by K. Aten
A slow smile graced Castellan’s face as she turned to look at her lover. “Oh really? And what were you doing that was so impressive?”
Olivienne smirked. “Just outshooting everyone with my pistol.”
Her smile turned to a little frown when Savon added his piece. “Everyone except for the Queen.”
Olivienne waved her hand through the air dismissively. “Yes, well, you can’t win them all, Savon!”
Castellan laughed heartily until she was gifted with Olivienne’s scowl. “When do we leave, Lieutenant?”
Lt. Savon stood straighter with his slate held down at his side. “Eight hundred, the morning after next, ser.”
Tosh tried to think of any other information she needed to know or impart to her lead lieutenant. “We’re going to count on Specialist Dozier on this one, Lieutenant. Make sure she has everything she needs for both rappelling down the cliffs and for the cave exploration. Use these two daes to hold clinics with her and the rest of the unit. Not everyone has cave experience and we’ll end up splitting up into search teams when we get down there because the cliff is riddled with caves. You’re dismissed, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, ser!” Savon saluted both of them, turned on his booted heal, and quickly walked away.
THE DAES FLEW by for everyone and before they knew it, the departure time to Dromea arrived. The Connate’s team had three railer segments all to themselves, on top of the added open segments that held the haulers. They arrived in Pentole just past seventeen-thirty oors and departed the Pentole station on time, thirty meens later. But during that thirty meen interim, Olivienne and Castellan sat quietly in the sitting area of the Connate’s private segment. Suddenly Olivienne shivered. Sensing something off, Tosh glanced up from her book to catch a look of naked fear on her lover’s face. “What’s wrong, ’Vienne?” The Connate stiffened, not expecting Castellan to notice that her mood had changed. “It’s nothing, go back to your book. I’m fine.”
Rather than do as directed, Tosh marked and closed the book then moved over to the couch where Olivienne sat. “Is it Penterole? This is the first time you’ve been through since the assassination attempt. I can understand if that would upset you.”
Olivienne looked down at her clasped hands. She wasn’t used to feeling weak or unsettled, and she was less familiar with actually showing such weakness to another. “I’ll admit that it is somewhat unsettling. But that is not what made me feel as though someone had dipped me in an icy lake.” She looked up to meet Tosh’s pale blue eyes and her own reflected sadness. “I barely knew you then but something inside me nearly broke while I watched you bleeding out on the stones of the marketplace.” A tear broke free from her dark lashes and she tried to laugh as she told Castellan what upset her most. “And there you were, dying painfully yet calm as you please shooting assassins down from bell towers. I was then, and continue to be, amazed by you on a daily basis. And...”
“And?”
“I couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to you, if you were to be taken away from me.”
Castellan smiled and gently cupped Olivienne’s cheek. “Well then, I shall endeavor to make sure nothing untoward ever happens to my fair flesh and functioning mind. And just in case you wonder, I feel the same about you. Clearly if the beach battle on Mater told you anything, it is that I’m quite taken with you.” Then as if she were announcing the dae’s weather, she said four more words. “You hold my heart.”
The second leg of their trip was much longer and Olivienne and Castellan opted to share the Connate’s private cabin overnight. They had another thirty meen layover the next morning in Gomen, just before ten hundred local time.
It was a short four oor jaunt down to Vesper after that and both Olivienne and Cmdr. Tosh were surprised to receive a hero’s welcome when they stepped off the railer in the small river town. Because of the impromptu celebration and lunch, they didn’t start down the jungle road until nearly sixteen hundred oors and Castellan knew it would be a long trip for everyone. While they had plans to stop every few oors on their way to the coast, it wasn’t recommended they make camp because the local flora and fauna was notoriously inhospitable to Psierians. Carnivorous nocturnal animals and poisonous plants and insects were no way to start a successful adventurist mission.
