by Kalyn Crowe
"Eda said every six cars?" I looked at Leyla.
She nodded. "I've seen them. One is near the engine horses. Is it clear the whole way forward?"
He peeked below. "We're closer to the one between six and seven then, but the forward one is away from the workers."
"But then it's by the horses." I bit my lip. "Once the invokers clear, it's possible we'll miss our chance."
Kepi flicked her ear.
I said, "Let's go forward."
"All right. I'll go last and lower you two down. Remember, you're heavier than normal," said Rhys.
We both looked at him.
"With the packs on." He chuckled and said to Tilly. "These two, I tell you."
She rolled her big eyes at him and warbled at us.
"All right, all right. Take point. Squawk if you see anything."
She jumped down the hole and landed in a puff of black.
"It's soft, at least." I peeked over the edge. "What is that?"
Leyla said, "Sand to absorb the glow of the Sleigh in the tunnels." Her scroll closed, and she handed it over.
"No, you take it from here."
She nodded with her hand and smiled.
"Here." He held out his hand and steadied me as I sat by the edge.
I slipped one leg at a time through the hatch. "I'm just going to go for it."
He let go.
I pushed my butt off the edge and landed in a cushioned thud on my feet. Sure enough, the weight of my pack pulled me off balance.
Tilly pushed against me.
"Thanks."
My bag with Kepi lowered after. I cradled her close.
She poked her head out and cocked it.
"I hope we're doing this right."
She softly cooed.
Her little voice always helped wash away any doubts once I learned to listen.
She knew where we went today. This mission belonged to her as much, or more, as it did to me.
Leyla met us on the ground and motioned toward the bag, then helped me put the strap over my head.
Rhys took a little while to join us. The hatch's cover fell through first, and then he landed on it.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"Covered the hole with the rug." He kicked the sand over the hatch lid. "And hid this." He adjusted his pack and took up Tilly's leash.
She pulled and bit at it.
"Not yet, think of it like we're holding hands."
She walked at his side without any more protest.
Leyla nudged me and pointed at them. Then she held her hands up in the shape of a heart.
I giggled.
To my surprise, Kepi cooed.
We traveled under the sterling Sleigh body. Luckily the maintenance invokers continued their work farther behind. The dark sand absorbed not just light, but sound. Our footsteps made no noise at all.
A dry chill filled the stone tunnel. It grew colder the more we walked. It also became brighter, and we found ourselves among the giant legs of the horses.
Rhys caught our attention and pointed forward.
A shaft big enough for one person to slide through showed only a shadow of itself. It waited beyond the four horses.
We stayed near the wall.
One of the giant hooves landed right in front of us in a spray of sand. Again, silent. It fell so precisely that we couldn't inch by along the wall.
The grand hoof raised and landed ahead in a perfectly shaped flattened area. After another ten, maybe fifteen seconds, it replaced itself near us. They looked alive, but they were machines of light.
I leaned into Rhys and Leyla. "Follow the pattern, run under."
Leyla held up two fingers and pointed straight forward.
"She's right. We should only have this hoof and the one ahead to clear if we keep tight to the wall. Don't run into the middle." He wrapped Tilly's leash around his hand a few times. "Stay close."
I wrapped my arm around Kepi and the bag. "Let's go."
We dashed as the hoof rose and stopped at the next. It lifted.
Rhys ran immediately.
Leyla shot after him.
I hesitated.
We didn't know when this one would land, but I still ran.
Unlike the first, it dropped in the same place immediately. I made it halfway under and tried to sprint through the thick sand, but it was clear I wouldn't make it.
The colossal hoof careened down, and the impact came.
Not from above, behind.
The painless blow threw me forward to the feet of the others. Between the horses. Safe.
Leyla grabbed hold of me and pushed my hair from my face. Just quick enough to see Kepi in the crater of sand.
The hoof smashed down.
She disappeared into the radiant light within a sandy cloud.
My scream sounded like someone else's.
Tears burned.
I ripped myself away from Leyla and dug at the sand on the edge of the hoof.
The massive thing raised again.
A trail of black rained off it.
She was nowhere.
One moment, everything was whole, and now, shattered.
"No." My constant, gone. Even if I found Thirteen, I still failed. I said goodbye to everyone else, not Kepi. How could I ever tell her everything I needed to?
I fell to my knees.
The hoof careened down again, missing me by a hands' breath.
I covered my face. The grit of the sand scoured my skin. What did it matter?
'Coo.'
I lowered my hands.
Kepi sat on her hind legs, front talons tucked to her chest, beside me. She stared up as nothing happened and then nudged me with her head. Then she stepped into the hoof. Her talons passed right through. With a quick flick, she shook off a few bits of sand.
I picked her up and held her under my chin. "Are you a ghost?" My voice shook.
Conduction and Resistance imbued in balance together created the horses. As such, had Apex become the primary Anima for her to pass through? Was it her null zone?
I held her up to my nose under her front arms. "Don't do that again."
She said nothing.
I knew what that meant.
Rhys touched my shoulder. "Are either of you hurt? We have to get going." He pointed down the tunnel and helped me up.
