Rose gazed after her and turned worried eyes towards Marban. Valerius had not sensed any ill intent from the Swarm Shifter, but he was sure that this behavior brought back unpleasant memories for her of when she’d been young and Marban had offered her a hand up.
“What has happened?” Valerius asked Caden, going over to the young man and drawing him into his arms.
He had thought it would be relatively safe for Caden to simply go to his parents’ tower. And yet, there was another crisis. The image of the wall appeared in Caden’s mind, but this wall was not in the mountains, but down below. Valerius went rigid.
“Where?” Valerius asked, his voice dangerously soft.
Everyone but Caden stared at him in confusion.
“The Below. Rose said she saw it after some construction had been done in one of the back passages. They’d knocked a hole in one of the brick walls and there was a corridor and then… there it was,” Caden explained.
Rose blinked. “I can’t quite get used to you being able to talk without talking.” But then she shook herself. “Not important right now. I know. What is important is that I can lead you to the wall.”
“We talked about that, Rose,” Wally said. The wispy hairs on his head waved wildly. “Our enemies don’t know we know about this wall. If we go marching down there half-cocked, we’ll give ourselves away. But if we set people to watch it, sooner or later we’ll find someone sniffing around there who shouldn’t be. We follow them back to their leader or their group or whatever and we interrogate them.”
Marban’s head had been snapping between all the parties. “You’ve found another wall in the Below?”
“Yes, Grandfather,” Rose said, dropping into her old ways of speaking to him as she grew tense.
“Why was I not told of this discovery when it was made?” Marban’s voice was congenial still, but Rose trembled a little.
Then she firmed her stance and said, “Because it didn’t seem important. I realized now I should have. But, at the time, it just looked like some grotesque artwork. It was a wall! Who would be alarmed at a wall?”
Valerius understood and it seemed so did Marban though he did lecture Rose a little.
“Now you understand why even the littlest things are important,” Marban said to her.
She nodded, looking rather miserable. “Yes, I do.”
“I get what Wally’s saying, but those walls are dangerous!” Caden cried. “Even now, people could innocently be going up to it and they could be sucked in!”
“It was in this little passage,” Rose said. “Off the beaten path to be sure. I don’t understand how a Dragon could get through there.”
“The other wall wouldn’t let a Dragon through either,” Caden admitted.
“All the more reason that we watch and see,” Wally said. “I’m betting that this Behemoth has a human form. We find out who that is? We’re golden!”
“I believe you are quite right, Wally,” Marban said.
“Though it pains you to say it, I’m sure.” Wally gave his old enemy a cool stare.
“You know me, I am a practical person. I find value in everything and everyone,” Marban answered, eyes narrowing.
Even though every single atom in Valerius wanted to storm down to the Below and rip that wall out of his city to protect their people, he knew that Wally’s plan was the right one. What if the wall opened and out came their enemy? They would finally know his or her face! That would be invaluable. He put his hands on top of Caden’s shoulders and squeezed.
“I understand your fears, Caden. I do not want what happened to Landry and those others to happen to anyone else, but I think that Wally’s plan is the correct one to follow,” Valerius said.
Caden’s shoulders slumped. “Y-yeah, I guess you’re right. I just feel so helpless!”
“I do as well.” Valerius grimaced. “It is not a pleasing feeling.”
“Don’t worry about other people getting hurt, kid,” Wally said and put his hands on his hips, straightening himself up to perhaps five feet. Still he had a kind of nobility despite his small size. “I’ll make sure that no one gets within 100 yards of it.”
“Wally, are you going to be one of the watchers?” Caden looked alarmed.
Valerius understood this, too. Caden did not want to lose yet another friend to the wall.
“I think it should be me, kid. I’m one of the few Rat Shifters who can operate my rat bodies truly independently,” Wally told him with a little bit of pride. “So some of my rat bodies can always stay by the wall while others follow anybody suspicious.”
