Noble immediately recognized the footprints in the ash. They were the same ones that had been outside the bakery two days before.
The trail came from the opposite direction from which Noble came before turning at a right angle and heading off to the left.
The creature that had made it couldn't be far off if it had caught Sunny's attention. And since she hadn't sensed any emotions from whatever had made it, it had to be an Echo.
It had to be the Echo which she had failed to locate before—the one who had left her the strange package and even stranger note.
A shimmer appeared in the air next to her as the Soul Bloom separated from her body, and a tiny, fluffy buzzer appeared by her ear. Noble smiled at Nectar. She pointed at the marks on the ground in the distance.
'Ok, girl! This is your chance. Go find it!'
Nectar took off at the silent command, racing across the field of ash at astounding speed. The little creature was a blur of motion, and soon she ducked behind another hill of ash and disappeared from sight.
'That's fine, I'll use her sight instead.'
Noble had been eager to try out her Relic's capabilities. Thanks to her distance from everyone except Rain and the tutor hidden in her shadow, her mind was calmer than it had been all day.
Her excitement pushed aside all other feelings, cleansing her emotional palate and allowing her keen focus to guide Nectar's actions.
A second set of images formed in Noble's vision. Confident that Rain was occupied, Noble closed her eyes.
It was a bit like using her boys' old gaming device. While she could direct Nectar's actions, the instructions were enough for the creature to travel on its own.
That gave Noble the freedom to look around and take in the scene.
The scratches in the ash that nectar was following were crisp and untainted by the light wind that constantly blew across the warm plain. They were fresh.
But as Nectar rounded the hill, Noble noticed dozens of other trails in various states of erasure. What could cause a creature, an echo no less, to scurry aimlessly like that?
Where was its master? Surely an Awakened wouldn't send their Echo around the barren expanse like that. It had no purpose!
'No discernible purpose,' Noble corrected her thinking. There could be a very good reason behind it all.
Or a very bad one…
Noble's excitement waned slightly. There was a chance this was a trap.
Noble didn't think so, though. Most of the tracks were made before Rain had come out to hunt that morning.
Sunny also didn't seem very concerned about the creature, and he was probably the most paranoid person Noble knew.
Anyway, Noble wasn't the one doing the tracking just now. Nectar was. If this were some nefarious trap, the culprit would be sorely disappointed.
The tracks galavanted here and there. Occasionally, they skidded to one side and changed direction suddenly, as if the being had changed its mind mid-stride. The strangest part was that every so often, the prints would disappear entirely, only to pick up many meters farther away, usually on the other side of a mound of ash.
To say Noble was intrigued by the development was an understatement. She found herself fully engrossed in the chase. Surely the little bee could catch up with whatever had made the tracks.
However, as the minutes passed and Rain's grumbling grew louder amidst her brother's goading, Noble began to wonder if she had been duped. She wasn't great with directions to begin with, but using he creature's vision made her even more unsure of her surroundings.
Was she being led in circles? Had the critter doubled back at some point?
Noble was an expert on Memories, but she had to admit that her skills in tracking were adequate at best. A critter, especially one controlled by a cunning Awakened, might be able to give her the slip.
'There!' Noble noticed the jump that she had missed before. Nectar turned to follow the new trail.
The creature's tread was deeper here. It was more confident in its travel now as the path led in a straight line. But, where was it going?
'Faster,' Noble urged her little friend. Wind whizzed by, making noise in Noble's ears as well.
Something else was mixed with the sound. It took a moment for Noble to separate it from the whining behind her and the whirling wind.
'It-it's a voice!' Noble waited to hear if it would speak again.
When it did, a single word carried across the field of ash.
"Matilda!"
Noble furrowed her brow. 'What in two worlds is a Matilda?'
But she knew immediately that Matilda wasn't a thing. It was a name.
A black line appeared on the horizon. As it drew closer, Nectar slowed down.
Eventually, she came to a halt.
The black line marked the end of the ash field—it was a gaping chasm. The seemingly bottomless pit reminded Noble of Ender's Deep, but that is not what drew her attention.
The footprints… they went right to the edge and disappeared!
Nectar went to the right and left in search of another tricky jump by the critter, but no such leap was found.
It couldn't have jumped over the chasm. It was simply too large.
'Maybe it was dismissed?' Noble was certain it was an Echo. But her instincts told her that the footprints didn't look like it had disappeared.
There was only one way the creature could have gone.
Down.
Either it had fallen in the crevice or, more likely, it had a way to cling to the sides of the cliff.
That wasn't a problem. The only thing better than being able to scale the walls of a cliff was being able to fly over it.
And Nectar had wings.
She dove over the edge, wings flapping faster than the mundane eye could see.
The walls of the cavern were jagged and full of shadows. There was too much to see, too much to examine.
And unfortunately, Nectar wasn't quite quick enough to see the furry form among the crags until it was leaping at her.
It glided across the expanse, enveloping the small bee in its fuzzy body.
Then everything went dark.
Noble felt the vague sensation of falling as Nectar was dragged through the air. The bee struggled, but she couldn't free herself from the entanglement. Not even her little stinger was in a position to help.
'Oh!'
Noble dismissed Nectar, pulling her back into her soul sea.
Once she was sure that the Soul Bloom was back safe and sound, she heaved a sigh of relief.
What even was that?
It hadn't tried to eat Nectar, just catch it.
That confirmed Noble's theory that it wasn't a Nightmare Creature. Well, that and the human voice she had heard calling to it from far off.
Did that mean it was friendly? If it were, why had it jumped her little bee instead of trying to make contact some other way?
Maybe it was curious? Maybe it was feral?
The more Noble thought about the odd encounter, the more questions she had.
The only thing she knew for sure was its name: Matilda.
Noble was determined to find out more.