The witness of the road

Ressa had Jorren treated before questioning him. She didn't ask him to remove the fabric. She only asked two guards to stay in the room and had Senn called to check if the man knew his father.

Senn shook his head after observing him. "I've never seen him."

Jorren, on the other hand, recognized Venn's name. "The craftsman? He fixed a wheel for our caravan."

Senn leaned towards him. "When?"

"It was more than a year ago. Maybe two. I don't know anymore."

"Where?"

"At a post near a basalt gallery. It was called the Threshold of Barrels."

Ressa asked if Jorren could describe the man. He gave a waist, a short beard, a stiff left hand. Senn did not recognize the description. His father had lost two fingers in his right hand.

The silence that followed was not a new disappointment. It was the correction of a wait that had taken up too much space.

"It can be another Venn," says Zaelyra.

"Yes," Senn replied. "Or my father with a false hand."

"Do you want to go to the Threshold of Barrels?"

"Yes."

Ressa intervened. "This position is two days away and the road has not been checked since last season."

"Then it will have to be checked."

"Not by you alone."

Senn turned to Jorren. "Did the caravan continue west?"

"A part. The other was taken to a place called the Fosse aux Cloches. I didn't go."

Kethra reacts to the name. "The Fosse aux Cloches is not the Refuge des Cloches."

"How do you know? Zaelyra asked.

"I heard the name in the trade circuits. It was a storage place, not a refuge. We paid the guides to avoid this area."

Jorren had not heard of Saira. He had not seen a drow corresponding to Kethra's description. He only remembered that the group that had hijacked them was wearing gray plates and that one of them was limping.

"Where did they go?" asked Kethra.

"To the south."

"Can you describe the brand?"

"An open circle and an added line on it."

Zaelyra put the copy of the fake plaque in front of him, without touching it on his garment. Jorren recognized her as resembling the one that had been used to divert his caravan. He did not confirm that it was exactly the same.

Ressa noted each answer separately. Jorren's story agreed with some of the information received at the post, but not with everything. He spoke of six travelers, while the registers reported five missing. One could have been a local guide; it could also be two different groups.

"We will have to return to the old shelter," says Eri. "There may be other traces."

"With whom?" asked Ressa.

"A team of goalkeepers."

"And Zaelyra?"

"She saw the wire and the niche."

Ressa reflects. "She can come as an observer. She will not be responsible for deciding who is arrested or who is released."

Zaelyra accepted. She didn't want the map to make her an authority she wasn't.

Kethra stayed in the pool with Senn. He wanted to hear everything Jorren remembered about the Threshold of the Barrels. She asked him if he intended to abandon his father's search to follow the trail of the Pit of the Bells.

"I don't know," he said.

"So don't choose yet."

"You say that because you also don't know what to do with Saira."

Kethra did not answer.

"You've been looking for her for a long time?" asked Senn.

"Long enough to have confused a wish with a clue."

"And are you still going to continue?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because a wish is not proof, but it is not a reason to stop either."

Zaelyra heard the sentence as she left the room. She wondered if this distinction could apply to her too. Drizzt was not proof that a life elsewhere would be better. It was a contradictory story to which she had given the form of an opening. This did not cancel his desire to leave. It only reminded her that she had to find out what she wanted, beyond the name of another.

The team returned to the splinters gallery with a basin guide and two community guardians. Jorren remained at rest; he had not wanted to accompany them. They found the cut thread, the split cup and the niche. One of the guards spotted an additional trace, a metal friction against the wall, which led to a low opening.

This opening did not appear on any map. It was too narrow for a loaded person, but a thin individual could slip into it. The passage descended south, towards the Fosse aux Cloches.

Ressa had the edges examined. The dust had been moved recently, but the water had erased the footprints.

"Can we come by?" asked the guard.

"Yes," replied Nym. "If we agree to crawl and come out without guarantee of being able to come back."

"So we don't go in," says Eri.

One of the guards protested. "If the missing are there—"

"We have no proof that they went through this opening," Zaelyra replied. "And we don't know if she's joining the Pit."

"But someone used it."

"Yes."

Ressa asked his team to install a surveillance wire and come back with more equipment. She did not allod the exploration. The decision displeased the guard who wanted to enter, but he agreed to lay the thread.

On returning, Zaelyra noticed that Jorren had left the break room. He hadn't gone far. He stood in front of the basin map and followed the road to the Seil des Tonneaux.

"Are you looking for another way out? She asked.

"I'm looking for the place where I lost the others."

"You can't go now."

"I know."

He stepped back from the map. "But I want to be able to describe it when someone is ready to listen."

Zaelyra offered him to dictate his journey to Ithryl. Jorren accepted on condition that his name and that of his companions remained separate from the exact coordinates.

Ithryl noted the details, then made him reread the story. Jorren corrected two directions and added that he had left the caravan of his own free will to look for water. He didn't know if the others thought he had lost him or if they had abandoned him.

"Do you want us to write it? "Ithryl asked.

"Yes. I don't want people to think I was kidnapped if I chose to leave. But I also don't want them to say that the others have abandoned me."

"Then we will write exactly this: you left the caravan to look for water, and you do not know what happened next."

Jorren nodded. His part of the story did not explain that of the others. It could at least prevent it from being replaced by a guess.

In the evening, Ressa allowed travelers to resume the road to the next refuge, but not to continue towards the Threshold of Barrels. She sent a team to look for the missing and promised to send their descriptions to Nara.

Senn asked to accompany him. Ressa refused. He protested, then understood that he did not know the gallery and that his impatience would not make the team more competent.

"Will you let me know if you find proof? He asked Ressa.

"Yes."

"Even if she says he's dead?"

"Yes."

He accepted this answer, without thanking her.

Zaelyra gathered the group and explained the authorized itinerary. Families could continue to a safe stop. Those who wanted to look for the missing should wait for Ressa's team or come back later with his agreement.

The merchant raised his hand. "We left for the west."

"Yes."

"We can't stop every time a stranger disappears."

"No."

"So why do we stop?"

"Because this disappearance is related to the road we are going to take, and we can help without sending the whole group into an unknown passage."

The merchant is thinking. "What if next time, we can't help without risking everyone?"

"We will decide with the information we have."

He lowered his hand. It was not an agreement; it was the acceptance of not deciding in advance.

They left on the first day before. Jorren remained at the pool, under the protection of Ressa. Senn gave him a small piece of copper with a notch on the edge.

"If you remember anything else, show it."

Jorren closed his hand on the room. "I will do it."

Zaelyra did not know if this promise would be kept. She didn't write it on the map.