Lysander Brightwind's Arc

Chapter 11 of 11

Celestia led Lysander to the east wall at dusk. The silkworm had chewed a hole the width of a thumb through the anchor plug's crack. Fresh thread hung around it in loose curls. The worm had pulled a strand loose from the seam and was working it into its own gut. Lysander watched a second strand slip. "It likes the new thread best," Celestia said. "If it burrows in, the east wall unravels. We lose the seam by morning." "Pull it out." "It's wedged. Pry it and the plug cracks worse." Lysander crouched. He had nothing to bait it with. The grotto daisies were gone. The moth-silk scraps were gone. He could not offer it food it wanted more than what it was already eating. Aldric came up the path with Dr. Whitmore beside him. The old scholar looked at the hole and did not speak for a long moment. "Silkworms follow scent," Aldric said. "Fresh silk over old. Living silk over spun." "There's no living silk left," Lysander said. "Celestia's hands are wrapped." "A moth still spins at the end," Aldric said. "Before it lays." Dr. Whitmore folded her arms. "You want to bait a worm with a moth. That's the plan." "A silver moth," Aldric said. "One came to my window last night. It's carrying eggs. Its thread will pull the worm off yours." "And after?" Lysander asked. "After, the worm follows the moth wherever the moth goes." Lysander understood. He looked at Celestia. She nodded once. Aldric produced the moth from a fold of his robe. It sat on his palm, pale and small, wings folded. It began to spin a short thread down from his thumb, thin as breath. "Set it on the plug," Aldric said. "Then carry it out past the chasm before the worm finishes." Lysander took the moth. It weighed almost nothing. He placed it beside the hole. The moth spun. The worm's head lifted. It let the chewed strand fall from its mouth and turned toward the new thread. Dr. Whitmore exhaled. "It's working." The worm crawled from the plug and fastened onto the moth's fresh line. Lysander lifted the moth by its wings, worm trailing. He carried both down the path at a walk, slow enough to keep the thread unbroken. Celestia stayed at the wall to patch the hole with what was left of Lyra's spool. At the chasm edge Lysander set the moth down on a stone. It kept spinning. The worm kept feeding. He backed away. He returned at full dark. Celestia met him at the shed. "East holds," she said. "But the moth was carrying eggs. Aldric didn't say how many. By dawn there'll be more worms than we can carry."