Page 314 of Blade of the Nightking

I kept walking.

Laurie's woodshed stood open now, both doors hanging wide. The careful stacks of perfectly seasoned logs he'd always kept under lock and key were gone, no doubt stolen long before the Infected attack.

The fence beyond had been torn apart, its posts splintered and listing at crooked angles. I stepped over the broken rails and entered the little square beyond.

There it was. The final well.

Modest and plain, it sat tucked quietly near a low wall.

Rìan brushed past me and leaned over the well. Silence stretched between us. Then he swore.

"No."

He pulled back so abruptly he nearly stumbled, dragging both hands through his hair hard enough that I thought he might tear it out.

"No, no..." His gaze darted wildly across the courtyard before returning to the well. "That's not it."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"This isn't the Gate."

I stared at him. "This is the only other well in Midland."

"It's not the fucking Gate!" His voice cracked through the empty courtyard, echoing off abandoned huts and cottages before the wind carried it away.

A fresh pulse of anger surged through me. "I told you it wasn't here!"

He stalked toward me, his teeth barred. One hand slashed through the air. "You can feel that, can't you? It's here! There's got to be another well!"

I shouted back, "I don't know of any other godsdamned wells!"

"Think, Eidra!" he barked, striking his temple with two fingers. "Think!"

“I am thinking!” I screamed, my throat burning.

For a long moment we simply glared at one another, both breathing hard.

Then something in him seemed to crumple. He staggered against the side of the well and braced both hands against its moss-slick stone rim, his head hanging low as his shoulders rose and fell with a slow, frustrated breath.

"This can't… Dannis…" he muttered, almost to himself. One hand curled into his hair again. "It has to be here."

His eyes swept desperately over the ruined courtyard, searching every broken wall, every patch of grass, every old stone as though another well might reveal itself if only he looked hard enough.

"It is here," he whispered. Then louder, with growing desperation: "It's here somewhere."

Another scream. Again, from the direction of the forest.

Five.

A long, warbling call answered from somewhere near the front gate.

Rìan's head whipped toward the sound.

"Fuck. We have to get out of here."

"We can't." I turned on him. "We haven't found it yet!"

"We're out of time."