“You’re a demanding doctor,” Apex rasped.
“A demanding doctor who’s cranky because his nostrils are caked with ash.” And because he didn’t have enough hands free to do everything he wanted.
“Perhaps you should have stapled them shut.”
“Perhaps.”
Tolemek stood up, a small, sphere-shaped lantern in his hand. “I’m going to look around.”
“Good. Find us the way out, will you?” Ridge said.
Apex only glowered silently at him. Ah, yes, being trapped in a garbage dump in an enemy fortress with the two people who loathed each other. This would be fun.
Tolemek walked by as he headed off the ash mound, pressing something into Ridge’s hand as he passed. Apex, looking the other way, didn’t notice the exchange. The small ceramic jar was labeled healing salve. Ah, yes. Ridge had heard about this and that it was very effective. Good.
Maybe thinking that the two men loathed each other had been inaccurate—only Apex seemed to loathe Tolemek. What would Tolemek do, Ridge wondered, if Apex challenged him to that duel one day?
“I’ve seen your school records, sir,” Apex muttered when Tolemek was out of earshot. “You paid attention at least some of the time.”
“You’ve seen my school records?” Ridge squinted at the jar—the single candle in Apex’s hand didn’t shed a lot of light—but didn’t see anything resembling directions. He slipped the lid off. “If they’re on display somewhere besides my mom’s icebox, I’m going to be appalled.”
“They’re not on display. I snooped. When I received invitations to join both Wolf Squadron and Eagle Squadron, I was trying to decide where I wanted to go. Since Eagle is stationed up north, it would have been closer to my home grounds, not that there’s much up there for me anymore.” He didn’t bother glowering at Tolemek this time, but Apex did watch him walking the perimeter of the chamber, searching for exits with his small lantern.
“Isn’t Colonel Kensingbar a math and engineering maestro? I know he taught classes at the academy when he was on the disabled list a couple of years ago.” Ridge’s grades hadn’t been that impressive. There had to be another explanation. He dipped a corner of bandage into the salve jar and smeared it on Apex’s ribs.
“Kensingbar failed two history classes and barely passed Iskandian Literature. That’s unacceptable.”
“And here I thought you’d joined my squadron because I bought you a beer.”
Apex frowned down at Ridge’s ministrations. “What is that?”
“An antiseptic?”
“It’s not the army one.”
“No.” Ridge set it down, so he could start wrapping bandages before Apex started doing something juvenile, like rubbing the salve off.
Apex scowled at the corner of the chamber Tolemek was inspecting, then scowled at Ridge. “You’re putting his cursed witch brews on me. I don’t want—”
“Too bad,” Ridge said. “Now, stay still.”
Apex tried to pull away, but the sudden movement made him hiss with pain. “I refuse. That’s not army-tested and approved. I don’t want his dragons-damned slime on me.”
Ridge gripped Apex’s shoulder before he could stand up and hurt himself further. “Sit down, Lieutenant.” He hated pretending to be a disciplinarian—him of all people, who made a habit of lipping off to senior officers—but he wasn’t going to let the friction between these two threaten the mission—or a man’s health. “I didn’t ask for your opinion on the goo, and I don’t care about it, quite frankly. You are welcome to file a complaint when we get back. My willingness to use an unapproved healing product will be a minor crime compared to what else goes on the docket for my court-martial, but maybe your grievance will be addressed.” He hurried to finish wrapping Apex’s ribs, while he was sitting still.
“My grievance isn’t with you, sir,” Apex said, his eyes pained, probably not from his wounds this time.
“I know, and you can challenge him to a duel later, but I don’t want any trouble until we’re out of here.” Ridge didn’t want it later, either, but he’d figure out a way to deal with that when the time came.
Apex sighed dramatically but didn’t protest.
“These walls are iron,” Tolemek said from the far end of the chamber. “I think the ceiling is too. There are some tubes in the floor over here. And in the walls too. I think they might be for taking samples.”
