ancient valuables and asked for a split of whatever profits were made.
“ So they intended to be relic raiders from the start,” Tikaya said.
“ Atner Lancecrest started assembling a multinational expedition of archaeologists and linguists a year ago, and they’ve been inside for several months. They came for relics. They found the weapons. Atner revised his plan. He decided to figure out how to get the weapons so he could hand them to the emperor and gain favor for his family. Some of his team, which included a handful of Nurians, were against that. A pair of them slipped away with a box. They warned their government, and-”
“ The box that was delivered to the capital?” Bocrest asked. “The one that killed hundreds?”
“ Yes,” Sicarius said. “The Nurians delivered it, and, after the deaths, they sent a message telling the emperor to seal the tunnels forever or more killer artifacts would be delivered.”
“ Your emperor doesn’t seem the sort to heed threats,” Tikaya said.
“ No.”
“ Nor,” Rias said, “does he suffer fort commanders who share top secret orders with little brothers. Or little brothers whose actions result in the deaths of hundreds.”
“ But he didn’t know about the Lancecrest involvement when he sent you,” Tikaya said to Bocrest, “did he?”
“ No,” Bocrest said. “But Lancecrest-both of them-would have known they’d be in an ore cart full of shit as soon as their roles came out.”
Rias nodded. “It would have been more than their deaths. For a disgrace like that, the emperor could take away the entire family’s warrior caste status and wipe their ancestors’ deeds from the history books.”
Tikaya raised her eyebrows at Rias, wondering if his act of disobedience had created a similar backlash for his family. He seemed to guess her question, for he hesitated, then shook his head. She took that to mean not as drastic a result, perhaps, but some backlash, yes.
“ I don’t get it,” Bocrest said. “The family’s wrecked, but why make things worse by killing everyone in Wolfhump and Fort Deadend?”
“ To delay your party?” Tikaya guessed. “If Lancecrest knew he was dead if he stayed in the empire, maybe he wanted to get the weapons out so he could sell them to the highest bidder. Maybe his family would forgive him if they could all live the life of luxury in some remote paradise.”
“ But he got himself killed.” Bocrest nodded to Sicarius. “So, now all we’re dealing with is a confused bunch of science twits with no leader.” He appeared pleased at the prospect.
“ And possibly Colonel Lancecrest and an indeterminate number of his men,” Rias said.
Tikaya nodded, thinking of the half-eaten marine they had found in the lab with the creatures.
“ What?” Bocrest asked. “He’s dead. I saw his body.”
“ Are you sure it was him?” Rias asked. “Or was the skin melted by the gas?”
Bocrest opened his mouth, shut it, then spat. “You’re right. I saw a body in his office and a jacket with his name on it on the chair, but it could have been anybody. Bloody ancestors, he’ll be a pain to deal with if he’s in here. Pissed his little brother slagged things up so badly and left him to endure the aftermath.”
Tikaya listened bleakly. She had been hoping for fellow archaeologists to ally with; instead she might have another cursed Turgonian military commander waiting. She looked to Rias, hoping for some comfort there, but his face was inscrutable. She still had no idea what he thought about his emperor’s desire to obtain these weapons.
“ But his team is stuck, right?” Bocrest said. “If they could get to the weapons, they’d have taken them and disappeared by now.”
“ Correct,” Sicarius said. “They lack what we have.” His gaze came to rest on Tikaya again.
Her bleakness increased. When this had started, she had worried her skills would not be enough to keep her family safe. Now she worried her skills would be enough.
“ Valuable intelligence,” Rias told Sicarius. “Good work.”
Tikaya jerked with surprise. Was he actually complimenting an assassin on the bounty his torture session had yielded?
“ Yes,” Sicarius said, apparently unaffected by the praise.
The tunnel opened into a cavern with a ceiling that disappeared into darkness. A chasm over a hundred feet wide yawned across the center, cutting through walls as well as the floor. A multistory building perched near the edge on their side, and eagerness quickened Tikaya’s step-finally, a chance to see something more than a lab. A plant for distributing water, she guessed. Pipes ran vertically and horizontally from the structure, and a smokestack rose as far as the eye could see. A reservoir adjacent to the building held driftwood-littered water, which trickled over the edge on one side, flowing into the chasm.
Tikaya peered over the edge. Darkness and distance cloaked the bottom-if there was one. The black floor ended at the lip and started again on the other side. The tidy cobweb-free tunnels made Tikaya forget how much time had passed since this place had been created, but this chasm, which appeared to have formed after the complex was abandoned, reminded her that thousands of years, maybe tens of thousands of years, stood between then and now.
“ Looks like we’ve caught up with the other team.” Rias pointed at a tunnel entrance on the far side. Tikaya froze. Two men stood in it, and one had shaggy red-blond hair and a scruffy beard. She could not make out features at the distance, but they reminded her of Parkonis and sent a painful jab through her mind. Though her islands did not have the only blonds in the world, that hair coloring combined with the likelihood this was an archaeologist made her suspect this was one of her people. The second figure, dark-haired and dark-skinned, wore black and carried a musket. He could have been one of Bocrest’s men. The pair stepped back into the darkness when they noticed the marines watching them.
“ How’d they get over there?” Bocrest asked. “And how do we follow?”
“ Assuming they have a practitioner studied in telekinetics, they could have floated across,” Tikaya said.
Bocrest’s expression turned sour. “Starcrest, you know any other tunnels that lead over to that side?”
“ No. I don’t know what’s over there. We were desperate to escape by the time we got here. We climbed those pipes and got out through a vent mountainside.”
Bocrest growled and gazed about. Two other tunnels left the cavern on their side.
“ Karsus,” the captain said, “take your squad through that one and see if there’s a way across the gulf. Everyone else with me. We’re checking this one.”
“ I’d prefer to stay here and study the journal,” Tikaya said. “Not to mention there’s probably much I could learn in that building.” And maybe, if she was alone, those archaeologists would come visit her and she could find out more.
“ You’re not staying alone,” Bocrest snapped.
“ I can stay too,” Rias said.
“ Oh, yes, I’m going to leave you two alone to conspire.”
“ Bet they want to do more than conspire.” Someone snickered.
Bocrest silenced the commenter with a glare.
“ It’s possible there’s something in the pumping house that could get us across,” Rias said.
Bocrest’s gaze landed on the assassin. “Will you keep an eye on them?”
“ Yes,” Sicarius said.
Tikaya grimaced. A babysitter who was young enough to be Rias’s son. Lovely.
Before the marines reached the tunnels, Rias was already checking out the reservoir. An underground stream fed the pool, and the current had pushed logs and branches to the nearest side. He gazed thoughtfully at the wood.
Though eager to explore the building, Tikaya dropped her rucksack and joined him at the edge. She could not remember her last bath, but dipping a finger in the icy water stole her fantasies of immersing herself. Maybe she could heat some up for washing later.
“ Getting an idea?” she asked as Rias pondered the driftwood.
“ Perhaps.”
“ You don’t think the marines will find another way around?”
“ If that rift is a result of a fault line, it could run a long way.” Rias tapped a finger in the air toward the
