by Garry Spoor
“And where was that?” Sandson asked.
“Windfoil.”
“What? Are you saying you broke into Windfoil?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t that big of a deal,” she said, passing him on the narrow ledge.
Walking single file, they headed east, or as east as the tunnel would lead them. They had no idea how far into the stone city they traveled, or if they were even heading in the right direction. They were traveling blind, but it was the only direction they could go. When it looked as if the tunnel was going to go on forever, Tullner spotted another set of rungs.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“We’ll have to go up sometime.” Sandson said as he started up the ladder. It didn’t take him nearly as long to release the hatch from this side, and the metal door seemed to be lighter, or better balanced, than the last one. He pushed it open just enough to get an idea of where he was, and then let it close behind him as he climbed back down.
“Well, the good news is, we are in the city,” he said.
“And the bad news,” Tullner asked.
“We aren’t actually near the building we want.”
“I didn’t really think we were going to come up inside it. That would be too much to hope for.” Tullner replied. “How far are we away from where we need to be?”
“We’re not that far, but there are a few valrik we might have to deal with. Like the one standing about three feet from the hatch.”
“Yeah, that could be a problem.” Daniel added.
“Is there only one?” Carter asked.
“As far as I can see. I didn’t dare open the hatch any farther.”
“Not a problem then. I’ll take care of him,” he replied and started up the ladder.
Carter was gone before he even reached the top of the ladder, as he slowly faded from sight. The metal hatch opened by itself, just wide enough for someone to crawl through, and then it closed. They waited nervously, trying to listen for any noise above them, but could hear nothing over the babbling of the water. It felt like an eternity, until the hatch opened again, and a dead valrik fell through. He bounced off the walkway with a thud, rolled into the water and was carried away
“Come on.” Carter whispered.
They went up in the same order they went down. Tullner first, followed by Sandson, Kile, Daniel and finally Marcus.
When they reached the surface they were standing in what used to be a room, although there were only two walls left of the original structure. What purpose the room served, there was no way of telling. Any furniture or identifying features were long gone. Only small bits of discarded wood gave any indication there was any furniture to begin with. One of the remaining walls had an opening where a door once hung. Now it was open to the street. From here they had a perfect view of the Uhyre camp, only ten feet away.
It was hard to say how many valrik were garrisoned in the stone city, but from their vantage point they could make out about three-dozen. They didn’t appear to be preparing for battle, or even guarding anything for that matter. They were just going about their lives, unfazed by the war along the border. Kile started to wonder if the valrik were any different than the vir, in that neither race truly wanted to go to war.
They exited the room through the gaping hole in the back wall, and silently moved around the perimeter of the camp until they reached another building. This one must have been a shop or store as there were still sections of wooden shelves lining the walls. From here they could clearly see their building they needed to reach. It wasn’t difficult to identify because it was the largest in their general area and the only one with guards posted on the door.
“Any ideas?” Tullner asked.
“I’m assuming a frontal assault is out of the questions.” Sandson replied.
“We can go up and over.” Kile suggested.
“Unless one of you Hunters can fly, I don’t think that’s an option.”
“Not fly, jump,” she replied. “See the tower next to the building. If we can reach it, and get to the second or third floor, we may be able to get onto the roof. If not, at least we’ll get a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”
“Better than staring at it from afar,” Sandson added.
“It’s not like we have much of a choice.” Tullner replied. “Alright, we make for the tower. Keep low and keep quiet,” he said and ducked out the back door.
The lack of security was staggering. The valrik either didn’t care what was in their secured building, or they didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to come all the way across the wastelands to break into it. The closest they came to being spotted was when they stumbled upon a valrik relieving himself. Fortunately he was too busy with the task at hand and didn’t even notice them. They waited until he was finished, and when he staggered back to camp, they quickly skirted the alley and made for the back of the tower. It was easy enough to break in, since there was no windows in the windows, just large holes in the side of the wall.
Like every other structure they passed through, the tower was completely empty. Age removed all the details of the city and the sand filled in the spaces left behind. Whoever the architects were, they were long gone and long forgotten. Getting higher than the secured building was a lot simpler than they thought, as the staircase was made of stone, or it was for the first four floors, after that there was nothing. No floors, no ceilings, no roof, it was just a tall chimney, extending upward fifty feet and open to the sky.
When they reached the fourth floor, they were able to get a decent look at the stone city. It was much larger than it first appeared, although most of it was still buried in the sand. The valrik had set up camps in six different locations, pitching tents throughout the streets. There were only a few buildings which looked to be habitable, and the light spilling out of the windows revealed they were being used.
Daniel stepped back from the edge. “Do you think Eric’s down there?” he asked,
“He could be.” Carter replied.
“That’s not our concern at the moment,” Tullner said. He was looking down at neighboring building. The distance was much greater than they had anticipated. “We need to find a way over there.”
“Zip line.” Sandson shouted.
Tullner turned and looked at him.
