Chapter 414: The Breathing Ridges

After resting, Ren made the cradle on the rock above the cove.

The stone trough stood on broad runners, deep enough to keep Bolt covered and long enough for both aquatic companions to settle inside. A rigid drawbar ended in a loop Anvil could grip. Balm’s tray remained on its separate carrier above the crab’s shell.

Ren lowered the trough into the shallows until its rim lay beneath the surface. Bolt swam over it; Riptide gathered beside the fish. When Anvil drew the cradle onto dry stone, water spilled from the rim, then settled well above their bodies. Ren had withdrawn his working. Anvil hauled the loaded trough along the first stretch of shore while he walked beside it.

He left them at the cove and borrowed Eira’s slate again.

At the arch, he compared the two slates and started their elapsed counts independently. Hers stayed beneath the cloth. He crossed alone, with time remaining before the renewal point recorded on his earlier visit.

The broken bank descended from the entrance shelf to a lower ledge. Ren followed it to the water before choosing a route. Loose stone overhung the direct descent, but farther along, sound rock gave him room for a broad ramp with a gentle slope.

He shaped that stretch with Earth, leaving purchase for Anvil beside the runners’ tracks. The ramp held after he withdrew. Its lower end continued into the basin, where the cradle could be submerged for loading.

His nearby shaping had answered normally. When he extended the working across the separated shelves toward the farther ridge, the effort increased and his control at the far end weakened. He tried to shift a loose edge; it barely followed. Drawing the working back to his own shelf restored the response.

He left the distant stone alone.

The basin deepened beyond the ramp and continued into a channel. Ren checked the water near the loading place, then returned to compare the slates. Over that interval, neither side had gained enough time for the counts to distinguish. He kept the readings and returned Eira’s slate before collecting the others.

Ren helped with the long haul to the arch, then stepped clear for the last rise. Anvil pulled the loaded cradle up it and through the opening without his working. Inside, it lowered the cradle down the ramp, bracing through each step. At the water, it backed the trough in until Bolt and Riptide could swim out.

Then they repeated the loading without Ren touching the cradle or its water. Anvil drew it clear and hauled both companions back to the threshold. Its legs found the purchase beside the tracks; the drawbar kept the trough from turning across the slope.

Ren stayed alongside until they reached the top.

"That will do."

Anvil lowered them again. Once Bolt and Riptide were in the basin, Ren refilled the cradle with Water and secured it above the wash, facing the ramp.

"If you have to leave without me, use that."

The response came through the bond. Anvil turned toward the two waiting in the basin.

They followed the water toward the next pool. High above it, an aqueduct projected from the far ridge and ended at a broken span. Pale grooves spread down the stone beneath its open channel. A cavern exhaled across the pool, stirring thin mineral growths that hung from its lip. As the air reversed, the hanging growth bent inward.

Bolt went ahead through the channel and returned along the same stretch. Riptide followed more slowly. Ren watched them clear the submerged rocks before continuing along the bank.

The channel narrowed between two outcrops. Stepping stones offered a crossing there, with a deeper run beside them. Anvil chose the broad near bank. Above the pinch, a shelf curved around the ridge, with rough descents to either side of the water. Its bend hid the ground beyond.

Ren left Anvil room to brace, with Riptide near the crossing and Bolt in the deeper run. He moved onto the open stone ahead.

A figure appeared above the pinch. Others followed it onto the upper shelf.

— • —

Six people stood above them.

Three descended toward the near bank. A fourth took the far slope toward the stepping stones. The fifth stayed on the shelf, moving along its lower edge, while the last remained near the bend.

Mineral ridges grew along their shoulders and forearms. Leather straps crossed their bodies, holding weapons and folded cord. The man leading the descent carried a stone-headed spear. Beneath his ribs, ridged openings widened as his chest drew in.

Ren asked privately about him.

[ATTAINMENT: DEEP BREATH.]

[DANGER TO HOST: MODERATE.]

