The two soon arrived at the cemetery entrance. Though it lay in the wilderness far from the village, the sweltering summer night was anything but quiet. The wind carried the chirping of cicadas and the rustling of treetops to their ears, but beneath their hoods, they could not feel even a trace of coolness.
Naturally, there were no obvious lights near the cemetery. They could only vaguely make out the glow of the Gravedigger's Cabin at its center.
The cemetery outskirts were enclosed by iron fencing, and because of the torrential rain a few days earlier, the path was covered in dried mud. The gate seemed to be locked, but upon approaching, they found that the two spiked iron gates were merely fastened together with iron chains.
Though it was a village cemetery, perhaps because it was close to the city, it appeared rather proper. After unfastening the chain and entering the cemetery, a straight path less than thirty paces long led directly to the Gravedigger's Cabin in the very center. The rest of the cemetery was filled with graves, both old and new.
Unlike the Outlander's homeland, according to Delarion tradition and Tobesk burial regulations, the mound of an ordinary grave could not be taller than a thumb's length. However, long white stones could be used to mark the edge of the burial plot, making the grave easier to identify. Following beside Miss Louisa and looking out over the cemetery beneath the moonlit night, Shade could see only graves of similar appearance lying one after another, their silence carrying a chilling, terrifying coldness.
The styles of the gravestones varied. Most small stone markers were embedded directly into the earth before the burial plot, which was the cheaper form of burial. Though Shade had never visited Detective Sparrow's grave in