Palimpsest

Marialis was built on top of itself. Beneath the current harbor district lie the foundations of at least three previous settlements, each constructed over the bones of the last. The tunnel networks remaining from these earlier constructions are extensive, poorly mapped, and largely forgotten. The Ledger Guild archives contain one partial survey, conducted sixty years ago and subsequently sealed. Even that survey, by the surveyor's own admission, covers perhaps a third of what exists.

— The Annals of Marialis, Volume II: Topography and Infrastructure. Compiled by the Royal Cartographer's Office.

Chapter 5 Emergency Exit

Kaelin kept covering her mouth with her hands as if trying to hold her own breathing in. But after Rhoren left the room, the room had sunk into silence. She knew the other man hadn’t left, and the fact that there was no sound only tightened the tension inside her even more. She could pull herself up to the upper floor, but the noise from the pulleys would immediately give away her position. The other man had to leave the room. But from the tone of his voice alone, it was obvious what kind of a “dickhead” he was—she didn’t even know what he was doing inside, let alone hear him leave.

Tarr’en stood without moving, staring into the room and searching for a clue. Any clue that would lead him to the killer—more importantly, to how the seal had been broken. Suddenly, the folding screen in the corner caught his attention. It had been placed so perfectly in harmony with the room that it almost gave the impression there was no space behind it at all.

Tarr’en began walking toward the screen with slow steps. The moment his steps started making sound on the wooden floor, Kaelin understood she was going to be caught.

But at that exact moment, a noise rose from the hall. Two men could be heard arguing. Tarr’en’s attention slipped for a second, and he went toward the door to see what was happening. Apparently two of the guests were tired of waiting and wanted to leave.

Kaelin used that noise as her chance and started pulling the elevator up fast. At this point she didn’t care about the noise she would make, because she wouldn’t get another chance.

The moment she reached her room, she opened the hatch and climbed out of the elevator. She was panting and drenched in sweat from the lack of air. With a momentary relief, her knees gave out. She collapsed against the wall, her eyes filling with tears.

But she couldn’t stay there. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes, and got up by holding onto the table beside her. She checked the room again and made sure there was nothing that could raise suspicion. Then she fixed her clothes and left the room.

◈ ◈ ◈

When Tarr’en returned to the room, he moved back toward the folding screen. When he looked behind it, he saw a wooden hatch in the wall. He stepped closer and opened it, and saw an empty shaft stretching down and up, and two ropes.

“So that’s how you did it,” he said with a faint smile. “Clever.”

The door opened suddenly behind him. It was Rhoren. “I may have found us a suspect,” he said, but he couldn’t see anyone in the room.

“I’m here, Captain,” Tarr’en said from behind the screen. He was still examining the elevator.

Rhoren walked toward the voice from behind the screen and saw him. “What’s that?” he asked, looking at the opening in the wall.

Turning to him, Tarr’en said with a slightly mocking expression, “Emergency exit door, Captain.” Then he asked, “What did you find?” but he was already heading toward the door.

“They say the room hasn’t been used for three days because the girl is sick,” Rhoren said, and continued, “but the judge wasn’t that girl’s guest. Apparently there’s usually only one girl he comes to: Kaelin Haln. And her room is—”

“Let me guess,” Tarr’en cut in. “The room directly above this one.”

“How?” Rhoren said, following him.

“Come on, Captain,” Tarr’en said, his pace quickening. “We can’t let the bird get away.”

Rhoren followed behind Tarr’en as he slipped through the crowd in the hall, but because of his size, Rhoren kept bumping into people as he pushed forward. When they reached the stairs, Tarr’en started up to the upper floor without losing any speed. Rhoren was surprised by how agile he was for his age, and continued after him with heavier, louder steps. He wasn’t trying to pass him—though even if he tried, it was doubtful he could.

There was a crowd upstairs similar to the one below, and almost all the doors were open. Almost…

The moment Tarr’en entered the corridor, he found the second door from the end with his eyes—and it was the only closed door. He kept sliding through the crowd as if locked onto his target. But this time he moved faster, like a hunter closing in on his prey. Trying to catch up, Rhoren collided halfway with a girl. He hadn’t hit her hard, but the shoulder of someone his size could still hurt a woman.

“I’m very sorry,” he said, trying to soften his voice as much as he could. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He was surprised by his own politeness. This young woman seemed to have affected him. Normally he didn’t look at the girls here with much seriousness—he judged them as empty girls. But this young woman he had bumped into was different…

Rhoren, like the others, had a natural ability, but he didn’t share it. Being able to see people’s auras gave him a major advantage in his work, and it wouldn’t be good for enemies or allies to know it. People had auras in many colors—some wide, some dim. Rhoren had learned the meanings of the colors and their intensity through experience. But this… was something he had never seen in anyone before. Her aura was very wide and a soft, pale green. But there were breaks—almost like cracks—and white light was leaking from them.

