“So here’s the thing,” Sarah said. “You’ve been asking around about the Core Analytica, and I would very much like to know why.”
“We just heard a rumor, that’s all,” Maya said with a glance at Beq. “Seems like everyone’s heard of it.”
“Everyone’s heard of it here because I have been asking around,” Sarah said. “When two girls nobody’s ever seen before started asking the same questions, some of my friends got in touch. So where did you hear this rumor?”
“Just … around,” Maya said vaguely.
“Around.” Sarah shook her head. “Can I tell you what I think?”
Maya eyed the crossbows. “I don’t think I can stop you.”
“I’m trying to think who might be interested in a rare ghoul arcana, and only one thing makes sense to me.” Sarah sat up straighter and grinned. “You two are Order scouts, aren’t you?”
Maya tried to school her features. “We’d hardly tell you if we were.”
“Of course.” Sarah spread her hands. “But it presents me with a bit of a dilemma. You see—”
She paused at the sound of metal scraping on rock from the direction they’d come in, frowning.
“Probably your friends,” Beq put in. “The ones you had following us.”
“I didn’t have anyone following you,” Sarah said, her brow furrowing. Then her eyes went wide, and she dove off the rock, at almost the same moment Maya threw herself against Beq.
They crashed to the rocky ground in a tangle, and Maya heard the snap-hiss of crossbow bolts passing overhead. Sarah’s guards were both down, the woman clutching her throat, the man slumped over a piece of rubble with a pair of bolts in his chest. At the entrance to the tunnel, a half dozen bright lanterns came on, filling the space with crisscrossing beams.
Sarah, who’d dropped behind her boulder, emerged for a moment and hurled something in a high arc. It dropped among the advancing lights and exploded with a crack and a burst of thick smoke. More crossbows twanged, the bolts zipping past and ricocheting off the rocks with bright sparks. Maya pushed herself up, helped Beq to her feet, and ran for it, ducking behind the nearest boulder. They found themselves across from Sarah, hunkered down as another volley shredded the roiling clouds of smoke and clattered off the stones.
“Not friends of yours?” Beq said.
“Auxies,” Sarah muttered. “No idea how they found me.” She leaned out to look, then jerked back as a bolt sparked off the stone just beside her. “Listen, if you are Order, I don’t suppose you could—”
Maya shook her head. Not without pulling out my haken, anyway, and that’s a last resort. Revealing herself would put paid to any chance of getting the information they needed.
“Of course,” Sarah said. “Well, in that case I’m open to suggestions.”
Maya risked a peek around the boulder. A dozen helmeted Auxiliaries were working their way slowly forward. Reaching out to Sarah’s dead guard, Maya grabbed his crossbow and fired into the air. The bolt caromed off the ceiling, the sound making all the Auxiliaries duck for cover. Maya ducked back as they returned fire.
“Is there a back way out of here?” Beq said.
“There is, but I don’t think we can get there,” Sarah said. “That little surprise was the only one I brought with me.”
Inspiration struck, and Maya grinned. “Fortunately, my friend has a little surprise of her own.” Beq gave her a quizzical look, and Maya waggled her eyebrows. “Get ready to run.”
“What exactly do I have?” Beq whispered, when Maya bent close.
“Just throw something,” Maya said. “I’ll do the rest.”
Understanding spread across Beq’s face. She surreptitiously grabbed a chunk of rock, hefted it as though she’d pulled it from her pocket, and tensed. When Maya gave her the nod, she hurled it at the Auxiliaries.
A few crossbow bolts zipped past, but at the sight of something flying toward them, most of the Auxiliaries sensibly dove for cover. Maya reached around to the small of her back, laying a finger against her haken, and drew on deiat. Where Beq’s stone hit the ground, she summoned a column of flame, liquid fire that blasted out of the rock and splashed off the ceiling in glowing droplets. She kept the temperature low—it wouldn’t do to actually sear some unlucky Auxiliary—but the light and smoke were enough to make everyone keep their head down.
“Now!” Maya said.
She surged to her feet, grabbing Beq’s arm with one hand, and ran for it. Sarah did the same, dodging between the chunks of rock. She rounded a particularly large boulder, then doubled back. Concealed behind it was a narrow crack in the rock, which in the blue light of Sarah’s glowstone revealed itself to be an entrance to a parallel tunnel.
Sarah didn’t hesitate in wedging herself through, and Maya and Beq followed. Maya let the fire blink out, and she heard the harsh voices of the Auxiliaries shouting to one another. The sound of boots and crossbow fire faded quickly, though, as they pounded down a narrow, darkened tunnel.
“Wait here,” Sarah said quietly. She shoved the glowstone inside her coat, plunging them into near-total darkness. “See if they follow.”
For a few tense minutes they stood there in silence. When no lights flickered behind them, Sarah relaxed, producing the glowstone again.
“Probably charged off down the main tunnel after us,” she said. “I hope they get lost for days.”
“Are you all right?” Maya said to Beq.
“I think so.” Beq raised an eyebrow. “Maybe a little singed.”
“I’ll say,” Sarah said. “That was a plaguing impressive alchemical. I don’t suppose you want to tell me where you got it?”
“Honestly, I’m not feeling generous right now,” Maya said. She looked down at Sarah, who raised her hands apologetically.
“I said I was sorry! When they told me someone was asking questions, I figured bringing a couple of sell-swords along was the smart move.” She sighed. “More fool me.”
There was an awkward silence.
“So now what?” Beq said.
“I think we ask some questions,” Maya said. “Starting with this one. You’re one of these rebels, aren’t you?”
It was a shot in the dark, but an educated one. With a whole market full of people selling dhak, who else would rate the attention of a full squad of Auxiliaries down here?
“I wouldn’t tell you if I was,” Sarah said with a slight smile. “But I’m starting to think we might share a mutual interest.”
“What exactly would that be?” Maya said.
“Dux Raskos Rottentooth,” Sarah said. “Specifically, seeing him get what’s coming to him.”
“That’s … not impossible,” Maya said. “So what if we do?”
“If there were agents of the Order in the area,” Sarah said, “and they weren’t bought and paid for by the dux, I might advise them to check out the warehouse at the corner of Third Street and Broad Way, on the edge of the manufactory district. I think there’s quite a lot there that they might find … interesting.”