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We rolled across those miles in uncomfortable silence, and in a short while the carriage stopped. The footman opened the door and Luca was the first out with me and Landry following behind him. We found ourselves facing a dilapidated wall of rock and twisted metal which had long since rusted to a dull red color. The wall rose up some hundred feet and had a single arched entrance in front of which our vehicle had parked. Through the arch I glimpsed a junkyard of more metal mixed with nature’s attempt at reclaiming the neglected property. Trees sprouted out of piles of junk, and the man-made mess hung from their branches like rusted Christmas ornaments. Grass and weeds grew up in patches that speckled the otherwise dirt-brown area with greens and yellows.
In the middle of the chao
