Part 7 (1/2)
Tunnels she could get herself trapped in. She shook her head. Going in was not a good idea.
Unless...
Could she make them believe she had gone in, get them all to follow, and then escape into the forest while everyone was searching the tunnels? She better check and see how extensive the system was first.
Hoping the one-man-versus-the-entire-river gunfight Cedar had started would give her time, she eased over the lip of the hole. She probed for a bottom with her feet. There. Five feet below.
She released the lip and dropped to the bottom, clunking something with her elbow on the way. A lantern stuck in a niche in the wall. She grabbed it and followed the piping system into a low tunnel that led away from the river. The walls radiated coldness and smelled of damp earth. Creeping into the Stygian darkness made her think of the tombs and sepulchers in a book she had once read about the Dark Ages. The gunfire grew m.u.f.fled and distant. When she judged herself far enough from the entrance so the flame would not be visible, she lit the lantern.
Pickaxes and shovels leaned against dirt and stone walls marbled with quartz and thin threads that might have been gold. For all she knew about mining, it might have been iron pyrite too.
A few meters ahead, the pa.s.sage branched into three tunnels. Enough exploring. The mine promised the maze she had hoped for, one her would-be captors could waste several minutes exploring. All she had to do was set a decoy at the entrance so they believed she had gone down and then hide nearby until they dropped down to explore. It'd be better if she could figure out some sort of time-delay device to cause a sound, making the men even more certain she was down there, but she did not want to risk delving further and genuinely being trapped.
Kali was about to turn around when something glinted in the darkness, reflecting her lantern light. She only hesitated a heartbeat before jogging toward it. Just another moment....
The tunnel broadened into a small room filled with... Were those potatoes? She peered closer. Several crates lined the wall. Though they must have been harvested months earlier, they appeared fine, preserved by the surrounding permafrost. But why were they in a mine?
A rusted, decommissioned boiler stood in the corner while rows of ceramic jugs lined the opposite side of the chamber. A clunky metal contraption rose against the back wall. It was the source of the reflection she had noticed. The object-machine?-might have been anything; the mishmash of parts comprising it reminded her of something she would create out of sc.r.a.p metal. It was only when she opened a box that emitted a yeasty smell that the pieces clicked together.
”Oh.” She rolled her eyes, feeling foolish for taking so long to get it. ”Alcohol. Right.”
A thump sounded near the entrance. Someone jumping down.
Kali cursed under her breath and cut out the lantern. She had dawdled too long.
”Kali?” came a soft call.
She blew out a relieved breath. ”Cedar, back here.”
”We have a problem,” he said, voice drawing near.
She relit the lantern. ”You're mad that I shot up your fancy sleeping blanket?”
”All right, two problems.”
Cedar jogged into view, water sloughing from his clothes and matting his hair to his head. He bore a rifle in one hand while his sword dripped blood in the other. A second rifle poked over his shoulder, sc.r.a.ping against the wall as he approached. He also wore his packsack. No, wait. That was her packsack. Her tools! Excellent.
”Your old beau is gathering his men, and he's about to search in here,” Cedar said, letting her help him out of the packsack. She tore into it as he continued to speak. ”I apologize for my ineptness, but it's getting light, and he spotted me when I went for your gear.”
”I'll think of something.” Kali pulled tools out of her pack. ”Can you guard the entrance?”
”Yes, but, ah...” Cedar cleared his throat.
Kali glanced up. ”What?”
”On account of people shooting at me, I had to choose between your pack and mine.”
”So...no fresh smallclothes until we get back to town?” She tapped a pickaxe leaning against the wall. Maybe she could dismantle it and- ”No fresh ammo,” Cedar said. ”I have a box on me, but I won't be able to hold an advancing army off for long if they're enthusiastic with their siege.” He leaned her Winchester against the wall. ”I don't suppose you have any?”
Kali fished in her pack, groping around the bottom, and pulled out a fistful of cartridges. ”Sorry, I'd usually have a full box, but I had to make room for my pliers. And my wrench set. And-”
”Never mind.” Cedar grabbed the cartridges and shoved them in his pocket. His gaze fell upon the potatoes. ”Too bad those can't be used for ammo. They're probably frozen harder than cannon b.a.l.l.s.”
”Technically, I suppose you could make some sort of spud launcher.”
His eyes brightened. ”You could? Now?”
”No, not now. I don't have time to do that and get us out of here.”
”Oh.” Disappointment tugged down the corners of his mouth.
”Just do the best you can with the rifles, huh?” Kali grabbed her wrench and tore into the piping on the ceiling to rip a segment free.
Sand and rock dribbled into the hole that marked the entrance to the mine. Cedar whirled, raising his rifle and firing before Kali spotted anyone.
A yelp came from above.
”Yup, they're down there,” a man called.
Kali grabbed one of the pickaxes and kicked the iron end off, figuring she could turn it sideways to use as the bit in a hammer drill. The tool she had in mind would be clunky at best, but it only needed to work long enough to dig a way to the surface, preferably from the end of a tunnel far from the entrance, so the gunmen waiting outside would not hear her.
The drill would need a lot of power, and she did not have the time to build a steam version. She pulled out one of the vials in her sock and eyed the glowing flakes.
Cedar fired again. ”I better go up front and see if I can discourage them from getting so close. Sooner or later one of them will think to try and smoke us out. Kali?”
She lifted her eyes from her growing pile of tools and salvaged equipment. ”Huh?”
He hesitated. ”Nothing. Don't worry about it. I'll keep them away as long as you need.”
Jaw set with determination, he strode toward the entrance. Kali worked. Much to do, little time.
Shots fired while she twisted metal and hammered her casing into shape. Cedar shot at anyone who came within his field of vision, but she knew he could not poke his head out of the hole, lest someone shoot it off. The gunmen could creep dangerously close, as evinced by more than one bullet ricocheting into the tunnel. One bounced off the rock-hard floor, hit a wall, and skidded all the way back to her chamber. Any one of those bullets could hit Cedar. Or her.
”Work,” she told herself. ”Focus.”
While thumps, groans, and gunfire continued at the mine entrance, her fingers flew. The drill itself was easy, but the motor took a steady hand and a lot of squinting, given the poor light. More than once, she fumbled a small screw, and it bounced onto the uneven floor to hide in a creva.s.se. At least she had all the parts she needed.
A clash of steel announced the end of Cedar's bullet supply.
Kali lunged to her feet, remembering he had taken her cartridges but not her rifle. She grabbed it and darted to the front of the mine. She almost stumbled over an inert body on the way. A bullet had taken one of Sebastian's men in the eye. She gulped and stepped over him.
Cedar stood a few feet from the hole, his back toward her, his sword poised and ready. Blood spattered his s.h.i.+rt. Not his, she hoped.
”Cedar,” Kali said, not wanting to startle him, not when he held that sharp blade. ”Here's my rifle.”
Before he even turned around, she was leaning it next to him. She had to get back to the drill so they could find a way out of there.
Thunk!
A tin can bounced off the wall and landed on the ground. Fire spat and hissed at the end of a fuse.