Mercer Asterion's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

They left the tailor's stall and turned onto a track that ran out past the last row of stalls. Two wagon ruts cut the grass, worn deep from years of carts. Mercer walked in one rut and Mouse walked in the other. The market noise fell behind them until he could hear his own boots on the packed dirt. "Where are we going?" Mercer asked. "I need a place to sleep. A door I can lock. Somewhere I can work without anyone watching." "I know a place," Mouse said. She did not slow down. "Nobody goes there. You'll like it." His stomach tightened and made a sound loud enough that she heard it. He pressed a hand to his side. He tried to remember his last meal and could not. Before the jump, maybe. Before the ship broke. "I haven't eaten," he said. It came out surprised, like he'd only just noticed. "Not since I got here." Mouse looked up at him. "That's stupid." "I know." "Cheese and bread after," she said. "Poppy's still baking. We settle first. Then food." The track climbed a low rise. At the top, a stone building sat alone in the grass. It was small and square, with two cracked columns holding up a peaked roof. Ivy pulled at the walls. A carved symbol above the door had lost most of its shape. The double doors were shut, but one hinge hung loose. "A tomb," Mercer said. "Nobody's in it," Mouse said. "I checked. Years ago." She walked up the broken steps and pushed the door. It scraped open on the loose hinge. "It's mine. I let you use it because you paid." Inside, the air was dry and cool. Slabs of stone lined the walls, empty. Mouse had set up a corner. A folded blanket. A tin cup. A wooden crate turned on its side to hold three books and a candle stub. A second crate held a coil of rope and a knife. Mercer set his satchel down on a clean slab. He opened it and laid out what mattered. The jump module. The two components he already had. The empty slot where the resonance capacitor should sit. In here, out of the wind, out of sight, he could finally work. "This will do," he said. "Three days here. Maybe four." "Rules," Mouse said. "No fire inside. No light after dark that shows through the door. You don't tell anyone about this place. Not the tailor. Not the goblin. Nobody." "Agreed." She nodded once. "Then we go get the cheese and bread. I'm hungry too." Mercer closed the satchel and pulled his hood up. He had a roof, a lock of sorts, and a girl who knew the rules of hiding better than he did. The capacitor was still missing. But now he had a place to build one.