The Knave of Souls - Fantasy - Sequel to The Jack of Souls

Chapter 42 - Alone

ALONE

*

Harric ran a hand through his hair. "Moons, Fink. Where'd you go?"

He scanned the room for signs of struggle, and to his relief found nothing. On the dusty floor he found the smudges of his own stockinged feet from his first visit, along with the imp's scrabbled claw marks, but they were too muddled for Harric to distinguish anything recent among them. None of the dust on the cellar ramp had been touched, however, so he knew the imp had not gone into to the house above. That meant he'd gone back into the tunnel, and that he'd probably gone back the way they'd come, or Harric would have met him on his way back from the cistern.

So where was he now? Had he chosen a different cellar? Or would he try to go all the way back to the room with the map?

Harric retrieved his pack and put his pants back on, then returned to the tunnel. Pausing in the darkness, he listened for sign of Fink. Wind sighed in the trellises of a nearby alley, but he heard no click of talons on stone, no hiss of terrified breath.

Did he dare Summon the imp? He chewed his lip for a second. No. For all he knew, a summoning would be as much of a beacon to the Aerie as it was to Fink. So he crept back down the tunnel toward the square with its lonely fountain and scanned the dusty threshold of each cellar door he passed, looking for signs the imp had entered one. When he'd checked them all, he came up empty handed, and by then he was chewing his lip in worry.

Why hadn't Fink left a sign or a message? He could at least have drawn an arrow in the dust to show which direction he'd gone.

Harric crept to the edge of the archway opening onto the square and peered out into the open space beyond. In the Seen, he could see only the silhouettes of trellis above him and abandoned buildings on the opposite side. Still no lights or signs of Kwendi. But when he looked at the same scene through his oculus it made him suck in a quick breath. On the trellises at the very top of a building across the square perched a cluster of gigantic, moon-bright winged creatures.

Aerie.

A jolt of fear kicked his heart.

He counted four of the monsters, each a giant some two times the height of a man, even while hunched on a trellis. They looked like a cross between a snow owl and a giant Kwendi—owl-headed, owl-winged, and bright as sun on snow. Did their presence on that house mean Fink was there, too? The Aerie had been drawn to Fink before; maybe Fink had relocated and they'd been drawn to his location again.

Retreating a bit more into the tunnel, he watched them for several long moments. They didn't appear to be dismantling the house, or searching for the imp. Had they already captured him? Or were there others that Harric couldn't see who were prying through the alleys while these four stood watch?

Harric's heartbeat thrummed in his ears. Either way, that building was the best bet for Fink's location. If the imp hadn't been captured, he was probably curled in the corner of the cellar in a seizure of fear, and he'd need Harric to talk him out of it.

On the other hand, if he had been captured...

Harric shook his head. No use thinking of that. Either way, he had to go see.

Backtracking, he returned to the alley behind the houses facing the square and followed it to the foot. From around the corner of the last house, he peeked back up the square for a look at where the Aerie perched and discovered to his relief that all view of them from this angle was blocked by taller buildings. Sticking to the deepest shadows, he slipped across the foot of the square and dove into the tunnel behind the first row of buildings on the opposite side.