"What was that?" she heard Anandur ask in the comms, and breathing became optional again.
"A warning." Yamanu sounded alarmed. "Out! Clear the site!"
Annani's throat closed up.
"What's going on?" Kian asked.
"A collapse," Onegus said. "Another one."
The roar guttered and died, and then came the silence, and Annani felt her heart squeeze so tight that it could escape her body in the space between her ribs.
She prayed to the Fates, as she had prayed to them all her life, the three who spun, measured, and cut, and who saw the whole length of every thread when mortals and gods alike could see only a fraction of them.
Let Khiann be among the three. Please let him be out.
"Report," Onegus said. "Any casualties?"
There was no answer.
The seconds stretched. Ogidu had risen from his chair and come to stand behind her, and she felt his hands settle on the back of her chair, not touching her, but signaling that he was there to do whatever she needed from him.
The comms cracked to life. "There was another collapse," Yamanu said. "Hold on."
The comms died, and Annani wondered whether Yamanu had turned it off to focus on whatever he had to deal with or whether something had happened that prevented him from speaking.
When the comms came alive again, it was a fragmented relief.
"Brody has two broken legs, but everyone else is fine. The three chests we cleared are undamaged. We will need another day to get to the other two. Maybe more."
The Fates had given her three chances in five that Khiann was among those that had been cleared, and they had protected the team. Despite the anxiety over the last two chests, she was grateful that there had been only one injury.
"Thank the Fates," Annani whispered.
"What's Julian's assessment of Brody's injury?" Onegus asked.
"Both legs are broken below the knee, which is good because a shattered knee is the worst. We are moving him and the three chests to the sub."
"This is not good." Kian raked his fingers through his hair. "You can't stay down there for another day." He looked at Turner. "We might need to implement the backup plan after all."
23
DROVA
As Drova pulled another amplifier from her pocket, she thanked the Mother of All Life for being over-prepared and bringing along three backups. She'd already lost the first one when Pavel shoved her out of the way of the falling debris.
The guards would show up any moment now, but the question was whether they would come from the hole above that was now much bigger than before, or through the ramp leading to the first floor of the mansion. The ramp was still covered by the same two Guardians Yamanu had stationed there before the collapse, so if anyone came through that opening, they would sound the alarm.
Drova trained her eyes on the hole and the night sky above.
"We need to move Brody and the extracted chests to the cove," Yamanu said.
It was a wise move. The two remaining chests would take a long time to dig out, and she had no idea how Yamanu planned to do that. She could compel the guards who would come to investigate, and she could compel the excavating crew thatwould show up the next morning, and perhaps Kian could have Toven compel Losham to keep everyone away from the site. But that still wouldn't solve the problem if they had to dig for more than a few hours.
"Duncan and Alfie, take one of those furniture covers and fashion a stretcher out of it," Yamanu said.
"Yes, sir."
The two Guardians ran over to where the furniture was stacked against a wall and pulled down one of the covers.
