Chapter 127: The Bell Beneath the Roots

The road ended at a line of iron posts.

Beyond them, trees stood close enough that their branches tangled overhead, shutting out most of the afternoon light. Moss covered their trunks, and exposed roots crossed the ground like thick cables.

Vincent stepped down from the carriage and looked past the boundary.

He could hear birds behind him.

There were considerably fewer sounds ahead.

A man in a weathered coat approached from the nearest tent and bowed.

"Young master. I'm the supervisor assigned to the expedition. We've been expecting you."

Vincent returned the greeting while Anastasia and Leona stepped down behind him.

"I'd like to see where the sound was heard."

"Of course. The surveyors are already preparing to go out."

The man led them through the camp.

Canvas shelters stood beside covered wagons. Workers were cleaning mud from measuring rods, while two armed escorts examined the straps of their equipment beneath an awning.

Vincent noticed several unopened crates bearing Imperial markings.

Nobody seemed particularly surprised by their arrival. A few people glanced up, then returned to their work.

Near the largest tent, something hissed.

A young man in a gray waistcoat stood over a narrow table. He held a glass vessel between two fingers, watching dark liquid bubble inside it.

The supervisor stopped.

"Master Laurent. Our guests have arrived."

"One moment."

The young man tilted the vessel.

A black drop rolled over its rim and landed on his bare hand.

His skin immediately darkened around it.

Vincent's gaze sharpened.

Laurent watched the spreading mark, counted quietly, then pressed his thumb against his wrist.

The discoloration stopped.

He wiped the liquid away with a cloth and turned toward them.

"Vincent D'Arc?"

Vincent nodded, still looking at his hand.

"Is that safe?"

"No."

Laurent examined the mark once more before pulling down his sleeve.

"That's why the samples are kept apart. Please don't touch anything on the table."

The supervisor cleared his throat.

"Master Laurent is the expedition's alchemist."

"I gathered that," Vincent said.

He had also gathered that the man was somewhat unreasonable.

Laurent looked barely older than him, but the escorts waiting nearby gave his table considerably more space than they gave the armed weapons rack.

"You tested it on yourself," Leona said.

"I needed to know whether the effect continued once it entered a living body."

"And?"

"It does."

Laurent fitted a stopper into the vessel and placed it inside a padded box.

"Unfortunately, it isn't the effect I came here to study."

"Before we go," the supervisor said, "Master Laurent has asked whether your visit means the excavation request will be reconsidered."

Laurent finished securing his box and looked at Vincent.

"We can learn considerably more from an exposed structure than from listening above it."

"I haven't approved any digging," Vincent answered. "I want to see what you've found first."

"Fair enough. But if you refuse, I'd appreciate knowing what evidence would change the answer. My assistants can't remain here indefinitely."

Vincent studied him for a moment.

The man seemed more concerned about losing his research time than impressing the people who owned the forest.

"Show us what you're proposing to disturb. Then we can discuss it."

Laurent nodded and lifted his box.

Leona waited until they were walking before speaking quietly to Vincent.

"Ask where they intend to put the supports too. If there really is something hollow beneath us, digging straight down could bring the roof onto whatever they're trying to study."

…

They entered the permitted survey area with the supervisor, Laurent, and an older hunter carrying a short spear.

The hunter walked ahead, pointing out places where the ground dipped beneath the leaves.

Vincent kept his axe within reach and watched where he placed his feet.

A root caught his boot once. He recovered before Anastasia could say anything, although the look she gave him suggested she had noticed.

Laurent carried the padded box beneath one arm.

"What were you studying?" Vincent asked.

"Plants growing near the old stonework. Some retain traces of medicinal properties despite appearing completely dead."

Vincent glanced at him.

"You think they're still usable?"

"I think they deserve examination. Those are different things."

The hunter stopped beside a marked tree.

Beyond it lay a shallow clearing with three measuring stakes driven into the ground.

"Here," he said.

Vincent looked around.

There was no opening, no exposed stairway, and certainly no bell.

Only damp leaves and a flat stone protruding beside one stake.

"You heard it yourself?"

"Three times, young master. Through my boots first. Then in my teeth."

