning looks from the others. They nodded and split off, making a quick and thorough inventory of the house. No one else was there.
Rosie went to a back room to rage, while the others looked at each other in misery. “All this, for another dead end,” Fish voiced.
“But… this is where Reydon said they were keeping him,” Tess said.
“So maybe they moved him. Or maybe they killed him. Or maybe Reydon was wrong.” Dray said. He saw the look of desolation on Tess’s face. “It was worth a try, Tess. And we can still search the house. Maybe we’ll find something that will give us more answers.”
“So, we can find another clue? Another breadcrumb that we’ll waste weeks following,” Tess moaned.
“Do you have a better option?”
Tess was beginning to think that Rosie had a good idea with her cathartic raging. She could hear furniture being broken and a glass window shatter. Still. “Then you might want to stop Rosie from destroying any more evidence,” she said wearily.
She trudged to the front door. “I’m going to go find my knife.”
Taking less care to be silent as she walked behind the house, she grumbled to herself, her frustration welling up inside her. She narrowed her focus to prevent a meltdown. Just find the knife, Tess. She knelt beside the man who she’d attacked, feeling blindly along the ground. Not there. She found his body, feeling down his leg. There it was, still stuck in his flesh. Tess fought a gag response and tugged it, then pulled until it slid free. She wiped it on the dark grass, then stood. She was on the other side of the man now, and turned to walk the other way rather than step over him.
Afraid of tripping over additional bodies, she held a hand to the house, tracing the wooden beams as she walked back around. Still, she wasn’t expecting the hard rock her foot hit, tripping over it to land on
an equally hard piece of wood. “Oh, come on!” she yelled at universe. “Seriously? Rotting, stupid, ahhhh!!”
A moment later, Dray and Fish rounded the corner together, drawn by her yells. “What is it?” Fish asked.
Dray assessed for any immediate assailants and then relaxed. “If you were just coming out here to scream, you could have told us.”
“I didn’t!” Tess pouted. “I tripped on something.” She sat up, again feeling the wood beneath her butt. “I’m sitting on a door.”
“You’re what?”
She slid down, mindful of nails. “It’s a cellar door. We missed it in the dark. See?”
They crowded close. “I’ll get Rosie,” Fish said, jogging off.
“It’s locked.” Dray bent near, grasping the hard metal bolt. “And this is a thick door.”
“I hate to suggest it,” Tess said, “but we should probably search the bodies for the key.”
They fumbled in the dark, searching pockets sticky with blood. Tess found what felt like a pocket knife, but nothing else. “Maybe it’s inside the house?” she suggested.
“Found it,” Dray said. He held it up to the light. “Let’s see if it fits.”
Rosie and Fish had returned. “Don’t get too excited yet,” Fish cautioned. “It’s likely empty.”
Dray inserted the key into the lock, and it gave a satisfactory click as he turned it. He and Fish heaved on the two doors, pulling them until they flipped over on the hinges. They stared into a dark space, unlit from below. A rotten smell wafted up, and Tess wrinkled her nose.
“Preserves gone bad, or a dead animal maybe?” Fish asked.
“We need a lantern,” Rosie said. “We won’t see anything down there. I’ll go.”
Tess looked down at the hard steps that disappeared into the gloom. She took a tentative step, then another. “Wait for Rosie, Tess,” Dray said.
But she couldn’t stop. Something, or someone, was down here- she could feel it. She plunged downward, stooping to avoid hitting her head on the top of the door frame. The pungent odor, unpleasant before, hit her now with all the force of a brick wall. Human excrement, and the sickly-sweet smell of vomit, mingled together. Tess covered her nose with her sleeve, and looked around.
A ghostly pale light shone from the far corner. It was weak and barely there, but enough to find her way by. She stepped swiftly, unable to manage the smell for much longer. She crouched beside the figure, covered in what appeared to be a flimsy blanket. She reached out a hand, rubbing his shoulder. It felt like she was touching a skeleton. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
A head of silver hair shifted slightly but gave no reply. She called behind her shoulder. “I’ve found him! I need help getting him out.”
Rosie descended with the lantern, followed by Dray. “Over here!” she called. “In the corner. And Fish, can you go find a blanket in the house?”
“Yes,” came the reply from above. “Be right back.”
“Let’s wait to move him,” Tess said, “until we can cover him with something.”
“Her,” Rosie corrected upon inspection. “I think this is a woman.”
Dray swore. “She’s skin and bones.”
Fish returned, tossing the blanket down to Tess. “If you can hear me,” she said to the figure, “we’re going to move you.” The woman moaned.
They covered her, and Dray lifted her in his arms. They left the cellar quickly, and Tess took her first deep breath of clean air as she emerged into the night. They bustled into the house, finding a small bucket of water left in the kitchen. “Warm it,” Tess instructed Fish, as they found a nearby bedroom and Dray deposited her on the bed. He looked like he was going to be sick.
“Go,” Tess said to him. “Bring back the water when it’s warmed and a clean towel, and leave them outside the door. And see what food you can find.”
