Chapter 32
At dusk, the Klese Rangers came to the tent and brought backpacks of gear that they spread out on the table for me to inspect, asking my opinion what was needed. I chose the laser wands, ice crampons, ropes and capes that were spelled to make the wearers invisible. I asked Blackfin to make them mask our body heat as well, explaining that the entrances had IFR sensors.
“We’ll need the condorlas, too.”
“Why?” The Sergeant asked and I explained again that I had fallen through a crevasse, which led to an unused entrance near the rear of the city, and it was the only way in that wasn’t guarded. They could spend years assaulting the gates but they were designed to withstand a nuclear catastrophe and their magic wouldn’t leave a scratch on the metal.
“There is an observation tower as well, but it retracts into the subsurface and I can’t access it from out here. Once inside, I know where the control room is and I can open the gates,” I added. “These people aren’t stupid, they have weapons and technology that make us look like infants. Don’t underestimate them. They also have…created beings that look like human but are machines that don’t feel pain and are stronger than us.”
“How do we tell them apart?” Arianell asked and I didn’t look at her. She looked nothing like I remembered; only her voice and smell was the same. She looked like a half-bred–more human than Elassai. I wondered if the wizard could sense the masking spell on her and her brother but he didn’t seem the least bit suspicious of them.
Blackfin spread out a map of the glacier and I was astonished at the detail in it. I found the gate; the spot where I thought the observation tower should be and found the crevasse into which I’d fallen.
My plan was to fly into it and use magic to dig our way to the tower’s base where I’d seen an old air vent connected to it. I thought I might be able to work a way in via the air duct into the tower. Of course, they thought me insane especially when I said one of us would have to hang from the ice until we made a hole large enough to hold all of us and tether the birds. For that, I needed a heavy line that I could anchor into the ice on both sides of the crevasse. I thought myself insane for even thinking I could hang out over a fall that had nearly killed me. I had not been afraid of height before but after my fall and the skyway with Connacher, the thought terrified me. Yet the fear of the collar and disobedience was worse.
“It sounds impossible,” one of the Klese said with grave doubt in his voice.
Blackfin sneered. “If Reuven says it can be done, it can be done. Let’s go.” He packed his own bag with his equipment and I noticed he was dressed in long pants, high-waisted jacket and a heavy parka lined with fur. He carried pistols and the laser wand leaving behind his sword and staff.
For this, I needed a bird and a pilot. Once more, I was riding with Amarice and we took off at dusk, just as the first moon was rising. The air was extremely cold and Blackfin did not create a bubble of warmth around us, he said that his magic could be read as energies by the scientists inside the city and would alert them. So we suffered from the cold on our exposed surfaces, eyes, nose and cheeks. Our fingers and toes were well covered and I wasn’t surprised to see that it bothered the birds not at all. I pointed my directions, Amarice steered us away from the massive gates and the squadron camped around it. They were in a hiatus from engagement and no one looked up to see our seven birds flit past.
The field of crevasses wasn’t that far off but finding the correct one proved a challenge. Finally, I had to land the birds and crawl over the ice field’s surface to find the base of the tower and only did so because I found the rock spire that marked the split in the ice. From there, we searched the ground until we approached the correct slash in the glacier. Looking down over the edge, I could barely see more than twenty feet; my hands shook and I felt as if the ground under me would fall away. Instant sweat covered my body and the collar tingled. Of the ice bridge, nothing remained and I wasn’t sure if the birds had enough room once in the cleft to maneuver their wings. Klese faces blanched at the thought of diving down into it on their birds.
“It widened out as I remember,” I said uneasy myself. “But my memories aren’t firm. I was hit in the head many times. It looks different now. Narrower.”
“The ice is always moving,” Blackfin said. “So, now what, Reuven?” He called me by Connacher’s name and that gave me another idea. I pulled out the backpacks, laying the gear atop the ice. Called my bow forth and it was in my hands. The instant it appeared, three of the Klese had their weapons leveled at me. Only Arianell, her brother and the wizard did not. He looked amused but told them to hold their shots as I attached the line to the arrow and pulled the string back. We watched it fly not a long-distance for I aimed it 10 foot back from the edge of the crevasse but it sank the entire length of the shaft into thick ice and part of the stone. Seven of us tugging on the line could not budge it.
I threw the line over the edge and a smooth collar under the section that would rub against the ice. It would protect that area and keep it from wearing thin. Next, I rigged a harness, put crampons on my boots and took up the line. The six of them watched me with steady eyes.
“I’ll go down first and find the vent. Burn a cavity in the ice. When I’m done, I’ll jerk the line 4 times, that’ll be your signal to come ahead. Two tugs mean to stop, and five means don’t come. None means I’ve fallen.”
Blackfin warned, “Don’t fall.”
“No, master, I’ll try not to,” I said dryly and holding the rope, I walked backwards down the cliff face, not looking down and trying to pretend that what I was doing was sliding down a slope with the bottom within easy reach. Off the glacier, the wind was less but the cold greater as I was within her belly. The ice here was jagged, the surface not smooth but irregular and the colors almost as beautiful as gemstones. Sort of like fire opals. I could hear the groaning of ice through my ears as well as feel it through my hands and feet.
The harness took most of the strain out of what I was doing and with a shock, I came to the end of the 200-foot rope yet the end was not in sight. This far down all was in darkness but I had in my pockets globes of Wyche lights that were more than enough to light up the area. I popped four of them out, spelled them and they hovered at 50 feet intervals providing me with a clear view another two hundred feet down. I swallowed and turned my face back to the ice wall, looking for the metal of the vent and nothing else. I still could not see the bottom of the glacial river but I could see the air vent tube cut open by the crevasse’s rupture. Within reach. I swung towards it.