He paused in his patrol with the fire at his back, and he gazed down the dark trail toward the outpost. How many hours had passed since Kaika and Bosmont left? Six? Seven? Even allowing that they would need time to gather their equipment and, if Kaika had her way, mix up a batch of thermite, they should have been back by now. As the strange howls continued to meander through the trees, raising the hair on the back of Vann’s neck, he worried that something had happened. Perhaps these cursed fossils, or whatever he was dealing with, had created some new problem. Maybe he and Lilah should have gone back to the outpost, too, and waited until morning to return.
Fortunately, she seemed to be sleeping, able to ignore the howls. He circled back to check on her for the fifth or sixth time, refusing to acknowledge that his interest had anything to do with admiring her as she slept, the curves visible beneath her clothing and the way her thick hair tumbled about her shoulders, a lock snagged on a nub on that log...
No, he wasn’t admiring those things. He was just making sure she did not need anything and wasn’t scared being out here. Women got scared in situations like this, didn’t they? If that happened to her, he might have to gather her in his arms and make her feel protected.
Vann snorted at himself. So far, she had not appeared any more alarmed by anything than he had. If anyone in the group needed cuddling, it was Bosmont.
A noisy clatter arose somewhere up the trail, and Vann spun around. A rockfall? He almost sprinted in that direction, but he couldn’t leave Lilah without a guard. Besides, he had been wandering around without a lantern, and on a dark night like this, he might end up causing a rockslide himself if he raced up the trail without a light.
As he dug out his lantern, he debated whether to wake Lilah. If he meant to go check on that noise, he had better take her with him.
“Sir?” came a distant call from the trail. Captain Kaika.
“Here,” Vann called back.
Lilah lifted her head.
“Need some help, sir,” Kaika responded. Her voice did not sound too alarmed, but that might not be an indicator of anything. She could stay calm in the midst of a firefight, while hurling grenades with one hand and loading her rifle with the other.
“Will you come with me?” Vann asked. “I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
Lilah pushed away from the log and grabbed her hunting rifle. He allowed himself a quick smile. No, she did not seem like someone who needed protective cuddling.
With his lantern lit, he led the way up the trail. They found Kaika kneeling next to a pile of gear and looking over a ledge, a ledge that had not previously existed. Before, the goat trail had run alongside a steep, rocky slope, but now a large hole gaped open, dropping away into darkness. On the other side, four soldiers with more gear stood or knelt, peering over the ledge on their side. One corporal cursed as he unraveled rope from a coil hanging from his pack.
“Bosmont?” Vann asked, stopping behind Kaika.
“Down here, sir,” the engineer called up from what sounded to be at least thirty feet below. “I’m hanging from a branch with one hand and trying not to let go of the rock splitter that’s in my other hand. It’s, uhm, difficult.”
“We’re hurrying,” Kaika called, then snapped her fingers at the soldier unraveling the coil. “You got my rope yet?”
“Almost, ma’am.”
Vann had a bundle of rope attached to his own pack. He set down the lantern and shrugged off his gear. With the corporal already lowering his rope, a second one probably wasn’t necessary. Still, some light might be useful. He tied one end of his rope to his lantern and waved Kaika back so he could lower it into the hole.
“What happened?” Vann glanced at the rock-littered slope, what remained of it. He couldn’t remember exactly what the spot had looked like before, but he could smell freshly revealed earth and see evidence of a slide.
“Oh, nothing strange, abnormal, or disturbing,” Kaika said, “such as the trail picking the exact moment to give out that the man carrying the rock splitter was crossing it.”
“What are you implying?” Lilah asked softly from behind them. “That something sentient is trying to keep us from extracting those fossils? Even if magic were used, I’ve not heard of anything that could do what you’re describing.” She spoke firmly, but she also gazed nervously toward the steep slope that descended immediately to the side of their trail.
