firesalong the shoreline had gone out, and clouds hid the stars and themoon. Only the sound of the river helped her navigate. Though shewas on the wrong side of the waterway, she headed in the directionof the Wilder camp, hoping Cedar had heard the commotion and wascoming to help.
“Which way’d she go?” one of the men behindher snarled.
Kali kept running, not bothering withstealth. The pained curses of the most injured man pierced thenight, and concerned calls from other claims covered herretreat.
“Get her, you idiots,” Sebastian yelled.“She’s worth a lot of money.”
That quieted some of the outcries.
A blocky shape loomed out of the darknessahead of Kali. She threw out her hands to keep from crashing intoit. Hard, cold metal met her touch. A couple of seconds of gropingallowed her to identify a steam engine and furnace. Had flames beenburning in the firebox, she might have come up with a creative usefor the machinery, but she merely noted it was probably used to aidin digging and that a mine shaft would be nearby. She skirted thearea.
“Sebastian?” came a man’s whisper from aheadof Kali.
She froze.
“I lost track of the big bloke with the gunskills,” the speaker went on, raising his voice. “Sebastian, isthat you?”
“Stay up there,” Sebastian yelled to the man.“She may have gone that way. Head her off.”
Boots crunched on river pebbles. Kali easedback until she bumped against the boiler. She hunkered in itsshadow, hoping it would camouflage her. A hint of dawn brightenedthe sky, and it would grow harder to hide soon.
“A hundred dollars cash to whoever finds thegirl,” Sebastian called.
At first Kali thought he was still trying torally his men, but an answering call came from a claim downriver.“What’s she look like?” That wasn’t one of Sebastian’s thugs.
“A woman!” Sebastian called. “There aren’tmany up here.”
“Oh, right. You want her dead or alive?”
“Women ain’t no good dead!” came a call fromacross the river.
Kali thunked her head back against theboiler. The entire Sixty Mile River was going to be after her in aminute. She glared down at the puny knife she still held. If shehad her pack, she would have tools and supplies and might be ableto build something. In lieu of that, her rifle would be handy justthen too.
“Anyone who touches the woman dies.” That wasCedar. Good. His voice came from across the river. Not good. Howhad he gotten over there and how long would it take him to return?She had not seen any boats.
“Says who?”
Kali had no idea who that was.
She patted around the dormant steam engine.Maybe this claim held something useful she could use. Since nobodyhad come out to check on the ruckus, she figured the owners were intown.
“The last man you’ll ever see if you hurther.” Cedar’s voice was closer. He must be on the shorelinedirectly opposite from her.
In the growing light, she thought she couldpick out his tall form over there, but she dared not call to him.She patted the ground, found a stone, and hurled it in hisdirection. The surrounding shouts kept her from telling if itsplashed down or clattered onto the bank next to him, but she hopedhe heard and guessed where it had come from.
A shot fired. It originated in Sebastian’scamp, and she had little trouble guessing the target. Her stomachchurned with concern for Cedar, but it was best to leave him to hisown devices and figure out a plan of her own.
Kali returned to her inspection of theequipment. Her knuckles bumped against a wood box. She found thelid, opened it, and groped inside. Charcoal and a smaller boxcontaining long wooden matches. She grabbed the latter, though shedid not know how she might use them yet.
More gunshots fired, going back and forthacross the river, and the chatter died down. So far no bullets hadslammed into the ground near her, but the scout was still standingguard up ahead-she could make out his dark figure now too-and hewas bound to see her if she made a run for the forest.
On her hands and knees, she crept around theboiler, still hoping to find something she could use. Her fingersbrushed air. The mine shaft entrance, nothing but a hole in theground with a pipe leading into it. Not digging equipment afterall. Maybe some sort of heating system to thaw the permafrost andmake it easier to work? If so, there might be a whole network oftunnels beneath her.
Tunnels she could get herself trapped in. Sheshook her head. Going in was not a good idea.
Unless…
Could she make them believe she had gone in,get them all to follow, and then escape into the forest whileeveryone was searching the tunnels? She better check and see howextensive the system was first.
Hoping the one-man-versus-the-entire-rivergunfight Cedar had started would give her time, she eased over thelip of the hole. She probed for a bottom with her feet. There. Fivefeet below.
She released the lip and dropped to thebottom, clunking something with her elbow on the way. A lanternstuck in a niche in the wall. She grabbed it and followed thepiping system into a low tunnel that led away from the river. Thewalls radiated coldness and smelled of damp earth. Creeping intothe Stygian darkness made her think of the tombs and sepulchers ina book she had once read about the Dark Ages. The gunfire grewmuffled and distant. When she judged herself far enough from theentrance so the flame would not be visible, she lit thelantern.
Pickaxes and shovels leaned against dirt andstone walls marbled with quartz and thin threads that might havebeen gold. For all she knew about mining, it might have been ironpyrite too.
A few meters ahead, the passage branched intothree tunnels. Enough exploring. The mine promised the maze she hadhoped for, one her would-be captors could waste several minutesexploring. All she had to do was set a decoy at the entrance sothey believed she had gone down and then hide nearby until theydropped down to explore. It’d be better if she could figure outsome sort of time-delay device to cause a sound, making the meneven more certain she was down there, but she did not want to riskdelving further and genuinely being trapped.
Kali was about to turn around when somethingglinted in the darkness, reflecting her lantern light. She onlyhesitated a heartbeat before jogging toward it. Just anothermoment….
The tunnel broadened into a small room filledwith… Were those potatoes? She peered closer. Several crateslined the wall. Though they must have been harvested monthsearlier, they appeared fine, preserved by the surroundingpermafrost. But why were they in a mine?
A rusted, decommissioned boiler stood in thecorner while rows of ceramic jugs lined the opposite side of thechamber. A clunky metal contraption rose against the back wall. Itwas the source of the reflection she had noticed. Theobject-machine? — might have been anything; the mishmash of partscomprising it reminded her of something she would create out ofscrap metal. It was only when she opened a box that emitted ayeasty smell that the pieces clicked together.
“Oh.” She rolled her eyes, feeling foolishfor taking so long to get it. “Alcohol. Right.”
A thump sounded near the entrance. Someonejumping down.
Kali cursed under her breath and cut out thelantern. She had dawdled too long.
“Kali?” came a soft call.
She blew out a relieved breath. “Cedar, backhere.”
“We have a problem,” he said, voice drawingnear.
She relit the lantern. “You’re mad that Ishot up your fancy sleeping blanket?”
“All right, two problems.”
Cedar jogged into view, water sloughing fromhis clothes and matting his hair to his head. He bore a rifle inone hand while his sword dripped blood in the other. A second riflepoked over his shoulder, scraping against the wall as heapproached. He also wore his packsack. No, wait. That was herpacksack. Her
“Your old beau is gathering his men, and he’sabout to search in here,” Cedar said, letting her help him out ofthe packsack. She tore into it as he continued to speak. “Iapologize for my ineptness, but it’s getting light, and he spottedme when I went for your gear.”
