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THEIR ESCAPE FROM THE nameless Ochloroc city was a mad dash. Debris from collapsed buildings littered the area surrounding the pyramid. Bodies lay crushed beneath stones, or trampled by panicked Ochloroc. At one point, they had to flee from a band of looters. They made it to a tunnel out of the cavern without being stopped. There, they drifted with the stream of fleeing Ochlorocs and slaves away from the city.
Hours later, exhausted, they paused for a drink at the side of the tunnel. Five or six Ochlorocs could walk abreast in this reach of the passageway, though the crowd around them made it hard to see very far ahead. The air stank of sweat. The whispering from the Crystal, which had been a constant for Elina since they had left the city, increased suddenly. Finn was asking her something, but the voices became so loud she couldn't hear a word he said. She pressed her hands against her head, unable to block the noise, and a sense of dread washed over her. "We've got to hide!" she shouted in Finn's ear.
"What?" Finn mouthed. "Why?"
Elina stood rooted to the ground, her eyes hunting for a hiding place. There was nothing nearby. Whatever was bedeviling her was getting closer. Sweat dripped from her brow. Finn grabbed her arm and pulled her along the tunnel, eventually dragging her into an alcove next to an empty peddler's cart. She hunkered down, and he dropped down beside her.
The voices in her head subsided, and she exhaled.
"What was that all about?" Finn asked.
"I don't know," Elina admitted. "A feeling of terror came over me, as if something horrible was going to happen." She pushed the mask up enough to wipe her brow, dropped it back down, and levered herself to her feet—just as someone started shouting. The passing Ochloroc pressed themselves against the walls, and Elina ducked back down again. Marching feet resonated through the tunnel. She prayed that the dimness and the Ochlorocs standing in front of the alcove would hide them. A group of soldiers, weapons drawn, came into view. Across the road, two masked Ochloroc were pulled from the wall and roughly searched. Elina held her breath.
Moments later, the patrol marched on, out of sight. The Ochlorocs around them hesitantly moved away from the tunnel wall and started conversing in terrified tones. Elina released her breath in a long sigh.
"I don't know what happened," Finn said, "but that was a lucky feeling you had."
Elina could only nod.
They exited the alcove only when they were sure the patrol was well away from them and the traffic had lessened somewhat. At the next intersection, they picked the smallest tunnel, hoping it would be less well-patrolled. They kept a constant lookout for anything that indicated an exit, wandering for more than a day before Finn caught a whiff of fresh air. It led them to a narrow air shaft, through which they crawled to the surface.
They emerged in a dripping forest at night, and slept under a spruce tree, sheltered from the worst of the rain. From there, Finn led them south over game trails for two days until they hit a road running across their path. After another day of plodding through the rain, they came to the ruins of Sylvgard. They gave the city a wide berth, in case there were any Ochloroc patrols still around.
They were still two days out from Gilgin when, near the end of their day's march, they came upon an Ochloroc army making camp around some unnamed hamlet. The Ochloroc were pitching their tents in the fields between the hamlet and a river flowing past it. The tents stood in ordered rows with clear avenues between them. Half a dozen Ochloroc war machines stood on one side of the camp; golems stood in a perimeter around the entire camp, facing outward.
"It's at least twice the size of the force that attacked Brimir," Finn said after a while.
"Then Gilgin is in trouble," Elina said. "We won't have time to destroy the Crystal."
"Yes. Those machines will take out the walls in no time, and then they'll just roll over us with their numbers and their golems."
"Why don't we take them out, then?" Elina asked.
"The siege engines?"
"Yes. If we destroy them, we might be able to hold the walls."
"It won't work. We'll wake the whole camp with the noise we made demolishing all those machines. We'd never get all of them."
There had to be a way. The problem was that they knew so little about the machines. She'd only been close to them once, in the Ochloroc army depot, right before stealing the Crystal... she gasped. "That's it! Why don't we steal the crystals that power the machines? They can't shoot if they don't have any power!"
"It's not much of a plan," Finn said, "but we've worked with less. At least it should be quiet."
