93. The Root Beneath the Channel

Carlos did not touch the crack.

Just a second ago, he had thought there was some living creature under the channel wall. Then the movement happened again, and he saw the root clearly. But the strangeness of the situation didn't leave.

He wanted to pull away the clay and see what kind of thing had been sleeping beneath the channel for hundreds of years.

But Rowan had that look on his face again, so Carlos kept his hands away.

"What is it?" he asked.

Rowan did not answer immediately. He leaned closer to the crack without putting his fingers inside it.

"I do not know its name," he said. "But I know what it is doing."

Carlos waited.

"It is holding the channel wall together from underneath. Look there."

Rowan pointed at the clay beside the broken stone. Carlos looked harder. Fine pale roots were pressed through the earth under the old wall. They were not thick enough to lift stone, but there were too many of them to be normal.