“While hilarious, that wouldn’t work even with just Kael and I. No. There’s A.P.C.’s so the trucks are probably hauling supplies rather than men. We need to get all five us in the back of one of those.”

Kael scuttled forward a couple inches more, his head over the lip of the cliff. “Then away we go.” He spilled over, chest first, and disappeared into the snow drifts thirty feet below, like a cath seal plunging into the ocean for the first time.

I don’t have a plan yet! Joshua was about to order everyone to hunker where they were but a dark blur dropped past on his left. Gianna fell completely splayed out, landing in the drift like a starfish.

“We have to, don’t we?” Bartholomew asked. He drew Emilie closer who eyed the cliff greedily—this probably was a child’s dream.

“At this point?” Joshua said, “Yeah, they’ve committed us.”

The Doctor accepted the notion with a beleaguered sinking of the shoulders. “Have Emilie jump towards me. I can catch her if she’s off target.” Bartholomew stooped down to sitting position and then slid off the edge. Emilie jumped not two seconds later before Bartholomew hit the ground, one of her mittens slipping off as Joshua tried to yank her back.

She landed fine, her father pulling her out of the drift by an ankle. That meant it was Joshua’s turn to screw it up. He’d be the one to blow it—someone had to.

The sky, the ground, the cliff face, it all spun into a blur. It took his brain an extra second to recognize that he had stopped, the landing being so soft, and Joshua couldn’t say he was any the worse for it. Maybe colder, but it was hard to tell when you were already that cold.

He flailed his way out of the ten-foot-high swath of snow, cold bits stuck to his hair and slithered down his collar. Before he could claw the stinging cold powder from his eyes, a hand grasped his wrist and yanked him to his feet. Kael shepherded Joshua back the cliffside and pushed him into a small crevasse just barely taller than he was. Joshua pulled his arms in and ground his body against cold stone, his cheek grazing crystals of ice. He stopped, colliding with Emilie and Bartholomew who were mixed together in a pretzel; somewhere behind them Gianna was pressed against the far wall muttering. Kael capped them off at the entrance.

“We should have organized smallest to largest,” Gianna grunted from the back. She sounded angry which was refreshing given how appropriate it was. “I am really not okay with being touched.” Her arms pulled close to her torso, and she was just a hair’s length from the father-daughter knot.

“Suggestions only, no complaints,” Kael snapped, “they’ll be here in a couple minutes.

“We need a distraction.” Joshua gasped through shallow breaths, he couldn’t imagine what the others behind were going through.

“Working on it!” Kael shouted.

“I can do it!” Gianna screamed. Joshua’s head was stuck facing forward but he could hear the muffled chaos as she attempted to worm past Bartholomew, somehow. That somehow became apparently as she popped up between Joshua’s legs clawing the ground in what looked like the backstroke. She slid through without touching him.

All while the column grew nearer.

The plow shook the mountain road and it’s mass reverberated through the fissure, raining down snow and chunks of ice as Gianna tried to weasel her way to her feet. Outside, the giant treads sliced through as the plow galumphed past by their small chink in the cliff face like a predator with eyes set too far forward to notice the small game.

Close your eyes and go when I say go,” Gianna said, worming her way by Kael’s side in the arch formed by his leg and arm bracing against the cave wall. She made the rest of the distance past Kael in a dive and rose at the mouth of the fissure with her hands clasped. They moved apart and a sharp white light, unbearably bright followed a short pop.

The rustle of tire chains grinding stopped and heat poured from the machines like a sigh.

Joshua didn’t know if Gianna was able to hold that light, he only knew this would be their only opportunity to stow away on one of those trucks. He shoved Kael back out of the fissure and made to follow Gianna who had already taken the lead and was signaling the group with a hissing lisp that didn’t sound human. It was an unorthodox stroke of cunning on her part, because the truck’s cabin doors were flung open and Joshua heard the first scrapes of boots on the ground, followed by a frantic shout, and then screaming men. Joshua marched head first into that flurry, his scarf fluttering in the breeze as a soldier zipped past.

If they weren’t as blind as he was, this was going to be short-lived.

A slight metallic clang pinged right in front. Joshua fought down the urge to gasp as a strong grip took him by the sleeve and hoisted upwards. He scrambled up smooth metal, his foot finding purchase. And then he tumbled forward. His bleached eyesight lessened—like the difference from LED to halogen—but that didn’t mean he was functional. He guessed Gianna had led him to the back of a supply truck.

His shoulder banging into a hard wooden surface, Joshua scraped around tenderly with his fingertips. He heard the shuffling of bodies as Bartholomew and Emilie, easily identifiable by breathing alone, were pulled into the bed.

Joshua asked, “Do you think they saw us?”

Multiple voices shushed him.