The workers came down the tunnel toward us.
I said, "They heard me. I was too loud."
The horses stilled.
We all gazed up a moment
Someone stopped them.
Rhys said, "No one blames you, come on."
We bolted to the drain.
27 - Return
The drain tube was steep and narrow; we couldn't stand or take the time to crawl.
We removed our packs and my bag, but I kept Kepi in my arms.
"It's smooth enough to slide down. Go first, yell up when you reach the bottom." Rhys gathered all our luggage. "You too, Tilly."
"You don't have to go last," I said.
"I've done my job. I'll send the stuff down after you once I hear you're at the bottom. Go."
Leyla put her legs into the tube and took a seat. She pushed herself forward and disappeared into the darkness.
I swallowed and followed her with Kepi clutched.
The slick surface gave the descent such unnerving speed pitch-black engulfed us immediately.
Within seconds, a weak rose-colored glow appeared below.
The setting sun flashed bright, and the snap and crack of twigs and vines followed. The heel of my boot caught solid ground and sent me forward in a ball.
A dirty but familiar hand reached down and pulled me up.
Leyla checked around us. The grand wall shot skyward and distorted my senses with its size.
Tilly slid down on a small blanket.
Leyla tapped me.
I blinked and shouted up the tube for Rhys.
Our bags crashed down one after the other.
We barel
y moved them as Rhys landed, stumbled, and somehow managed to catch himself. A thin trail of sand followed.
He bent over and looked up the drain tube. "I covered our tracks by the drain opening," he said and checked on Tilly. He took her leash off and tied it to his pack.
Leyla didn't smile or pick up her bag. Instead, she stared away from the city.
I looked out where she pointed.
Jagged rocks cascaded from the wall as far as the eye could see. More drain openings poured thin lines of water that met in a stream within the stones.
Kepi flicked her tail and sniffed the air.
Dark, twisted brambles peeked out here and there from the blanket of black rubble under our feet. Farther down the mountain, the brush grew thicker, and beyond sprawled a dense forest of hardy short-leaved trees.
Rhys listened at the pipe and sighed with a smile.
Leyla took out the map and examined it. She made a note on the side and tapped it. "Do you think it's safe to use my scroll?"
"I would think so. The scroll doesn't seem track-able by Formist. They'd have found it on you long before now."
She wrote with her pen again. "A Formist hasn't traced me since I left the orphanage."
"It'll be all right. Kepi is here."
She scribbled down, "But what Kat said about leaving a residue even with Kepi."
Her paper would fill, and we'd be unable to talk because I never learned Sign Language. "The Formists at the ring didn't seem suspicious. No one worries about Apex usually."
She tightened her lips and looked at the scroll.
I said, "Plus, they'd have to think to trace for Apex in the first place if anyone follows at all."
She wiggled her lips, and then her scroll flew open. "Kepi saved you back there, didn't she?"
"I." The words escaped me. "She must have."
"I didn't know she had powers like that."
"Neither did I."
Rhys stepped forward and took out a small, mirrored box and unfolded it into a triangle. He picked up a little candle and tossed it in his hand. "I shouldn't light this yet, and at the very least, I'd be careful of the scroll's glow, too."
We put our packs on.
I pulled on my bag and tucked Kat's necklace into my coat.
Kepi hopped onto my other shoulder. She flicked her tail and watched Leyla's scroll float beside her.
Leyla led us along a trail of dark, pointed stones with pale carpets of lichen strewn between them.
The steep city wall loomed on our left for so long, yet no way down presented itself. Rocks slipped loose under my feet and tumbled down the hillside into the thorny shrubs. I clung onto the pack straps with sweaty hands.
"So." Rhys walked behind. "We're looking for a pond or lake, right?"
"I'm glad you were listening," I said and smiled over my shoulder.
He chuckled. "Only the whole time, but what if the stream splits?"
Leyla went back to the map she held in front of her.
"Well, I saw the end was in a circular valley. There weren't forks in the charm's memory leading up to it."
"But, this lake thing isn't on the map?"
Kepi turned around and cooed at him.
He said nothing more.
Loose and jagged rocks wore on more than my feet in about an hour. Each step took an awful amount of thought. Some sizable stones rose from the rubble. "Leyla, do you know where we are?" I stopped and perched on a reasonably smooth rock but still managed to poke myself. "Why are these all so damned pointy?"
Rhys laughed. "Right?" He leaned on a nearby chest-high rock. "It's all debris from when the Order leveled the top of the mountain a few hundred years ago. It's near impossible to build a siege around this city because of it."
Leyla took off her pack and sat on it. "The old Order intended to use the stone excavated from the peaks to construct the buildings. They ended up throwing it over the side and filled any gaps for the foundations only." She held a finger in the air. "Also, yes, we've traveled about two miles."
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Well, let's hear more about the building of the city, we've got some time."
She silently giggled. "Once they saw the color of the stone, they imported marble and granite from the far north."
"Because this is dark?"
"Yes, and I can even tell you what kind of rock is currently jabbing you."
