Sena has her hand on Saca’s shoulder because Delmic is in Saca’s arms. Preventing her from giving them the hug she wants to, even as she tries to catch her breath.
Behind them is chaos. Screams and crying resonated everywhere. People are still lying on the ground, though fortunately, most of them are only injured. Only one man died, apparently one of the few neighbors who arrived before Saca. He had been stabbed while trying to defend the children.
“Taren, my Taren!” Esther’s bitter voice echoes beside them. The poor woman is devastated because one of the children who was kidnapped is her son.
“Esther...” says a young man softly beside her, patting her shoulder in an attempt to calm her.
The action makes Sena gesture toward him with her eyes at Saca.
“Boris is Esther’s cousin and has been helping at the orphanage lately. He was among the first group of people to arrive after the attackers fled,” Saca explains with a look of pity for Esther’s pain.
Something Sena can share, but at the moment, the kidnapping also affects them directly. Because the only adult who also seems to have been taken by the attackers was Adar.
From the brief explanation Saca had been able to give them, as soon as they arrived, Adar had summoned the ball of light to call Nero. At the same time, it had created a pause in the fight while the attackers considered the meaning of the light.
That had allowed them to advance without problems to the entrance of the orphanage, where Esther was — and still is. Esther, in turn, had managed to hide some of the children inside the orphanage, including Delmic. In the end, she had been attacked by someone, which had left her there.
While they were getting that explanation from Esther, unfortunately, the attackers must have concluded from the lack of further action that the ball of light posed no real threat and began to storm the building.
This only gave them enough time to protect Esther inside the orphanage and for Adar to shove Saca inside. Telling her to barricade the entrance. Then he had cast the spell again, though unfortunately that did not seem to achieve anything new. Finally, Saca heard him trying to speak with the attackers. In an attempt to intimidate them with the fact that he had called for help.
That was the last thing Saca heard from him. Afterward, the attackers tried to destroy the poor barricade she had erected with the help of some of the older children who were there with her. Fortunately, when they were almost inside, more people began arriving, drawn by the strange light that had appeared.
Finally forcing the attackers to flee. But since then, there has been no trace of Adar.
“And you say they went in the direction we came from,” Nero’s intrigued voice echoes.
“That’s impossible,” interjects the taller assassin.
“Exactly, it’s impossible for a group that large carrying several children and an adult to have passed by us,” agrees his companion.
The two men had accompanied Nero and Sena here. Though they had walked ahead under Nero’s orders, he still did not visibly trust them much. And only Saca’s account of events seems to have made him consider that they might not have been involved in what happened here. Well, at least not enough for him to keep watching them so closely.
“Maybe they took another street!” she hears an unfamiliar voice say, causing her to look over and see Esther’s cousin.
“We still would have heard them,” replies the assassin who had been speaking.
“Besides, other people came through those streets. Nobody noticing them would be impossible,” adds the other assassin in support of his friend.
“And that would also be the worst planning imaginable,” Nero comments, apparently siding with the two men.
Which makes her ask, “Planning?”
But it is not Nero who answers her, but the shorter of the two men. “An action by such a large group of attackers would certainly have required prior planning.”
“Yes, at the very least, they needed to arrive here at the same time. And know what they were coming to do,” adds the taller one. The explanation made sense to her, especially considering the cloaks they wore to avoid being identified. But she does not see how that helps them.
“How would you plan the escape?” Nero asks them, prompting the two to exchange looks as they seem to reflect on the question.
“I don’t know. At the end of the day, it depends on what we want to do with the victims. And what we know about the city,” replies the shorter one, admitting the difficulty of the question.
But the taller one hesitantly answers, “Maybe by using a nearby empty house to hide. And when everyone is investigating the orphanage, leave unnoticed.”
To her, it sounds like a good idea, but his companion seems to disagree. “With so many people around! One witness in the middle of the confusion, and they all get caught.”
“Yeah. I’d go with the old solution of escaping through the sewers, but in this city...” Nero begins to say, only to suddenly stop and start looking around. As if he had just realized something.
Still staring into the distance and slowly turning in place, he adds, “Has anyone seen a dolmen around here?”
The confused looks at the bizarre question lead to an explanation.
“It’s like a stone tent made out of smooth rocks...”