He left, closing the door behind him. Tess and Rosie gave each other grim looks and then went to work, removing the woman’s soiled and stained clothing. Tess opened the window and threw the clothes outside. The woman, in and out of consciousness, cried pitifully when they moved her too quickly. Her limp hair fell over her face, knotted and greasy, and her body was covered in sores, whether through maltreatment or neglect Tess couldn’t tell.
They bathed her as kindly as they could, taking care around the sores as Tess coaxed her to drink some water. Dray left some clean cloth outside the door, and they wrapped her weeping sores as best they could.
Tess tried unsuccessfully to untangle the woman’s hair. “Should we just tie it back?” she asked Rosie.
The woman mumbled something. Tess leaned closer. “What was that?”
“Cut it,” she croaked.
Tess pulled out the pocket knife she’d found on the dead man earlier and sawed off great lengths of hair. They also went out the window. When finished, the woman’s hair was shorn nearly to her scalp.
They were able to convince her to drink some more water, but the woman shook her head at the sight of food. They covered her with a fresh blanket. “Rest now,” Tess said. “We’ll be right outside the door, if you need anything. And we’ll be back soon.” The woman nodded weakly in response.
They convened on the front porch but left the front door open so they could listen out for the woman in case she called. It didn’t seem wise to be without a guard, but they all wanted to be a part of the conversation.
“Did she tell you anything?” Dray asked.
“She’s barely aware of what’s going on,” Rosie said, giving him a withering look. “It didn’t seem the best time to interrogate her.”
“What should we do? I mean, clearly we have to take her with us,” Fish said.
“But can she be moved?” Dray asked.
“We don’t have a choice,” Rosie said. “It’s dangerous to stay here. We have no way of knowing when more lampreys will be on their way. If Reydon moved quickly enough, they could be barreling down on us right now.”
“And she needs medicine, badly,” Tess added. “She’s covered in sores. She could already have an infection for all we know.”
“The closest town is Green Springs. We should head back,” Rosie said.
“We should still search the house to make sure we haven’t missed anything,” Dray said. “It will have to be a fast search.”
They split up to cover the area quickly. Tess found a bundle of nondescript letters on a desk, and tucked them into her pocket for later. No one else seemed to find anything of note.
Tess woke the woman. “I’m so sorry, but we can’t stay here. We need to leave now.”
Rather than argue, the woman nodded. She held her hand out, and Tess helped her sit up. “I don’t think I can walk very well,” the woman whispered.
“You won’t need to. One of us will carry you, until we get to our mounts. Then you can ride with one of us.”
The woman nodded again, a determined set to her jaw. Her sharp blue eyes had regained some focus, and she truly looked at Tess for the first time. “Thank you.”
“I’m Tess, and the other girl with me is called Rosie. Can you tell me your name?”
“Lenora.”
“Hello. We haven’t got clean clothes for you, but we’ll keep you wrapped in the blanket, alright?”
Dray entered, and introduced himself properly as well. Lenora held her arm up and allowed him to lift her. He cradled her like a small child.
They followed the road, Tess on point as lookout, and trusted the moonlight to illuminate the path ahead. Lenora didn’t complain, though she was likely in pain. Tess wondered at her mettle, to have survived in that dank, putrid cellar, for who knows how long. She no longer felt any misgivings about them killing the four men at the house. She was just sorry their deaths were quick.
“Can you see the mules?” Rosie asked Tess.
“I can’t see animals any clearer than you can,” Tess answered. “It’s only people who are different.”
They found them soon enough, mounting qui
ckly. Dray handed Lenora to Fish once he was mounted, and he tucked her against his body.
The group passed no other people on their way back into the town. They’d hatched a simple plan as they rode, and now enacted it- the men kept riding, carrying their hidden cargo south, while Tess and Rosie stopped and tied their horses. Lights still shone inside the Inn, and they entered softly. It was not as late as they’d imagined- noises still emerged from the kitchen, and Tess could hear conversation from guests just beyond the wall. A late dinner for someone, she assumed. They didn’t want to be seen, but it seemed it couldn’t be helped. Rosie waited while Tess walked through a sparsely populated dining room, knocking on the door that led to the kitchen. A large, red faced woman opened it. “May I help you?”
“Yes, sorry. Is Alice here? She said I could possibly have a room if I was passing through.”
“This late?” The woman looked disbelieving. “And are you traveling alone, as well?”
Tess smiled politely. “Alice?”
The woman shook her head. “Have it your way.” She closed the door, and Tess could hear her yelling for Alice. Tess retreated back to the front.
Alice looked less than thrilled to see them again, though she did usher them back into the sitting room they’d occupied before. “We’re very sorry to bother you again,” Tess said. “We come with good and bad news.”
“Oh?”
“The good news is that we found the men. And they are no longer in any position to intimidate or hurt anyone else. Or breathe, for that matter,” Rosie said.
Alice’s eyes grew wide. “You’re serious?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
Alice looked around, to ensure that no one else was near. “Alright. And the bad news?”
“We could use your help one more time.”
Alice blew out a quick breath. “Oh, why not.”
∞ ∞ ∞
They’d agreed to meet near the meadow they’d first camped in when approaching the town. Once Tess and Rosie arrived, they walked the mules further up the trail, past the grotto with the hot spring, and further into the woods until they found a sheltered area that abutted a short cliff face. With one side protected, they made a fire and pitched their bedrolls.