He could see dark shapes all around now. Some angular, some more blobby which he took for the rest of his party. The back of the truck was certainly filled, and he began seeing if he could move the boxes without much noise. The first few were too heavy, but by process of elimination, Joshua managed to pull some a few inches off the wall. More sounds of crunching snow and agitated soldiers came from outside. Soldiers droning like metaljackets.

“Syches!” Kael whisper-screamed much too loudly.

Joshua was going to sign in response, but realized even his own hands were too blurry to distinguish one finger from the other. “With the army?” he said instead. “And you shush too.”

Kael said, sotto voce, “I don’t think so. They’re coming down from the cliff face towards the back of the column. Are we fighting them?

Bartholomew had noticed what Joshua had been up to and guided Emilie to a little cubby with a hand on her shoulder.

“We weren’t prepared to fight the Dark Element or the army, let alone both at once,” said Joshua. This is why I make plans before jumping off cliffs. “Bubble us. Put up enough energy so they can’t tell how many are inside.”

“They’ll come straight here if you do that!” Gianna joined in.

“They’ll know we’re here anyway!” Joshua nearly bit his tongue hearing someone moving on the outside. He moved to RUS and hoped everyone else’s eyes were working better. “Do it. Then help me get some space behind the crates.. Gianna, Barthlomew, hope you’re ready to act.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Do I have to do everything?” Gianna responded with her hands.

“Can I do anything?” Bartholomew asked.

Look at how you’re dressed, idiots.” Joshua gestured to the Dark Element robes they’d been wearing since leaving the compound. “Hoods up. Scare anyone who comes here off.”

The extra cloak they took for Bartholomew was pristine. But Gianna’s was filthy and torn from her stint in jail; even still, Joshua was ecstatic right now that her captors had done that instead of just giving her a blanket. Either Gianna or Bartholomew would be too suspect on their own.

Joshua checked on Emilie making sure she understood to stay hidden no matter what.

The agitation outside grew louder, fast. No time for Kael to have his own hiding place, Joshua pulled his crates out a hair further and they both stuffed themselves together, one spoon on the other. Being brothers made the arrangement less uncomfortable, but somehow also worse.

There were voices all around them, swimming in the air along the mountain roads. The black cloaks coming down the mountain had created even more of a stir, but no gun shots replied. No panic or aggression. All this confirmed Joshua’s suspicious as the back tarp to the truck got thrown back, Joshua nothing to do but listen.

There was a long pause. Gianna and Bartholomew sitting there casually, brooding in their dark robes, must not have been what the newcomer was expecting.

Finally: “Who sent you here, why are you here, what’s this thing about lights?” Not a soldier’s voice, if Joshua’s gut could be trusted at all.

“The light is obvious enough, eh?” Bartholomew tried to bring his voice low and gravelly. He tried. “High grade flare went off on it’s own, straight out the back.” He patted a crate.

The bed of the truck groaned, a thud sounded against the bumper. Oh no. He was actually coming up to them.

The new Syche continued, “You’re not traveling with a pack of dogs just to inspect munitions now, are you?” Joshua could swear he heard the grin in the words.

The Doctor balked, it was Gianna who picked up the thread. “Not your synod, not your problem. Forward your complaints to Mr. Stains. If you want.”

It sounded like a patently fake name to Joshua, but he could hear the foot on the bumper groan as the pressure released.

“I’ve heard of that brat. Calling him mister now, are we?”

“Call him what you please, just wait for me to be there when you do. You’ll get your chance if we don’t keep schedule,” Gianna said. Joshua was actually proud that for someone with so little social nuance, Gianna had attacked that man’s poor attempt at repartee like a shark sensing blood in the water.

“Of course, of course.” The man’s footsteps seemed to retreat, but then Joshua heard the slide of a slow turn. “But there’s just one more thing. Why the bubble? Hiding something from me in particular?”

Joshua choked on a knot in his throat. It was a good question and not one he had an answer for.

Gianna was silent. The Doctor was silent. Kael was clenching his muscles, his palms flat on the floor to push himself up on the offensive. It was all taking too much time, nothing they could say could live up to that pause.

“Flares don’t just go off, do they?” Bartholomew broke the tension.

“Hm?”

“They don’t fire themselves; People do. Some of the boxes are the army’s, some of the boxes are ours. Unfortunate that the contents of one somehow made it’s way to the other, but you’re a curious fellow. Want to know how many warm bodies we’ve got back here?”

The other man didn’t require consideration for that offer. “That will do. I was never here, you were never here.”

“We were everywhere,” Gianna added, pronouncing every ‘w’ with a staccato. No, not added. The way he said it, was that the end of a passphrase? He suspected Gianna’s pronunciation of the counter sign was just her doing her thing.

The voice of the interloper faded, as he returned in the direction whence he came. “Get the wagons moving again. Next time you stop, you best be able to articulate a better reason than ‘my eyes hurt’. Git.”

