After a night spent comfortably in Tavish’s pop-up palace, Micky awoke refreshed and ready for the new day. The stiffness in his legs from the long flight had been erased by the surprisingly soft bedrolls Yan had packed along with the supplies. Emerging to face the rising sun, he stretched his arms above his head. With a yawn, he walked over to the field stove to join Gwilym.
“Morning mate,” Micky said with a grin. “What's the plan for today? Everyone else seems to be sleeping in a bit.”
“Morning Micky,” Gwilym replied, pouring him a cup of steaming coffee from the thermos atop the stove. “We’ll be getting underway in an hour or so. Ingunn will be up for a run shortly, if you’re feeling restless.”
“I might take her up on that. Stretch my legs out a bit before the flight. How far are we from the convergence site anyway?”
“We’ll be in the air a little over four hours byt. Should get there a little after noon. Either way,” Gwilym said with a shrug, “come get some breakfast, you’ll need it for today.”
Ingunn set a punishing pace on the morning jog, as though she wanted to punish the ground beneath her driving legs.
“So,” panted Micky as soon as the paced allowed him to talk, “what was that at the meeting? What happened to the whole silent warrior thing?”
There was a long pause before Ingunn replied. “When we train we train. It is not a time for idle chatter.”
“You said a grand total of like eight words to me the whole time we were fighting, then in the meeting, you were in full performance mode.”
“No one is just one thing, Micky. Now come on, we’ve miles to cover yet.”
Watching Ingunn’s wings bob as they disappeared into the distance, Micky picked up his own pace once again.
When the two runners returned to the clearing the tent had been collapsed and the field stove securely packed away into Yan’s wagon.
“Come along now darlings,” Zofia laughed as they re-entered the broken-down campsite. “We’ll be here all day at this rate.”
“As much as I detest agreeing with this one,” Yan indicated Zofia with a dismissive glance, “We really should be getting underway.”
“You just want to watch me walk away dearest Yan.” Zofia chuckled throatily then sauntered to her own wagon, hair swaying behind her.
“Confounding woman,” said Yan, wringing his hands. “She’s insufferable, whether she’s right or wrong.”
Loading the last of the goods into the wagons was a simple task, and in less than five minutes Micky found himself beside Yan again in the jockey box.
Yan turned to Micky and indicated towards the control panel. “You want to take up up this time Micky? He asked with a wide grin.
“Are you taking the BLEEP Yan? I don’t have a clue how to fly this mental thing” Micky replied incredulously.
“It’s as simple as pressing a button. These two control elevation,” his fingers brushing lightly over the leftmost buttons, “While these four control pitch and yaw.”
“Mate, it can be that easy. Can it?”
“Why not try it and find out?” Yan’s grin became slightly manic as Micky lifted the controller. “Just a simple tap of that button and up we’ll go.”
Micky stared at the controls as the other two wagons slowly rocked, and then lifted into the air.
“Any time now, Micky” Yan prompted gently.
“BLEEP it, here goes nothing.”
With a hesitant tap, as though he was touching a glowing ember, Micky depressed the button. The wagon leaped forcefully into the sky, throwing itself away from the ground with a fury of motion.
“BLEEP me dead” Micky shouted over the rushing wind.
“Brilliant Micky, simply brilliant,” shouted Yan, “do me a favor though? Pass me that control, we’re going up a touch faster than I had hoped for.”
With an agony of fumbling, Micky managed to return the control to Yan’s waiting hand. Several quick adjustments later and they ceased climbing, falling into position behind Tavish and the heavy equipment wagon.
“There now, that wasn’t so bad at all was it Micky?” Yan asked, his milky eyes bright and his smile wider than ever.
“Yan, mate,” replied Micky, shaking his head. “You are an absolute lunatic, and that was BLEEPING outstanding. Can we do it again?”