“You know, you string a rope, one side higher than the other, and you slide down it.”
“I’m aware of what a zip line is,” Tullner replied. “But, don’t you need to secure the other end.”
“Hey, it was just an idea.”
“What if we tried to hook something on the other side?” Carter asked. “We can tie something heavy on the end of a rope and toss it over there, drag it across the roof and see what it catches onto.”
“It might work.” Tullner said. “But I’d be a little leery of what we hook. These buildings don’t appear to be all that sturdy. I’m afraid the first person using will end up in the alley.”
“As you said before, we can’t just stand around staring at it.” Carter replied.
Kile looked over the edge at the alley below. She judged the distance to be about twelve feet, give or take a foot. It was not impossible, she thought, just impractical. Stepping away from the wall, she removed Vesper from her shoulder.
“Danny, can you watch Vesper for me for a moment?” she asked, handing the yarrow to him. Vesper chattered his protest, probably because he already knew what she was planning on doing.
“Sure. Why? What’s up?”
“Nothing, I just want to see something.”
Daniel didn’t give it a moment’s thought. He cradled the yarrow in his hands and turned back to the ongoing discussion of what to throw and what to hook. Sandson was berating himself for not taking the grappling hook they found in the general store. He was positive they would never use it and it would only take up space. Carter was weighing stones in his hands, and trying to convince the others, he could throw the farthest. He was sure he could reach a hole on the far
side of the roof. If they could get the rope there, he was positive it would catch on something. Tullner wasn’t so sure. He was afraid too many tries at such a distant target would raise suspicion from the guards below and was opting for a closer mark. Marcus, like always, was staying out of it.
Kile left them to their animated discussion and descended back to the second floor. She stood on the edge where a section of the wall had fallen away, and looked across the alley. The roof of the secured building was only slightly lower than the floor on which she was standing, which would only make, what she was about to do, easier. The distance didn’t look nearly as far from down here as it did from the fourth floor, but it was still a wide gap. Taking a few steps back, she closed her eyes and fell into her Edge. She reached down and touched the feral side of herself, bringing it up and pushing it forward. The world suddenly came into focus. She could hear the boys up on the fourth floor still arguing. She could hear the valrik, down in the city, speaking in their guttural tongue. She could smell their foul stench on the wind, along with other familiar odors. Was that the smell of burnt toast and garlic? She took a deep breath, and, without hesitating, ran through the opening and jumped. She never doubted she would make it. Landing on the far side, she rolled and came up on her feet. She cleared the alley with more than a yard to spare.
Daniel was the first to notice her.
“I think I have a better idea,” he told the others.
“And what would that be?” Carter asked. He had just finished securing his carefully selected stone to the end of the rope.
“I say, we just toss the rope to Kile, and have her tie it off.” Daniel replied, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
They turned to see Kile waving at them from the far roof.
Carter stared in disbelief. “What the hell…”
“Looks like you boys just got schooled by a girl.” Marcus laughed.
“Yeah, but, how did she get over there?” Carter asked.
Tullner had served too long with Kile to ask questions. Without hesitating, he took the stone from Carter’s hands and threw it across the ally, rope and all. It landed just a few feet from where she was standing. Kile quickly retrieved it and, finding a fairly solid piece of roof, tied it off.
Sandson took the other end of the rope. He wrapped it around the strongest beam he could find, and pulling it taut, secured it as best he could. It created a slope, across the alley which appeared a little steeper than it should be.
“We have to hurry. It won’t be long before morning.” Daniel warned.
“We can’t all go.” Tullner said. “Some of us will have to stay behind, in case something goes wrong.”
“Well, I’m going.” Daniel replied.
Sandson cut off a few sections from the free end of the rope. “I’ll go too” he said, and handed one of the lengths to Daniel.
“Fine, Marcus, Carter and I will stay here. If you get into trouble…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ll come running to the rescue,” Sandson said, looping his short length of rope over the new zip line.
“Something like that,” Tullner grinned.
“Just like Coopervill,” Sandson replied. Gripping both sides of the rope, he hung on it to test the strength of the zip line, and then walked to the edge of the building. “You ever do anything like this?” he asked Daniel.
“I prefer to keep my feet on the ground, thank you.”
“I’m afraid you’re not that tall,” Sandson replied. “Just hold on tight and let gravity do the rest.”
Sandson whispered a silent prayer and jumped off the edge of the tower. He slid down the rope at a surprising speed and released when he was over the secured building. He tried to stay on his feet, but the momentum sent him face first into the roof.
“Are you all right?” Kile asked, running to his side.
Sandson slowly got to his feet. He was a bit scratched up, but otherwise fine. “I don’t remember it being that painful.” he replied.
Daniel was half way across the alley by the time Sandson was on his feet. He managed to grab the Hunter before he slammed into the ground, which was fortunate, since Daniel had his eyes closed all the way. When Sandson released him, he fell over anyway.
