Meadowcity Read online

  “We’ll just have to figure that out once we’re in. But don’t go running off, and please, just don’t do anything stupid.”

  Flint shrugged, looking off to the side. “Alright, alright. But it’s my city—you should listen to me when we’re inside.”

  “Alright.”

  “Well alright then. We have a deal.”

  Flint stuck out his hand to her, and she grasped it once. Looking at Flint’s face, the healing wound stood out in bright red contrast on his right cheek.

  “Get to bed,” she chided softly.

  “Don’t have to tell me twice,” he rose and slunk back over to his log.

  Sylvia let out a long steady breath. She felt lighter somehow. Her bad dreams had worried her into such a terrible state, but now she felt like a weight had lifted from her chest.

  The decision to rescue Ember had long been brewing. By coming to Meadowcity, Flint had done them a great service—they would not have been prepared for Skycity’s attack any other way. The least she could do was help him find his sister. We’ll have to see what the city is like first though, she told herself.

  Sylvia’s hand crept up to her throat where the glass bead from Sonia lay on its cord. As she watched the sun rise through the forest, she wondered what Gero and the council were planning, and how they could possibly begin to protect Meadowcity.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Flint, scoot back a little,” Sylvia breathed.

  The three of them were flat on their stomachs near the edge of the drop off, a stiff wind coming up from the rift. Below them lay Riftcity. Sylvia had a compact telescope to her eye as she surveyed the gatehouse, far down at the thinnest point of the rift.

  Riftcity’s West face was across from them, the East face directly below. Flint was right about the bridges—not a single stone bridge crossed the rift.

  They had been surveying for some time, and watched as new bridges were erected out of rope and wood. They couldn’t be permanent, but it was clear that the men from Skycity didn’t care. They had merely wanted to cripple Riftcity by taking away their feeling of safety.

  Skycity’s men—guards?—fighters?—Syliva wasn’t sure what to call them—were everywhere. There was a whole group of them manning the gatehouse, accompanied by at least two lions. The fearsome cats had leads around their necks, and wore thick leather collars. The handlers seemed very in control, but they themselves looked just as dangerous as the animals they commanded. One man towered above the rest, his grisly beard visible even from this distance. His thick arms gestured boldly to the other men, making Sylvia think he must be in charge in some way.

  She lowered the telescope from her eye. The sleek instrument was something she really only used occasionally to scout out new passages, and she was glad she had slipped it into her pack before leaving home. She passed it to her right, where Ven took it without a word. Her chin a mere inch from the ground, she tried to keep a low profile on the edge of the ravine. The chalky scent of the limestone permeated the air, only to be whisked away in a breeze from the rift.

  Flint puffed impatiently on her left.

  Immediately Sylvia thought of his sister.

  “I didn’t see her,” she said gently, having asked Flint what she looked like this morning on their way to the city.

  Flint remained silent, his eyes squinting at the city below them, though it was impossible to make anyone out from this height, and they could only see the opposing side of the city anyway.

  Ven’s hand crossed in front of Sylvia’s face, handing the telescope to Flint. He took it eagerly, raising it to an eye in an instant. Sylvia looked down as well, thinking. The idea now was to go back into the woods and look for Flint’s tunnel. Since he had been blundering around in the dark on his exit, Sylvia hoped there would be signs that could lead them back there. She just hoped the Skycity men hadn’t found the tunnel first.

  Once they found it, they would sneak into Flint’s villa, where hopefully they would find Ember, or some trace of her. Sylvia hoped she would know something about Skycity’s intentions. Once they figured out what Skycity was doing there, they could return to Meadowcity and sort this whole mess out. If they couldn’t find Ember…Sylvia didn’t want to think about what it would do to Flint. Having just lost his father, and his mother gone since they were kids, Flint was desperate to find her.