The miles passed below them, swallowed by the incredible speed on the wagons. The terrain changed slowly, becoming mountainous and rough. Craggy boulders replaced the meadows and the trees became wiry and thin, battered by the howling winds.
Yan carefully maneuvered the wagon down, settling on a stony bluff next to Zofia and Gwilym. Looking about the desolate setting, Micky noted the lack of vegetation and the harsh, wind-broken soil.
“You do take me to the nicest places Yan” he joked as the other man climbed down from the jockey box.
“Just you wait, Micky. We’ll be in a dark horrible cave before you know it.”
“I can hardly wait” Micky deadpanned back.
Gwilym strode over to Micky and Yan, a serious look on his face.
“Micky, I want you to help Tavish set up a base camp for us here, we’re going to need a secure place to start the delve. Yan, I’d like you to help Zofia get equipped for her preliminary scout. We need to know what we’re dealing with here.”
“You got it boss” Yan replied, echoing Gwilym’s serious tone.
“Micky, Tavish is over by the heavy equipment wagon” Gwilym continued as Yan hurried away.
Micky found Tavish hefting the same canvas bundle as he had seen in the clearing, at his feet was a roll of steel posts connected by thin brass wires.
“How can I help, mate?” Asked Micky, looking at the bundles in confusion.
“Hauld yer horses a minute. Efter a've set up th' tent a'm waantin' ye tae spread th' leccie fence aroond th' perimeter.”
“So spread the fence out around the tent right?”
“Aye, that's whit ah said.”
The tent burst into being, the guy lines smashing into the rocky soil and binding tight. Taking a step back from the ten Micky began to space out the steel posts, using the wire were taut but not under too much pressure. Using the hammer Tavish tossed him he was able to drive the spikes on the end of each post down into the soil without too much effort.
“Ok, what’s next Tavish?” He asked, walking back to the daimh engineer.
"Guid wirk. Tak' a step back 'n' ah will crank it oan.“
Tavish began to crank a brass handle attached to a device that looked more like a fancy coffee maker than any kind of power source. As the machine began to rumble a high thin whine began to emerge from the wires as energy coursed through them.
“That wull dae nicely” Tavish muttered as he stepped by from the fence. “Dinnae titch th' wires. Th' fence haes a kick lik' a ragin` horse”
“Cheers for the heads up big man, I appreciate it. Is there anything else I can help with? He asked while eyeing the fence warily.
“Nah, tis braw. We're guid fur noo.”
Walking back to Gwilym, Micky saw Zofia striding away from the camp. She had a coil of rope over her arm and climbing hooks in a bandolier across her chest.
“Yan mate, what’s the story with all the heavy-duty gear?” Micky asked as he approached the supply wagon.
“Zofia is going to do an initial reconnaissance. We’ve got the report from Xenophon, but they tend to be fairly incomplete. Gwilym wants Zofia to check out what we’re walking into before we start the delve properly tomorrow. She’s got the Abilities to get through any environmental issues easily. If she runs into anything she can’t handle she’ll come back straight away, and we’ll head in mob-handed tomorrow.”
“Right, what can I do to help?”
“I think we’re okay here for now, but it might be worth checking in with Ingunn. She’s in charge of site security.”
“Sweet as. I’ll go check in with her then.”
Micky found Ingunn atop the highest point of the bluff, looking over the wind-scoured area with a pair of binoculars.
“Alright, Ingunn?” He asked as he approached.
“How can I help you?” She replied without looking up from her surveillance.
“I wanted to see if there is anything I could do to help? Tavish has got camp set and I thought you could use a hand.”
“Take these,” she said as she passed the binoculars over to Micky. “Keep the glasses moving and your eyes downslope. If you see anything shout for either myself or Tavish.”
“I can do that, no problem. What are you going to be doing?
“I'm going to check for tracks and make sure we’re alone up here. Gwilym is monitoring the convergence entrance and I want to make sure nothing sneaks up on us while he’s busy.”
“Ok brilliant. I’ll keep watch from here.”