Contents
Chapter 35
Overview
Arpix, Clovis, Evar, and Kerrol track Wentworth to a new chamber, where Kerrol preempts debate by killing three skeer with the orb. The group reunites with Neera and reaches Yute’s hungry survivors. Yute demonstrates time-reaching pockets to fetch food, but something seizes him, triggering a black, mist-leaking crack in the floor.
Summary
Arpix reflects on caution, lost comforts, and his complicated attraction to Clovis as Wentworth leads the party through canith-locked doors. Clovis presses practical choices, while Arpix seeks gentler solutions. Evar scouts three skeer guarding a door; debate over mercy versus safety begins.
Kerrol abruptly resolves the dispute by using the orb to crush the skeer, citing group cohesion. The door opens to a vast chamber heavy with the stench of death and a distant human scent. As they advance, humans ambush from above with carved wooden animal heads. Arpix’s plea halts them when Jella recognizes Neera, prompting a precarious reunion atop the shelves.
Back on the floor, Wentworth reappears and is warmly greeted; Neera explains the cat’s deliveries and Yute’s strange food-fetching pockets. Time discrepancies surface: Neera’s group has lived weeks here while Arpix’s party endured four Dust-side years awaiting this convergence.
The party reaches Yute’s small camp. Arpix vouches for the canith; Yute urges peace amid human collapse deeper within the chamber. To feed them, Yute reaches into his pocket and produces Salamonda’s own sausage from the past, confirming his ability to steal across time.
Attempting a second retrieval, Yute is suddenly grabbed by something unseen within the temporal reach. A subtle, omnidirectional crack resounds; a thin black fissure opens across the floor and begins to bleed dark mist, signaling an imminent and unknown threat.
Who Appears
- ArpixCautious scholar; moral compass of the group; reunites with Yute’s survivors and argues against killing skeer.
- YuteLeader of survivors; retrieves food from the past via pockets; nearly seized, causing a black crack to open.
- ClovisFormidable canith; pragmatic strategist; challenges Arpix, scents humans, and steadies group through tensions.
- KerrolDecisive canith; kills three skeer with the orb to prevent division and secure passage.
- EvarCanith scout and protector; confirms human scents, shields Arpix during ambush.
- JellaReunites with Neera; helps deescalate the ambush; shares scarce food.
- NeeraLivira’s former neighbor; part of Yute’s starving band; recognizes Jella and explains their survival.
- SalamondaCook and librarian; recognizes her own sausage; confronts Yute about time-theft from her kitchen.
- WentworthMagical cat; guides Arpix’s group and supplies Yute’s survivors with game.