“I am never doing that again.” He said in a shaky voice.
“Where’s Vesper?” Kile asked.
Daniel opened his medical bag and the yarrow leapt out, clinging onto Kile and climbing up to her shoulder. He scolded her for leaving him behind.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I knew my landing might be a little rough, and I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“It wasn’t like Danny’s landing was all that great,” Sandson remarked.
“What about the others?” she asked.
“That’s the rescue party, in the event we run into trouble,” He told her
“Let’s hope we don’t need them, then.”
“Kile, are you okay?” Daniel asked, getting to his feet. It was ironic he was asking after her since he was the one who was looking pale.
“As okay as I can be, behind enemy lines, in the middle of a valrik garrison, and sneaking into a secured building. Why do you keep asking?”
“Because you’re doing the whole wild, freaky eye thing again,” Sandson replied.
“Oh, that,” she said, waving it off. “Self-inflicted this time.”
Daniel looked at her suspiciously. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Please, Danny, when I start to lose it, you’ll know.” She said, turning away from them and heading toward the far side of the roof.
She led them to a large hole. The same hole, Carter was aiming for. It dropped down into an empty room, which exited out into an equally empty hallway. Offices, apartments, cells, storage, it was impossible to tell what it was used for. They were just stone walls holding up what was left of the ceiling. She motioned for them to stay back while she scouted ahead.
“So, when we find this thing, what are we supposed to do with it?” Daniel asked.
“It depends on what it is,” Sandson replied. “If we can’t take it with us, we destroy it.”
Was it that simple, Kile wondered? Steal it or destroy it. She hadn’t really thought about it. All she cared about, at the moment, was finding it. As she slowly crept down the hallway, she reached out with her senses. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and listened. She could hear every creak and moan the old building made, almost as if it was trying to talk to her, she just couldn’t understand the language. She concentrated on a more familiar sound—heart beats. Not just the two behind her, waiting silently in the darkness, but the three before her, on the lower floor. Three distinctive heart beats meant they were not alone in the building. She sniffed the air. Valrik, she thought, no doubt. They gave off a pungent aroma, like the smell of swamp mud. But it wasn’t the mud she homed in on. It was their blood pumping through those beating hearts.
Moving slowly, she stalked her prey. Keeping low to the floor, staying in the shadows, she advanced. When she reached the landing, she could see through the railings, down to the first floor. The room was filled with crates, barrels and boxes, but there was only one that interested her. It was an old rusty metal box, bound and locked. Standing beside it, were three valrik guards, but was it the box, or the valrik, she wanted. The smell of their blood was intoxicating, and she suddenly felt very hungry. Carefully and quietly she made her way across the landing, putting one paw in front of the other, until she reached the stairs. Looking down at them, she growled. When she placed her hand on the first step, a sharp pain in her ear caused her to jerk back.
What the hell was she just thinking?
Quickly retreating to the safety of the shadows, she sat with her back against the wall and tried to catch her breath. Her heart was beating fast and she was sweating. What was she going to do? No, she knew what she was going to do. It was what she was going to do after that frightened her.
She reached up and touched her ear, it was bleeding. It
felt like he took a good chunk out of it this time.
-Sorry, but Kile scary again.-
Vesper said, dropping down into her lap.
She looked down at the yarrow who seemed a bit agitated.
“It’s all right Vesper,” she reassured him. “You did good.” Although she hoped he would find a better way of getting her attention than piercing her ear all the time. “I guess I lost it there for a moment.”
It was a scary moment, one she wouldn’t soon forgot. Would she have gone through with it? If Vesper hadn’t bitten her ear, would she have actually done it?
She moved away from the landing, back to the room where Daniel and Sandson were waiting.
“So, what did you find out?” Sandson asked when she entered.
Before she could answer, Daniel was on his feet and across the floor. He grabbed her head and turned it to one side. “What did you do to your ear?” he asked.
She slapped his hand away. “It’s nothing,” she said.
“It’s not nothing, you’re bleeding,” he exclaimed.
“We don’t have time for that,” she told him. “There are three valrik guarding a large metal box. It has to be the same one Carter saw them take from the ruins.”
“So, what do we do now?” Sandson asked. “The three of us against the three of them,” he said with a slight jerk of his head toward Daniel. Kile knew what he meant. Although Daniel passed his Academy, combat training, he wasn’t exactly the best in a fight. She hated to admit it, but she would have preferred to have Carter alongside her right about now. Even Alex, with his illusions, would at least serve as a diversion.
Daniel didn’t notice Sandson concern as he patched up Kile’s ear with some sweet smelling ointment he had in his medical bag.
“You say there are three of them, how close together are they standing?” he asked after he put his supplies away and doubled checked the bandage on Kile’s ear.
Sandson turned and looked at him. “What difference does that make?”
“Humor me,” he replied.
“They’re all standing around the same box, probably as close as we are right now,” Kile replied.