Vann said nothing, only lowering his lantern until the light revealed Bosmont and his tree. It was more of a bush growing out of the nearly vertical rocky slope, its roots penetrating the unyielding earth. It did not look like something that could hold the weight of a grown man indefinitely. At least there was not a sheer drop underneath him. He would probably survive if he fell. Not breaking any bones and finding a way back up to the group would be another story, especially while toting the rock splitter.
“Next time, carry that thing on your back, Bosmont,” Kaika called down. “Then you could be hanging onto the bush with two hands.”
“I’m sure that would be much better.” It was hard to tell whether Bosmont’s scowl was for her or because the rope the soldier dangled down did not quite reach him.
Vann shifted his own rope, trying to make it swing toward the engineer. With the lantern on the bottom, providing some weight, it acted like a pendulum.
“Grab mine, Bosmont,” Vann called. “You’re closer to this side.”
“And we need you and your big tool on this side,” Kaika added.
“We have the hose over here, ma’am,” a private with a hose coil on his shoulder said, sounding slightly indignant.
Vann hoped to get everybody over to this side, but with a good fifteen feet of the trail missing, it would be a challenge. He grumbled to himself. Who didn’t enjoy a challenge at midnight?
“I’m never sure if you’re growling or talking to yourself when you do that,” Lilah said from behind him.
“Does it matter?” Kaika asked, a grin in her voice. “It’s alarming either way, isn’t it? Unless you’re in bed. In that context, I chose to take it as complimentary.”
Vann glared over at her. He didn’t know if Kaika had already blabbed to Lilah that they had slept together once, but it wasn’t something he would have chosen to mention, especially not here. This was hardly the place for such revelations. Besides, it had been years earlier, and they had both been drunk at the time. Sleeping with lower-ranking officers in one’s unit tended to be frowned upon.
“I see,” Lilah said, her voice quiet and subdued. Disappointed?
No, that didn’t make sense. She was married. Why would she be disappointed if he had slept with her bodyguard? Admittedly, he had been tempted to see how dedicated she was to her marriage when she had been leaning against him on that log. He remembered the feel of her leg beneath his hand and how badly he’d wanted to let that hand drift higher. He had only meant to reassure her when he’d touched her, but his hand had a mind of its own and had wanted to linger. But no, it was bad enough he had slept with Chason when she was married. She’d instigated that, and he’d known he had been one of many. He didn’t make a habit of breaking up people’s marriages.
A sudden weight on his rope nearly pulled Vann over the edge. Cursing, he braced himself and lowered into a squat for stability. That would remind him of the price for not paying attention to what he was doing.
“You got me, sir?” Bosmont asked, worry in his voice.
“Yes.” Vann bit back a comment about the engineer’s weight and that he had been scarfing down too many of the cook’s brick-like pancakes in the mornings. He didn’t want Lilah to think he had any trouble dealing with the burden. “You ready?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve spent as much time communing with this bush as I care to. And the rock splitter isn’t getting any lighter.”
Ah, right. The thing probably weighed an extra fifty pounds. No wonder the sudden weight had nearly upended him. Vann stepped back with one leg, found a strong stance, and started pulling, hi
s muscles straining but up to the task. Physical exertion was almost as pleasing of an outlet as combat, if not quite as exciting.
“If we can help, please let us know, Vann,” Lilah said.
“Our job is to catch him if he slips,” Kaika said, probably oblivious to the fact that Vann was slightly irked with her for blabbing about their past. It was hard to get a good glare off in the dark, especially when his only lantern was attached to the engineer thirty—no, it was twenty feet below now. “We’ll grab the back of his belt there,” she added.
“Won’t we just fall in after him?”
“Nah, I’m sure the two of us together weigh more than he does.”
“Wouldn’t we have to weigh more than him and Captain Bosmont combined?” Lilah asked.
“Hm, you may be right. I guess we just wave to him as he goes over the edge. Maybe that bush can support both of them.”
