Page 64 of Sinful Curses
They’d also found evidence of someone having recently been inside the mercantile and granary. None of them could remember if footprints were in the pub before they entered, but he suspected there were.
Now that they had a better idea of what these boot prints looked like, he could recognize them in the pub once they returned. They hadn’t searched the other buildings yet, but he’d bet they’d find evidence of Mr. Crispy in them too.
There was no evidence of the immortal living here or staying for an extended period, which meant they had to have come from somewhere else.
“It could have been someone else here,” the demon suggested.
“Do you really think that?” Orin asked.
“No, but we have to analyze every possibility. Someone else could be moving through these outer towns or whatever they are. Plus, plenty of immortals left Belda’s town, never returned, and could still be out here. There could be any number of towns out here that also have other immortals living in them… like the brownies’ town.”
“They are getting increasingly barren and less hospitable,” Sahira said.
“Some immortals and creatures thrive in those conditions.”
“I hate this,” Elsa muttered.
Orin agreed. For every answer they found, they had a hundred more questions.
“Okay, so if it was the immortal from the geysers, and they weren’t living here, then they must have been passing through,” Sahira said.
“From where?” Elsa inquired.
“If that symbol is an hourglass, then the next arrow should be the final town,” the demon said, “and must be where the immortal came from.”
“If that immortal was leaving the next town, then there’s no escape from there either.”
Orin chose to ignore the panic tinging Elsa’s voice. If the witch decided to fall apart now, he’d leave her ass here.
“We can’t know that,” Sahira said.
Since standing around and debating it wouldn’t get them anywhere, Orin walked away from the others. Dust swirled around him and covered some of the booted footprints as he walked into the library’s main room.
There was less here than in the town with the brownies. Shelves only lined the walls on the first floor; the second and third floors were bare.
What is going on in this realm?
He’d asked himself this question a thousand times since becoming trapped here and was no closer to the answer. If he could tear this whole realm apart piece by piece, board by board, and one mountain or dune after another, he would. He’d rip it to shreds and piss all over its remains.
Turning, he stalked out of the building, down the stairs, and to the black rock that was the base of this town. Nothing moved on the street; no birds soared through the air. There was nothing but an empty shell where life should thrive.
At least there aren’t any threats… so far.
He didn’t know how long that would last. If something came through here, he’d happily destroy it.
When the others joined him, they moved on to explore the other buildings. In each of them, they discovered the same things… proof another immortal had been here and the same symbol as in the pub.
They never uncovered any evidence that whoever came through before them resided here for any length of time. All the buildings were more barren than the ones in the brownies’ town and emptier than the ones in Belda’s.
They started on this journey with the intention of finding food or hunting to supplement their needs, but there was nothing here to hunt. The brownies hadn’t found any insects to eat.
They explored every inch of the town and uncovered nothing of use. When the sun started setting, they returned to the pub, where Orin confirmed his suspicions about the burnt immortal on the geyser field... their boot prints also marked the floor here.
“Does anyone know how long we slept?” Sahira sat on the floor and crossed her legs as she asked this question. “Was it hours? Was it days?”
The demon pawed through his pack for food as he settled on the floor across from her. “No idea.”
Loth and Fath sat in the middle of the loose circle they’d created. Each munched on an insect leg they’d pulled from their tiny packs.