“To make sure the magma chamber isn’t heating up so much that the mountain will blow?” Ridge asked.
Tolemek looked over. “Sounds like you didn’t sleep through your entire geology class.”
“No, volcanoes are interesting. Any boy will perk up at the prospect of things exploding, erupting, or otherwise making booms. And if there’s a way we could blow up this mountain once we have those samples and get our people out of here, I’d be very open to hearing about it.”
“Judging by the size of the Taiga of Boiling Death, there wouldn’t be a safe place to hide within hundreds of miles if a volcano-like eruption occurred.”
Tolemek stopped in front of a couple of machines. Weapons, if the huge gun-barrel-like protuberances were an indication. And they were pointing right at the ash pile—and those on top of it. Ridge hoped those were simple artillery weapons and nothing powered by dragon blood, or that possessed glowing red eyes. He looked ceiling-ward, thinking of Sardelle again. He hoped she and the others were all right. She should have been able to help the team run out past those statues if there was no way up the lift. Having them safe would be good, but it also might mean Ridge, Tolemek, and Apex were the only ones who might be able to complete the mission.
“Interesting,” Tolemek said. “These machines are attached to pipes that run into the walls, and there’s some kind of…” He wandered around a metal box on the ground. “Engine? Generator? I’d have to take off the cover to know for certain. Maybe. Engineering isn’t my specialty. But it looks like the scientists here might be experimenting with using the heat supplied by the hot springs to power these weapons.”
“And here I was thinking we’d been tossed into the garbage dump,” Ridge said.
“This may be a testing facility.” Tolemek pointed at the ash pile. “That could be the remains of whatever they’ve been testing the weapons on.”
“Like… the last people who fell down the trap?” Ridge looked at the gray powder smearing the back of his hand. “Comforting.”
“I suspect there’s too much ash for human beings to have been the sole contributors to the pile,” Apex said, tugging down his shirt—Ridge had finished the bandaging job.
“There’s ash on the floor back here, too,” Tolemek said. “It’s everywhere.”
“What I’d really like to hear about is a door.” Ridge took back his candle and slid down the powdery slope to the floor. He kicked aside some of the layer of ash Tolemek had mentioned. The floor beneath it looked like iron too. “Am I correct in guessing that iron has a higher melting point than the temperature of lava?”
“Yes,” Tolemek and Apex said together.
“I can’t imagine how they engineered this though,” Tolemek added. “I hadn’t thought… This whole facility seems far more advanced than what I’d expect from my people. I always thought—it’s not general knowledge, of course, but those with an iota of global awareness know we’ve fallen behind on technological advancements in favor of focusing on military resources.”
“Those guns look like military resources to me.” Ridge pointed at the pair of monstrosities near the wall, then a door in the shadows nearby drew his attention.
“Yes… this facility must have been built here with the intent of figuring out how to weaponize the geysers or the magma below them. When they found the dragon blood, they must have thought of this place, since it has such an inhospitable location.”
“Let’s worry about the historical details later.” Ridge tried the knob on the door he had found. Locked. Of course. The sturdy metal didn’t look like anything one could
kick down, either. “The others will be worried about us. Tolemek, can you open this door?”
Tolemek joined him and dug into his satchel for his vial again. The contents had gone down considerably.
“How many more doors will you be able to do?” Ridge asked, watching Tolemek brush the substance on.
“Not many. I’m on my last vial now. I used quite a bit at the asylum.” Tolemek lowered his voice to mutter, “For naught.”
“I heard you got some clues at least.”
Tolemek’s grunt wasn’t enthused.
“You’re not giving up, are you?”
“No.”
A deep clank emanated from the wall behind the weapons. Soft clicks came from the metal boxes Tolemek had been looking at earlier. They were attached to the big guns by thick pipes that also attached to the wall. A faint hum started up from the weapons themselves, a deep note that reverberated through the entire chamber.
“Now what?” Apex grumbled, as he slowly made his way over to join them.