The hunter rubbed his jaw.

"Like standing beside a church bell when it rings. Except there wasn't anything above me."

Vincent crouched and moved several leaves aside.

Ordinary soil lay underneath.

He closed his eyes and let the Death Dao's meaning settle within him.

For a moment, he felt little beyond faint traces scattered through the forest floor.

Then something answered from deeper down.

Vincent's eyes opened.

Anastasia had moved beside him.

"What is it?"

"There's something below us. I can feel the meaning of death."

"How deep?"

He tried concentrating again, then shook his head.

"I can't tell."

He withdrew rather than pushing more meaning into whatever he had sensed.

The dead beetle had been enough to teach him how little he understood. He wasn't about to start issuing commands to something beneath an entire forest.

Laurent watched him with renewed interest.

"Does the sensation remain constant?"

Vincent paid attention without reaching farther.

"No. It comes and goes."

Laurent set his box down.

"Tell me when it becomes stronger."

Leona approached the exposed stone and brushed dirt from its edge.

There was a narrow groove along one side.

She followed it with her finger, then examined the nearby ground.

"This was fitted beside another piece."

"Paving?" Vincent asked.

"Possibly. There's too little exposed to be certain."

Laurent opened his box and removed two sealed vessels.

Inside each lay a small piece of dark root.

"These were collected after the first sound," he said. "Both came from the same plant."

One specimen lay motionless.

The other had pressed itself against the glass.

Vincent leaned closer.

"It's moving."

"Occasionally."

"You said the plants were dead."

"They were when we collected them."

Laurent placed the vessels beside each other on the stone.

"This one stayed here. The other was taken to camp. When we brought it back, it remained unchanged."

Leona looked between them.

"So location isn't the only condition."

"Exactly."

Vincent felt the meaning beneath his feet grow clearer.

He straightened.

"Now."

Laurent immediately looked toward the vessels.

A low vibration passed through the clearing.

Vincent felt it in the soles of his boots, then behind his teeth, precisely as the hunter had described.

The sound rose slowly.

A bell rang beneath the ground.

The root against the glass unfolded.

Pale fibers pushed from its broken end, spreading across the bottom of the vessel while the other specimen remained still.

Leona stepped back from the stone.

"Vincent. Look down."

The leaves beneath his boots were fading.

He could still feel them, but pale lines had appeared through their surface. Straight edges crossed the soil and joined beneath the measuring stakes.

For an instant, Vincent saw fitted stone slabs where the forest floor should have been.

Then the bell's vibration weakened.

The lines disappeared.

One of the stakes tilted sideways.

The hunter swore and caught it before it fell.

Vincent stared at the ground.

'What the fuck was that?'

Laurent reached for his notebook.

"The surface lasted longer this time."

Anastasia turned toward him.

"This has happened before?"

"Yesterday. Only beneath that stone. We sent the supervisor an additional report this morning."

The supervisor nodded, his face pale.

"I saw a line appear. Nothing like this."

Vincent crouched again without touching the ground.

The soil beside the tilted stake had split.

A thin strip of pale stone now protruded through it.

Leona knelt beside him and examined the edge.

"This part remained."

Laurent stopped writing.

He approached, leaving the vessels where they stood.

Vincent looked toward the hunter.

"Has the ground ever changed beneath someone?"

"Not that I've seen."

"Then move everyone back beyond the stakes."

They withdrew together. Laurent collected his samples, but kept watching the newly exposed stone.

The meaning of death remained faintly present beneath Vincent's feet even after the sound disappeared.

He looked at Anastasia.

"If that surface comes back, I don't want anyone standing inside it."

She nodded and drew her sword.

Leona remained beside him, studying the clearing from outside its marked edge.

"The stone didn't push the soil upward," she said.

Vincent followed her gaze.

There was no mound of displaced earth around the exposed strip.

He could see where it entered the ground, but nothing showed where the missing soil had gone.

Laurent slowly closed his notebook.

"We'll move the observation points."

Vincent nodded.

Then the hunter raised his spear.

"There."

Across the clearing, another pale line appeared beneath the roots.

This time, the bell hadn't rung.