Chapter 96: Arriving at Hollowmere
The morning fog hadn’t lifted, and it clung to the ground like smoke. The MRAP rumbled along a broken dirt road, tires kicking up mud as the vehicle swayed from the uneven path. No one spoke for the first hour. The silence wasn’t awkward. It was caution. Everyone felt it—the pressure, like something was watching just outside the treeline.
Inigo sat behind the wheel, eyes fixed on the road ahead. The trees around them had changed. No more birds. No bugs. Just pale trunks and black branches, some of them rotting, some still dripping with leftover rain. The marshland had started about an hour back. Now, the forest floor was more mud than soil.
"Tracefinder still pointing?" he asked without taking his eyes off the road.
Arienne nodded from the passenger seat. "Yeah. Still south-southwest. Getting stronger."
Lyra had the turret hatch open, her bow resting across her lap. She didn’t like swamps. She’d said it ten times by now. Korrik sat near the back, sharpening his axe even though it was already clean. Garen rode alongside on his horse, sticking close to the MRAP’s right flank. He didn’t like being confined in the vehicle, said it dulled his awareness.
About two hours later, the trees started to thin out.
"Up ahead," Arienne said, squinting.
Inigo slowed the vehicle. He could see it too now. Wooden posts. Fence remains. Rotting signs barely standing in shallow puddles. One of them had something written in black paint, faded by age and moss.
WEL... TO HOL...ERE.
"This is it," Inigo muttered. He eased the brake and brought the MRAP to a full stop.
No one spoke.