“I hope we don’t have to search too many caves to find the one with the key.” Olivienne was studying her pile of vellum and locally drawn maps that she had brought on the trip. It was twenty-one hundred and they still had four oors more before their scheduled arrival at Wahnish.
Tosh glanced down at the translated page that was on the top of the stack. “There were no other clues given, other than it was in one of the Caves of Navis?”
“I forgot, you haven’t actually read the translated text. Just as with the other reference to the key, it doesn’t specifically call out where the location is. We knew it was the correct text because the beginning of the poem is identical, but the end changes to speak of a different place.” She held out the page for Tosh to read.
In the summer of celestial events
On the fifth and final dae
Cataclysm turned the sky gray
And the land was scored with rents
As awareness slowed by moments
And forethought came into play
Our people recognized a way
First thought of by the docents
A pendant for each temple door
Collect the three to enter
All of them a different gem
The second on a fiery shore
Holes a’stern left of center
The Key of keys will open
Tosh read it silently while the hauler bounced along and she raised an eyebrow at its conclusion. “Well at least the Makers made it obvious that this text is related to the other. I think our clue can be found in the last two lines.”
“How so?”
The commander tapped Olivienne’s folded map that was given to them by the surveyors. “How many caves are listed in the cliff face? Does it say how many are large enough for a Psierian?”
Olivienne handed the mission folder to Tosh so she had a little more space to unfold the map. It was large for the space available so she kept the top half of the island folded over and they studied the bottom. Surveyors had drawn an exploded section showing just the cliff face and they counted eighteen different cave markings. The surveyors had used a sonal ocilloscope or sonalscope as it was often called, to read the initial depth of each cave. Tones produced by the machine, most likely mounted on a dirigible, would be sent out to strike the cliff face. They would then reflect back to the scope and give a calibrated distance. The sonalscope would gauge cave depth based on the difference between the external rock face and the sounds returned from within the caves themselves.
Unfortunately it didn’t work if the cave took a turn in one direction or another. But initial depth and height readings would perhaps narrow down the field of choices, as well as taking into consideration the fact that the cave was left of center. Tosh casually grabbed the stylus that Olivienne had tucked behind her ear and drew a light line down the center of the cliff region. Then she put a check mark next to any cliffs that were large enough to explore. That brought the list of searchable caves down to six. “Thank the Makers!” Olivienne leaned over and kissed Tosh straight on the mouth for her deductive work and Lt. Madlin snorted from the front seat of the hauler.
There were only four in their hauler, with Spc. Calderon driving that particular leg of the trip. The other twelve were split up between the two haulers behind them. Even so, it was still more witnesses than Castellan was comfortable with. Tosh flushed and looked up abruptly to meet the lieutenant’s eyes. “Erm...”
Taking pity on her commander, Madlin pretended like she had seen nothing and Olivienne spoke again. “So we’ve narrowed it down to six, have we? We have gear for four caves at a time so hopefully we nail down the correct one in the first go ’round. But what about the las
t line?”
Castellan shook her head. “I don’t know. It could have to do with the pendant you already have. It’s the only key I know of. Perhaps it will make more sense when we get there.”
The Sovereign nodded, also flustered at her show of affection in front her guardians. “Hopefully.”
The haulers were hot in the stifling jungle humidity. Even with the windows open they didn’t do much to cool the passengers. The Connate was ready to arrive at the coast where at least they’d have the breeze coming off the ocean to refresh them. Howlers, the small primates with loud voices, could be heard over the drone of the engines of the mini-convoy. When they’d stop for breaks to stretch their legs or in some cases eliminate a short ways into the trees, the sounds of the fauna would increase exponentially.
