Chapter 663: Bottomless Grave (Part One)
In the forest, not far from where Ashlynn’s companions were erecting a large tent to host her first meeting with someone from Blackwell County since this entire nightmare began, Ashlynn sat on the roots of an old cedar tree, staring into the deepest pit she’d ever seen. So deep, in fact, that the pit seemed to have no bottom no matter how intensely she stared at it.
The scent of wet cedar mixed with damp earth filled her nose, just like it had on that night seven months ago, and the damp chill air that filled her lungs lungs was the very same as the air she’d struggled to breath after Sir Broll kicked her ribs hard enough to crack them in order to prove that she was really dead.
Were it not for the lack of pouring rain and distant thunder, the night might very well have been a perfect recreation of the night she’d been unceremoniously dumped in a shallow grave after suffering the worst beating of her life. Of course, there were other differences as well, one of which gnawed at a corner of Ashlynn’s mind like a persistent rat.
Piles of earth nearby made it clear that someone had dug up whatever might have once lain beneath the soil and scattered sword ferns and tall soft grasses had already taken root on the piles of earth. Recent rains left the pit with a puddle of water that covered much of the bottom and left the rest of the soft earth muddy and slick.
The pit shouldn’t have looked like this. It shouldn’t have been so deep with sharp sides that had clearly been dug out with shovels. Neither should there be smaller pits nearby, appearing as if someone had wanted to plant new trees only to give up after a few minutes of labor before searching for a different spot to bury something. Or, more accurately, as if someone couldn’t remember exactly where they had buried something and they had been digging like a dog in search of his buried bone.
"Who came here looking for me?" Ashlynn whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks in a silent stream. "And why? Why would anyone have come here for me?"
There were only two people who knew where she’d been buried. One of those people, Sir Broll, was already dead at her hands. The other, Sir Tommin, had left Owain’s side to take up the mantle of a Templar. According to Marcel’s reports, he’d even come to possess a Holy Light Blade and achieved great fame for his ’contributions’ during Owain’s assault against the Heartwood Clan.
It was impossible to know which man had come here to dig her up, or why. She had spent a month in the Vale of Mists before visiting the Summer Villa and killing Sir Broll during their escape. It was possible that it had been him. There was no way to know who had done it but the fact that someone had left her deeply unsettled.