“Yes…”
Sicarius inhaled and exhaled slowly. “He would not appreciate it. He has a mission of his own that is his priority.”
A thread of guilt squirmed through Amaranthe’s belly-Sespian wouldn’t have a notion that it was possible to expedite their escape if she hadn’t brought up the idea. “I think you’re right,” was all she said.
“Go join the others.” Sicarius flipped a thumb toward the crevice.
Amaranthe thought of saying “Be careful,” but it seemed too little for the moment. She stepped back into the cab and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. He didn’t return the embrace, but at least he no longer seemed rigid and angry.
“Good luck,” she said, pulling back. “Remember, don’t do anything foolish up here to get yourself blown up. The plan is for you to run back and join us before the explosion. So you can get squished in the cave-in like the rest of us.”
Sicarius snorted. “A superior death, no doubt.”
“Just make sure to get back there. If we’re going to get squished, I want time to plan something significant. Like dying holding your hand, so we’ll be together for all eternity.” Amaranthe winked and hopped out of the train before he could scoff or roll his eyes. She’d never actually seen him do either, but that suggestion might warrant an emotional outburst.
Amaranthe paced about the cavern. It would take time for the water in the boiler to heat up and more time for the steam pressure to reach dangerous levels, but she felt as if she’d been waiting for hours already. She tried to nibble at a fingernail before remembering she’d decimated them all.
The others sat or stood near the wall of rubble farthest from the train. Sespian and Yara looked like they were contemplating fingernail chewing as well. Basilard and Maldynado were engaged in Last Soldier, a strategy game one could play with marbles, or in this case small pebbles scavenged from the cavern. Though Amaranthe knew they had to be as nervous as she, their blase demeanors made her envious.
A lantern sat on a railway tie next to Basilard and Maldynado, its flame straight and steady. No hint of wind or a draft down here, she thought.
She stopped beside their game, thinking she should at least pretend she wasn’t nervous. Leaders were supposed to display confidence about their plans, weren’t they? At the very least, chatting might make her less aware of time creeping past.-and help avoid the thought that something might have happened to Sicarius while he was building up the fire. What if, with no place for the smokestack fumes to escape to, they’d filled the tiny space and asphyxiated him?
“Who’s winning?” Amaranthe blurted. Distraction, she needed a distraction.
“Basilard, but he’s cheating,” Maldynado said.
Basilard signed, Now, how am I cheating?
“If I knew how you were doing it, I’d stop you.”
I don’t know why I play with you.
“Because I’m fun,” Maldynado said, “and I buy you a drink after you win, even though you cheat so often.”
You buy drinks no matter who wins.
Maldynado smiled. “See? That’s why I’m fun.”
Their conversation didn’t do as much to distract Amaranthe as she’d hoped, and she nearly fell over in relief when Sicarius burst out of the crevice on the far side of the chamber.
Before she could say anything, he pointed at the floor in the center of the chamber and barked, “Down.”
Amaranthe hustled onto the railway, waving for the others to join her. Being next to the walls of rock when a new explosion went off might not be a good idea. She sank to her knees and buried her face in her lap, her arms protecting her head. Soon, bodies pressed against her on all sides.
When the explosion came, its boom was so muted that Amaranthe questioned whether it truly came from the locomotive. It sounded so distant that it might have occurred outside. A faint tremor shook the earth, and dust drizzled to the floor in places, but the cave-in they had worried about didn’t materialize.
“Is that it?” Maldynado asked. “Are you sure you blew up the boiler correctly?”
Sicarius gave him a cool stare.
Sespian’s shoulders slumped. “We’re going to be stuck here for days.”
Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, Amaranthe thought. It would give her a chance to wheedle details out of Sespian, and Sicarius could find opportunities to spend time with him. She walked over to the lantern, intending to pick it up and lead the way to the locomotive for an inspection, but she paused, her hand hovering over the handle. The flame was flickering.
“Draft?” she wondered.
Amaranthe grabbed the lantern and hustled for the crevice.
“Wait for us,” Maldynado hollered. “That’s our only light.”
Amaranthe barely heard him. She scraped past boulders, clunking her head more than once in her haste to reach the locomotive. A breeze whispered across her cheeks. Yes, they’d definitely poked through somewhere, but would it be enough to allow them to escape?
When she burst out of the cramped passage, she stumbled over rubble and almost sprawled to the ground. She gripped a newly deposited boulder to catch herself. Rubble had completely buried the locomotive, and she couldn’t see the boiler at all. But it didn’t matter. Cold flakes of snow drifted through the top half of the tunnel exit and landed on Amaranthe’s nose.
“Huh,” came Sicarius’s familiar monotone from behind her.
“I guess there won’t be any hand-holding today,” Amaranthe said, a smile on her face as she turned around.
Maldynado and Sespian were in the passage behind Sicarius, and she blushed at her silly statement, hoping they hadn’t heard it.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Maldynado drawled. “This looks like an occasion for celebratory touching.” He looked over his shoulder, probably seeing if Yara had joined them. “I’m always available for such activities.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Amaranthe said. “Shall we-”
Sicarius grabbed her arm and shoved her back into the crevice. He stepped in front of her, a throwing knife appearing in his hand.
Sandwiched between him and Maldynado, Amaranthe couldn’t see anything, but she heard rocks shift and pebbles clatter up ahead.
“Am-” The male speaker broke into a spatter of coughs before finishing her name.
“Is that Books?” Amaranthe asked, not certain from the single syllable but figuring Forge minions wouldn’t call out to her by first name.
The coughs ended, followed by a raspy, “Amaranthe, is that you? Unwisely blowing up tunnels from within them? I hope you studied the structural stability of the passage before-” The voice broke into another bout of coughing.
Amaranthe grinned. “That’s Books.”
She nudged Sicarius, and he stepped aside, though he did not sheathe his throwing knife. More rubble shifted, and Books’s head appeared over the lip of the pile. Sicarius left Amaranthe’s side to jog, then climb toward him. She thought he might offer Books a hand, but he skimmed past without a word and disappeared down the other side.
“Good to see you as well,” Books called over his shoulder.
“He’s scouting.” Amaranthe scrambled up the rubble pile. Rocks shifted and slipped beneath her feet, sending a cascade down behind her. “We ran into a strange flying craft.”
“Yes, we opted to hide from it.” Books eyed the buried locomotive. “Wisely, I believe.”
“Booksie, how’ve you been?” Maldynado called. “How’s the dirigible? Lush and luxurious as is fitting for an emperor? And weary mercenaries who’ve been severely mistreated of late?”
“Your dirigible came infested with thugs who attacked us in the middle of the mission,” Books growled at him. “And then more thugs jumped Akstyr when he was setting the charges at the pass, and-did you say emperor?