“Lilah?” Vann asked, his voice strained as he continued to haul Bosmont and his big tool up. “Next time you come to visit, maybe you should request a bodyguard that talks less.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Kaika snorted noisily. “A fine thing to say when I went to your room and got your sword for you.” She pointed toward her back, where Vann could barely make out the hilt poking over her shoulder.
“It won’t help here.”
“No, not unless Bosmont’s bush turns into a dragon, I imagine.”
Kaika grabbed the end of the coil of rope growing behind him and tied it to the nearest tree. Now that Vann had his mind focused on the task, he wasn’t concerned about dropping Bosmont, but he gave her a nod, glad she was working instead of talking.
The light grew as the lantern rose higher, and a hand wrapped around the rope above it came into view. Vann stepped back farther, giving Bosmont room to climb up. Since he still held the rock splitter, Bosmont struggled to clamber up, and Kaika eased around Vann to help him. There wasn’t much room on the goat trail for maneuvering, but together, they managed to get him onto solid ground, or at least ground that was solid for the moment. Vann eyed the area above the trail again, aware that what had happened once might happen again.
“Is there something you can tie our rope to over there?” Vann asked the soldiers lined up on the other side. He removed the lantern and tossed the end over to them so they could grab it. Their end remained tied to Kaika’s tree, and he envisioned the rope connecting the two sides.
“Boxcar has a real thick neck, sir,” one man in the back said.
“I see you brought the jokesters,” Vann muttered to his officers.
“We brought the people willing to do a five-mile march while carrying heavy equipment,” Bosmont said. “Though I think Private Boxcar only came because Kaika showed him her butt.”
“All I did was bend over to pick up that bottle of aluminum powder,” Kaika said dryly.
“Yes, while he was watching. He liked it.”
“Clearly, he has good taste.” Kaika peered past Vann. “Which one is he, again?”
“I think he’s the one with a rope around his neck,” Vann said.
“We found a tree,” a soldier said. “Are we sending the gear across first and then following? Or...” His voice lowered, directed at his comrades rather than Vann. “I guess there’s no way to get it across without us carrying it, is there?”
Vann clenched his jaw, irritated that he had a bunch of weaklings that didn’t think they could make it across with a pack, but he refrained from saying it aloud, mostly because Lilah was still standing behind him. That made him want to be less of an ass. He grunted. Maybe his soldiers would prefer it if he always had a woman around.
“Drop anything you can’t carry,” he said. “I’ll come over and pick it up.”
The soldiers shuffled about and muttered to each other. The first one swung onto the rope, hands and ankles hooked over it, without removing any of his gear. Huh. Now he just had to hope they were strong enough and that he hadn’t embarrassed them into doing something stupid. Sighing, Vann inched close to the edge, so he could grab the man if he got close but didn’t make it.
The tree behind him creaked. The soldier paused halfway across.
“How’s that knot, Kaika?” Vann asked.
“The knot is excellent. The tree is old.”
“Nothing to worry about,” the soldier muttered and picked up his pace.
A low-pitched howl drifted through the forest once more. Vann sighed, wondering if this was all worth it. What would happen if he simply left the bones where they were and told Bosmont to find another spot to mine into the mountain? At least until Sardelle came out to take a look. Still, the idea of needing a witch to come help made him grind his teeth. He would prefer to resolve this on his own. At the least, they could get all of the fossils out and move them to someplace in the valley, someplace far from the outpost and the radio tower.
The soldier reached the edge, and Vann grabbed him, hauling him onto solid ground. He waved for the next man to go. The tree creaked again as the second soldier scaled his way across. Vann had an image of the rest of the trail giving way, with his whole team falling to their deaths. He gritted his teeth again, second-guessing himself once more. He barely knew the names of the soldiers, but he would lament losing them nonetheless. He would lament losing Kaika and Lilah even more.
Rocks fell away as the soldier reached him and crawled onto the trail. A few more inches of dirt crumbled and disappeared down the mountainside.
“Kaika, take everyone on this side and continue down the trail to the camp,” Vann said over his shoulder as he waved for the next man to start across.
“Sir?” Kaika asked.