  Sylvia sighed and placed her hands flat on the ground by her shoulders. Slowly she pushed herself up and back, staying low, walking her feet back without lifting her hips so as not to be seen. The limestone crunched under her boots as she worked her way a few more feet back from the cliff before rising into a crouch. Ven joined her in the same way, and after a moment, Flint closed the small telescope and scooted away from the cliff edge too.

  Still crouched low, they headed for the tree line, eager to be away from the possible sight of the gatehouse. Sylvia knew they probably couldn’t see them from this distance, but they still had her on edge until they reached the safety of the trees. Sylvia smacked her hands on her leggings, trying to rid her palms of the chalky stone dust.

  “Here’s the plan,” she said as soon as they got into the thick of the wood. “We’re sticking together to search.”

  Flint raised his eyebrows but remained silent.

  “Skycity might have those guards in the woods with their little pets, and we’ll be better in a group,” she saw Flint and Ven nod.

  Sylvia crouched down and took up a stick, drawing in the dirt at her feet. She drew a long ‘V’ for the city, and circled the narrowest point indicating the gatehouse. She looked up at Flint, who was crouching by her, looking at the dirt, his face totally blank. She glanced at the red wound marring his face, suddenly wondering how wounded the rest of Riftcity’s citizens were.

  She drew an uneven circle representing the woods.

  “We’re going to walk a zig-zag, starting down at the bottom where we are now.”

  She turned to Flint, “The tunnel, what do you think the end looked like?”

  He reached up and ran a calloused hand over his short hair, looking off into the trees. He shrugged and brought his grey eyes to meet hers.

  “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “It was probably rock though—I think I remember grabbing onto something when I finally came out of the dark.”

  Sylvia nodded absently, returning to look at her drawing. Suddenly she stood, kicking the map with her boot and wiping it away.

  “Let’s look for some rocks then,” she said with a grin, hiding her trembling hands as she went to pick up her pack from where they left their things under a thick bush.

  They walked deeper into the woods, eyes searching for any rock groupings. At first they came across a group of stones, the dirty white rocks seeming to grow out of the ground right along with the bushes and vines nearly covering them. Sylvia and Flint walked around the stones, while Ven kept watch. But the stones were just stones. No secret openings or tunnels, so they moved on.

  The morning sun shone dimly through the trees as they reached their first stopping point of their zig zag at the edge of Sylvia’s appointed circle. Sylvia was in the lead, and she turned, pointing Ven and Flint into the next line of the pattern.

  Wordlessly they followed her directions. They continued on, walking line after zig-zagged line through the woods, intent on finding the tunnel. At least we have a plan she thought, thinking back to when they had wasted so much time looking for a place to cross the river on their journey. Sylvia held her long knife at her side, but her other hand crept up to her neck to the necklace Sonia had given her.

  She grasped the glass bead, hanging right at her throat, thinking of her sister. A smile came to her, thinking of the little girl’s delight in giving Sylvia the gift. Sylvia’s eyes roved the forest around them, spotting another rock grouping. It was practically identical to the few that they had come across in the last half hour, and she tried not to get her hopes up.

  Ven stood watch as Sylvia and Flint each cir
cled the moss covered rocks. Sylvia found nothing, but she heard Flint call out from the other side of the rocks.

  Sylvia circled swiftly around the stones, but there was no opening. Instead, he was looking in the other direction, pointing at a strange stone some fifty paces away.

  “I remember that!” he said excitedly, his grey eyes lighting up.

  Ven came to join them, still clutching his loaded bow and looking around at the rest of the forest.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I remember that rock,” Flint said, pointing again to a stark white stone, an angular point jutting out of the ground.

  “Well that’s a start,” Ven said.

  He looked at Sylvia, who nodded, and the three of them headed to what Sylvia agreed was a memorable stone. As they approached it she could see that it was no taller than she, a triangular stone just standing in the middle of the trees. Flint reached the stone, planting himself and turning in a circle, scanning the forest. He spun in a circle a second time, slower, eyes narrowed.

  Sylvia frowned, and began to look around herself; maybe she could spot Flint’s careless trajectory through the forest.