“It’s fine,” the girl said without lifting her head. Without looking at Rhoren’s face, she quickly continued on her way. Rhoren just stood there staring after her.

“Captain!” Tarr’en called just as he turned the door handle. Rhoren finally turned away and went to him. Tarr’en opened the door and the two of them rushed inside.

◈ ◈ ◈

“That was too close,” Kaelin whispered. She turned the corner and hurried down the stairs.

That big idiot walked in such a way that it was impossible not to bump into him. She had lowered her head and tried not to show her face, but her plan to escape without drawing attention had fallen apart in the very first minute. The strange look in that huge man’s eyes had also disturbed her a lot. At least he hadn’t noticed the tear in her skirt—otherwise she might not have gotten away that easily.

Kaelin had realized they were going directly to her room, and she knew she didn’t have much time. She sped up even more.

She passed the lower floor and kept going down toward the basement. The part of the stairs that led down to the basement was almost blocked here with a few potted plants and another folding screen. Just like the elevators, they had made the descent to the basement invisible too.

Kaelin finally reached the basement. It was completely different from the upper floor. Gray walls, bare wooden floor without carpet, and three middle-aged women washing laundry… It felt like she had stepped ten years into the future. The women looked at her with empty eyes and then returned to their work.

That sudden emotional shift slowed her down for a moment. Being careful with her steps, she kept walking. She didn’t want to draw attention, but the women were acting as if she barely existed anyway. She passed between them and moved toward the back, past piles of clean laundry. In the wall, a doorway without a door opened into a small room behind. Kaelin passed through and entered the small room.

The room stretched left and right like a corridor, and nearly all of it was covered with shelves. On the shelves were everything from cleaning supplies to the candles used in rooms, even goblets. This was a storage room, and unless someone needed something, it would be impossible for them to come here. Kaelin had come here for exactly that reason…

◈ ◈ ◈

Entering the room quickly, Tarr’en saw it was empty, but he didn’t want to repeat the mistake he had made downstairs. He went straight behind the folding screen and checked the elevator.

The anger on his face as he turned bothered Rhoren. Even when he was emotionless and unsmiling, this man looked dangerous, and it was certain he had started getting angry, his gray aura beginning to ripple more and more.

“The girl isn’t here, but the records say she worked tonight. She must still be in the building,” Rhoren said in a calm voice.

“I hope you’re right, Captain,” Tarr’en said, still scanning the room with his eyes, “because I don’t believe in coincidences, and there are too many of them here.”

“Even if the girl is a suspect right now, we still don’t have evidence that she did it,” Rhoren said cautiously.

As Tarr’en looked down, the angry expression on his face suddenly shifted into a crafty look. “If you want evidence, Captain…” He walked up to the bed, bent down, and reached for something. “I can give you this,” he said. When he turned back to Rhoren, he was holding a button. Rhoren immediately recognized it as the missing button from Koreth’s jacket.

“We have to find her immediately,” Tarr’en said, dropping the button into his hand and heading toward the door. “Do you trust your men won’t let anyone go?”

Rhoren hesitated for a moment, but said, “I can promise you that.”

“Good,” Tarr’en said, standing in the doorway and scanning the hall. “Since the girl can’t go straight to the front door and leave, she has two options. Either she’s hiding somewhere, or she’s trying to escape through an exit we don’t know about.”

Turning to Rhoren with a serious expression, he said, “I don’t think she’s hiding somewhere, Captain,” and then stepped out into the hall.

Rhoren followed beside him, saying, “The building’s only entrance is in the front. There’s no back door.”

“She can’t escape through the front door, there’s no door opening to the back, and there’s no other building attached to this one. That leaves us two options,” Tarr’en said. “Down or up. And assuming she won’t climb to the roof and fly away, there’s only one place left she can escape to, Captain.”

◈ ◈ ◈

Kaelin had come down to this floor once before. A girl in the room across had been killed by one of her guests, and Kaelin’s own guest had wanted to leave the building before the Wardens arrived. He was someone high-ranking in the palace and didn’t want to be involved in this incident. Mistress Vahl had pushed through the crowd and led him to the stairs going down to the lower floor. Kaelin had seen the man had forgotten his watch and followed them. She caught them downstairs and gave him the watch. Then, as she was going back up, she saw the woman bring him into this small room. The mistress had returned upstairs alone and told everyone that the man had had no guest that night. Kaelin had only nodded and gone back to her room.