"Please do." I tried to slow my breath and frustration. I needed this chat.
"These sharp little parts are aptly named hornblende. The stone itself is largely augite with flecks of biotite." She held up a hunk of stone and scratched at a shiny part. It came off in little flakes. "The combination is pretty uniformly black and sort of pretty, I think."
I picked up a tube-shaped shard beside my foot. It glimmered and played with my vision in shiny striations. "Then why this mountain? If they planned to use the excavated stone?"
She said, "It's the highest mountain in the central continent."
Rhys crossed his arms and turned to the walls. "Is it still the tallest after they flattened the top?"
She looked up, too. "If you include the High Hall, it's even taller than it was."
"If I don't?" he said.
She raised her eyebrow. "Then, I'm not sure. That's not in the records."
"Of course." He leaned away from the stone and smiled at us. "Ready?"
Inwardly, I groaned, but followed his example and stood up. "I guess. It'll be dark soon. We need to get into the forest to hide the camp." I forced my soft city boots to take their next step down the mountain.
✽✽✽
We found and followed a thin switchback trail until we finally connected with the stream.
The scrub came waist high now and reached out with its thorned fingers and branches. More adventurous trees grew among them. Some wore stark white bark and scattered leaves, but evergreens made the majority.
"These are cedar." Leyla pointed at one of the evergreens. "I bet the lower we go, the bigger they'll get. The white ones are birch."
A few dark boulders cropped up here and there.
The stream disappeared into the night with its dark bed of discarded mountain.
We followed the sound for some time. The sun had set, so I took point with Tilly.
"Can they see?" said Rhys.
I didn't see any light come from behind in response.
So I said, "Yes, and we can hear you."
"I figured you were following Tilly." He smiled.
I rolled my eyes and walked on and yawned — frequently.
Finally, we entered the forest proper.
Leyla's guess about the trees became a reality. They not only grew closer together, but the cedar grew bigger around than Leyla could hug, and towered into the sky.
The occasional birch stretched its branches upward for purchase on sunlight.
A scattering of stars glittered through the canopy. Moonlight slipped through in small shafts and highlighted wisps of fog. The ground finally leveled, and even the muddy puddles didn't dampen that relief.
Tilly stopped and cocked her head at a dark shape.
I leaned near her and squinted.
Rhys said behind us. "Sorry, I can't see a damned thing. Was that your foot?"
Again, Leyla didn't answer. I figured the concern for the light kept her silent.
"We need to stop for the night. They're blind back there, and we aren't doing much better," I said.
Tilly warbled.
"Can you get them? I'll try to find a good dry spot for beds."
Kepi jumped from my shoulder to a tree.
I kept the stream's song in earshot. Under the tallest tree, the forest floor gave with each step. The air smelled fresh and new as it traveled through the trees and ground instead of pavers and stone. I had almost forgotten what it was like outside of the walls.
I put my pack and bag down against the trunk and set up camp. Any dry moss or small sticks around, I placed in a pile.
Rhys and Leyla,
led by Tilly, arrived and looked happy we stopped.
He felt through the air and found where I placed my pack and set his with it. He pulled the lantern and candle from his things and handed me a box of matches. "If you would."
I pulled one out, struck it, and it about blinded me. I lit the candle and said, "I'll get a fire going, too."
"Thank you." He held the lantern up and paused on my eyes for a long moment, then looked around. "This is a good spot. It even has a little cover from the rain. Let me help set up now that I can see." He collected rocks presumably for a fire circle and cleared a spot of debris.
Leyla used her scroll. "Torch." The word stayed as she scanned the area. It dimmed and then flared again. "Look at this."
A mushy mass grew in the hollow of one of the birch trees.
With the lights, other birches peeked out from the dark cedar here and there. They disappeared while others appeared — slivers of ghosts in these dark, deep woods.
I focused back on Leyla's find. "Mushrooms or?"
She nodded and picked up a stick. "Cha-something."
"Chaga. Kat told me about it. They make drinks up north with the stuff." Rhys stuck his tongue out a little and shivered.
"Really?" Leyla walked back to her pack with a spring in her step. "Let's bring her some back." She pulled out some parchment and a knife.
With one of the matches, I started a little fire. It burnt pretty steadily, so I sat against the tree and brought out some sugar cubes. "Kepi?" I got some cheese for myself. "Where is she?"
A little rustle came from above, followed by the fall of a ravaged pine cone.
Kepi crawled down the trunk and sat on my shoulder.
I presented her the sugar cubes on my palm, but she didn't take them. "What's wrong?"
She pushed a few seeds out of each cheek. They landed in my hand around the sugar.
"Oh, well, thank you."
She cocked her head and nosed one toward me.
"I don't mean to be ungrateful." I picked it up and wiped it off. "Can we eat these?"
She cooed and then chomped right through the other.
I tapped my lips. "I don't have a beak."
With a swallow, she cooed and picked up one in her beak and one in her talons.
Rhys settled down beside us while Leyla picked at the mushroom. He said, "So, uh." Then rubbed the back of his head and stuffed a piece of cured meat in his mouth.