The leader pointed his spear at Ren and shouted. Ren did not understand the words. Behind him, the other two spread a weighted net between their hands and ran toward Anvil.

’They meant to take them alive.’

Ren moved to keep the leader on the open stone. Anvil turned toward the net, leaving Balm’s carrier behind the broad front of its shell. Across the channel, the fourth warrior slowed at the first stepping stone.

The leader’s rib openings flared.

Air struck Ren across the chest. Spray tore from the channel and grit scattered past his boots. He gave a step under the burst, set his foot and advanced with Titanhide active.

The man followed his release, spear levelled. He was trying to keep Ren moving back along the stone, away from the bank where the net carriers were spreading.

Ren stepped toward his weapon instead.

The openings closed briefly, then flared again. Ren lowered his head and drove through the second burst. His coat snapped against the harness. The leader checked his advance and swung the spear across Ren’s head.

Ren raised his guarded forearm at an angle. The stone head glanced along the glass with a hard scrape, sending a shock through his arm. He turned the shaft outward and stepped inside its reach.

Leather parted beneath the leader’s ribs, leaving room for the openings to move. Ren drove his spear into the exposed stretch with his full weight behind it.

The man jerked against the haft. Air whistled through the wound, and his knees struck the stone.

Above his shoulder, the watcher at the bend turned and ran.

Ren drew the spear free as the leader fell. The man’s fingers caught at his own weapon, then stopped.

A net weight cracked against the bank behind Ren.

The net had passed over Anvil’s shell and caught a front leg. Both carriers hauled, one toward the water and the other along the bank, trying to turn the crab between them. Anvil planted its remaining legs. The cords tightened across its shell, stopping short of Balm’s tray.

The nearer man leaned back for another pull.

Anvil drove toward him.

The net slackened before he could recover his footing. Anvil struck him against the stone bank and kept moving until a claw closed across his upper body. His heels scraped beneath him, then stopped. His partner abandoned his end of the net and reached for the short spear slung along his back.

Ren was already crossing the open ground.

The second man ducked past Anvil’s occupied claw and thrust into a rear leg joint. Anvil shifted to meet him, but the point had entered between the plates. The warrior twisted the haft as he pulled away, scraping the stone head against the plate’s inner edge.

The wounded leg folded. Anvil caught its weight on the others, dragging part of the net beneath it. Balm’s tray tipped with the carrier and held in its fastenings.

A foot scraped on the shelf above. Ren kept the spear carrier in front of him; turning toward the sound would leave the man beside Anvil’s exposed leg.

The warrior turned toward Ren and brought his spear around. Its chipped head struck Ren’s shaft and slid along it. Ren forced the weapon aside, stepped past the point and drove his own spear beneath the raised arm.

The man struck the bank as Ren withdrew. He fell beside the net, his spear dropping across its loose cord.

At the crossing, the far-bank warrior had reached the last stepping stone. He held his spear low across the water and jabbed toward Riptide’s clear body. The serpent drew beneath the point and gathered in the deeper run. The man shifted his spear toward the bank and pushed across.

His forward leg stretched toward Anvil’s side while his planted foot still carried his weight.

The current caught the man’s lower leg as he pushed off.

His reaching foot missed the bank. He struck the water on his side, losing his weapon, then caught the channel wall with one hand. His head rose beside the stone.

Bolt turned beneath him.

The jet struck the exposed side of the man’s head and drove it against the wall. His grip opened. Water closed over his face while Bolt passed below the crossing and turned back.

Riptide held in the channel, keeping the fallen man from drifting against Bolt’s return.

Stone scraped above Anvil.

The fifth attacker had followed the upper shelf while the others fought. Now he descended a short cut in the rock toward the crab’s injured side. Anvil tried to turn, but the wounded leg gave under the change of weight. Its claw scraped across the net instead.

Ren faced the descent.

The attacker saw him and checked his next step. He drew his spear back above one shoulder, still looking past Ren toward the carrier.

