Chapter 46
Kiera
We carried our logs to the chopping station.
Dozens of prisoners and soldiers crowded around, sawing and carving wood into distinct shapes. Like the bones of a ship.
A hulking soldier bellowed. “You there! Stop!”
We halted as one and turned. Aiden stepped forward, his expression annoyed. “What is it now? We have a schedule to keep.”
“Watch your tongue, boy. I outrank you,” the soldier growled. He nodded at my bare feet. “Prisoners must be shackled in Calimber.”
I stiffened.
Aiden’s eyebrows rose. “Truly? That’s not what my commanding officer in Twaryn said. But if that’s the way here . . .”
“It is,” the soldier griped. “Get them shackled before you chop your wood. When you’re done, take it to the bastards in the forge. They’ve been begging for more fuel.”
Aiden led us to where the soldier gestured. A box of shackles sat near a pile of bark shavings. After hesitating for a split second, Aiden grabbed a pair and locked them around my ankles.
“I’m sorry, Kiera,” he whispered.
I bit my lip and tried to keep my rising fear in check. I’d hoped they wouldn’t notice. Gods, those keys had better be easy to steal.
Once all of us, except Aiden, were shackled again, we lifted our logs onto our shoulders and carried them to an empty stand.
While Maz and Ruru sawed the normal logs, Nikella and I hurried back for the hollow ones. We discreetly emptied our weapons and supplies into a cart. Then Ruru tossed the chunks of wood on top.
Aiden, in his partially burned soldier’s uniform, barked orders and snapped at us to hurry. My limbs shook as we wheeled our two carts down into the mine.
I felt blind at first, blinking in the darkness. My bare feet appreciated the packed earth over the piles of wood shavings and sawdust. But I hated the now-familiar bite of metal on my skin and the drag of the chain between my ankles.
We stepped into the blaze and brightness of the forge. Two sweaty men poked at the roaring fire and hissing weapons. Neither of them looked up at our entrance.
Aiden sauntered toward them, pretending to observe their work, as we unloaded the wood from our carts. We added to the small stack of wood they already had, which was covered by a leather blanket—most likely to prevent sparks from catching.
Maz dipped his hand to the bottom of a cart and pulled out his small axe. He hid it behind his back.
My stomach in knots, I hurried to the other end of the cave to peer into the tunnel beyond. No one was there.
I nodded to Aiden.
He slipped up behind one man while Maz slid up to the other. I looked away when Aiden unsheathed his soldier’s sword.
A thump and wet gurgles joined the forge’s grumbling.
I flinched, staring determinedly into the empty tunnel. Death was necessary, but it wasn’t pleasant.
By the time I glanced back, Aiden and Maz had stripped the two limp men of their forge aprons and sturdy boots and dragged their bodies to the woodpile. The leather blanket hid them perfectly. We just had to hurry in case more deliveries came.
Nikella and Maz donned aprons over their prisoner garb.
“We’ll have to cut away our ankle cuffs to wear these,” Nikella said grimly, hefting the boots. “We can’t wait for you to bring back a key.”
Aiden grabbed a pair of wickedly curved sunstone shears from a worktable. “These should work.”
Ruru scowled. “You’ll gouge their legs with that.”
“We’ll be fine, little brother,” Maz said with a reassuring smile. “I’ve lost a lot of skin already. What’s a bit more?”
Nikella nodded.
Aiden kneeled at Nikella’s feet and carefully angled the shears around one of the thick metal bands.
A soft groan drew my attention away. A prisoner stumbled through the tunnel toward me, carrying a bucket.
“Shit,” I hissed under my breath.
I hurried forward. “I’ll carry that the rest of the way.”
The old man looked up at me, startled. He shook his head.
“Please,” I begged. “If I don’t make myself useful, the supervisors will whip me again.”
The man’s face softened, and he handed me his bucket. I took it gratefully and waited until he’d shuffled back the way he’d come.
The bucket was full of sparkly sunstone bits. I blinked at it. Father would’ve locked this in his vault or sold it for hundreds of gold coins.
It’d been worth more to him than the lives spent to attain it. And now Renwell continued that tradition on a grander scale.
I scowled at the sunstone and carried it into the forge cavern.
Nikella was limping slightly in her heavy boots as she sprinkled fireseeds around the glowing furnaces. Then she strategically tucked her bomb tins throughout the cavern. Ruru helped her coil the fuses out of sight.
Maz growled between clenched teeth, while Aiden slowly sliced through his remaining shackle. “Gods damn it, go faster.”
“Hold still, or you’ll lose more than just skin,” Aiden said, his gaze focused.