  “What’s that?” Ven asked, just as Sylvia spotted it.

  Something shiny was glinting in the sun at the top of another stone formation just north of them. Sylvia and Ven exchanged a look, and they began to head towards it.

  They paced quickly over to it, this time Sylvia’s breath caught in her chest as she lengthened her stride. There was definitely something glass atop the stones, and as they reached it, they all fanned out around it, searching. Sylvia alternated her gaze between the forest around them, and the stones, their massive bulk the size of a villa. Why else would there be a glass marker on the top of these stones? Her heart raced.

  “It’s here!” Flint called out, and Sylvia took a sharp breath, following his voice halfway around the stones. Ven and Sylvia met up with Flint where two stones met, dark green moss covering their faces. Between them, the entrance to the tunnel was camouflaged by the shadows and moss; Sylvia didn’t think she would have noticed it if they hadn’t had the clue from the glass marking on top.

  Then maybe Skycity doesn’t know about it, Sylvia hoped. Flint made to head through the entrance, but Sylvia grabbed the back of his shirt, drawing him back.

  “Hold on a second there Flint. Is there any light in there?” she asked him pointedly.

  He shrugged, his eyes darting to the entrance, nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet.

  “Let’s not do anything stupid,” she said, raising her eyebrows with meaning, “like stumbling through an unguarded tunnel in the dark.”

  Flint opened his mouth, and then closed it. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Sylvia. She hoped he was remembering their bargain.

  “I’ve got some lamps,” she offered as she took her pack off her shoulders, “so just give me a minute.” Setting the pack on the ground, she dove her hand in searching until she felt one glass ball, then another. She drew them out and held them up each in one hand for Ven and Flint to see, grinning.

  She put them on the ground and started searching for her firestarter. The orbs on the ground were open on one end, so that when the coil inside it was lit, it could have air to burn. She didn’t often use them on the trail, since she didn’t walk at night—until recently, she thought bitterly— and hadn’t wanted to use them then since it would have drawn attention.

  She quickly cleared a space on the ground so nothing else would catch fire. In a practiced motion, she lit both orbs, and handed one to Ven, who cradled it in his hand, open end up.

  After safely tucking away her firestarter, she took the other orb, the glass insulating her hand from the heat. Her eyes rose to meet Ven and Flint’s, and the three of them headed in between the moss covered stones and into the tunnel.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The tunnel was long, and didn’t run in an entirely straight line. Sylvia could feel the slight turns to the left or the right as they strode down the echoing stone hallway, the light from their globes soaking into the pale stone walls. Sylvia led the way, keeping their pace swift since the tunnel was much cooler compared to the woods outside. Ven walked at the back, ready to defend should anyone follow them into the tunnel.

  Sylvia could feel her calf muscles working harder, as the subtle downward slope of the tunnel became more obvious. She couldn’t help but feel the weight of the earth pressing in around her as they descended further through the earth. The idea of emerging on the rift face was both a comfort and a concern.

  No one said a word as they walked in the dim light, their shadows bouncing eerily off of the colorless walls. With the orb in one hand, and her long knife in the other, Sylvia bit her lip when she heard something other than the sound of their own quiet footsteps. Her ears strained as she slowed, sucking in a fast lungful of air, and turned her head to one side to listen better.

  They silently stepped closer; Sylvia heard a few soft crashes ahead, like furniture falling over, then two voices. Eyes wide, Sylvia handed her orb to Flint, silently telling him and Ven to stay put. She really hoped no one else knew about this tunnel.

  Hefting her knife into a better grip, she crept forward out of the orb light. She blinked heavily a few times to readjust her eyes as she plunged into the cool darkness.

  The two voices continued, two men, Sylvia thought. The voices seemed casual, though, not alarming. She raised her eyebrows as she got closer, her heart pounding in her chest.

  A sharp bang rang out, and Sylvia dropped into a crouch, though nothing happened that she could tell. Adrenaline coursed through her as she slowly rose from her crouch, knife raised.