It didn’t take much longer for the convoy to get moving again. And even if the nearby soldiers got a whiff of their conversation, that would only be reason to stay away.

Joshua spoke, “Are you sure that Taerose hired the Dark Element as mercenaries, or is the Dark Element the same as Taerose?”

Gianna pondered and lolled her head. “Yes? No? Haven’t been sure of much since I ended up in a jail cell. Was sure of even less before that.”

With a deep sigh, Joshua gave a quick whip of his head snapping the crick in his neck and looked to Bartholomew. “Nice job on the improv there, Doc. Really pulled off the vague and disturbing act.”

With his daughter sitting on his lap, Bartholomew signed, his fingers above her head and well out of view. “They’re only humans at the end of the day. Not hard to kill curiosity with morbidity. Although I must admit, I may have made us seem the more dangerous party.”

Kael said, “Considering the way yesterday started, we’re practically in the clear. Plenty of time to catch our breath and,” his eyes rested on Bartholomew, “talk.”

“There's always time for things to go further downhill,” Joshua said. After scratching the back of his neck, Joshua added, “like if we literally went downhill right now, the trip would go downhill with it. It’s very steep.”

“Shut up Joshua,” Kael said.

The short winter day was spent. Darkness rested on the mountains, filling in the cracks from peak to valley. The train of vehicles trudged slowly on through the slim path overlooking a steep drop and a sudden stop. The wind howled and moons stayed aloof above the clouds; it was a dark and bitter-cold night. There was no winter night that wasn't, this far north.

In the back of the supply truck, Gianna chipped off tiny strips of wood from the crates and let them smolder in a pile for warmth. The heat was minimal, but Joshua, Bartholomew, and Emilie needed whatever warmth they could to stave off frost bite.

Kael dug in the pockets of his windbreaker and withdrew a tattered piece of paper. “One good turn deserves another, Bartholomew,” Kael said.

“Oh yes, time to learn your fascination with me.”

Bartholomew unfolded the paper as Joshua and Kael began arguing about something completely unrelated in the background. Ignoring them, a skill he was quickly beginning to master, Bartholomew read the words with shaking hands. His eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth turned downwards. Shifting his body, he placed his body in between them an Emilie as much as he could.

“It’s a list of crossed-off names and I’m the last one on it,” Bartholomew said. His cheek twitched.

“We know what’s on it,” Joshua said. “It's our list. Who's benefit was that for?”

“He’s just having some bad memories,” Kael said, trying to hide the amusement he got in the Doctor's panicked, finicky look.

But Joshua wasn’t sure after that weird story about bodies in the crate. He had spent so much time planning the rescue of a victim, he hadn’t bothered to consider that being a victim didn’t make the Doctor a good person.

“Everyone on this list reported to the King-Emperor himself.” Bartholomew’s voice rattled.

Gianna sat apart from them, seemingly following the conversation like a game of table tennis. Only, now that there was a pause, her head was still rocking back and forth. So she wasn’t paying attention after all, just following some weird metronome at the end of that absent stare.

“All comes back to Taerose in the end, huh?” Kael plowed ahead. “A list of Taerose researchers, given to you by brothers born in Taerose, being read in the back of Taerose army wagon.”

Joshua said, “If we’re looking for things that break the pattern though, all those guys, and gals, on the list are dead. But not you Doc.”

“I don’t care what you may have done for me. I will never divulge anything I did for that man. I know better. Kill me now.” Bartholomew’s eye’s bulged, his pulse quickened.

Not a good person. What he could do about it was a question for later.

“As vaguely disturbing as that sounds,” Kael said, more than a hint of accusation in his voice, “it’s probably not what we mean. We are on a treasure hunt.”

“Treasure!” Joshua echoed with a hollow throat.

The Doctor stood mouth agape and listening until now, but as soon as he heard ‘treasure hunt’, his demeanor brightened considerably, and his craggy face broke into a smile. “The King’s obsession was the one project I didn’t lose sleep over.”

“Everyone always tells us we're being ridiculous” Kael said. “Are you about to tell us the same thing?”

Bartholomew paused, took a deep breath, and then relaxed slightly. “Everything about you two is ridiculous; but no, I won’t laugh. I headed up a small contingent that actually found something interesting on the subject. The King-Emperor of Taerose pulled the plug and handled it personally once we found the first thread. I can’t give you anything solid, but I can tell you where to start.” Kael leaned on the edge of their seats in anticipation. “If your mark is the legendary Book of Light, start in Dania. That’s where the King did.”

“Great!” Joshua clapped his hands together. “So Dania. Person or a place? Please tell me that is not a planet. And if you give me some hippy crap like a frame of mind, I will slap you right now.”

“It’s a city. Gave me the same feeling of wrongness I get from you Syches. There is something very wrong there.” The Doctor paused and regained his composure. “Dania will kill you.”