The metal clanked to the ground with Maz’s sigh of relief. I emptied the sunstone bucket into the glittering pile of night sky.
“I’ll use this as my cover,” I said, waving the bucket.
Aiden nodded. “Since the Wolf ship hasn’t arrived—”
“They’ll be here,” Maz snapped. “They’re just late. We can stall until then.”
Aiden’s face hardened. “When you hear my whistle, Mazkull, you will run up to the soldiers and tell them there’s a breakout—whether that ship is here or not. I’ll fight our way onto one of their warships alone, if I have to.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Maz snarled. “I’m not letting you fight alone, and I’m not saying to wait that long. Just give them a minute to get here, Aiden.”
I glanced between the two of them staring stone-faced at each other while I strapped Mother’s knife to my leg. I slipped the rest of my small knives into my waistband. Uncomfortable, but hopefully they wouldn’t be there long.
Ruru and Nikella also hid weapons on their person, trying to ignore the tension.
“I’ll give them as much time as I can,” Aiden finally said.
Maz nodded stiffly, turning back to the forge.
Nikella tucked several canisters with their fuses into my bucket, covering them with a cloth.
Aiden slid a few more into his pockets, then marched into the tunnel. “Let’s go.”
Ruru hurried after him. I followed more slowly, glancing back at Nikella and Maz, suddenly worried I would never see them again.
Maz’s scowl softened. “Go on, lovely. This isn’t goodbye.”
I smiled tremulously and whipped around before I lost my nerve. I had to hop awkwardly to catch up with Ruru. Stupid fucking shackles.
We descended deeper into the mine. I could almost feel the press of the earth around us. Earth that would come crashing down soon.
Aiden led us into a huge cavern. My jaw dropped at the enormity of it. The sunstone. The pillars. The people. It seemed too much, too many.
This mission suddenly felt almost impossible. Especially without our ship of allies.
That familiar edge of panic began slicing into my calm.
Focus, focus. One thing at a time.
I recognized the supervisors from Aiden’s descriptions. All with helmets and sunstone clubs. A few with ledgers and signal horns. But I only cared for the keys dangling from their belts.
Just a twitch of your fingers, Kiera. Nothing you haven’t done before. Get close. Steal them. Get out.
But first, we had to hide the bombs.
We split up like we planned. Aiden sauntered off in one direction. Ruru and I in another.
Ruru grabbed a bucket like mine. We quickly found the line of prisoners waiting to fill their buckets with sunstone. It snaked around the rim of the cavern under the scaffolding, which was perfect because it protected us from the rocks that frequently tumbled down.
The other prisoners didn’t pay us any mind. Just hobbled forward with their empty buckets and emptier eyes.
I wanted to whisper that they would be free soon. That they needed to be ready. I wanted to see hope reignite in their souls.
But I didn’t want to cause a ruckus. I needed to wait, wait, wait. Gods-damned waiting.
I discreetly slipped Ruru a few of the explosives. Once he was close enough to a pillar, he casually shuffled toward it. He blended in with the other prisoners who picked over the rocky floor, looking for any bits of sunstone that might’ve fallen and adding it to their buckets.
When the next cry of “Rocks!” came and everyone ducked, he darted forward and nestled the canister in the rocky hole from which the pillar sprouted.
We did that three more times, alternating who slipped out of line. Always making sure the supervisor’s back was turned.
By the fourth time, we’d gotten several curious stares from other prisoners, but they said nothing.
I breathed a sigh of relief once all the canisters were hidden. I waited for the bucket of sunstone to be lowered from the top of the scaffolding, then transferred the sunstone into my bucket and stepped away.
I hesitated, wanting to wait for Ruru, but the supervisor prowling the wooden platform in the middle of the cavern noticed.
He leered down at me while grasping the handle of his sunstone club. “Haven’t seen you before, girl. Must be new if you haven’t turned ugly yet.”
Imprisonment in this abyss tends to do that, you sick bastard.
Stomach churning, I lowered my eyes and trudged past him.
He jumped down behind me with a heavy thud and grabbed my arm. “How about I come find you later?”
His keys jangled against my hip. Fucking Four, if only I had a hand free. But if I dropped my bucket . . .
“Did you hear me, girl?” he demanded, his rotten breath nearly making me gag. “Which cell—”
“Supervisor!” a rough voice shouted.
I looked up to see Aiden striding toward us, murder in his gaze. He gripped the hilt of his sword.
I sent him a panicked look. Gods, no, Aiden! You’ll give us away!
He ignored me, halting almost too close to the leech of a man holding me. “Need I remind you we are behind schedule, and you harassing the prisoners will only make it worse. Get fucked on your own time, or I’ll report you to High General Dracles.”