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Chapter 31: Expensive Favor

Chapter 31: Expensive Favor

A low growl rolled through one of the buildings beside them.

Rook’s hand moved toward the falchion, but the sound retreated deeper into the ruins rather than approaching.

They continued.

The streets widened as they approached the center of the Eighty-Sixth. The smaller buildings gave way to administrative structures surrounding what had once been an enormous square. Most had collapsed toward the broken Beacon, as though the destruction at the center of the Bastion had pulled everything around it inward.

The Beacon fragment protruded from the ruins ahead.

It looked less like a tower than the broken bone of something immense. Pale stone rose from beneath the plaza at an angle, its upper half shattered and blackened. Thin lines of blue light travelled through cracks along its surface, pulsing slowly enough that the surrounding ruins seemed to breathe with it.

Several Reapers occupied the plaza.

Some stood along the walls overlooking the approach. Others waited atop broken pillars or beneath the remains of the surrounding buildings. More blocked the only intact road leading toward the Beacon. They carried swords, hooked spears, clubs, axes and weapons Mara could not name.

Every one of them watched Rook.

The Last Watch no longer appeared interested in tricks.

They looked ready for war.

Mara moved closer to him. "This doesn’t look safe."

Rook flexed his poisoned arm. The fingers responded without delay. A trace of weakness remained, but the paralytic had nearly run its course.

"Never was."

He continued into the plaza.

Weapons shifted around them. A Reaper atop one of the walls drew an arrow and rested it against his bowstring. Another lowered the point of a spear toward the center of Rook’s chest. No one attacked, but the tension followed each of his steps.

Rook stopped beneath the fractured Beacon.

For several moments, nothing happened.

Then a door opened in the largest surviving building.

A man emerged wearing a long dark coat that reached almost to his ankles. A heavy cowl covered his head and concealed the upper half of his face, while strips of stained cloth had been wrapped across his mouth and neck. Unlike the others, he carried no visible weapon.

The Reapers nearest the building moved aside for him.

Voss descended the broken steps and looked at Rook.

A sound of disgust escaped him.

"Why’d you come here again, damned bastard?"

Rook glanced at the armed Reapers surrounding the plaza. "Shouldn’t you be more welcoming?"

"I’d rather eat shit than welcome you." Voss stopped several paces away. "Why the fuck are you here? You’ve already fucked up a few of my boys."

"They tried to mug me."

Rook shrugged.

Voss opened his mouth, then closed it.

His covered face turned toward the streets behind them, as if expecting the mutilated men to appear and offer a version that made them sound less deserving. When no one came, he looked back at Rook.

"What do you want?"

"A location."

"For what?"

"Yama’s Gate."

Silence settled over the plaza.

Several members of the Last Watch looked toward Voss. The movement was slight, but Rook noticed it.

Voss did not answer quickly enough.

Rook took one step forward. "Based on that reaction, you actually know something. That’s good."

Every Reaper around them tensed.

Steel left sheaths. The bowstring above the plaza drew taut, and several weapons lowered toward Rook at once.

"Stop," someone called from the wall. "This bastard is nothing but trouble."

"There are more than thirty of us," another Reaper said. "How much trouble can he be?"

"Not worth it," Voss said.

The weapons did not lower immediately, but no one advanced.

Mara looked around at the armed souls surrounding them, then leaned closer to Rook. "What the hell did you do to make this many people think twice about ganging up on you?"

"I did enough."

Voss raised one hand.

The Last Watch slowly lowered their weapons, though the archer kept his arrow resting against the string.

"I’ll tell you where the Gate was last seen," Voss said. "But you’re going to do me a favor."

Rook stared at him. "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Can I threaten you until the answer changes?"

"You can try. My answer won’t."

"Negotiable?"

"No."

Rook released a long breath and looked toward the fragmented Beacon. Blue light moved beneath its surface, briefly illuminating the debris surrounding its base.

"What do you want?"

"There’s a Fourth Rank inside the Bastion," Voss said. "It’s been hunting my people."

Mara looked at him in disbelief. "A Fourth Rank?"

