Anandur #3
They cleared what remained of the rubble on top of it, brushing and lifting the broken rock away. When the chest was free, the Odus rigged the lifting harness and took the weight. Anandur held his breath as it came up off the chamber floor.
It was heavy, but more than that it was precious, and they handled it with utmost care, going slow and careful to make sure it didn't slip from their hold.
The chest rose a hand's width, then a foot, and then it was clear of the chamber, but they still had to be careful as they eased it through the breach and then walked over the pile of debris to deposit it on the basement floor.
"One," Yamanu reported to the war room. "Four to go."
The second chest was partially pinned under a slab that had to be lifted before the chest could come free. Onidu took the slab, bracing his stocky frame and lifting a piece while a Kra-ell and Okidu dragged the chest clear beneath it.
Once the chest was clear, Onidu set the slab down in the space vacated by it, careful not to strike the chest to its right.
"Two," Yamanu said into the comms. "Three to go."
"Three," he said when the third one came out easily enough now that they had room to maneuver.
They moved to the fourth, securing the harness around it, when a sharp crack sounded somewhere above them.
They all looked up at the gaping hole that was open to the sky, but there was nothing to see and no more cracks sounded.
"What was that?" Anandur asked.
"A warning," Yamanu said. "Out! Clear the site!"
The Odus and the Kra-ell down in the chamber scrambled to get out when another crack sounded, but this time it was not a groan, it was a grinding roar.
Anandur knew what was coming next.
A great deal of stone was about to come down on their heads, and they had to get out of its way.
"Move it!" he yelled as he shoved the nearest Guardian aside. "The ceiling is coming down!"
One of the shoring timbers gave in, sounding like a giant bone being snapped, and then a section of the overhead ceiling and the ground above it came down where the timber had been.
Dust billowed, thick and choking. The work lights swung wildly, then sputtered out.
The lone surviving light was throwing lurching shadows about.
Anandur saw Okidu and Onidu throw themselves not toward the exit but into the failing passage, putting their sturdy bodies under the falling debris.
Okidu had his arms up over his head, and his legs braced when a great descending mass of broken concrete came down on him. He held his position, caught it and held it. The passage that would have closed and buried half the team stayed open under him by the width of a body crawling through.
"Through him," Yamanu roared. "Go, go, go! Through the gap Okidu is holding! Now!"
The Guardians and Kra-ell didn't need to be told twice.
One after the other they scrambled under Okidu's straining arms into the basement beyond. The dust was a wall now, lit red and swinging by the one surviving lamp, and as the roar of falling cement and ground continued, Anandur heard a sound he knew all too well.
It was the wet sharp crunch of a body breaking.
He spun toward it.
Brody was down.
Another timber had collapsed right across him, one of the heavy braces that had let go, and it had caught him across the lower legs and pinned him to the chamber floor.
Brody was hissing through his teeth, which was the equivalent of a scream from someone less resilient than a Guardian.
The ceiling and the ground above it were still coming down, and Onidu, who had been bracing the far side of the breach, let go because there was no one left on that side.
He crossed to Brody in two strides and lifted the timber off his legs.
Between one pendulum swing and the next, Anandur could see the unnatural angle of both legs below the knees.
He rushed over and lifted Brody into his arms, while Onidu held the useless legs so they wouldn't flop around and make the injury worse.
"Julian," Anandur bellowed. "Brody is injured. Both legs badly broken."
Okidu, who had been holding the failing passage open, released the weight the moment the last body cleared it and threw himself backward out of the breach. The passage closed behind him with a final grinding crash.
The roar died in a long settling rumble, and then a patter of small stones falling. Then there was silence.
Anandur knelt on the floor with Brody cradled in his arms, his body curved over the Guardian.
He was coughing dust, and his ears were ringing, but he was still counting bodies through the murk to make sure no one had been buried under the debris.
Yamanu, Drova, Pavel, the Guardians, and the other Kra-ell were all there.
Brody was limp in his arms, his face ashen and sweating.
Anandur scanned the area again, suddenly panicking because he hadn't found Julian in his previous scan.
"Hold on," Anandur told Brody. "Julian is coming."
Or so he hoped.
When the doctor emerged from behind a pile of debris with his medical case, Anandur was ready to kiss him.
Julian knelt beside Brody's legs, dropped his medical case, and started moving his hand gently over the breaks.
"Clean breaks, both of them, which is the only good news here."