Sky Jumpers Series, Book 1 (21 page)

“Whoa,” Aaren whispered as our eyes adjusted to the torchlight.

The river wasn’t as wide here as it was in White Rock—probably not more than forty feet. Inside the cave, a rock ledge a few feet wide ran along the left side of the river, which was a good thing because we needed something to stand on. Ice didn’t cover the river inside the mountain. The rock ceiling gradually rose until it was taller than my house, and the cavern was at least fifty feet wide.

The light from the torches bounced off the water in the river and reflected it back onto the walls and ceiling of the cave, so it looked like it was all underwater. A lot of the rock in the cave was white limestone, but all across the
ceiling there were big sections that were almost black. It made the ceiling look like a zebra.

“Don’t block the way!” Beckett’s voice called out from behind me.

I put my back against the wall and shuffled sideways along the stone ledge as fast as I could to catch up.

The ceiling lowered as we traveled into the cave, and the river narrowed and deepened. I moved my schoolbag around to my back and kept my left hand against the wall as we moved forward. In some places the ceiling was so low, I had to crawl. The ground was rough and rocks dug into my knees, ripping through my pants. But at least I didn’t have to crawl on my belly like the guard in front of me. The noise of the rushing river was so loud, no one even tried to talk over it.

Most of the way, the ledge was about the same height as the river, but for a terrifying stretch as long as our field at home, it was ten feet above the surface of the water, almost touching the cave ceiling, and barely wide enough to crawl on. I looked down at the water and imagined what would happen if I fell in. The water was so cold, I’d probably freeze instantly; then the river would carry me downstream and shove me under the ice as it exited the mountain. I suppressed a full-body shudder and huddled closer to the wall, focusing on the boots of the guard in front of me.

Once we got past the fall-and-you-die part, the ceiling was tall enough to stand again. I rubbed at my sore knees and hobbled along. After a long stretch, the cave roof lowered to a small opening and I figured it meant more crawling. Instead, I climbed through the opening into a massive cavern. A guard at the opening touched my shoulder, then held a finger to his lips.

I looked around to see why he cared if I was quiet, and that was when I noticed the hole in the ceiling. The hole that led to the mine, and to the bandits guarding it. I moved to the side of the opening, and Brock and Aaren joined me.

Even though I’d followed right behind them, I hadn’t looked closely at the frames of the guards’ packs. Six of them took off their packs and removed the fabric part that held supplies. The remaining part had two side pieces made of wood that were shaped differently at the top than at the bottom, and three wooden cross pieces, kind of like a ladder. No,
exactly
like a ladder. The six men each slid the top part of their ladder into the bottom part of another ladder, connecting them. When they were done, it was long enough to reach the hole in the rock ceiling. I guess a few of the guards used their downtime in Browning to invent. It was the kind of thing that would likely win an award at the Inventions Contest.

With the ladder in place, Clive and Lee went up to the surface, while we waited. If the bandits saw our guard first, they could warn the other bandits. Or worse, they could shoot Clive and Lee! We barely breathed as we heard a couple of bandits let out startled cries before their bodies hit the ground. Sounds that told us we could go up the ladder and save our town.

All of the guards climbed the ladder before us except Beckett. I stepped from the top rung onto the floor of the mines, and for the first time since the dark-haired bandit shoved my mom, the responsibility that felt like a schoolbag full of bricks was lifted from me. The worry about everyone was still there, but we had succeeded! We’d gotten help to White Rock. I practically floated through the tunnel to the large room at the opening.

Aaren stooped next to one of the bandits who lay at the mouth of the cave, and fingered a tiny feathered thing that stuck out of the man’s neck. He looked up at Beckett.

“It’s a blow dart,” Beckett said. “They should be out for a couple of hours”—he nudged the ropes that bound the bandit’s feet with his boot—“but they tied them up just in case.”

