Chapter 9: ACT I, SCENE 3.5 CONCLUSION

ACT I, SCENE 3.5 CONCLUSIONDay 135 Minutes Since the Ash FellCathedral — CryptHer last question hangs in the stagnant air. Vespar can still hear it echoing through the crypt, even minutes after she falls into a deep, haggard slumber. He looks at her: bandages over her arms and hands, hair dishevelled across her face. He is almost glad it covers the tracks of tears through her ashy makeup.Vespar has a plan: to rest would be negligence. Every hour, he will wake himself and spend twenty minutes securing and checking the perimeter. To Vespar, the crypt seems smaller now, occupied only by his own thoughts.* * A man in a cavern, with roots and a spike. The man’s eyes were frantic, similar to eyes Vespar has already seen today: Ansel’s, searching wildly before... it happened. But the eyes that freeze in his memory are Kendra’s, absent as they landed on the belfry.An arrow in the chest that seemed to knit itself back together when removed. Vespar wonders whether that is tied to the liquid shadow that sprayed out, the freezing, or something else, as he absently strokes his hunting scar.The child. Vespar took the shot. Hit his target. But he decided to shield Kendra, not retrieve the child when he fell. Who was the child, so young, and why was he alone? Vespar can’t help speculating. Was someone looking for him?Then the smile. No. Vespar knows if he thinks about that smile, Ansel’s smile, he will get no sleep tonight. * *So Vespar gets up and looks along the edge of the firelight. He sets warnings around the perimeter: bones from the coffins, unusable sticks, broken stones, and pebbles—anything he can find that might wake them if someone... or something wanders by.As he closes his eyes, he speaks to the dwindling blue fire:“One day at a time.”