––––––––
IT WAS WELL PAST MIDNIGHT when Elina floated down the river after Finn, with only the top half of her head above water. The Ochloroc army camp appeared ahead. The rain had finally let up, but clouds still obscured the sky. This side of the camp was the least-protected; the Ochloroc seemed to be trusting in the river to keep their flank secure.
The first golem watching the river appeared as a darker silhouette against the sky. Elina took a deep breath and dove down after Finn. Only when her lungs started burning did she surface again.
She blinked the water out of her eyes and looked around. Reeds covered the riverbank, obscuring her view. Where was the golem? And for that matter, where was Finn?
She drifted past a clump of reeds and saw the golem behind her. She'd made it past it.
The hoot of a barn owl came from the clump of reeds she'd just passed: the signal they'd agree on. Hopefully, the Ochloroc didn't know barn owls didn't frequent reeds by the riverside. She swam to the riverbank, where she could just about make out Finn's shadow pressed against the vegetation. He pressed his finger against his lips. "There are two Ochlorocs chatting just on the other side of the reeds," he whispered.
Elina's feet settled in the mud. "Shall we try further on?"
Finn shook his head. "We might not find a better place. We can get in right here, far enough away from both golems."
"So what's the plan?"
"You take out the closest soldier. As soon as I see you move, I'll deal with the other."
Elina nodded. Finn disappeared into the reeds to her left. She crawled forward. How did he manage to move that fast without making a sound? She twisted and turned to avoid disturbing the reeds. The plants in front of her thinned, and she saw the two Ochloroc, sitting three paces away near a smoldering fire. They were unmasked. Their hooked noses threw grotesque shadows across their faces in the orange light of the fire's embers. Their guttural speech disturbed the peacefulness of the night.
Elina dried her hands on a tuft of grass—she couldn't risk her hands being slippery—and slid her knife from its sheath. She swallowed hard. If one of the sentries got a shout out, they were dead. She arched her back, tensed her muscles, and glanced over at the golem. It was still looking out over the river.
Elina gave herself a count of three and then sprang forward. The Ochloroc soldiers looked up before she'd closed half the distance. Something flew past her. She dove onto one sentry, clasped her hand over his mouth, and stabbed him in the chest. He toppled backwards, with her on top of him, and lay still.
She looked up. The other Ochloroc lay on the ground, a knife sticking out of his face.
Finn approached from behind. "Let's get them out of sight," he whispered.
They dragged both bodies to the riverside and hid them in the reeds, then crouched behind the plants and observed the camp. Nothing moved. The tents sprawled on their right, behind the latrines. The supply carts stood straight ahead, next to a barn, and the Ochloroc war machines stood behind those.
"Hunch over and make for the carts," Finn whispered. "Don't run; that might draw attention." He crawled to the fire where the two sentries had sat moments earlier, and hunkered down. When Elina joined him, he got up, and they made their way to the carts. Elina's heart was beating like a drum in her throat by the time they reached the last row of carts next to the Ochloroc machines. Surely any moment now they would be spotted, and a cry would go up.
They lay in the shadows underneath a cart and surveilled the war machines.
After a while, three guards marched down the path between the carts and the machines. When they had disappeared from sight, Finn whispered in Elina's ear, "Wait here until they appear again. I'll sneak over to hide in between the machines. We'll attack them after they've passed."
Finn hurried across the path, while Elina crouched against the wheel of the wagon. She fingered her knife. It felt like an eternity before the guards appeared again and marched past, whereupon a shadow detached itself from the war machine opposite her. Finn. Elina pushed away from the wagon as Finn silently approached the two rightmost guards from behind. She followed.
Elina's target turned its head; he spotted her and made a surprised sound. She leaped forward and slammed her shoulder into his chest, knocking his breath out of him, and they went down together. Elina struck with her knife and it sank deep into the Ochloroc’s chest. The body underneath her went still. Good strike.
Next to her, Finn stood crouched over the bodies of the other two soldiers. She held her breath and listened.
The camp remained still. Elina exhaled quietly.
"We need to hide these bodies too," Finn whispered, his lips against her ear. "If they know someone's been here, then they might discover that the power crystals are missing."
"How about over there?" Elina pointed at the barn. He nodded sharply. One at a time, they dragged the bodies to the barn, where they hid them behind a manure pile.
