We ran along the wall to the opposite side where a narrow cut climbed out. Bolts hit stone around us and one took my calf and I stumbled but Selendra caught me with the tail around my thigh and yanked me forward.
We climbed the cut, hands and feet. A man dropped in at the top to block the way but Rhea didn't slow. She drove up under his guard and he stabbed down but she took it on the flat and smashed her hilt into his mouth and he fell backwards out of the cut and hit hard.
We scrambled out into scrub and the wind hit my face. I wanted to fall and lie there but Rhea grabbed my collar and shoved me upright.
"keep moving!"
We ran across broken ground toward a line of old standing stones. The first stones were cracked and leaned towards the gap between them making a thin lane and we took it.
Shouts rose behind us and more men poured out of the quarry. Kirin walked out last and didn't run, he just watched our backs. He lifted two fingers. A signal. Men peeled to both sides to outflank.
Rhea saw it. "Faster."
We reached the center of the stone lane and stopped because the ground dropped. A sinkhole sat where the path should have gone,maybe ten meters across,dark with water at the bottom. There was no easy way around without going back toward the soldiers.
Rhea looked left at s fragile ledge. She looked right at a narrow spine of rock just wide enough for one foot at a time. She chose right. "Spine and in a single file,no mistakes."
She went first,she set her foot straight, heel to toe, hands out. She crossed four steps,five,six.
"Eiji," she said. "Now."
I stepped onto the spine and the rock shifted under my boot. I breathed and kept going,one step,second and third and I didn't look down. Selendra waited on the edge, eyes on my feet and Vesper stayed behind her, pale and focused.
A bolt hissed and took a chip out of the stone in front of my boot and another passed my ear but I kept moving.
Rhea reached the far side and turned. "Keep your eyes on me,not on your feet."
I did four more steps,maybe five and my calf throbbed where the bolt had grazed and I set my foot and pushed next.
The rock flaked and my heel slipped. I windmilled and grabbed air and the charm slammed my chest as I fell forward.
Selendra's tail snapped out and caught my belt and held me,my boots scraped and found the spine again. I breathed out and moved the next step and the next until I reached Rhea's side.
Selendra followed like she had been born on narrow places,Vesper came last, biting her lip as she moved. A bolt cut her sleeve. She didn't stop,she made it across and collapsed to one knee.
We kept moving on and the lane broke into rough ground again. The quarry lay behind us,the soldiers spread along the rim, looking for a way to cross. Kirin stood at the head of them and didn't call out,he just watched and then turned away, already moving to his next line.
"we are not done," Rhea said. "He'll cut us ahead."
We ran until the stones gave way to low hills and coarse grass and the wind came harder. The smell of smoke faded and we crested a small rise and saw a line of old huts half sunk into the earth,no lights,no smoke and no movement.
"Shelter," Rhea said. "we take a short rest and then we move."
We slid into the nearest hut through a broken door. It was dry and smelled like dust and a low pit sat in the floor with dead ashes. Rhea checked corners and Vesper barred the door with a broken beam,Selendra stood at the back wall, head tilted, listening.
I sat with my back to the wall and peeled my sleeve away from my arm. The cut had clotted and my calf bled again. Rhea crouched and tied a bandage around it. She worked fast and neat.
"Thank you," I said.
She nodded. "You did well."
"Alma is still quiet."
"Dont worry she will wake," Rhea said. "She's stubborn."
Vesper sank down and pressed a ring to her shoulder. The metal hissed a little and the bleeding stopped,she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.
Selendra walked to me, slow, and knelt. She put two fingers on the charm. It warmed, then cooled. Her eyes tightened a little. "She is heavy. This hurts you and her both."
"Can you do anything?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "But it won't be gentle,not now and not with soldiers near."
Rhea held up a hand. "We'll hold ten minutes,then we continue,no fires and no light."
Selendra didn't argue,she stayed on her knees by me. She didn't touch the charm again. She just watched my face and my hands like she could read them.
Alma stirred inside me and then went still with the he HUD flicked once.
[Integrity 17%]
[Signal — ACTIVE]
[Trace — Detected]
I blinked,trace?
Alma's voice came as a thin thread. "East,three marks..fast. you have to hide now.
"Down," I said.
Rhea reacted without asking why,she killed the small light Vesper had cupped in her hand and motioned us flat and we lay on the floor. We didn't breathe hard and we didn't move.
Steps ran past the hut in three sets,light and trained. A door on the next hut opened and quiet voices spoke in hush tones just 8u,the steps kept going.
We lay still for a full minute.
Rhea whispered, "Selendra,can you lay a false trail."
"Yes."
"Do it," Rhea said. "Then we cut west and circle."
Selendra slid out of the hut and was gone for thirty seconds and when she came back, the air smelled like sweat and fear coming from the far side of the huts. She smiled a little. "They will bite."
We slipped out and went the other way, low and quick. We crossed a shallow gully and climbed a fence,we moved through brush until the huts were behind us and the hills ahead were darker than the sky.
We reached a stand of pines and went in,the needles softened our steps. The air went colder. Rhea stopped us and set a line with her at the front, Vesper last, Selendra and me between.
We walked for a long while without talking. The trees thinned and the ground rose. Far ahead, lightning flashed once behind the clouds but we didn't hear the sounds of thunder
We came to the edge of a ravine and a narrow bridge of old stone crossed it. Half of the stones had fallen and the rest looked ready to go.
Rhea tested the first slab with her boot. It moved. "We crawl."
She went first on hands and knees and the slab creaked. She made it to the next and waited there.
"Next," she said.
I got on my hands and knees and I didn't look down. The ravine was a dark throat and I moved to the second slab,then the third. Halfway, one stone shifted under my knee with a dull crack.
"Don't stop," Rhea said.
I kept moving. I reached the far side and rolled onto my back, chest hammering. Selendra came after me without a sound and Vesper started last. The slab under her hand gave and she lunged and caught the next,the slab she had used slid and fell into the dark but it never hit bottom we could hear.
We took two steps away from the edge and the charm pulsed just one, strong and sharp. Alma's voice came through clear and fast.
"Down!"
Rhea dragged me left without asking and a bolt hit where my head had been. Another hit the ground next to Vesper's boot and three more hit the stones we had just crossed.
"Cover!" Rhea shouted.