He began to walk, taking confident steps. In no time at all they reached a stream. They continued along the bank for close to two hours.
“This is it.”
Gabriele stopped and jerked his chin ahead. A sheer cliff face stood just as he had described, rising up behind a dense growth of trees. It was ten meters high at the most. From the perspective of someone used to a fifty-meter wall, it didn’t feel particularly big. The surface was cracked, yielding a gap about thirty centimeters wide.
“Wow, I see.”
Mathias advanced and put a hand against the rock near the entrance. The hard surface appeared to continue all the way inside and up to the top of the cliff itself. It was far deeper than Mathias had imagined.
They camped outside the fissure until shortly before dawn, then relieved their bladders and finally shuffled inside.
Gabriele went in first, leaving Mathias closer to the opening. Once inside it was almost impossible to move.
It took less than an hour for the discomfort to become unbearable.
“What can I say? They move quieter than you’d expect. There could be one out there right now. You could be snapped up the moment you stick your head out.”
“Right,” Mathias accepted.
While he understood this, it didn’t help alleviate his torment. At least he was able to lean into the surfaces in front and behind of him, but only a year ago, he could never have pictured himself spending half a day on his feet in such a cramped space.
He drank as little as possible to minimize the need to urinate. Just once, unable to hold it in any longer, he risked his life to run out and heed nature’s call.
The narrowness of the fissure meant they were only exposed to direct sunlight from above for a few dozen minutes. Mathias had kept his overcoat over his head for the duration and sweltered underneath. Snacking occasionally on cured meat, and feeling dizzy, somehow he managed to last until sunset.
“That should do it.”
Mathias experienced a heartfelt sense of relief when Gabriele uttered the words.
Squeezing out from the gap, he started to work the kinks from his body.
He couldn’t see any Titans. He couldn’t hear breathing or footsteps. For the second night in a row, the sky was free of clouds and the moon’s shape distinct.
“Shall we?” Mathias finally said.
“Uh huh.”
They traced their previous route in reverse, trampling over tall grass.
“What did you say this guy’s name was?”
“Bernhardt.”
“Right. You must value him, going to all this trouble.”
“I’m not sure that’s the right word.”
Without Bernhardt, Mathias would have never made it to Quinta. And yet, if they had never struck their deal, neither would he have ended up killing Rita’s subordinate.
She would never have broken─he felt that was the right word─and Quinta’s fate would have been significantly different.
Mathias couldn’t summarize his feelings for Bernhardt in a single word, but at any rate, the man was an excellent fighter.
He’d served with the Military Police Brigade. He was adept at wielding the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment and those special blades.
He could kill Titans.
“No, you’re right. He is valuable.”
“Can’t say you look like you want to see him.”
“But I do.” There was work for Bernhardt to do.
“So how do we find him?”
“We’ll have to cover as much ground as we can.” The orchard was fairly expansive, and there was always the chance of Bernhardt’s itinerary having changed during the course of the day. “If we have to we can wait near the gate at dawn and meet up with him that way.”
“Except the soldiers would see us.”
“If they do…we’ll probably have to distance ourselves from Quinta for a bit. They’ll be on alert, so it’ll be hard to get back over the wall, even with Bernhardt.”
“So worst case, we rough it out here for a few more days. Well, I’m used to that.”
Mathias remembered his excruciating day. He doubted Bernhardt would choose to go through something like that. No, Bern-hardt─at least, the Bernhardt of old─would find it simpler to “dispose of some inexperienced soldiers” and go back over the wall.
“Let’s avoid that if possible. Best to find him in the orchard, give him this…” Mathias glanced at the bag hanging from his shoulder. The jutting edges of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment were plain to see, and there was no point in keeping it hidden under his clothes. “Then we scale the wall quietly under the cover of night.”
“Yup.”
They hurried through the nighttime forest. Wild animals howled in the distance, and the moon shone through layers of branches and bathed the ground in a soft luminescence.
Feeling strangely uneasy, Mathias looked up.
Ahead of them to the right, there between the trees, was an inexplicable patch of sheer darkness. Still walking, Mathias tried squinting his eyes.
Two glossy, circular objects were arranged in a vertical line.
At first Mathias couldn’t process what they were. Then they lunged forwards, and the concealed body was revealed under the moonlight, and everything became clear.
Titan…
The shapes had been its eyes.
It was lying on the ground with its torso twisting upwards and its head cocked to one side. It was trying to force its way between two trees.
“It’s huge…” muttered Gabriele.
It brought Mathias out of his trance. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
“I know!”
They broke into a run, tripping over themselves. The bag on Mathias’ shoulder was in the way, but he couldn’t just leave it. The Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was inside. Delivering it to Bernhardt was the reason, the one and only reason, he’d decided to put himself in this kind of danger.
He saw that Gabriele was ahead of him. Mathias couldn’t decide whether it was best to try to flee together or to split up.
The Titan looked sorrowful. Of course, the emotion was only surface-deep. The Titans weren’t capable of anything like sorrow.
What was clear was that it knew they were there. That was why it had been contorting itself like that, trying to squeeze through the trees. The pose and motion brought to mind a gigantic snake.
“A freaking aberrant, now?!” Gabriele spewed in complaint as he ran.
“Its movements seemed slow,” Mathias wheezed, desperately sucking in more of the nighttime air. “I think it was seven meters…but it was alone. We can make it!”
He had no actual basis for this. It was nothing more than wishful thinking.
He was shaking from the inside out.