“Now we open that door even faster,” Ridge said. “Need any help with that, Tee?”
“No.” Tolemek eyed him through his ropes of hair. “Tee?”
“Your name’s too long, and I haven’t come up with a suitable nickname for you yet.”
“Yet? I thought that dubious honor was reserved for your pilots.”
“Anyone’s a fair target.” Ridge drummed his fingers on the wall as the circle of goo started to smoke. He eyed the weapons. “They’re pointed at the ash pile, not us, so we should be fine, right?”
“Maybe,” Apex said. “Maybe not. We fell into a security system. You wouldn’t think you could avoid being incinerated by simply moving out of the way.”
“There is ash everywhere.” Tolemek knelt back from the door, apparently having done all he could until the goop finished eating through the metal.
Ridge hoped it wasn’t a thick door. “It’s getting hotter. The weapons. They’re radiating heat like furnaces.” The hum was growing louder, too, with the pitch becoming less deep.
“I think it’s a fancy crematorium.” Apex pointed at the layers of ash. “Everything that falls down here gets incinerated, not just what’s in the pile. There’s just a pile because more things fall over there.” He backed up until he bumped into the wall next to the smoking door. “And if we’re in here when the weapons go off, we’ll be incinerated too.”
“A reasonable hypothesis,” Tolemek said.
Ridge thought of Nowon’s body, the way his skin had been melted off. Had he fallen down here? Or into some other trap powered by the heat of the earth?
“How’s that door coming along?” Ridge almost gave it a kick to check for himself, but he didn’t know if doing that too early might disrupt the goo.
“Soon,” Tolemek said.
The hum was growing higher and higher in pitch. “It’s definitely building to something.” Ridge jerked a thumb at the door. “Will we be safe as soon as we get out?”
“Eventually. I’m not sure how far we’ll have to be. The heat could pour through my hole, and if it’s just a tunnel or staircase on the other side, it could be quite intense out there.” Tolemek gave the door a kick.
“Go, go,” Ridge urged. He wanted to leap through himself, but ushered Apex through. Thanks to his injury, he would be slowest and needed any head start he could get.
Thankfully, he didn’t object. Apex cried out as the sides scraped his ribs, but he hurled himself through the hole without hesitation. Tolemek grabbed his bag and dove through next. With the high-pitched hum so loud and powerful it felt as if it were tunneling through his eardrums, Ridge scrambled after them.
His candle went out, but Tolemek still had his lantern and led the way up a set of cement stairs. An impossibly long set of stairs that disappeared into the darkness above. Ridge sprinted up them and could have passed the others. Instead, he urged them on with pats on the back. They might have been shoves. All he could think about was the expression, “Heat rises.”
The hum culminated in a strange wail and flash so intense it flooded through the hole and up the stairs, lighting every shadow with the power of the sun. A wave of heat slammed into Ridge’s back, wrapping around him like water. Hot water. It seared his skin, and he was terrified that it might be melting his flesh right from his bones. No, that would hurt more. It had to, didn’t it? The heat was uncomfortable, but he wasn’t in agony. Not yet. He kept running, sprinting up those stairs even though his thigh muscles burned, and the air he breathed seared his lungs and scraped his throat raw.
Something burned his hand, and he cursed, imagining skin melting off. Tolemek’s lantern didn’t provide enough light for him to see the wound. Maybe that was for the best. He ran on.
After an eternity or two, the heat finally faded. The machines cycling off? Or maybe they had simply run out of reach.
Apex stumbled and went down, grasping his ribs. “A minute. Please. Just need—”
“Take it.” Ridge stopped, putting a hand on his shoulder. The door they had escaped through had fallen back into darkness and disappeared from view.
“The top is ahead,” Tolemek said. “I see another door.”
It felt like they had climbed enough stairs to have run out the top of the mountain and up into the heavens by now. Ridge rested a hand against the wall. There was something lumpy on the side of his palm, deadening his feeling. He gulped, remembering that pain he had felt. He held his hand up toward Tolemek’s light, afraid of what he would see.