By the time they had gotten though the last scheduled stop before Wahnish, Spc. Lear had lost her tinted spectacles and Spc. Lazaro had lost his voteo. After repeated screeching and howls came over all their portable communication units, Tosh ordered the entire team to adjust their voteos to a different frequency. While she chewed the man out publicly in front of the team, she and Olivienne laughed in the privacy of their hauler. Every time they’d calm down, Tosh would grab her voteo from her belt and make the classic howler face and that would set them off again. The Connate was pleased to see such a lighthearted side of her lover. Tosh made stones look jovial at times and Olivienne was honored to be graced with the commander’s humor. And after catching Lt. Madlin glance at them from the front, Olivienne had a feeling that the rest of the unit would also be in on the joke and would in turn tease Lazaro mercilessly.
It was just after one hundred oors when they arrived in Wahnish. The Connate’s group drove straight to the local Security Corp station and made camp in the green space behind it. Tosh spoke with the officer on duty and asked him to teleo the nearest Shield office and let them know that the Connate had arrived safely in Wahnish. They had plenty of time to catch up on their rest since they weren’t scheduled to leave on the dirigible until twenty-two hundred the next evening. That gave Castellan time to organize the teams and double check equipment, as well as get the dirigible loaded that had shown up the afternoon after their arrival.
The captain of the air ship said she preferred to travel to the volcanic island at night because they could better see if any hot bits were in the airspace they’d be travelling. It made no difference to the unit since the dirigible was both comfortable and secure and they’d all be guaranteed a good night’s sleep for when they arrived at the cliffs at seven-thirty.
It was a strange experience to stand in the open air section at the stern of the dirigible’s gondola. Tosh had stayed inside to speak with her team when they lifted into the night breeze. With no more preparation needed on her end, Olivienne went to watch the few twinkling lights from the fishing town slowly disappear behind them. The night was pitch black, with only a blanket of stars in the sky to guide their way. The Connate marveled at how the tapestry changed whenever she traveled to the southern continent.
At loose ends, she thought on her developed closeness with Castellan. Though she would never admit it to the Queen, she had secretly dreamed of finding someone who suited her as well as her papan seemed to suit her maman. But she was also aware that she had a duty to fulfil as Royal Heir to the Divine Cathedra. Even if she had no par, she would be expected to go through fertilization at the temple by the age of fifty rotos to produce a Connate of her own.
She wasn’t ready to settle down any time soon, nor did she want to become a mother just yet, and she had given up on finding someone who accepted both her career and her royal status. Over the rotos, she had also given up on finding a person who could match her intellect and her passionate drive. Olivienne wasn’t looking for just a lover, she wanted someone that would challenge her and rival her own curiosity when it came to the Makers and the history of their world. She craved a partner in adventure.
As she continued to gaze into the inky blackness, with matching dark hair loose and swirling around her head, Olivienne felt a little hope that maybe she had found all she’d given up on in one Castellan Tosh. Then as if thoughts alone had pulled her from the sea air, Tosh’s arms snaked around the Connate and together they watched the fading shoreline.
ONE OF THE steersman aboard the dirigible was forced to shoot an anchor harpoon into the rock atop the windy and barren Cliffs of Navis the next morn. After reeling the airship down to the ground at the top of the cliff, the Connate and her Shield Corp unit disembarked and unloaded their adventurist gear. On their initial approach, Olivienne asked the captain to bring them in from the south side of the island, facing the cliffs, so they could shoot dye pellets at the top of the cliff to mark out the location of the cave entrances they needed to check. That way the individual teams would have a marker to set up their rappelling lines. Specialized pistols were used to shoot anchor bolts into the rock and lines were clipped to the anchors. Then the entire unit did one last buddy check of their gear and split into teams to start their decent.
Spc. Soleng and Spc. Lazaro were disappointed to be assigned topside but Tosh wanted a few guardians left outside the caves in case something untoward were to happen to the rest of the team. She figured that a quick-thinking engineer and one of their communications specialists were the best ones to leave with the dirigible. Olivienne, Castellan, and Spc. Holling would be going into the first cave, the one just to the left of cliff center. Holling was an experienced medican who had worked with the unit for three rotos and had proven to have a level head on his shoulders. He also had a small amount of cave training. Castellan didn’t tell the Connate that the main reason she was bringing the man was because he was a medican. Tosh couldn’t bear if something happened to Olivienne again.
