Page 26 of Earthbound

Mia shrugged. ‘We’re not sure, the markings were here before we arrived. We think the animal must have gone extinct some time ago.’

‘Are there many drawings like this around?’ Lettle asked.

‘Some.’

‘Do you ever wonder where they came from?’

‘Not really. We see so many signs of our past during our travels. We appreciate them, preserve them when we can, and move on.’

‘The Nomad way of life sounds exhausting. I can’t imagine travelling so often.’

‘I can’t imagine sitting still,’ Mia countered.

She led them through a wide doorway towards the dining hall, which turned out to be less a hall and more of a storage room which stank heavily of salted fish and ageing cheese.

‘Take what you like,’ Mia said.

Shera and Farhan headed straight to the fruit. Mia directed Lettle to some small pastries which were a speciality by someone called Orla.

‘Ever since I got pregnant, she started to hide me a portion behind the dried herring.’

She handed Lettle a small, sticky bun.

‘Honey and cardamom.’

It was delicious.

‘Let’s have one more and tell Dart that there weren’t any today,’ Mia said.

Lettle found herself warming to Mia.

Once they had sated their appetite, they bundled together a parcel of bread and preserved figs for the others and headed back.

Lettle had always struggled with directions, and Caperly was more difficult to map than any other city she had been in. Stone bridges criss-crossed above her, connecting staircases that were carved into the rock. The lanes were cobbled and winding, seamlessly curving through the mountain as though they had always been there. Nothing in Caperly seemed made; instead, it felt organic, like it had grown from the very earth.

‘How do you keep track of where you’re going? Every path looks the same.’

‘I was raised here, so the routes are familiar, but I admit there is no one alive who doesn’t get lost in Caperly at some point. And when we do, we just look at the stone signs.’ Mia pointed to an unassuming rock ahead of them.

As they approached, Lettle could see that the stone was engraved with symbols. She crouched down and ran her hands over the engraving.

‘The one that kind of looks like a star leads you outside. The swirl to the fresh water well. The triangle towards the food stores and the circle to the resting rooms.’

There was something about the symbols that seemed familiar. Her finger trailed the grooves and curves–they were shapes she recognised.

They look like letters in the human language.

‘These were all here before the Nomads?’ she asked Mia.

‘Yes.’

‘Interesting.’

‘If you say so.’

Lettle was beginning to form her own theory about Caperly’s origins. It consumed her thoughts for the rest of the journey back to the resting room.

‘We come with food,’ Mia announced as they walked in.