“In case this section of the trail falls in too.”
The third soldier proved agile and light and skimmed from one side of the gap to the other in seconds. So far, nobody had left his equipment behind. A hose for Bosmont’s drill tried to tangle around Vann’s boot as he helped the soldier onto solid ground, but nothing more upsetting happened. He shooed the man down the trail and waved for the last person to cross.
The rope groaned and dipped as the big man clasped onto it, his legs clenched around it so tightly he could have cracked walnuts. A bulky pack sagged from his shoulders.
“This must be Boxcar,” Vann said.
“Private Boxin, sir,” came the voice from the other side, an alarmingly squeaky voice for a man of such size. He hadn’t started across yet.
Vann bit back a comment of, Get your ass over here, Boxin, and groped for something encouraging to say. General Mendatson at the academy was always telling him that young soldiers needed encouragement. He suspected a solid thump on the side of the head did more to get them in line, but he could feel Lilah’s gaze on him from farther up the trail and, once again, sublimated his natural inclination to be callous and brusque.
“You make it over here in twenty seconds, and we’ll get Captain Kaika to show you her ass again, Private,” Vann said. Possibly, that wasn’t exactly the kind of encouragement that General Mendatson had been talking about, but Vann owed Kaika a dig for talking about their past where Lilah could hear.
“Really, sir,” Kaika said from much closer than he expected.
He scowled over his shoulder. The three privates had disappeared down the trail with their equipment, but for some reason, Kaika, Lilah, and Bosmont loitered. “Didn’t I tell you three to get moving?”
The rope bounced and wobbled as the heavy soldier groaned and strained his way across, his fingers slipping more than once. Maybe his walnut-clenching grip with his legs was a good thing. He hurried, but the tree creaked ominously under his weight.
“We did move, sir,” Kaika said. “I stepped back a whole meter. Bosmont ran back three meters. The professor only went a foot. She seems worried about you. Were you wooing her with your masculine wiles around the campfire?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Captain,” Vann said. “I—”
Wood snapped behind him. The tree.
Boxcar yelped as the rope slackened. Vann grabbed it, almost missing in the dark. Once again, he braced himself, leaning back, using his weight to tighten it again.
“Hurry, Boxcar,” he said.
Something slammed into the back of his shoulder. Part of the tree. He skidded forward, his front foot going over the edge. He let go with one hand, twisting and lunging backward, knocking the tree aside. He ended up on his knees, facing away from the hole, the rope still gripped in his hand. He grabbed it with the other hand, too, as he hunkered down like a turtle. The rope bit into his shoulder as he leaned forward, trying to counter the soldier’s weight. Even without his gear, the kid would have weighed more than he did, but Vann added sheer determination to his side, refusing to budge, even though he lacked anything to grab onto or brace himself against.
The rope vibrated, and Boxcar’s alarmed panting filled the air.
A figure came into sight on the trail in front of him. Bosmont.
“Grab my hand, sir. I’ll add my weight to yours.”
Vann glared at that hand. He would have to let go of the rope with one of his own to reach for it, and he wouldn’t do that. Bosmont ended up grabbing his shoulder, for all the good that would do. Vann merely hunched lower, imagining himself sinking into the ground, embedded like a boulder, unmoving.
“Almost there,” Boxcar said. “I—help?”
“Bosmont,” Vann barked. The weight on the rope had not lessened, so he didn’t dare let go yet.
The engineer crawled past him. Rocks scraped, slid, and tinkled down the side of the mountain. Bosmont grunted as something fell on him—Boxcar, perhaps.
“Got him, sir,” Bosmont said, on the ground now. “You can let go.”
The weight disappeared from the rope, and Vann allowed himself to kneel back. “If I do that, our end falls into the hole. Kaika, any more trees you can tie this to?” He pulled up the chunk of bark at the end of the rope, all that remained of the last tree, the rest having disappeared over the side of the trail.
“Not close enough, sir. Maybe Bosmont can come up with something.”