Chapter 106 – The Ravine Run
The ravine swallowed them whole.
One moment they were on the exposed ledge, wind clawing at their faces, and the next they were in a twisting chute of rock and shadow where the cold clung like wet cloth. The walls rose steep on both sides, blocking out most of the pale morning light.
Kairo didn't slow. His boots hit the frozen ground in a rhythm that told Elira he knew exactly how little time they had. The stranger was just behind her, his steps quiet despite the speed, the faint click of the rifle slung across his back the only sound he made.
From above, muffled shouts bounced down the ravine. Feretti's men. The echo made it hard to tell how close they were — but close enough.
The path narrowed until they had to go single file, the ground slick with ice where snowmelt had frozen in jagged ripples. Elira's hand brushed the wall for balance, and her fingertips came away with a dusting of frost.
"How far does this go?" she called ahead.
Kairo didn't look back. "Long enough to lose them if we keep moving."
"And if we don't?" the stranger asked, voice low.
Kairo's reply was flat. "Then we die somewhere less convenient."
The ravine twisted sharply left, and sunlight broke across them in a thin, blinding beam. Ahead, the ground dropped — not a sheer cliff, but a steep descent choked with boulders and half-buried tree trunks.
Kairo stopped only long enough to scan the slope. "We go down fast. No stopping."
Elira's stomach tightened. "If we fall—"
"Then fall forward," Kairo said, already moving. "Momentum is safer than hesitation."
He went first, picking his steps in quick, controlled slides. Elira followed, heart hammering as her boots skidded over loose rock. Twice she nearly went down, catching herself on cold stone, but each time she heard Kairo's voice — not words, just the certainty in his tone when he'd told her to trust him — and kept going.
The stranger was last, moving like someone who'd done this a dozen times before. He didn't look winded, but his eyes kept flicking upward, tracking the ridgeline.
Halfway down, a gunshot split the air. A bullet cracked into the rock above Elira, showering her with grit.
"They've got the high ground!" she shouted.
Kairo didn't even slow. "Then we get out of their sight."
Another turn in the ravine brought them into a stretch where overhanging rock hid them from above. The sound of boots on stone behind them grew fainter — Feretti's men were still following, but the terrain was buying them seconds.
At the base of the descent, the ravine widened into a flat basin where a thin stream ran between ice-fringed stones. Animal tracks dotted the banks — deer, maybe wolves. Kairo crouched, scanning the far side.
"There," he said, pointing to a narrow cut in the rock half-hidden by brush. "That takes us to the ridge pass."
The stranger stepped up beside him. "And what's on the other side?"
Kairo's eyes stayed on the path ahead. "A way out, if we're lucky. If not… the end of the road."
Elira didn't miss the way his hand hovered near his weapon as they moved toward the cut. The air here felt different — heavier, as if the stone itself was holding its breath.
They slipped through the brush, the cold scraping their faces, and the ravine closed in again. Somewhere behind them, a faint shout echoed, closer than it should have been.
"They're gaining," the stranger said.
Kairo didn't look back. "Then we make sure they regret it."