Cole's Arc

Chapter 2 of 7

Cole tucked the fox kit inside his coat and started for the eastern gate. Veronica kept pace beside him. The little creature stayed still against his ribs, and a single white flower fell from its fur onto the cobbles behind them. Word of the empty village had reached the city sometime in the night. Cole heard it in doorways as they passed. A cooper told his apprentice the north road was closed. A woman pulled her children inside and dropped the bar. By the time they reached the market square, a crowd had already formed at the gate. The great stone towers of the Ironwatch Gate rose above the press of bodies. The wooden doors were half shut. Guards leaned on the winch. People shouted names of villages Cole knew, and villages he did not. A man near the front waved a folded paper and said his cousin had not come in on the morning cart. Someone else said the mountains were bleeding. A child cried against her mother's leg. The doors moved another handspan inward. Cole pushed through to the guard captain at the base of the tower. He was a short, gray-bearded man with a ring of keys at his belt and the tired eyes of someone who had already made his decision. Veronica stayed at Cole's shoulder. "Captain. We need to go out. North road." The captain did not look up from the winch. "Gate closes at noon. Mayor's order." "Then let us through before noon." "No one out. No one in. Not today." Veronica stepped closer. "Our people are on that road." "So are mine." The captain finally looked at her. "Something walked past me two nights back. Left prints I couldn't name. I'm not opening this gate to send more folk after it." Cole opened his coat. The fox kit blinked up at the captain. A pale bloom uncurled between the cobbles at Cole's boot. The captain's jaw tightened. "It came from the north road," Cole said. "Into the city. Your gate did not stop it. Closing the doors will not stop what comes next. But we know where it starts. Let us go and shut it at the source." The captain looked at the flower. He looked at Veronica's staff, and at the pendant at her throat. He pulled a brass token from his belt and pressed it into Cole's palm. "Side postern. Round the north tower. Show that to the man at the door. You go now, or you don't go." "Thank you." "Don't come back the way you left." The captain turned to the winch. "Close it." The great doors groaned inward behind them as they slipped along the wall. The postern was low and iron-banded. The guard read the token, spat, and lifted the bar. Cole stepped out onto the north road with Veronica at his side and the fox kit warm against his chest. Behind them, the city sealed itself shut.