Partisan - Book II

Unforeseen Circumstances

She is falling, falling, falling.

But she really is falling, and the motion registers, shooting up her spine in alarm, and her body twists, instinctively seeking out rock and stone. Fingers hit sliding dirt and scrabble, sinking in only when she remembers how to Skill.

A body hits the mountainside next to her, and she can tell by the breathing its Lei. Their surroundings are hidden in a haze of dirt. He coughs, and she imagines the air can't feel good on his already damaged throat.

"What was that?" she rasps, clutching tighter as the dirt around her fingers begins to give. She turns it to stone, a hold melded to her finger-shape.

"C-can't be D-Durai, can it?" he answers, and she can just make out his brown-splotched face. They both look down, but can't see anything.

Beneath their fingers the mountain lurches suddenly and they both jump, the shift moving up their arms like an electric shock. For a moment, the strangest moment, Allayria thinks she sees a soft, white glow set against the dark red of her eyelids, a glow that drifts out from the smoke and the metal pistons deep below to the rocky surface.

"There's something metal in the mountain," she shouts over the crash of rock against stone.

Another blast rocks the earth beneath them and Allayria and Lei cling to the side, feet and fingers digging in. There's ringing in Allayria's ears and she spits out soggy dust and muck, thinking she'd like to gag, but that would only make her inhale more of it.

"Oi!"

They both turn, peering through the falling rock at Hiran, who has a forearm sunk into the mountainside and his other hand clasped around Tara's wrist.

"Listen: there's no way two people are getting one of those things alone," he shouts at them. "It's too far. Maybe we should strike a deal."

He shakes his golden hair away from his face.

"You help us get our item and we'll help you."

Lei's head turns slightly, cocking an ear back to her, waiting to hear her input.

"Alright. Got any ideas?" she hollers back, but then she slides close to Lei. Pressed against his back, she murmurs: "We need to make sure one of us gets the golden statue."

Lei's head dips in assent.

"Don't I, darling," Hiran drawls. "If only this earthquake would pass."

"I have an idea for that," Lei yells at the other two. "Can you climb over here?"

The finely defined muscles in his arms straining, Hiran swings Tara up and she catches on the rock face between them. With a dexterity that speaks of hard living, she scrambles over, clasping Lei's hand and swinging around him to land on Allayria's other side. She takes Allayria's proffered hand and scowls.

"I don't usually want to be one of you gardeners, but I sure as hell could use super-stick grip at the moment," she shouts as Hiran slides over, the mountainside melting into his touch like a blushing bride.

"Can anyone see what's on the pillar?" Lei asks.

"The nearest is scarlet," Hiran answers, neck craning out.

"Yours is the one next to it," Lei tells him. "We need to climb as close as we can."

They shuffle as a group and when Hiran tells them they're close Lei stops, turning so he faces the cliff.

"You better do what you've got to now," he shouts and he pulls his hands out of the rock, flattening them into straight, taut planes before slamming them back down onto the jagged surface.