~Chapter 4- The Hall of the Dead~

Lumb shared everything that was discussed about the case and told them their next move would be to go to the Hall of the Dead.

The Hall of the Dead was an underground cemetery located near the King's Castle. It was used to hold the bodies of the city's citizens after they passed, at least until another form of burial was found. The monks who resided there believed in facing death rather than running from it, hoping to allow people to meet their ends with dignity.

The Hall of the Dead appeared to be a small building set near the castle, but when they looked inside, there was a staircase descending underground, with only a few torches lighting the way down.

"These places always make me anxious..." Lumb said as he stared into the deep hole.

"Maybe... I should stay outside with Deporah? She shouldn't see what we'll find down there..." Cetpance said.

Deporah grimaced, "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Honey, you really don't have to-"

Deporah pulled her hand away and began down the stairs. Lumb and Ceptance hesitated before following close behind.

"Brave girl!" Lumb whispered to his mother.

They reached the foot of the stairs to find tunnels lined with red sand and torches along the walls lighting the way. Ahead of them was an intersection separating into two paths, with a desk sitting in the middle.

A man appearing to be around Lumb's age sat at this desk, one with a clear bald head, wearing heavy black robes. Behind him was a portrait of a similarly dressed monk.

He smiled earnestly as they approached, "Greetings! Are you here to pay your respects?"

"Not exactly," Ceptance replied as she fashioned a letter from her overalls, "We have a letter from Lieutenant Aingr. We'd like to look at two individuals' remains."

She handed the letter to the monk, and he furrowed his brow as he looked it over. His eyes glanced up at Ceptance before returning the letter back to her, "Umm... One moment."

The bald man stood, left the letter at the desk, and started down the path to the right of them. After turning a corner, they lost sight of him.

"Curious..." Ceptance remarked. They began to look at the portrait that hung up behind the desk. It was of an elderly man with thinning grey hair, a serious expression, and green eyes.

"I wonder who he is..."

"Maybe, we can ask if he gets back," Lumb said, tapping his foot into the red sand beneath them, "These places have always creeped me out. I don't get how these monks can live down here."

"It's a way of life, I suppose," Ceptance remarked. She tapped Deporah, "You know, sweetie, you really don't have to be down here."

"I'm fine." Deporah said with a solidity in her voice. A strength. But... Lumb wasn't sure if it was genuine.

The bald young monk returned with an older woman beside him wearing the same monk garbs. Her grey hair was tied into a bun behind her, and she had calm, amber eyes. Her slow movement showed that age was catching up to her. Lumb figured she was probably the minister here.

The old woman circled the desk to the letter and gave Lumb and the rest a quick smile before reading it over. She placed her hand on her hip and asked, "You want to look at the bodies of Seamus and Gregor? I thought their case was resolved weeks ago."

"We're just looking into it," Ceptance replied, "Gregor was my son-in-law."

"I see. Were you planning on claiming his body for your own burial? We certainly can arrange that."

Ceptance gave a small smile, "We weren't planning on anything like that. We just wanted to look."

"I see. It's rather strange you'd want to see Seamus's body when he isn't a family member."

"Are you saying you won't let us?" Lumb asked curtly.

"No. Of course not. If the lieutenant thinks it's okay, then I'll accommodate you. I'm just making sur-"

"We're sure. Do you mind taking us to one of them?"

The old monk smiled, revealing a few missing teeth. She said, "Please follow me then."

They began walking through the tunnels of the Hall of the Dead. Red sand lined the floors of the entire structure, with torches and candles illuminating their way. They passed a few other monks as they went.

Along the walls were stone slabs with handles attached to them. Lumb didn't need to pull them out to know they held bodies. These compartments acted as small tombs, at least until another form of burial for an individual was decided.

"There was a portrait of an old man at the entrance of the Hall of the Dead. Who was it?" Ceptance asked.

"Ah, that was the minister of the Hall of the Dead before me – Tradon," the old woman answered as she led them through the tunnels.

"Did he pass away?"

"Yes... but he's still with us," The old woman replied wistfully, "I am Barja by the way. And the young man you met at the front is Felli. He's quite a dedicated member of our commune."

"I'm Ceptance. This is my son and granddaughter."

Barja glanced at Deporah, "Granddaughter? Are you Gregor's daughter?"

Deporah nodded.

Barja frowned a little, "Are you sure you want to see this, little one?"

She nodded again, not showing any sign of weakness.

Barja smiled, "More should be like you. The younger an individual can understand and face death, the better they will be in life."

They continued deeper into the tunnels. Lumb eyed Deporah as they walked. Her steps were rigid, and her face devoid of emotion... she was trying to be strong. But he could tell that the façade was cracking.

"Here is Seamus' tomb," Barja said, stopping at one stone slab along the wall. She reached into her robes and pulled out a key. "I'm not sure if this one has any close family. No one has tried to claim his body yet."

Barja gingerly drew the key into a slot within the stone slab and turned. Mechanical gears turned within. She gripped the handle, pulled, and out came a wooden slab with a body laid upon it, wrapped in a cloth meant to preserve it.

From outside the cloth, Lumb could only make out a few features of the person underneath. The body looked skinny...

"He's so thin..."

"Yes, he was fairly lean when he was alive too," Barja replied.

Lumb recalled what Aingr told him. Apparently most of Seamus's body was covered in harsh cuts, "Can you show us his chest?"

Barja frowned, "I'd rather not. I'd have to cut away the cloth and wrap him back up again."

"Do it anyways," Lumb asserted.

Barja shrugged her shoulders and fashioned a short knife from her robes, "Very well."

