Sam shot me an amused look as he climbed after me. “It’s pretty large. A million people consume a lot of water. Just be grateful she isn’t taking us through the sewer.”
I gagged and followed the others, my boots sucking and slurping as we descended into the bowl of the lake. Muddy walls rose all around.
Metal and shadow caught my eye ahead. A huge pipe protruded from the side of the lake, a thick grille and mesh over the front of it. Weeds dripped off the rusted hinges, then sizzled away as the sylph worked to burn off anything that might get in Stef’s way. She already had her tools out.
The pipe was big enough for me to walk inside, but anyone taller—everyone else—would have to duck their heads or hunch. Finally. A real benefit to my lack of height. Of course, I would need a boost getting inside, since the bottom was at my waist.
“This is the intake pipe,” Stef said, prying off the grille. Whit and Sam stepped in to help. “It pulls in water when the tank inside the industrial quarter is low. The water is strained for large particles here, but there’s still a lot of cleaning to be done before we can drink it.” She grunted, and the metal mesh followed the grille onto the bottom of the lake.
“Of course,” Whit said, “all this is new within the last few thousand years. At one point, we drank straight from the lake. Then we got smart enough to carry the water in and boil it.”
“Gross.” I hid my flute case inside my coat and tightened my backpack straps, then let Sam and Whit boost me into the dark hole of the pipe. When I turned on the lantern Sam handed me, I saw only damp metal, algae, and lots of darkness beyond.
This would be the opposite of fun, but it would be better than trying to walk into the city through one of the arches. Leaving through a normal route hadn’t gone very well, after all.
“Are you sure there’s a way out of this?” I asked. “A way that’s not one of the purification tanks, that is.”
Stef grinned. “There’s a hatch we use to put cleaning drones into the pipes. I swear I’ll get you through this safely.”
“Okay,” I muttered, tapping Sarit a quick SED message to let her know to meet us. Then I helped the others in as best I could, and stood aside so Stef and Whit could lead. Sam followed behind me.
The pipe wasn’t comfortable to walk inside. I’d never thought I minded small spaces before, but the walk underground took forever. We headed down, then up again, and I tried to recall all Stef’s assurances that this was safe: they’d been careful to direct the pipe only where the ground was thick enough to support it, and coat it with heat-resistant material so that if something shifted, the pipe would be unaffected.
They must not have taken earthquake swarms into account, though, because several times, we had to stop and kick through piles of dirt where the pipe had cracked open. The air grew musty and hard to breathe, and my hair stuck to my head uncomfortably. Sweat pooled in my collarbone, snaking down my chest, down my spine. The sylph at the rear didn’t help the heat, but at least they were quiet. The echo of their songs probably would have driven me to catch them all in sylph eggs.
“Is there water in the city?” I kept my voice low to keep it from carrying. Even so, the sound made me wince. “Since the lake is dry?”
“Yes.” Stef’s voice rasped against the walls of the pipe. “There are cisterns for rainwater and snow. The city is built for siege. Even with the lake drained, the population can live comfortably for five months. Much longer if we ration carefully.”
That was good to know. I might get a shower after all.
Light grew ahead, off to one side. “This is it. Looks like Sarit already opened the hatch for us.” After we climbed a small incline, Stef turned off her lantern and fastened it to her backpack. “Let’s get out of here.”
Cool air rushed in as she pushed the grate the rest of the way open, and at last we stepped into a small, dim room with powered-down labor drones sitting on shelves along the far side, and a handful of pipes crisscrossing the room with hatches leading in. The sylph hung back in the pipe, deep in the darkness. They’d come out when we reminded Sarit they were our army.
“Finally!” Sarit exploded from around the corner and stopped just short of hugging me. “You smell terrible.”
“I feel disgusting, too.”
She looked good, though, except for the dark smudges beneath her eyes, and the way her smile didn’t quite fit right. After losing Armande, she’d been alone. For a few weeks, she hadn’t even had me, since the SED signal didn’t reach as far north as we’d gone.
“I’m so glad you’re back.” Tears glimmered in Sarit’s eyes as she smiled at everyone. “I can’t say how much I missed you. But I’m not going to hug you until after you’ve all washed up. I have standards, you know.”
“We missed you, too.” I peeled hair off my forehead and gazed around the small room. It was good to be back inside solid walls, though the circumstances of our return could have been so much better. “Where have you been staying? How soon until I can shower?”
“Twenty minutes, if you run and get to the shower first. I’ve been rotating darksoul houses and industrial buildings. We’re in the middle of the industrial quarter right now, in one of the few buildings still standing after they razed a bunch of warehouses and things. This one is still necessary.” She shrugged. “I’m taking you to the textile mill. I had to pretend like I was Stef in order to rig some of the pipes into a shower, but it’ll do if you’re desperate.”
“And we are.” Whit laughed and headed for the door, but as soon as he pulled it open, a blue light shot in. Whit dropped over.
He was dead.
24 LOSS
I SCREAMED.
Sam and Stef drew their pistols and pushed their way to the door, keeping to the sides.
Another blue light shot in, but before Sam or Stef could duck outside, blackness surged from the pipe where we’d just come from, keening so loud my ears ached.
The sylph passed over Whit’s body in the doorway, hotter as they moved outside. Though he’d been killed by a laser, leaving only a small hole in his forehead, the heat of sylph scorched his skin darker and darker, burning his clothes and hair and eyelashes.
Sarit screamed, her voice raw. Sam and Stef moved back as the sylph streamed outside, and within heartbeats, men and women cried out in pain. The stench of burning flesh flooded the room, mixing with the reek we’d carried in from the aqueduct and days of travel. Acid pushed up my throat; I doubled over and threw up.
Before I could spit and wipe my mouth, Sam grabbed my wrist and hauled me after him. Stef had Sarit.
“Let’s go.” Stef guided us over Whit’s body.
His body.
He’d been alive a minute ago.
Now he was a charred husk.
“Come on!” Sam jerked me outside. It was dark, but there were enough lights in this quarter that I couldn’t ignore the smoking bodies on the ground. Four of them, all burned to death by sylph.
I stumbled after Sam, my feet tripping over each other, over the hard ground.
Stef passed Sarit to Sam. “Get them to the mill. I’ll take care of this.”
Take care of this? There were bodies. Whit.
“Is that safe?” Sam asked.
“I’ll make it safe.” Stef’s eyes were hard, angry.
Tears blinded me as I staggered after Sam, bumping against Sarit, who seemed just as disoriented and confused. Sylph flew around us, only half their usual number. The others must have stayed with Stef.
“This way.” Sam’s voice was rough as he dragged us behind buildings to wait, listen, though I couldn’t hear anything over the thud of my heartbeat, the hitch in my breath, and the gasp of Sarit’s weeping.