Ben Dover's Arc

Chapter 36 of 150

They ran west until the gray shape on the ridge dropped out of sight. Ben stopped at a dry creekbed and set his hands on his knees. The empty box knocked against his ribs. Three full boxes rode his back. Ten relics sat in a stone crack south of the trade stop, and the herbalist knew the crack. So did whoever else the runner had told. "We go back for the chest," Ben said. "Now. Before the west relic. If we lose the ten, the two ahead don't matter." Anita nodded once. Justin didn't argue. Joe crouched and touched the dirt west of them, then south. "Something small came through here yesterday. Not blue-scale. Two feet." A person. Ben pushed off the bank and set the pace south. They moved through the night and reached the ruin near the crack at first gray light. Ben knew the shape of the place from a distance. Lost Hollow sat off to the east through the trees, worn stone, the carved letters half-eaten by moss. He did not look at it long. The crack was closer, in a low shelf of rock past the pines. Someone was already there. A girl sat on the shelf with her boots against the stone, backpack in her lap. Brown hair, hollow eyes. Amanda Hugginkiss. The girl who had sold their chest at the fork. Ben drew his knife. Justin caught his wrist. "Wait," Justin said. Amanda saw them and did not move. She lifted one hand, palm open. Empty. "It's still in there," she said. "I watched two men come this morning. They couldn't reach in far enough. One left to get a hook." "Why are you here." Ben did not make it a question. "I owe you a chest." She looked at the crack, not at him. "The runner paid me in coin. Coin ran out. I followed the noise." "There's no noise. It's felt-lined." "Not the boxes." She tapped her ear. "People. Talking about a stone crack. I came to see if it was yours." Ben crouched by the shelf. He put his arm into the crack up to the shoulder. His fingers touched wood. He pulled. The chest slid out heavy and whole, felt still tucked at the seams. Ten relics. He set his hand flat on the lid and breathed once. He stood. Amanda had not moved. "A hook," Ben said. "How long ago." "An hour. Maybe less." Joe was already looking south through the trees. "Two coming back. Fast." Ben shouldered the chest with Anita under the other handle. He looked at Amanda on the shelf, small and still, waiting for him to decide. "Walk with us or don't," he said. "We're not stopping." She slid off the shelf and fell in behind Justin. They moved west into the pines with the chest between them, and the sound of boots came up the slope behind.