Another blast shook the air.
I forced myself to keep my focus where it needed to be and not worry about what was happening in the vault.
“Kazi, your turn,” I whispered. And when I was sure all the guards were looking the other way, I said, “Go.”
She slid down the cold rock, her hands spread to slow her descent the way I showed her. I knew she had only recently fallen down a face of rock, and her body still had all the bruises to show for it, but she was calm and skilled and slid to the ground as smoothly as a leaf. Once she made it to the bottom, I followed. We all barely fit in the small crevice of space outside the guards’ view. I planned to make a quick dash to open the tunnel gate and wave them through—hopefully before one of the guards turned and saw us. “No,” Kazi whispered, “We don’t need to search Greyson Tunnel. The munitions are here.”
 |
Kazi eyed the shadows of the interior wall, the trees, the roof of the cave, charting her way across the grounds before she ever moved. Once she left, she varied her steps and pace, a shifting shadow in the landscape. When she made it to the other side, I followed in her steps. We told the others to wait until we signaled them from the other side.
We slipped into a terrace room that still bore the evidence of a messy search. Cushions tossed, tables overturned. From there we watched the two guards who stood in front of one precise section of stone wall—the section that had a door that blended in with all the other stone. It was the hidden doorway I had been so fascinated with when I was a child. Zane must have told them about it, otherwise they never would have known. The guards
held launchers cocked and ready to shoot, with their backs tight against the stone, staunch in their duty. There was no slipping around them.
“How can you be sure it’s in there?” I whispered to Kazi.
“It’s in the heart of Tor’s Watch,” she answered confidently. “Away from all the exterior walls, easy to guard, deep underground, impossible to shoot like an icehouse, and it was already empty, waiting to be filled. Like a little pocket in a vest.”
I studied the guards. How would we get past them? Whatever we did, it couldn’t be loud so it would alert other guards. The fact that their launchers were cocked was disturbing. Even a fall could set them off, and a struggle certainly would.
Kazi stepped away from the tiny slit in the drape we peeked through and looked around the room. She stopped in front of a tapestry on the wall and eyed it. “I have an idea,” she said as she shed her cloak. She pulled the tapestry down and wrapped the colorful silk around her waist.
“What are—”
But she was already moving on to another item, some plan already concocted in her head. She grabbed a crimson runner from a table and began tying up her hair as she told me her plan. “Color is the best of distractions,” she said as she scooped up three silver goblets, “or anything shiny. It tends to make almost anyone senseless, much like a fish, at least for a few seconds.”
I began to object, but she stopped me cold, pressing her hands to my chest. “Jase, this is the waltzing in the light of day that we talked about. Trust me.” Every muscle in my neck pinched, but I nodded, knowing she wouldn’t back down, and with steady blasting continuing to echo around us, it was no time for arguing.
She stumbled into the foyer, laughing, carrying two goblets in one hand and pretending to sip from the one in her other hand. She acted startled when the guards raised their launchers at her and then she began laughing uncontrollably. “I’m in the wrong place, aren’t I?” she whispered, like they all shared a secret.
I stared, barely able to breathe. The guards’ launchers remained aimed at her as she smiled, entertained, and risked everything to save people she
barely knew.
One of the guards cursed, uncertain what to do. She clearly had no weapons on her.
“Have you seen Zane anywhere?” she asked. Kazi knew that name would get their attention—the lieutenant. And he did have quarters here and probably a reputation to go with them, if her discovery of a chemise in his room meant anything.
The guards rolled their eyes, exchanging a knowing glance. “He told me to meet him here,” she giggled, “and I’m afraid I got a little bit ahead of him.” She lifted the goblet as evidence. “Want some?”
They stepped away from the door, walking closer toward her. My pulse raced. Their launchers were still cocked.
“How did you get in here?” one of them growled. “Did—”
Kazi stumbled, a silver goblet slipping artfully from her grasp and into the air but she managed to catch it just as gracefully. Their eyes were fixed on her now. “That was lucky, wasn’t it?” she said. She pretended to down the rest of her empty goblet. “I’m actually not bad at this. Zane always loves it. Want to see?”
“No. Come along now. You need to—” One of them uncocked his launcher and rested it against a pillar and marched toward her.
But then she began tossing the goblets in the air, spinning them in a higher and higher arc as she stepped backward—and they stepped closer. Their eyes followed the spinning silver. It was convenient, I thought, that they were the same height. It would make it easier. A little farther now. She threw the goblets a little higher, and one of the guards actually let out an astonished huff of air. They were far from the door now, the one soldier dangling his launcher from his lowered hand, like he had forgotten it was there.
Far enough. I nodded to her.
Kazi let all the goblets fall back into her hands. “There you are, Zane! Finally!” she said, looking past their shoulders at me. They both turned, but as they did, I swung and my sword swept over their throats. Kazi grabbed the dangling launcher from the one soldier’s hand as they both fell with dull thuds to the floor.
We dragged their bodies into the terrace room and gave the others the signal to start coming over when it was clear. Imara came first. I told her to stand watch while we checked the cellar. “Tell the others to wait for us when they get here.”
I cautiously cracked open the tunnel door that led to Darkcottage. No soldiers occupied it, and we crept silently to the other end. Three casks were stacked near the passage door, as if set aside for some purpose. Maybe more supplies readied to be shipped to town to replace the supplies we had blown up? Or maybe they were for blasting into the vault.
I paused, staring at one of the casks.
“Forget it, Patrei,” Kazi whispered. “I know it’s tempting, but we don’t need anything to slow us down. You try running with that, and we’ll all be dead.”
Tell me about the stars, Nisa asks. She does not mean the ones in the sky, But the ones that fell.
Aaron Ballenger said only two came from the heavens. The rest were flung by the anger of men.
How is that possible?
I do not remember the stars falling anyway. I only remember the storms that followed. The smoke in the air.
The shaking ground. The burning skies.
The billowing mountains, The churning seas.
The cries of people—and the screams of those who preyed upon them.
Instead I tell Nisa the story that was told to me.
Once upon a time, long long ago, Before monsters roamed the earth, All the stars hung quietly in the sky,
And great cities made of wonder and light, Reached up to the heavens to meet them,
But then a star was flung to earth by the gods, To destroy the wicked—
We hear the scavengers howl at the end of the tunnel. They rattle the bars of the gate.
We will kill you, they call. They roar like animals.
Let’s go back inside the vault, I say.
I will tell you the rest of the story there.