Aaren, Brock, and I put on our snowshoes. I felt bad that the guards didn’t have any—the snow went past the knees of most of them. With everyone in town trapped, it wasn’t like they had been out shoveling pathways.

The easiest way down the mile and a half to City Circle would have been to follow the tram path nearest the cave entrance. The bandits guarding the community center would have no problem seeing thirty-one of us walk down it, though. Instead, we trudged through the snow behind houses, bushes, and fences.

Stott held up a hand, motioning for us to stop at the edge of the first ring, still half a mile from City Circle and quite a distance from Carina’s home. Aaren, Brock, and I would stay there during the fight. He told us all to hide behind a barn while he sent Lee and Aaren’s brother Cole ahead as scouts to see how many bandits guarded the outside of the community center.

And then we waited.

Fifteen minutes passed before Lee and Cole returned, out of breath. “They’re on their way,” Lee said.

“What?” Stott looked back and forth between the two guards. “It isn’t sundown yet!”

Lee took a breath. “They’re outside the community center, loading food onto horses. The community center’s doors are barricaded—probably so they could get away without anyone coming after them. We overheard the one
in charge. He said they should tell every town that they killed four of their kids, because it made them hand over the medicine without a fight.”

The impact of what Lee said hit me. We had played dead at the edge of the Bomb’s Breath when we escaped, but I had told my dad I could go through it without dying. I had assumed that if the bandits told my parents, they would know we were actually okay. I never guessed the bandits would say
they
killed us. So my dad thought I was dead. All my brothers had died before they were even born, and now my mother thought I’d died, too. Aaren’s parents thought
two
of their kids were dead. The whole town thought we were dead and didn’t know that help was on its way, so they’d handed over the Ameiphus. I took a few steps forward and threw up into a bank of snow.

“How much time?” Stott asked.

Lee shrugged. “Ten minutes, maybe?”

Cole cleared his throat. “That’s not all—they have hostages. Williams, Newberry …” Cole glanced at Aaren, then back to Stott. “And my mom.”

Aaren stiffened, so I reached out and grabbed his hand. I didn’t look at him, because I didn’t want him to see the panic on my face. I’d never witnessed a battle before—when bandits attacked on our way home from the Planting Festival in Browning, I’d slept in the supply wagon through the whole thing. But it wasn’t hard to guess that
hostages could accidentally get shot by either side in an attack. I hoped Aaren would never have to experience what I felt when my dad got shot.

The men gathered around Stott, leaving Brock, Aaren, and me blocked by a wall of bodies. But we heard Stott’s urgent voice: “Beckett, take your team up to the Kearneys’ property. My team, we’re at the top of the Romaneks’. Clive, you’re on the roof of their house. Lee, I want you on the barn roof. When the hostages are in sight, use the blow darts on whoever’s closest to them. No one fires until Clive and Lee give the hostages a chance to run.

“It sounds like they each have a gun, but we don’t know if they all have bullets. Assume they do. Stay behind cover until they’ve wasted as much of their ammo as possible.”

Stott took a deep breath, and his next words weren’t as rushed. “Our primary objective is to take the medicine back. Shoot to wound only, stay alive, and get them to surrender. I want this orderly and neat. Move out!”

Those with bows adjusted their quivers, the few with guns loaded their ammunition, and Clive and Lee readied their blow darts as they moved away from Stott. Once the crowd cleared and Stott could see us again, it was obvious he’d forgotten about us.

“Hope, Aaren, Brock. Forget Carina’s house. It’s still too far away. See the Johnsons’ house over there?” We all turned to look, even though we knew where it was. It was
a bluish-gray home a little downhill and a hundred yards from the tram path. Just far enough from the battle to be safe. “Get there and stay until one of us comes for you. Go. Go!”

We ran as fast as our snowshoes would allow and tried to stay behind fences and bushes. Once we reached the Johnsons’ house, we practically fell through the back door and into the kitchen.

“Were we seen?” Brock asked.

Aaren leaned over and put his hands on his knees. “I don’t think so.”

