“But you’d prefer to talk?” she said. He wasn’t sure if she’d heard his suss or not.
“I’d prefer to be back in Haven.”
“Think we all would.” Ryann around, then down to Cathal. She opened her mouth, like she was about to say something, then shook her head.
Rain fell on trees outside, and water dripped from the roof of the cave. The storm rumbled on. For a while, those were the only sounds. When Ryann spoke again, her voice was stronger.
“Keelin, anything from the Proteus?”
Keelin’s eyes glazed for a moment. She swallowed, her throat bobbing, and shook her head. Ryann’s face softened. Then she climbed up to the cave entrance, scanning the forest below. Her hands wavered by her side, before she placed them on her hips.
“Let’s talk this through.” Ryann turned, and her eyes dipped towards Cathal. “Options.”
“How serious…I mean, what’s wrong with him?” Tris said.
“Unsure. Wound’s deep, and the healing’s not taking like it should. Probably a toxin. Nothing I’ve come across before.” Her chest rose and fell between each sentence, like she was squeezing the words out.
“Call for help?” Brice suggested, but he knew it was the wrong thing to say when Tris snorted.
Ryann held up a hand. “Tris, try.”
“Won’t work,” he said, shrugging the pack from his back and unzipping a pocket. Brice recognised the box he produced as a relay, something that would boost a signal. Tris played with it, his head shaking the whole time. “Nowhere near a strong enough signal. I can read the Proteus, but power’s too weak to ride. And the storm’s not helping.”
“Nyle and Osker?” Tris looked confused for a moment, so she refreshed his memory. “You said they were at a hold-out nearby.”
Tris was still for a moment, then shook his head again. “Nothing.”
Ryann’s lips smacked in annoyance. “We can’t stay here. Nearest hold-out’s ninety minutes.” She glanced at Cathal again. “Probably take longer.”
“Warths?” Brice recalled how Cathal hadn’t been keen to head back into the forest.
Tris put the relay back in his pack and hoisted it onto his shoulders. “Oh, yeah. The ones Brice got all riled for us. How about we send him out as an offering? About all he’s good for.”
“How about you go down first, you’re so tough.”
“At least I haven’t screwed things up for us.”
“Haven’t done anything useful either.”
“Stop!”
Ryann rarely raised her voice, and it was like a slap to Brice’s face. She continued, in her usual tone. “Focus on the problem.”
“Can you sense the warths, Ryann?” Keelin asked. “They still upset?”
Ryann closed her eyes. “They’ve moved off, but not far. One of them is in pain. Hard to tell how they’ll react.”
That would be the one climbing the tree, or maybe the one Brice had caught with his lash. He waited for some comeback from Tris, but there was none. And he wasn’t going to say anything. If Tris wanted to be childish about this, that was his outlook. Brice was better than that.
“So we head for the hold-out?” He desperately wanted Ryann to give a positive reply. But Tris spoke first.
“You really want to face those things again, Brice?”
“You want to hang around for whatever comes out of those tunnels?” Brice raised a hand as emphasis. Data-boy glanced towards the back of the cave and swallowed.
“So how do we get Cathal down?” Keelin asked. Brice hadn’t noticed her move, but now she stood on the lip, dark clouds behind her, a boot nudging a protruding boulder.
And that gave Brice an idea. The rock was uneven, and his eyes followed a number of cracks. He thought of the kit in his pack.
He walked forward, inspecting the rock, and climbed up next to Keelin. Just behind her, where the cliff fell away, the edge was smooth. Brice leaned forward and looked down to the soil below. He calculated the distance.
“You got something, Brice?” Ryann asked.
“We climb.” The solution was obvious.
“You going to carry Cathal, then?” Tris snorted, and muttered something under his breath.
Brice shrugged off his pack, and pulled out the micro-rope. It was barely the width of his little finger, but he’d used it before. He knew how strong it was.
“We lower him.” He smiled, and noticed how Tris avoided his eyes. “I can set up a system, no problem. If we…I don’t know, strap his arms and legs up, maybe wrap his head. I’ve done it in training. I can lower him.”
“So we feed him to the warths? You’re an animal, Brice.”
“They’re further off,” Ryann said.
“But still around, right?” Tris turned to Ryann, taking a step forward. “We only just made it away from them last time. We go down there, and who knows what’s going to happen?”
Tris’ face was inches from hers, and Brice realised he’d never seen Tris squaring up like this, not to Ryann. But she remained impassive. She met his gaze and held it.
“We don’t know what will happen if we stay, either,” she said. “And he needs help.” She pointed towards Cathal, but continued to stare at Tris.
He stepped back, then looked down. “But the warths are still down there somewhere,” he said quietly.
“So we need to be vigilant,” Brice said, the plan forming as he spoke. “We need someone on the ground first. We lower Cathal, and the rest of us follow.”
“And what if the warths return?” There wasn’t the same anger in Tris’ voice now. It had been replaced by a pleading tone.
“We pull him back up, and whoever’s already down there climbs.”
“What if we’re all down there?”
In the stillness that followed Tris’ question, Brice turned away and listened. He could still make out the background of the rain in the trees, and the constant rumble from the storm. In the back of the cavern dripping water echoed.
“What if that thing comes back while we wait, Tris?” Keelin asked. “At least we know about warths. At least…” She glanced at Cathal and seemed unable to finish.
“We go,” Ryann said, looking at each of them in turn. When she caught Brice’s
