Chapter 107: The Water Runs Red
Kael returned to the river before sunset.
The soldiers had already begun preparing a temporary camp along the bank. Tents were being raised, horses watered, and equipment unloaded.
Torren stood beside the dam with a measuring rope in his hands.
He looked up when Kael approached.
"I’ve been studying it."
Kael dismounted.
"And?"
Torren wiped his hands against his trousers.
"It’s worse than we thought."
Kael walked toward him.
"How?"
Torren pointed toward the wooden structure.
"The dam wasn’t built simply to redirect water."
Kael followed his finger.
"Then what?"
"Look."
Torren led him toward the base.
Several thick wooden beams had been driven deep into the riverbed.
Kael crouched.
There were scratches along the wood.
Deep ones.
He touched them.
"Tools?"
Torren shook his head.
"No."
Kael looked at him.
"Then what?"
"Something was used to cut through these."
Kael examined the marks.
They weren’t clean.
They looked torn.
As if something extremely strong had ripped into the wood.
Kael stood.
"Could animals have done this?"
"Not any animal I’ve seen."
Kael looked toward the forest.
The expedition had taught him not to dismiss strange things simply because they didn’t fit what he already knew.
"Have you found anything else?"
Torren hesitated.
"Yes."
He pointed toward the bank.
A few steps away, half-hidden beneath the grass, was a metal object.
Kael walked over and picked it up.
A broken piece of armor.
Not Imperial.
Not Valen.
Kael turned it over.
There was a symbol carved into the metal.
Three curved lines surrounding a small circle.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
He had seen that symbol before.
At the ruins.
He immediately remembered the fragment he’d brought back.
The same pattern.
His hand tightened around the metal.
"Where did you find this?"
"Near the river."
"Anything else?"
"Footprints."
Kael looked toward him.
"How many?"
"Too many."
Torren pointed toward the trees.
"They came from the forest."
Kael looked in that direction.
The forest was quiet.
Too quiet.
Seren approached from behind.
His bow was already in his hand.
"Prince."
Kael turned.
"What?"
"I found something."
Seren held up a piece of cloth.
Dark gray.
There was dried blood on it.
Kael took it.
"Where?"
"About half a mile from here."
"Anything else?"
"Footprints."
"Human?"
"Some."
Seren paused.
"Others weren’t."
Kael looked at him.
"Describe them."
"Large."
"How large?"
Seren held his hand several inches above the ground.
"About this deep."
Kael looked toward the forest again.
"How many?"
"At least four."
Lyra approached.
"You think something is living in there?"
Kael didn’t answer immediately.
He looked at the broken armor.
Then the cloth.
Then the river.
The expedition was supposed to have been finished.
Yet the strange symbol had followed him.
Kael turned toward his soldiers.
"Nobody enters the forest."
Seren nodded.
"Understood."
"Not tonight."
The camp became quiet after dark.
A small fire burned near the center.
The soldiers sat around it, eating and talking quietly.
Kael remained away from them.
He sat beside the river.
The moon reflected across the water.
He held the metal fragment in his hand.
The symbol seemed almost familiar.
But he couldn’t remember where he’d seen it.
He closed his eyes.
The system appeared before him.
[Unknown Symbol Detected.]
Kael opened his eyes.
The message remained.
[Analyzing...]
He waited.
Nothing.
Then another message appeared.
[Analysis incomplete.]
Kael frowned.
"You too?"
The system remained silent.
He looked at the fragment again.
"What are you?"
No answer.
Kael placed it beside him.
A strange sensation suddenly moved through his body.
His blood power stirred.
Only for a second.
He immediately looked down.
Nothing.
The feeling disappeared.
Kael’s expression hardened.
He picked up the fragment again.
Nothing happened.
He stared toward the dark forest.
Something was there.
He could feel it.
Not because of the system.
Not because of magic.
Because the forest had become completely silent.
No insects.
No birds.
No movement.
Kael slowly stood.
His hand moved toward his sword.
Then—
CRACK.
A branch snapped somewhere beyond the trees.
Kael didn’t move.
The soldiers around the fire hadn’t noticed.
Another sound.
Closer.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
A shadow moved between the trees.
Then disappeared.
He waited.
Nothing.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Kael slowly lowered his hand.
"Not tonight."
He turned away from the forest.
He walked back toward the camp.
But he didn’t sleep.
Morning came with fog.
Kael woke beside the fire.
Darius’s six chosen soldiers were already awake.
Torren was the first to approach.
"We have a problem."
Kael stood.
"What happened?"
"The water level dropped."
Kael looked toward the river.
It had.
The flow through the dam was weaker.
But the river itself was still moving.
Kael walked closer.
Then he saw it.
Something dark floated near the bank.
He crouched.
The soldiers gathered behind him.
Kael reached into the water.
He pulled the object out.
A dead fish.
Its scales were covered in dark red streaks.
Lyra frowned.
"That’s blood."
Kael looked at the river.
"Whose?"
Nobody answered.
He turned the fish over.
There were strange marks along its belly.
Three curved lines.
A circle.
The same symbol.
Kael slowly stood.
The mystery had just become something else.
Someone had built the dam.
Someone had been moving through the forest.
And now something had appeared in the river.
Kael looked toward the distant estate.
Lord Garrick Valen had claimed the dam was built to protect his land.
But Kael was beginning to suspect the dam had another purpose.
Perhaps the water wasn’t being stolen.
Perhaps someone was trying to keep something out.
Kael looked back toward the river.
"Torren."
"Yes?"
"Don’t touch the dam."
Torren frowned.
"Why?"
Kael stared at the dark water.
"Because I think we’re standing on the wrong side of it."