We stood there a full minute before I was so restless I couldn’t stand it. “I have to know what’s happening.”

“Me too,” Aaren said. “My brothers and my mom—”

Brock nodded. “Let’s get on the roof.”

We slid out the kitchen door, and I looked toward the guards. They must have all gotten into position, because I couldn’t see any of them. The grain tram path was just as empty. The air was so clear, I heard the faint murmuring of voices as the bandits came up the trail.

We rushed to the side of the house hidden from the path, took off our snowshoes and tied them to our backs, then climbed up some wooden boxes onto the roof. A thick layer of snow covered everything, so we pushed it off the side and peeked over the edge. I caught a glimpse of the bandits not far from the community center, which meant
they were a little less than half a mile from our guard. I counted three horses with them, loaded with food. They were crazy if they thought they’d actually be able to carry that much through the river cave.

The community center was teeny from so far away, but I knew everyone was in there, so I strained to see anyway. Then I noticed two more horses picketed next to the building, knee-deep in snow with no food or water, tethered on short ropes so they couldn’t even move around to get warm. I pointed to them. “Can you believe they just left the horses outside? The stables are
right
there. Why do they have to make the horses miserable, too?”

“It’ll be over soon,” Aaren said, “and we’ll take care of them. The ones they’re using as pack horses, too.”

I sighed. “I know. I just—” I didn’t even finish my sentence. They knew what I meant.
I just wish they’d never come
. It wasn’t like wishing changed things, though.

I stared at the spot where I would first be able to see the bandits, right where the grain tram lay wedged in a bank of snow at the side of the path. My stomach muscles clenched as the first bandit came into view. This was an actual life-or-death situation. I’d heard of battles plenty of times in history class, but those were with people long dead. People I didn’t know. People I didn’t care about. With every bandit who stepped into view, I got more and more nervous for our guard. I looked up at the Romaneks’
roofs. Clive was on the house roof and Lee on the barn roof, both lying just like we were, their eyes peeking over the tops of the roofs, the rest of their bodies hidden.

When the bandits walked past Holden Newberry’s house, I saw their faces. The mean, dark-haired bandit who shoved my mom. Gravel Voice. A teenage bandit from the gym. Shivering Bandit. The three men who chased us to the Bomb’s Breath. The shorter, darker-skinned man from the river at the Harvest Festival. A lot of bandits I only vaguely remembered, and the three horses. And of course, Dr. Grenwood, Mr. Newberry, and Mrs. Williams. I didn’t count, but it seemed there were about the same number of bandits as our guard.

Then the last one came into view. Mickelson. The second I saw his wavy-haired head rising above the men around him, I imagined the look my parents must have had on their faces when Mickelson told them I was dead.

Then something white caught my eye. We were almost too far away to see it.

“Aaren,” I whispered. “On Mickelson’s belt. Isn’t that your mom’s bag?” The bag was about eight inches wide, and about that tall after the top was cinched shut. It was the bag Dr. Grenwood carried at her waist whenever she didn’t carry the rest of her medical supplies.

“Yeah,” Aaren whispered back. “I bet the Ameiphus is in—”

Aaren was cut off by shouting from the bandits. We held our breath to listen.

“Footprints! There’s footprints,” one of the men at the front of the line yelled as he gestured toward where we had all stood by the barn.

Since the snow had just fallen, they knew the footprints were from today, but the bandits hadn’t gotten close enough for Clive and Lee to reach them with the blow darts. The bandits moved their line into clumps, drew their guns, and aimed them in the direction our guards hid. From the back of the line, Mickelson gave orders I couldn’t quite make out, and the men moved up the path and searched for our guard.

When they neared the bushes at the end of the Romaneks’ yard, one of the bandits fell to the ground, probably from Clive’s blow dart. Mickelson shouted more orders. Some bandits took shots, others ran for cover, and a group of five rushed toward the Kearneys’ shed.