The next cave team would be led by Spc. Qent since he was another guardian with a sub-degree in historical adventurism. His team consisted of the salvo and rescue trained Spc. Devin, Spc. Yazzie who was the team’s other medican, and Spc. Leggett. Three of the four cave two team members possessed hard channels and Tosh had confidence they’d come through all right in case of an emergency.
Cave three team was led by the adventurist with specific cave training. Spc. Dozier had done a fine job getting the unit up to speed with basic spelunking training and would be taking Lt. Savon, and Spc. Penn into the darkness.
The fourth and final cave team was led by Lt. Madlin. She would take another four person team consisting of Spc. Lear, and Spc. Calderon. Her final member was Spc. Meza who was another guardian trained in salvo and rescue.
They had all seen the first key, a medallion, and they’d all been warned to watch for traps. The one group that didn’t have a historical adventurist with them was actually instructed to simply hold position and voteo Connate Dracore if they came across anything that seemed out of place. Olivienne was the first of her team to clip onto the line and rappel the ten yords down to their cave. Castellan followed, then Spc. Holling swung in last. Despite being high above the ocean waves, the cave was cold and damp and smelled of salt tang and old fish. All three turned on their headlamps as soon as they were inside the cave proper. Once they were in, Olivienne pulled the remaining line inside and all three clipped back to it. It was better they stayed together and had some sort of safety line in case there were holes or other traps farther in.
After about fifteen meens of walking along a twisting and turning passageway, the cave abruptly came to an end. “Well clearly this isn’t the one.” Olivienne sighed and rubbed her head while Tosh pulled the voteo from her belt
She cued the alert button then spoke. “Tosh, checking status of cave two. Over.”
Spc. Qent’s voice came across the small speaker. “Qent here. Cave two status incomplete. Still walking, Commander.”
“Roger status, Qent. Keep walking and report any change.”
“Affirmative, Commander. Qent out.”
Olivienne looked at Tosh and Holling in the dim light of their lamps. �
��Well, no news is good news I guess. At least their cave is still viable—” Her words were cut off by a frantic transmission over the voteo.
“Maydae, maydae, maydae! Cave three. Med red, med red, med red! Cave three!”
The three Psierians looked at each other and Tosh responded. “Team one on our way!” Then they started running toward the cave entrance. As soon as they got to the opening, Tosh peered out toward where the cave three team’s line hung down from the top of the cliff. The cave was twenty yords farther west of their own, and ten yords lower. “Sheddech! We don’t have time to climb up then back down to their cave again!” Before Olivienne could start brainstorming for other ideas, Castellan unclipped from their own line.
“Unclip, I’ll take us over and we can clip to their line when we get inside cave three.”
The Connate looked at her with concern. “Are you sure? We’re pretty high off the water, I know that makes it harder to levitate...”
Tosh shook her head and smiled grimly, knowing that every single sec counted when it came to a medican alert. “Don’t worry, I’ll still have plenty in reserve should there be more trouble in the cave.”
They all quickly unclipped from the line and with supreme focus, Tosh swept them from the cave and lowered them over and down to the cave three entrance. As soon as they were inside, they all clipped to the cave three line, with Tosh at the front. They took off at a fast pace along the smooth corridor that pitched down at a fairly steep angle. Moisture leaked from the ceiling and walls making the going pretty treacherous. More than once Holling, who was off balance from the med pack, slipped and fell backward. He learned to clamp his gloved hands tightly onto the rope brake to prevent further sliding, and Olivienne did the same every time she heard him fall. It would help no one if they all arrived at the bottom in a tangle.
Eventually they could make out the headlamps of Spc. Dozier and Spc. Penn. They were on their bellies peering over the edge of a drop off. The blackness beyond and below swallowed the light shining from their helmets and when Tosh spoke, the words echoed disconcertingly. “Dozier, what’s the status?”
