Free Hunted by Lindsay Buroker Page B

her.
    Tunnels she could get herself trapped in. She
shook 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 while
everyone was searching the tunnels? She better check and see how
extensive the system was first.
    Hoping the one-man-versus-the-entire-river
gunfight Cedar had started would give her time, she eased over the
lip of the hole. She probed for a bottom with her feet. There. Five
feet below.
    She released the lip and dropped to the
bottom, clunking something with her elbow on the way. A lantern
stuck in a niche in the wall. She grabbed it and followed the
piping system into a low tunnel that led away from the river. The
walls radiated coldness and smelled of damp earth. Creeping into
the Stygian darkness made her think of the tombs and sepulchers in
a book she had once read about the Dark Ages. The gunfire grew
muffled and distant. When she judged herself far enough from the
entrance so the flame would not be visible, she lit the
lantern.
    Pickaxes and shovels leaned against dirt and
stone walls marbled with quartz and thin threads that might have
been gold. For all she knew about mining, it might have been iron
pyrite too.
    A few meters ahead, the passage branched into
three tunnels. Enough exploring. The mine promised the maze she had
hoped for, one her would-be captors could waste several minutes
exploring. All she had to do was set a decoy at the entrance so
they believed she had gone down and then hide nearby until they
dropped down to explore. It’d be better if she could figure out
some sort of time-delay device to cause a sound, making the men
even more certain she was down there, but she did not want to risk
delving further and genuinely being trapped.
    Kali was about to turn around when something
glinted in the darkness, reflecting her lantern light. She only
hesitated a heartbeat before jogging toward it. Just another
moment....
    The tunnel broadened into a small room filled
with... Were those potatoes? She peered closer. Several crates
lined the wall. Though they must have been harvested months
earlier, they appeared fine, preserved by the surrounding
permafrost. But why were they in a mine?
    A rusted, decommissioned boiler stood in the
corner while rows of ceramic jugs lined the opposite side of the
chamber. A clunky metal contraption rose against the back wall. It
was the source of the reflection she had noticed. The
object—machine?—might have been anything; the mishmash of parts
comprising it reminded her of something she would create out of
scrap metal. It was only when she opened a box that emitted a
yeasty smell that the pieces clicked together.
    “Oh.” She rolled her eyes, feeling foolish
for taking so long to get it. “Alcohol. Right.”
    A thump sounded near the entrance. Someone
jumping down.
    Kali cursed under her breath and cut out the
lantern. She had dawdled too long.
    “Kali?” came a soft call.
    She blew out a relieved breath. “Cedar, back
here.”
    “We have a problem,” he said, voice drawing
near.
    She relit the lantern. “You’re mad that I
shot up your fancy sleeping blanket?”
    “All right, two problems.”
    Cedar jogged into view, water sloughing from
his clothes and matting his hair to his head. He bore a rifle in
one hand while his sword dripped blood in the other. A second rifle
poked over his shoulder, scraping against the wall as he
approached. He also wore his packsack. No, wait. That was her
packsack. Her tools! Excellent.
    “Your old beau is gathering his men, and he’s
about to search in here,” Cedar said, letting her help him out of
the packsack. She tore into it as he continued to speak. “I
apologize for my ineptness, but it’s getting light, and he spotted
me when I went for your gear.”
    “I’ll think of something.” Kali pulled tools
out of her pack. “Can you guard the entrance?”
    “Yes, but, ah...” Cedar cleared his
throat.
    Kali