Very carefully, the old woman opened a slit in the cloth, and with a few more carefully placed cuts, she pulled away the fabric, revealing the body's chest. She stepped back, allowing them to look it over.

The body had several very deep cuts on the chest. It appeared to be in the shape of an odd symbol that was repeated many times. It was of a diamond with two half circles at the ends and a line drawn through it. Lumb winced as he looked at it. Carving something that intricate looked... painful.

They were only seeing a small portion of his body, and yet, several of these marks had been made there. Lumb could only imagine how many more marks were on him.

"It's believed the man was demented and did this to himself," Barja stated as they looked over the corpse, "Is that all you need to see?"

Lumb glanced at his mother, and she gave an affirmative nod. "Yes, we still want to see Gregor."

"Of course."

Felli was called over to wrap up Seamus, leaving him to seal the tomb once he was done. Barja continued to guide them through the tunnels until they finally stopped at another tomb along the wall. Deporah trembled when they stopped but quickly gathered herself.

Barja unlocked the tomb and pulled out a body wrapped in the same sort of cloth for them to see. It was a larger body, belonging to a fitter man. At least when he was alive. Lumb couldn't make out many features from outside the cloth here though.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Ceptance asked the little girl.

"Yes!" Deporah spoke sternly, doing all that she could to appear strong. Whether she realized it or not, she had stepped back a little as they pulled out Gregor's body.

"I think Aingr said that he had cuts on his shoulder," Lumb said, quickly turning his gaze to Barja. The monk sighed, pulled out a small knife, and began making an incision in the cloth outside the body's shoulder.

She pulled aside the cloth... and found a familiar-looking symbol carved onto Gregor's shoulder. The same one that was on Seamus.

"Did Aingr mention there being a mark like that on him too?" Ceptance asked.

"No... I'm not sure he knows," Lumb replied as he observed the symbol. He didn't know what it meant, but it gave him hope that he might clear his sister's name. "This can't be a coincidence! This must mean something!"

"Maybe, we'll find something when we check out Seamus's home?" Ceptance added optimistically.

"Let's get going!" Lumb declared, turning to Ceptance and... Deporah? The little girl was gone.

"Deporah?" Lumb shouted out.

Ceptance frantically looked around them, hollering out as well, "Deporah! Where'd you go?"

"She can't have gotten far," Lumb asserted as he moved in the direction he last saw her, "I'll find her."

"I'll look the other way. We can meet at the entrance after a little bit."

"I can have the other monks look for the girl as well," Barja added.

The pathways of the Hall of the Dead were very similar to one another; it was easy for Lumb to lose track of where he was. He swore he had turned a few corners, only to wind up exactly where he already was. He was starting to worry that he'd get lost himself until he saw imprints in the sand beneath him.

He looked back and saw his own shoeprint in the sand, and noticed these ones to be much smaller.

He followed the tiny bootprints in the sand through the tunnels. They were spaced far apart as if she was running. But as he continued, the imprints in the sand appeared closer and closer together.

He began to hear sniffling ahead of him. He carefully looked around the corner and saw his niece sitting against the wall with her knees drawn up with her arms around her legs. Her head was down, trying to stifle her sobbing.

Lumb stopped for a moment. He honestly wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't used to moments like these.

He spoke so that she knew he was there, "Hey, Deporah?"

The little girl tensed up, trying to stifle her tears even more, but it was no good. Lumb took a seat in the sand and put her arm around her. His touch seemed to crack her. The girl burst into lament, gripping her uncle as she cried more. She would've liked to stop, but she couldn't help herself.

Lumb wanted to say, 'It's okay'. But he didn't know if that was true. Something that was completely out of her control had changed Deporah's life forever. She'd lost both of her parents, and now she was stuck with them. But at least, he could be there for her.

All Lumb could muster was, "I'm sorry..."

Deporah cried while clutching onto Lumb, but she began to calm down. She was still teary-eyed, but she managed to calm down a little bit. "I'm sorry..."

"For what?"

"Running away and crying like that."

Lumb held her tight, "You're okay. You've been through a lot."

"You and grandma haven't cried. I shouldn't either." Deporah said, trying to harden her voice.

"We're just trying to be strong for you," Lumb said, "And grandma has certainly cried. She just didn't let us see."

"What about you?"

"It... hasn't hit me yet..." Lumb admitted. He was never a very emotional individual, but even he was starting to worry why he hadn't mustered any tears yet.

Deporah nodded, wiping away her tears, "I miss him."

Lumb looked at the girl, "What was he like? Your dad?"

Deporah was about to speak but had to stop herself. Perhaps, to keep herself from breaking down into tears again. She breathed in and said, "He was the best father. He was so nice to me, always wanted to make sure I had a better life than he did."

"He sounds like a great man."

"We played fencing in the kitchen the day he..." Deporah stopped herself again. She could've started crying again.

"I wish I met him," Lumb said, "I know we're no replacement for your parents... but we'll look after you. I promise."

"Thanks, Uncle." Deporah sniffled a little, "Could we take my dad's body with us so we can bury him at home?"

"After we finish up in the city, we will."

The two sat alone in the Hall of the Dead for a while. He wanted to give Deporah all the time she needed to collect herself.

"Grandma will probably worry if we're gone for too long. Do you think you're ready to go?"

Deporah rubbed her eyes to get rid of any trace of tears and stood, "I'm ready."

Lumb and Deporah found their way back to the entrance where the others waited. He assured them that she just got spooked by the bodies and had calmed down.

By the time they left the Hall of the Dead, it was dusk. They journeyed through the city towards Seamus's address. They picked up candle lanterns to light their way through the dark.