“You will regret forever if you let your ego or self-interest get in the way of your service to Valerius,” Wally told him.
“I’m touched by how concerned you are for me.”
“I’m concerned for everyone. You’re finally where you’ve always wanted to be. Don’t mess it up,” Wally warned. “I’m here. I can see the broken wall.”
It was good timing. He heard Marban let out a hiss of breath between his teeth. He had, undoubtedly, wanted to tell Wally off, but he couldn’t now. Wally hoped that Marban would sit with what he had said. For his part, Wally emptied his mind of everything. He had to be completely one with the moment so that he could sense anything that changed in the atmosphere.
Wally stopped about fifteen feet from where the smooth stone of the mountain’s interior was marked by a slice of brick. Now those bricks were broken and scattered on the ground. Wally noted that the mortar used seemed strange. It was white and powdery. He could smell it and it reminded him of… bone. Ground bone. For a moment, he imagined one of the forgotten in these tunnels grinding bone into powder and mixing it with liquid so that it could be slathered between the bricks to cover up the passage beyond. He could easily imagine the unhinged worshipping of this place.
Strange that no one is here. Silence. So much silence.
The cold was coming from there. Wally couldn’t quite see the wall. His plan was to walk past and look down casually like he wasn’t there for the wall at all. But had other unsavory business. He crept forward, weighing each step to put the least amount of weight on the ground. Despite the chill, sweat coursed down his forehead and stung his eyes. Wally swiped it away.
Finally, he was close enough that if he shifted his body just the right way, he could see into the formerly bricked up passage at the wall. He was supposed to saunter past. There was no way. If he really was here on his own business, he would have been affected by this. Since he thought he knew what was there, he had to look.
Wally shifted and looked.
His breath froze in his throat.
“Marban,” Wally said.
“What is it, Wallace?” Marban’s voice reflected the dread in Wally’s
“This wall… it’s being used,” Wally answered.
There was a pause and then Marban asked, “How do you know?”
Wally stared at the hundreds of arms, perfectly shaped as if by an expert sculptor, that were reaching out of the wall.
Wally swallowed and didn’t answer Marban exactly. Instead, he said, “You won’t have to leave food or clothes for the people here anymore. The Behemoth took care of that problem for you.”
Clan
The cameras Wally had mounted showed them clearly the forest of hands. Grasping. Reaching. All in vain as they were sucked inside the wall. None spoke for long moments as they finally got their first true view of this second horror of the day. Valerius had called the other Dragon Shifters in to see it.
Illarion’s arms were tightly crossed over his chest. His upper lip was partially writhed back from his teeth, which looked particularly white and sharp at that moment.
“How many people do you think that is?” Illarion asked no one in particular.
“I’ve conferred with the people who leave food and clothing for those that choose to live there,” Marban said. “This brick wall was opened up about two weeks ago. Everything seemed normal until the day of Iolaire and Caden’s joining, then they noticed a decrease in people coming for their share. Yesterday, there was no one at all.”
“You can’t be suggesting that Iolaire coming through to this world has anything to do with this,” Esme said and shook her head with the ridiculousness of it all.
Caden though was not so sure. “You guys know that the Faith thinks that if they create a large enough tragedy that more Spirits will join with humans. What if… what if the Behemoth just wants them to think that because it needs something big to get through?”
Valerius’ arm curled tighter around his waist even as Iolaire hooted softly in fear he was right.
“While I see the logic you are following to get to that conclusion, Caden, I do not believe it is true,” Valerius answered in that calm way of his that put Caden at ease. He wasn’t dismissing Caden’s fears, but addressing them. “The bombings in Dragon Strike Square, at the Human’s First meeting and Anwar’s arrival were all thwarted. Yet it is clear from Marban’s people that the wall here opened at least once, likely many times when any poor fool went to investigate it, in the past few days.”
“Besides, it doesn’t take but the death of one person to pull a Dragon Spirit through. Just because we are larger physically than other Spirits who come here has no bearing on passing over,” Mei reminded him. She was leaning against the far wall, arms and legs crossed, looking less tense than Illarion, but Caden bet she was feeling the same unease. “Let us say it would take multiple deaths at the same time to bring in the Behemoth because of all the Dragon Spirits it is composed of, it would need only a handful. Surely, it could convince its foolish followers to kill a dozen at a time instead of these elaborate bomb plots.”
“And people have been dying voluntarily for this cause in at least those numbers for over a year or more,” Kaila said, her shoulders drawn in. The normally unfocused, happy Dragon Shifter had no smile on her face. “I have spoken to my people and there are reports of people simply walking into the sea and not walking out again like those Faith people said the other day.”
“This is such madness,” Jahara whispered as she studied the scene on the screen. “And it disturbs me greatly that this has been occurring and we had no idea!”
“Indeed!” Tez clasped his hands together tightly. “If Valerius didn’t catch this, what chance do we have? There could be walls all over the place! Our territories could be infested with them!”
“To be frank, I wasn’t paying attention to the Below in the way I should have,” Valerius answered with an openness that Caden was sure must have cost him.