"That will have to do," Finn whispered. "Now let's find those crystals. Check there." He pointed at one of the machines.
Elina snuck over to the machine Finn had indicated. It rested on two wheels that came to the top of her head. A long tube stuck out the front. The back of the machine contained space for two Ochloroc to sit, and a door that offered access to the tube. Levers and dials dotted the walls. As far as she could tell, there were no crystals stored in the machine. The second one she checked was much the same. She had hoped the power crystals would be in the machines. They would be caught out the moment they tried to search through the rest of the camp. She continued stealthily along; the other machines she checked were the same.
The hoot of a barn owl disturbed the night twice in close succession; Finn was signaling that he had found something. Elina jogged towards the sound, and found Finn standing bent over an open crate. It was filled with jade crystals the size of her hand. They pulsed with a green light, giving Finn's face a sickly cast. She grabbed two of them and stuffed them in the bag she'd slung over her shoulder just for that purpose.
"Don't bother," he whispered. He pointed to his left. Three more crates stood there. Elina did a quick estimate in her head. There had to be at least a hundred crystals, too many for them to carry out.
Elina leaned on the crate. "Now what?"
Finn didn't answer.
She felt a sense of despair. Maybe they could wreck one of the machines, but doing so would wake the whole army, and there would still be plenty of machines left. And even if they managed to take half the crystals with them, the other half would be plenty to breach the walls of Gilgin.
"What about magic?" Finn asked after a moment.
Elina shook her head. "You know what Henge said. You can't destroy with magic. I wouldn't know how."
"Rockbreaker did by accident," Finn said, "in the tunnel underneath Gilgin. When he tried healing that crystal, it shattered."
"I guess I can try that." Elina placed her hand on the nearest crystal. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. The shape of the rock grew in her mind. She reached out with her mind—and light exploded in her head, followed by a painful throbbing. She sank to her knees. She looked at Finn. "I can't." A tear fell from her eye. "It hurts too much."
"We have to," Finn said. "Let me help you." He reached out with his hand; Elina grabbed it, and let him pull her up. "We did it in Pythia, so we can do it here. Focus on destroying the crystals. I’ll support you."
Elina took up the crystal again as Finn placed a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and let the crystal grow in her mind. She reached out again; this time she only felt a small jab of pain. She prodded at the crystal with her mind. It didn't respond. She found a scratch on the surface and focused on that, trying to heal it closed. The scratch started fading... until the crystal cracked in her hand.
Elina opened her eyes and looked around. She was certain the whole camp would have heard the crack, but nothing moved.
Finn gave her a weak smile. "Nice. Only four more crates to go. Just speed it up a little, otherwise we'll be here all night."
Elina ran a hand through her hair, thinking, then replied, "Close the crate. I want to try the whole thing in one go, and we don't want to wake anyone."
Finn closed the crate. Elina shut her eyes again and placed her hands on top of the lid, focusing on the crystals beneath. Finn's hands on her shoulders grounded her, and she let the crystals form in her mind's eye, prodding at each in turn to find a blemish. Once she had all of them in her mind, she tried healing them. A muffled crackling, like that of a hidden fire, sounded in the crate below her hands.
"Well done." Finn's voice was strained. "Just three more." Elina scanned his face, but she couldn't make out any details in the dark.
Elina repeated the process on the other three crates over the next half hour. She was breathing hard and her head was pounding by the time she finished. "Done," she breathed as she withdrew her hands from the last crate. Finn's hands dropped from her shoulders, and he sank to the ground. "Are you all right?" Elina kneeled next to him.
Finn placed a hand over his eyes and leaned against the crate. "Headache. Give me a moment." Elina massaged his temples. If he was feeling anything like she'd felt earlier, then his head must be exploding. "Thanks," Finn said after a bit. "I'll be fine now." He pulled himself up, using the crate. "We've got to get moving." He took a few steps and stumbled.
Elina rushed to him and grabbed his arm. She steadied him, and together they passed through the ranks of siege engines. Finn could walk unaided again by the time they neared the river. They slid through the reeds and into the dark water, and floated downstream until they were well past the camp. They then crawled out of the river and found where they'd hidden their few belongings. They slept what remained of the night, cushioned by the needles underneath a fir tree.