Chapter 95: Empty Base

Rook looked toward the surrounding roofs.

Reapers occupied nearly every useful position. Archers and those carrying ranged Death Imprints had gathered upon the taller buildings. Others waited behind newly constructed barricades in the streets, their weapons angled toward the tunnel entrances. Squads had been placed around the structures sheltering the wandering souls, while the most experienced officers remained near the Beacon.

There were hundreds of Reapers inside the cavern.

Under different circumstances, the number might have been reassuring. Here, it made Mara think of how much effort the Seventh Rank had spent gathering them.

"We should go," Rook said.

Frederick led them toward the center of the Bastion.

The fractured Beacon rose above the surrounding buildings, filling the cavern with its pale illumination. At a distance, the tower appeared whole. Only when Mara approached could she see the cracks running through its surface and the crude repairs holding it together.

Sections of the original stone had been replaced with darker material. Metal braces crossed the widest fractures, driven so deeply into the tower that parts of them had fused with the Beacon. Narrow channels had been cut around the repairs in patterns Mara did not recognize. Light leaked through those channels and travelled along them like blood through exposed veins.

Rook tilted his head back.

"Ugly," he said.

Frederick glanced at him. "It works."

"That makes it more impressive, not less ugly."

Several larger fractures near the base had been sealed with a patchwork of stone plates. Symbols covered their inner edges, most too damaged to read. None resembled the markings used within the Forty-Second.

Someone had repaired a dead Beacon with incomplete records, unfamiliar tools and whatever materials could be found inside an abandoned Bastion.

Mara understood why the Manager had refused to leave without answers.

The Manager waited beneath the tower with the anchor-wielding Reaper and several officers. The square surrounding them had been emptied except for those required to protect Vanessa. Everyone else watched from the streets, roofs and windows beyond.

"What did you find?" the Manager asked.

"Old wounds," Rook replied. "Claw marks, blood and several places where people died badly."

"How recent?"

"None of it. The newest trace might still be older than everyone here except the Bastion."

The Manager sighed. "I expected as much."

"The lower tunnels remain a problem. Too many branches, no confirmed exit and several passages the Seventh Rank appears interested in controlling."

"Then we keep them sealed until we have a reason to open them."

Rook looked toward Vanessa. "I suppose this is where your part begins."

Vanessa nodded.

She removed one glove and gave it to Frederick. Beneath it, her palm carried a long scar extending from the base of her middle finger to her wrist. Several smaller cuts crossed the same area, evidence of how often she had used the ability before.

Mara watched her draw a dagger.

"Is that necessary?"

"The blood helps the sound enter the ground," Vanessa said.

Vanessa reversed the dagger and drove it through her palm.

The blade emerged from the back of her hand.

Mara flinched. Vanessa did little more than draw a sharp breath. Blood ran along the dagger and fell onto the stone beneath her.

Rook immediately raised both hands to his ears.

"Mara."

"What?"

"Cover them."

She saw the urgency in his face and obeyed.

Vanessa pulled the blade free.

Her eyes turned white.

The scream began quietly, almost too softly to hear through Mara’s palms. It gathered strength within Vanessa’s chest, rising through her throat until her entire body trembled beneath the effort.

Then the sound broke free.

It passed through Mara’s hands without resistance.

The scream did not seem to enter through her ears. It moved through her teeth, bones and the space behind her eyes. Her vision blurred as the sound crossed the square, struck the surrounding buildings and sank into the cavern walls.

Every surface answered.

The ground vibrated beneath Mara’s boots. Dust fell from rooftops, weapons rattled against armor and several windows cracked. Reapers throughout the settlement staggered despite their preparations. One dropped to his knees and pressed both hands against his head.

Vanessa continued screaming.

The sound spread into the tunnels, travelled through the rock and reached outward in every direction. Mara felt it moving farther from the Bastion, searching through the earth for anything carrying the wrong collection of memories.

For several terrible seconds, it seemed the entire cavern screamed with her.

Then Vanessa stopped.

Silence struck with nearly as much force.

Mara lowered her hands. A high ringing filled her ears, and the square shifted beneath her even though the ground had stopped moving. Around them, Reapers steadied themselves against walls and barricades.

Rook said nothing.

That concerned her more than any insult he might have offered.

Vanessa dropped to one knee and pressed her bleeding palm against the stone.

Her white eyes stared without seeing.

For several seconds, she remained motionless. Then her head snapped sharply toward the eastern tunnel.

It turned left.

Right.

Upward.

Each movement came with such sudden violence that Mara expected to hear bones crack. Vanessa twisted toward the lower passages, then swung around to face the route through which they had entered. Her head tilted until one ear nearly touched her shoulder.

"Vanessa?" Frederick said.

She did not respond.

Her fingers dug into the ground.

Her head snapped upward again, following something beyond the cavern ceiling. It moved from one side to the other in short, violent turns, as though she were tracing dozens of points travelling above them.

More than dozens.

Vanessa’s breathing quickened.

She tore her hand from the stone and fell backward, sucking in a desperate breath. Frederick caught her before her head struck the ground.

"We should leave," she gasped.

The words carried across the square.

The Manager stepped closer. "What did you find?"

Vanessa looked toward the fractured Beacon.

Fear had returned to her eyes along with their color.

"Above us," she said. "Far above the cavern."

Rook’s gaze moved toward the ceiling. "The Hollow Road?"

Vanessa nodded. "Something is crossing it now."

"The Seventh Rank?"

"No."

The answer silenced every conversation around them.

Vanessa gripped Frederick’s arm and forced herself upright. Blood continued dripping from her wounded hand, each drop trembling when it struck the stone.

"There are too many," she said. "I couldn’t separate them. First Ranks, Seconds, Thirds—some stronger. They’re moving together."

The Manager stared at her. "Are they coming here?"

Vanessa looked around at the Reapers gathered beneath the wounded Beacon.

"No... They’re heading to the forty second."

Far above the Seventy-Second, beyond layers of stone and the tunnels controlled by the waiting Seventh Rank, an Abomination wave was crossing the Hollow Road.

And every creature within it was heading directly toward the Bastion which had no manager.