Ren shifted until Anvil lay outside his line. The man stood against the thick ridge face, with open stone between them and no companion behind him.

Close Sever passed through the attacker and scored the rock beyond.

His spear fell first. He folded against the wall, then slid onto the lower bank.

Ren looked up toward the bend.

Empty.

He had seen the watcher leave when the leader fell. Now solid rock hid the retreat. Ren could climb after him, but the bend would take him out of sight of Anvil and the channel. The wounded leg was still tucked beneath the crab. Bolt was turning in the channel; Riptide still held the crossing.

"Back together."

Anvil released the net carrier. The body dropped without movement.

Bolt came alongside the broad bank while Riptide left the crossing and gathered in the quieter water beneath it. Ren checked the shelf once more, then crossed to Anvil, keeping his spear toward the approach.

— • —

The spear had torn the tissue between two plates above the rear leg’s joint. A chip remained near the opening. Blood welled around it when Anvil tried to straighten the limb.

Ren cut the net’s taut cords with his spear’s edge and drew the loops clear of Anvil’s front leg. The weighted ends went beside the fallen weapons.

Ren knelt beside the shell and supported the leg. He could see the fragment’s edge. Keeping the plates from closing against it, he worked the chip free and laid it beside the broken spearhead.

He cleaned the torn place and brought Balm’s tray down beside it. A fringe of moss reached from the damp turf onto the wound. Ren kept the tray close while Balm spread farther, covering the puncture and the ragged tear.

Anvil’s eyestalks remained turned toward the shelf. It kept trying to bring its body around to face the descent. Each attempt pulled the injured joint against the stone and disturbed the moss.

Ren placed a folded dressing beneath the leg, then moved to the exposed side with his spear.

Anvil followed him with its eyes. Once he stood between the shell and the approach, it lowered its body and let the leg rest.

Ren watched the bend while Balm worked. Bolt waited in the shallows below him; Riptide held farther out, where it could see along the channel.

When the blood had stopped, Balm began drawing back toward its turf. The edges of the puncture had pulled closer, but the torn tissue remained tender and uneven. Ren covered it with a clean dressing and returned the tray to the carrier.

Anvil rose carefully. It set the injured leg down, took part of its weight through it and shortened the next step.

Ren stayed beside it as it crossed the broad bank. The leg held, though Anvil kept its body lower on that side.

Ren shortened his pace to match it.

He brought them into the sheltered curve nearest the basin, where the wall covered one approach. From there he could reach the fallen leader while keeping the companions in sight.

Ren moved the bodies clear of the water and their return path. He laid the leader beneath the upper shelf, with the stone-headed spear beside him.

The man’s hand had fallen across the torn chest strap. Ren moved it clear before examining the wound.

Beneath the damaged openings lay a curved wall of grown stone. A crack crossed its ribbed surface. Air still escaped through it in a thin hiss.

Ren waited. The sound weakened and stopped.

He eased the exposed section free along the fracture, leaving the rest of the chamber inside the body. Within the broken piece he could follow part of an organized working. It continued through the stone and ended at the damaged edges. He could not tell how it had governed the man’s bursts.

He wrapped the piece and tied a tag to the cloth: taken from the leader’s chest, cracked during the fight. The bundle went into his pack.

The first call sounded beyond the bend.

Three short booms, a pause, then two. The cavern’s slower breath continued beneath them.

Ren turned toward the sound.

Across the next pool, another ridge answered with the same pattern. A fainter reply followed beyond the broken aqueduct.

He returned to Anvil and checked that Balm’s tray was secure. The crab was standing, keeping most of its weight off the dressed leg.

"Back to the basin. Bolt, Riptide, stay beside us."

They moved along the route they had already crossed. The two in the water kept level with Anvil while Ren followed on the bank, spear in hand. Behind him, the upper shelf remained empty.

The next answer came while Anvil was still crossing the bank.