The Keepers of Eternity

XLIII

"How civilizing." Lenore sneered. It was difficult not to swear at him. Not to jump on his throat again.

In some way, it was disappointing that this pitiful man was the Night Thief. He looked terrible--there was blood all over his shirt, and the beginnings of bruises on his jaw and arms, that were still starting to fade. His eyes were open but frosted over, unseeing, but his chest still rose and fell. She was sure Abreigelle could have knocked him out just as good as she did, if not better. Her sister wouldn't have stopped fighting either--by all odds, she should have escaped by now. Was that why she wasn't with him? Had Abreigelle given him those wounds and taken off?

"We need to search the area." She continued. " Evadrian can stay here with the Night Thief, and I'll go west and search for my sister, or any sign of a fight. Monty, go , and Sid, go South."

"We're going to stick together." Evadrian pressed. He took a step forward, looking down at the Night Thief. "This man is a dangerous criminal. If he's as skilled as the Alraians suggested, we should break his discs and restrain his arms somehow."

"His discs are the only thing keeping him alive." Monfreid said, "If we break them now he'll die and we won't get any information about Abreigelle."

Lenore said, "I agree with Monty. We need to keep him alive for just a bit longer. He might be able to speak soon."

"At least break all the discs except the Eternity." Evadrian walked up to the Night Thief, turning him over. Monty grumbled and then moved aside for him, but the captain frowned at the metal box strapped to his side. "Well, we aren't getting that open easily. Never mind."

"What's wrong with it?" Monty asked. "I'm curious."

"He's got it locked with a special dial, so we would need to know his secret code in order to get the discs out."

"Can we cut it open?"

"From what I can tell, it's made of coated steel." Ev tapped it with his knuckle. "I couldn't cut it with any weapon we have with us currently. Plus there's the risk of us hitting the wrong discs."

Damn. It was disheartening to discover that they'd traveled all this way to find themselves without the proper tools. The only option left was to wait until the Night Thief—Blaise—to wake up, and hope he didn't attack them or escape.

Lenore fell to her knees. After everything we've been through to find him, he doesn't even have my sister. And if Abreigelle was in the same fight he was... The strong smell of dried mud mixed with ash filled her nose, making her cringe.

She saw Evadrian walk from the Night Thief's body and across the trampled field to the ruins of the burning house. He studied the ground. "There was some sort of scuffle. The footprints here are elongated, like someone was running and sliding around. Then there's that crater."

"What is that?" Monfried approached the spot where Evadrian pointed and gazed down at the pile of blackened dirt. "It's like lightning struck here. And, whoever..." His voice trailed off. "Ev, look."

Lenore averted her eyes, thinking she caught a glimpse of a...dismembered arm. No. The implications of that strike were like bits of ice slowly freezing her from the inside out.

"These are definitely a man's." Evadrian said. "Couldn't be Abreigelle."

Relief flooded into her. Lenore breathed out shakily. "There's not a ring on one of the fingers?"

"There's nothing."

Something had happened here. When they'd first arrived on the farm, Lenore had seen a corpse with a knife buried in its skull burning on the house's veranda. Now, undoubtedly, another man was blown to pieces, but perhaps not the same one who had made that threat back in the Belaris alleyway. That meant that Abreigelle could still be in danger, and even that being here with the Night Thief put them all in danger.