Then he laughed.
“Glad you find the news so promising,” Tolemek said.
“My hand is covered with wax,” Ridge said.
Both men stared at him.
“The candle melted,” Ridge explained. “I thought—never mind. A door, you say? Any chance this one isn’t locked?” He doubted it.
Apex shifted, and Ridge helped him stand up.
“I’m fine, sir.”
“Good.”
“It is unlocked,” Tolemek said.
“I hope whatever’s on the other side is cool,” Ridge said. “My skin feels like… I don’t even know. A bad sunburn.”
“Be glad that’s all we got.” Tolemek pressed an ear to the door, listened, then shook his head. “I don’t hear anything.”
Ridge eased past Apex, drew his pistol, and nodded for Tolemek to open the door. “Ready.”
He stepped past Tolemek and into a cement hallway, ready to fire in either direction. A second or two passed before he realized there was a dead guard on the floor. Like the first one they had encountered, his neck had been slit.
“When nothing’s going your way, it’s comforting to know that things aren’t going the enemy’s way, either,” Ridge murmured.
Ridge?
He jumped, surprised by the voice, even though he recognized it an instant later. Sardelle?
You’re alive! The relief that came through the link almost brought tears to his eyes. He was relieved to know Sardelle was alive, too, but her emotion was more intense.
You thought I wasn’t?
I couldn’t sense you. Neither could Jaxi. I thought…
Oh. We were in a, a crematorium, I guess you could call it. The walls were metal. Iron.
Sardelle had admitted once that she couldn’t sense things through iron. Ah.
Where are you now? Are Ahn and Duck all right too? Did you have to go back out?
We’re all here. We deactivated the statues and went up. But we’re… in a little trouble now. If you could find us, we could use Tolemek’s help.
Just his? Not mine?
Maybe you can hold his bag.
Very funny. I don’t know where we are. You haven’t found a map, have you?
“Sir?”
“Hm?”
“I asked if you had a preference as to which way.”
“Hold on. I’m seeing if we can get directions.”
A surprisingly strong grip latched onto his forearm. “Caslin?” Tolemek asked. “
Is she all right?”
Ridge nodded. “Yes, they went up.”
Jaxi says for you to take the wider hallway, go up two more flights of stairs, and look for the lift on the floor with all the labs. There are some stairs at the other end that should lead to our level, one up from there. We’re on the other side of the lift though, so you’ll have to figure out a way to burn through a metal wall to get to us. Oh, also, there are people along your route. If they’re like the people we’ve run into, they’ll be expecting trouble. Us.
At this point, I’d be delighted to deal with something as normal as “people.” Ridge pointed down the wider hallway and started walking. “This way. Stay alert.” Where are you now? You said you needed help?
We’ve found the vault, but we’ve been shut off from the lift. Sardelle sounded sheepish. We’re locked in for the moment.
The vault? The vault full of dragon blood?
Yes. But if Jaxi can’t melt a hole in the door, that’s where we’ll need Tolemek. She thinks she can handle it, but she does have a high opinion of her abilities.
I’d never have guessed.
By the way, Jaxi has had time to inspect the mountain and says the peak can open and that the hot air balloons are stored up there. That may be our way out once we’re done.
Understood. We’ll get to you. Don’t take any chances until we get the team back together, all right?
They had been “speaking” back and forth rapidly, and Ridge expected a prompt answer. He followed Apex up the first set of stairs Jaxi had mentioned—since he was distracted, he was letting Apex lead—and onto the second set before prompting Sardelle again.
Right?
No answer.
He cursed softly.
“Sir?” Apex.
“I’m afraid the others are… taking chances.”
Chapter 15
“Sardelle?” came Ahn’s soft call from the front of the corridor.
“What is it?” Sardelle had been about to finish talking with Ridge and join the two lieutenants—Jaxi was heating up, preparing herself for her attempt to melt the door, and it was about to be far too hot for a human to stand close.