The freezing mountain wind howled across the high overhang, driving swirls of powdery white snow against the jagged black rock.
Squad 25 gathered inside a shallow cave two hundred paces above the canyon floor, using the natural stone roof to shelter their map.
Kiuga knelt over a flat granite slab, pinning the corners of his parchment down with four heavy iron throwing daggers to keep it from flapping.
He dipped a charred wooden stick into a tin of lamp soot, sketching the layered geometry of the Bleeding Gorge in sharp, decisive strokes.
"Sagiri's sensory pulse already gave us the depth, which is a good thing," Kiuga began, tapping the parchment where he had outlined three concentric subterranean circles.
"The complex has at least four tiers, hollowed out beneath the bedrock and anchored directly into the deep geothermal vents."
Kaka sat on an upturned boulder with a whetstone in hand, drawing the coarse stone across the steel bevel of his heavy war axe.