  “Sylvia,” Ven hissed almost silently.

  “It’s fine,” she breathed into the darkness behind her, not wanting them to come forward until she knew it was safe.

  She crept forward, her boots silent on the stone, but the voices had disappeared. All she could hear was her heartbeat racing in her ears. I’ve got to be close to the end, she thought, those men must have been in Flint’s villa. She raised her free hand in front of her, not wanting to bump into anything.

  Suddenly her fingertips brushed against stone, and her stomach jolted. She ran her hand along the cold hard stone, feeling for a door.

  She whistled a short note down the tunnel, and the two lights came bobbing towards her. Lit from below, Ven’s face was creased in worry, his bow strung across his bag and a knife in hand. Flint’s eyes darted everywhere over the end of the tunnel, now shining his light onto what was clearly a door.

  The door, however, was stone. Thick, heavy stone, just like the massive ones guarding the entrance. Sylvia sighed, crouching down to the floor to inspect it. How do we move it?

  “Uhh—” Flint stammered. He stepped forward, and Sylvia moved out of the way so he could look closer.

  He crouched down to the floor, shining his orb under the heavy stone and peering underneath. Face pressed into the gritty stone floor, he let out a sound of understanding.

  Sylvia raised her eyebrows high, though no one could see them.

  “What?” she hissed.

  “There’s wheels,” he said, almost proudly.

  He stood, bringing his light around the sides of the door, still searching.

  “There’s got to be a handle or something,” he whispered. “Ember pushed it open, so it must pull from this side.”

  Sylvia and Ven stood back and exchanged a look. Ven shrugged, his orb still glowing dimly. He stuck his knife back in its sheath at his belt.

  “Here,” Flint cried, his orb stopping at the top right corner as he ran his fingers along the edge. Flint passed his orb back to Sylvia, who placed it down on the floor, wanting her hands free. It had been quiet on the other side of the door for a while now though.

  Ven put his orb down too, just as Flint reached his arm up to the handle, his shoulder muscles bunching as he began to pull. The light from the orbs down on the floor threw their shadows up high, giv
ing Sylvia the creeps.

  A slow grinding came from beneath the door, and Sylvia thought the wheels must be stone for them to make that deep grating sound. Flint steadily edged the stone door open until Ven could grasp the edge and help pull.

  The two of them pulled the heavy door inward, the stone wheels grinding against the floor of tunnel. A sliver of light peeked out as they pulled it open, and Sylvia shifted to look inside. She could tell it opened up to an almost completely dark room. As the crack widened, Sylvia realized what all the noise had been.

  The villa was trashed. They could see thick shadows of toppled over furniture, broken lamps, and clothes and paper were strewn everywhere.

  Flint let out a soft gasp as he caught sight of it through the crack, now wide enough for a person to slip through. Sylvia reached out and smacked his arm as he made to exit the tunnel. He puffed out an angry breath and stepped back, letting her go in first.

  She peered around the room, feeling the reassuring weight of her knife in her hand as she slid through the crack in the door, eyes dancing over the room, making sure she was alone. She could hear nothing except vague sounds in the distance, probably out on the street. She silently crept through the room, letting her eyes soak in the darkness, searching for danger.

  The room was a mess, but there was no one here. It was clearly someone’s bedroom, so she slipped into the hallway to look around the rest of the villa.

  Steps silent, she entered the main room of Flint’s home, peering left and right, finding no one. The source of dim light was coming from windows at the front of the villa.

  After checking all the other rooms, she went back to Ven and Flint, waving them to come in.

  Flint burst into the room, but Sylvia called after him, “There’s no one here,” she said firmly.

  Flint ignored her and went out into the other room to see for himself.

  Ven and Sylvia exchanged a look, and the weight of the mission dropped onto Sylvia like a falling tree. We’re in.

  She mentally checked off the first task on their list. Now they just had to do what they came to do, and get out. It sounds so easy, she thought, silently laughing at herself.