Several members of the Last Watch turned toward her. Voss’s covered face tilted slightly as he noticed the pale Brand around her wrist and the chain connecting her to Rook.

"New contract," he said. "No wonder you’re here."

"She has nothing to do with this."

"She has everything to do with it if you’re asking about Yama’s Gate."

Rook stepped between them, blocking Voss’s view of Mara. "Tell me about the Fourth."

"It appeared several days ago. Since then, it’s killed six of my people. Three returned missing enough memories that they can barely speak. The others haven’t reconstructed."

"You’re being memory-bled."

"Slowly."

"And you want me to hunt it?"

"I want you to find it and put it down long enough for me to Cull it."

Mara stared at Voss. "Are you mad? He can’t even Cull a Second Rank, and you want him to fight a Fourth?"

"I’ve seen him fight worse."

"Then why don’t all of you hunt it?"

No one in the plaza answered.

Mara looked at the weapons surrounding them. There were enough Reapers to cover every road leading into the square, yet none appeared eager to volunteer.

Rook studied Voss. "You don’t know where it is."

"We wouldn’t be standing here if we did."

"What does it look like?"

"Survivors remember different things."

"That useful?"

"One remembers something walking behind him without making a sound. Another remembers a face looking at him through a window. The last swears the building itself opened and swallowed him."

"That doesn’t sound like the same creature."

"It is. The wounds match."

Rook’s gaze moved over the surrounding ruins. A Fourth Rank hiding within a dead Bastion could be anywhere. Beneath the streets. Inside the walls. Among the Reapers watching them. If it possessed enough awareness to choose isolated targets and retreat before the Last Watch gathered, then finding it might be more dangerous than fighting it.

"Where was it last seen?"

"The eastern gate."

Rook’s mouth tightened. "Of course it was."

"What’s wrong with the eastern gate?" Mara asked.

"Everything dangerous is always east."

"You were taking me east."

"I’m aware."

"And you neglected to mention that pattern?"

"I thought the monsters would make it obvious."

Mara looked at the gathering of armed Reapers. "I’m starting to understand why your contracts struggle to survive."

Rook ignored her and examined the men occupying the walls. Several wore injuries that had not completely healed. One was missing an ear and part of his cheek. Another clutched his spear with an arm that had reconstructed incorrectly, leaving two fingers fused together. The creature had already frightened people accustomed to living among Abominations.

That meant it was either unusually dangerous for its rank or clever enough to make strength irrelevant.

Rook flexed his recovering arm once more. "I’ll need tools."

Voss folded his arms beneath his coat. "You carry a weapons shop on your back."

"For a Fourth Rank, I need a larger shop."

"What kind of tools?"

"Grave-thread. Enough to replace what your scout ruined. Thunder charges. Hooks strong enough to hold several bodies’ worth of weight. Oil, iron stakes, two lanterns and whatever records you have of its attacks."

"One lantern."

"Three."

"You asked for two."

"I changed my mind."

Voss stared at him from beneath the cowl. "Two lanterns."

"Fine. I’ll also need someone who knows the eastern district."

The Reapers closest to Voss suddenly found other parts of the plaza fascinating.

One inspected the edge of his axe. Another looked toward the damaged Beacon as though its slow pulse had become worthy of complete attention.

Rook noticed.

"So none of you want to come."

"They’re willing," Voss said.

"No, they aren’t."

"They’ll follow orders."

"Until the first wall tries to eat them."

Voss turned toward the gathered Reapers. His gaze moved from one face to another, searching for someone who did not immediately look away.

Rook watched him fail.

Mara leaned toward Rook and lowered her voice. "This is the group you want to trust for directions?"

Voss looked back at Rook. "We’ll provide anything we can. Find the creature, restrain it and send word. I’ll finish it."

"And afterward, you tell me everything you know about the Gate."

"The last confirmed location. The route taken by the soul who reached it and where the trail disappeared afterward."

Rook studied him.

Voss had every reason to lie. He also had a Fourth Rank consuming his people and no one else willing to hunt it. For now, that made him useful.

"Fine," Rook said. "Let’s get to work."