“If you don’t know about the tent, maybe you know about a pile of smooth stones?” he continues.
Sena and Saca look at each other, and for her part, Sena would appreciate having Adar here, because maybe he could explain this.
“And what importance does a pile of rocks have right now?” asks an obviously frustrated Esther, finally showing some reaction.
Nero turns toward the wet nurse and calmly replies, “I think it’s the way to find the missing people.”
Esther rises shakily, while her cousin merely comments, “Don’t mind him, Esther. It’s probably just some nonsense from this... this...” The boy clearly wants to say beggar, but stops himself.
Saca, meanwhile, doesn’t even seem to hear him. She turns to the necromancer.
“You’re sure about this?”
Sena can only imagine she’s worried about Adar, which, considering he vanished while protecting her, is more than understandable.
Nero shrugs, but his voice is firm.
“I don’t know this city very well. But I know a few things about this place... from before the city existed.”
Something that, said by anyone else, would sound ridiculous. But Nero knows abandoned cities extremely well. His having knowledge others don’t is almost expected. So much so that she remembers a comment the necromancer made when they bought their house.
“So... about seventy to seventy-five percent...” another one of his strange expressions, though fortunately, he quickly clarifies, “Pretty sure!”
“Esther, do you know of any place like the one he described?” Saca asks the woman in a calm but serious voice.
Esther shakes her head while thinking about the question.
“Of course not! A pile of stones in the middle of the city,” interrupts the wet nurse’s cousin in disbelief.
“That’s not true!” comes a new voice, tired old but firm.
Turning toward the source of the voice, they see an old man with long white hair and beard, supporting his frail body with a cane.
With everyone’s attention on him, the man continues.
“Behind the abandoned Grennside house... you know, the salt merchants?”
The old man’s question cannot help but frustrate Sena and the others. But they let him continue at his own pace.
“Well, there’s a stone tent there as the boy described.” He finishes by pointing toward Nero.
Nero immediately asks, “Where?” and the old man points in the same direction the attackers seemed to have fled.
“Let’s go!!” commands the necromancer, and they head in that direction, though not very quickly.
Because they aren’t alone.
Esther and her cousin go with them. Sena has to support the woman, since Saca is still carrying Delmic. The wet nurse, clearly desperate to see whether they can find her son, clings to this hope. Making it impossible to leave her behind.
So her remaining children come as well, the oldest daughter carrying the youngest son. Meanwhile, the cousin tries to calm expectations.
Unfortunately, they are not the only ones.
Just like the old man who gave them this clue, several other neighbors from the orphanage overheard the conversation and followed them.
And this time, Sena doesn’t need the boys to translate what Nero is thinking. His face, as he looks at the line of people following them, shows more frustration than when he heard Adar had disappeared.
At one point, she even hears him grumble:
“If I’d remembered the tunnels earlier, I could’ve solved this mess before it got this far!”
Fortunately, the path is short.
And when they arrive where the old man indicated, they timidly conclude Nero must be onto something. Because the grass around this pile of smooth stones has been completely flattened, as if a large number of people had just passed through there.
Nero spends a few moments studying the remains of the structure before pointing at a specific stone and saying:
“Push that one.”
After saying it, he looks at the two assassins with an expression that clearly says: “You’re not expecting me to push it, are you?”
Which causes the two to quickly throw themselves against the stone.
With some effort, they move it aside, revealing a short drop leading into a ramp that disappears into underground darkness.
Murmurs spread through the crowd around them.
And Esther almost throws herself down there. Only Sena stops her, grabbing her and calmly saying:
“No. Leave this to him.”
Nero studies the darkness before turning to the two assassins.
“Stay here. In case any surprises show up.”
“And if surprises do show up?” asks the shorter one.
“Unless they’re here to return Grumpy and the children unharmed... I’m going to need someone to talk to.”
His gaze is cold as he speaks, and the two assassins nod, clearly remembering the time they were the ones having a talk with Nero.
“He’s going alone?” asks a surprised Esther.
It falls to Sena to play Adar’s role.
“Yes, yes...” she starts.
With the poor woman and the rest of the people looking at her, she realizes how much poor Adar must have been suffering, while she searches for an excuse. One that doesn’t say that the necromancer doesn’t need help, and that he would rather they not see the potentially forbidden spells he might have to use.
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