Savage Fire (Tales from Wildhearth #2)

Chapter 10 - These Nightmares Bite

Kappsi plunged into the Whaveloda canal for the twelfth time that day. The murky water enveloped her, but she was in her element down here, her lithe, powerful body carving through the surf, propelled by her thick tail.

She twisted, sharp eyes piercing the gloom as she dove, looking for any traces of robes, blood, or anything in between that could give them any sort of trail to follow. Above her, the shadow of a narrow passenger barge rumbled mutely along, rippling the canal from left to right. Ignoring it, Kappsi went deeper, desperation pressing down on her more heavily than any weight of water.

For almost an entire day they'd been scouring the docks where Brickle had disappeared without much luck. The never-ending traffic of Whaveloda churned away any evidence they might have found, but beyond that, she simply couldn't fathom where the kidnappers could have gone. The section where the attack had taken place was ill-maintained, but pouring over dock-maps and even the canal overflow plans yielded nothing they didn't already know.

All Kappsi had to show for herself when when she surfaced again was a handful of barkstamps, probably lost overboard, and a lot of canal water that splashed onto the jetty. She hauled herself clear of the canal, shaking water from her body and wringing out her headfur before spitting out a stream of foul-mouthed curses.

People couldn't just vanish.

"Peace, don't let mother catch ye speakin' that way," Skoppa cautioned with a weary smile. He sank down into a sitting position on one of the jetty's support struts, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nothing down there?"

"Waste of time," Kappsi said bitterly, scooping up her pack from the dockside and slinging it onto her shoulders. Scrubbing the rest of the water from her face, she looked up and down the run down section of jetties, unable to quash her growing sense of helpless frustration. "This doesn't make sense."

"I'll buy that," her brother agreed.

"We've been up and down every inch of this bloody place, and nothing!"

"Oi, I wouldn't say that, exactly!" Haarm called from a little further down. She snapped her head to look and found him beckoning, an excitement in his posture that put sent a burst of hope up her spine. She exchanged a curious look with Skoppa before shrugging and jogging off down the canal bank. He blew out his cheeks in a sigh and heaved himself up to follow.

"What is it?" Kappsi called.

Haarm waited for her to reach him before making a vague gesture to their surroundings. "This is where those goons jumped ye, right?"

She nodded without a thought. Even though it had been dark, the details of that night had been branded into her brain.

"And you said they popped out of nowhere?"

"Might as well have dropped from the sky," Kappsi confirmed. "Why? What did you find?"

"Take a look." He took her by the elbow, guiding her over to a narrow, dark gap between two of the dockside buildings. The same shadow crevice that had disgorged more of their attackers. She could just about fit through it, if she turned side on, but beyond the darkness she couldn't make out much.

"What am I lookin' at?"

"Thought it was just a gap in the buildings, but it don't run right through," Haarm explained. "And if you dig a little deeper, there's a turn in there."

"A turn?!"

"Aye. C'mon, I'll show you."

Being a little more stolidly built than her, Haarm had to twist uncomfortably to shuffle down the narrow alley. She slid in after him, and heard Skoppa grunting with discomfort as he stuffed himself in behind her. The three otterkin shuffled their way through the gloomy defile until, about ten meters in, Haarm suddenly slipped away to her right.