I was worried about Tejón, but the chunky bear still surprised me by smashing against the stone and ambling across easily, not once pausing.
Alysand and Pachi followed, leaving only Madi behind. It was only a couple dozen feet, so I could still see my friend’s face. Her features were more beautiful than normal, wrapped in the silvery touch of moonlight. But fear raged in her glimmering eyes. Just when I thought she was going to ask us to wait, the warrior clenched her hands into fists, faced the wall, and began to sidestep across.
I held my breath, waiting for her to slip, to call out. I couldn’t help but imagine her beautiful form tumbling away into the abyss. Thankfully, she made it.
After that, the trail seemed more forgiving. It fell downwards at a gentle pace, and it widened and smoothed out once more. Soon, the sky began to light from the distant horizon, turning gray with the coming of daylight. Though we had hours more to travel, according to Alysand’s guesses, it felt like we had passed through the darkest portion of our journey.
We skipped breakfast and ate more jerky while we walked. Since our way was now broad and simple to traverse, we made tremendous time.
The path wound up and down and through hills, and the further we got, the more the ocher of the soil turned to a mottled rust. The iron was all around us. We were nearing our destination.
Every hill and mound in the area seemed to merge toward a single peak. It was not one of the lofty mountains that scored the horizon here and there, snow-capped and ancient. This was a wide, almost flat-topped mountain that was covered in thick forest. As we crested a rise, I saw that the face of the mountain had been removed, cut away by years of toil, and below its shaggy crown, a tunnel bore down into the stone.
Even at this distance, perhaps two miles away, I was able to discern the tiny forms of miners pouring in and out of the mine like ants.
“We will leave the trail now,” Alysand said, taking the took the position of leader ahead of me. “Step lightly and follow closely. I’d like to get close enough to scout about. The fewer surprises we happen upon, the better.”
Our progress slowed dramatically, and though the gunsinger lacked her skill, I could not help but be reminded of Selna as he made his way below bough and branch, hedging the entrance of the mine. At last we made our way around the opening, coming to rest in a copse of trees that stood a couple hundred yards away. I scanned the mine entrance and saw only a handful of guards, but there were many more miners. They were hauling out buckets of ore, some occasionally pushing up a cart filled with the stuff.
“I can count only seven guards,” Alysand said. “And you, Hana?”
I couldn’t help but feel like I was being tested, so before I gave my answer, I took one more count. I had missed one in my first pass, but I saw him now, a larger ratkin that was sitting on a crate, leaning his head against the stone of the mountainside.
“Seven if you count the sleeper,” I replied.
Alysand nodded. “No doubt, there are more that we cannot see, but I don’t exactly want to snoop about in the daylight. Our chances don’t bode well. More likely, we’ll end up stirring the hive. I say we withdraw a mile or so and return as the sun begins to set. The transition from day to night is an effective time to attack. The eyes have trouble, and there will certainly be a change of guard.”
We found a game trail nearby and walked up into an adjacent canyon. My belly was calling upon demonic powers, and I heard Madi’s make a noise loud enough to hear from twenty feet away. A mild stream ran through the canyon, and the sun shone down on us favorably. Pachi and Tejón drank their fill and found warm stones to lie on and rest. Madi stretched out on a patch of grass like the gorgeous lumberjack she was.
It was, by all measures, a fine day.
Alysand gestured to me after we had stopped and set down our gear in a pile.
“Do you know much of fishing?” he asked me with a grin.
“I know a bit. Not much to be honest, though.” I glanced at the creek and saw the sliver shapes of fish darting about in a nearby pool. “I don’t have a pole or any fishing equipment anyway.”
He reached into his mysterious satchel and produced a battered tin box. On its lid was a childlike depiction of a fish. He handed it to me and said, “Let’s give it a go, shall we?”
I opened the box and found a telescopic metal rod. It was collapsed into a six-inch pole but was over four feet long when I extended it.
Afterward, Alysand showed me how to fix the reel in place, then explained how to tie the knot of the fishing line, attaching a tiny hook. “Now you just need to catch a few crickets.” There was a twinkle of mirth in his eyes, verging on mischief, and I feared what was going to happen next.
I spent nearly an hour hopping around, diving on the tiny, springing crickets that roamed everywhere. Eventually I had seven of the beasts, and I put them in a jar Alysand had given me. Then we walked over to the pool together, where he showed me how to run the hook through its belly and cast. In just a few seconds, a hand-sized fish was wriggling in the air before us.
It took me a time to figure out the reel, but I got it down, and soon had a pile of the fish. We were lucky enough that the fish didn’t take the crickets