“It has to be somewhere here,” Kaelin muttered to herself, feeling along the shelves and walls. But she still hadn’t seen an exit or a hidden hatch. With every passing second her panic grew, and she felt more and more trapped.

As she moved forward, touching the wooden shelves and the wall behind them with her hands, for a brief moment a coolness brushed her face. When she slowly moved back, she realized there was a cold air current coming from somewhere in the wall. The exit had to be here—but there was no other opening or handle.

Suddenly she heard sounds from the stairs. They must finally be on her trail.

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

Her heart began beating faster as she looked toward the source of the sound. They weren’t visible yet inside the room, but it was only a matter of moments before they arrived. As the sounds grew louder, she instinctively took a step back—but bumped into the wooden shelf.

A click came from inside the wall, and the wall opened—together with the shelf—into a tunnel.

With a face mixed with exhaustion and happiness, Kaelin let out a deep breath.

She immediately stepped into the tunnel and began pushing the wall back. Slowly, the wall settled back into its empty slot with another click. With her back against the wall, Kaelin leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She was finally out of the building, and she felt a small relief.

But she wasn’t free yet.

When she opened her eyes, she realized nothing had really changed. The tunnel was almost pitch dark and cold. Very little light came from ahead, and it looked as though there was nowhere else to go. Kaelin began moving forward with her hands along the walls, but she moved slowly because she couldn’t see.

After walking for a few minutes, she noticed the tunnel widened. A little ahead, she felt a different air current coming from the left side. “So there isn’t just one tunnel,” she muttered to herself in a low voice. “Where do the other paths lead, I wonder?”

As she tried to keep moving with these thoughts, she suddenly saw another light ahead. The light seemed to be coming from a different tunnel, and with it she began to hear voices.

“Fuck!”

◈ ◈ ◈

Running down the stairs quickly, Tarr’en scanned the room with his eyes. When he saw the women downstairs, he slowed for a moment. These people had no connections among themselves, or to anything else. He had observed something like this only once before, but there the situation had been very different.

Realizing the only place to go was the other small room, Tarr’en was already moving toward it. Rhoren tried to ask the women questions, but it was no different than talking to a wall. Entering the room that looked like a storage area, Tarr’en narrowed his eyes and stared at all the shelves and walls with an accusing look, as if interrogating the room itself.

“She has to be somewhere here,” he muttered to himself. “There’s no other way.”

Standing in the middle of the room, he noticed it was colder than the other side. Cold air had to be coming from somewhere. He was sure he was on the right track, but there had to be something he was missing.

As he looked more closely at the shelves, he noticed one of the wooden brackets supporting the shelves was sticking out more than the others. When he stepped beside the bracket, he began to feel a faint air current too.

“These women aren’t any different from corpses—like they’re empty inside,” Rhoren complained as he entered the room. After briefly looking around, he said, “I think we’ve hit a dead end,” still scanning the area. “I don’t see an exit here.”

Gripping the misaligned bracket tightly, Tarr’en said, “Just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, Captain,” and then pushed the wood toward the wall. With a click, the wall and shelves swung outward, and the tunnel was revealed.

“Huh,” Rhoren said, surprised—but more impressed. “This building’s secrets never end.”

“We’ll need a torch,” Tarr’en said, staring into the dark corridor. He had always hated darkness and not being able to see where he was. The discomfort was reflected in his voice, at least slightly.

Rhoren didn’t need to notice the weakness in his voice. He could clearly see the shrinking in his aura. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, it gave him a certain pleasure. He walked past Tarr’en and entered the tunnel, pulling his lighter from his pocket.

“I don’t think we have time for that.”

◈ ◈ ◈

Kaelin stood completely still, watching the light from another tunnel ahead that connected into this one grow brighter. She couldn’t go back, and no light came from the other tunnel beside her. The only place she could go was forward, but whoever was coming from the other tunnel connecting ahead would reach there before she could. She would either have to hide, or take the risk of being seen.

“Wasn’t there a brothel here? Maybe we can hide there,” a male voice said.

“Shut up, Tivver,” a woman snapped immediately. Her voice sounded strangely theatrical.

Kaelin was sure they were very close now. But she still couldn’t move because of indecision. Then a light appeared from the direction she had come. Had they found the hidden door? Even if that thought crossed her mind, she couldn’t gamble on it. She started walking forward quickly…

And at the same time, she ran into them.