it all.
“We need to go down. Hold on to me,” Cin warned before he grabbed hold of Lanie and stepped off the edge.
Her gasp of fear and shock was the only thing that kept Lanie from screaming before she realized they were slowly descending into the gorge and not rushing headlong to their deaths.
Realizing Cin was using some means to float them down, Lanie ran through her mind to see if she had the ability as well. She was stunned to find that she did and vowed to delve more deeply into her nanite and AI capabilities when they got back to Earth.
Once their feet hit the ground, Cin took her hand and helped Lanie traverse the rocks and boulders along the bank until they saw a large opening in the solid rockface. Keeping their backs to the sheer rock of the gorge, Cin led them towards it.
Halfway there, voices drifted down from the gaping hole, confirming they were in the right place, and Cin moved more cautiously towards what he knew would be Consortium raiders. He stopped at a large boulder just beneath the opening and gently pushed Lanie into a kneeling position.
Lanie stayed where she was while Cin hauled himself over the ledge and disappeared. Within seconds two men were thrown over the edge. The fact that they didn’t scream during the twenty-five-foot fall told Lanie that Cin had killed them before chucking them over the side.
“Give me your hand,” Cin whispered.
Lanie stood and raised her hands, and Cin pulled her into the mouth of the cave beside him. “There are more than forty raiders here, scattered throughout the interior. When we get to the elves, they will be too weak to go into a portal. You’ll have to help me get them through.”
“OK,” Lanie whispered back, knowing her nanites made her strong enough for the task.
“Stay invisible and use only silent weapons,” Cindrac warned. “Can you make blades?”
Lanie tried it and smiled when she saw a shimmering dagger in her fist. “Yes, I can.”
“If you see me fire on anything, then it’s your cue that you can as well.” Cin wanted to make sure Lanie would follow his lead during the battle.
“I’m good, Cin,” Lanie said with a chuckle, infused with a sense of calm and confidence. “We’ve done this a couple of times now. I’ll follow your lead.”
“Let’s go.” Cin ran down the cave tunnel, keeping close to the walls as he followed the map in his mind of where the elves were held captive.
Unlike most Consortium controlled bases, this one still used the technology that existed on the planet before the Consortium conquered it. It had been easy for Cin and his nanites to infiltrate the systems and find out where they held his friends.
Finally reaching the first door to the interior, Cin placed his hand on the scanner and released his nanites into the system, giving him full technological control of the base. Unwilling to alert the Consortium to their presence, Cin didn’t change anything and stepped through the doorway.
“What the hell?” someone shouted from the interior when the door opened, and no one was there.
“Be on your guar-” someone began before a gurgling sound was heard.
Seeing the two other raiders in the hall, Lanie manifested a short sword and ran it into the closest one. Before the body slid to the floor, Cin had taken out the last, grabbed her hand, and started jogging down the dark grey rock corridor.
“There’s five coming around the corner,” Cin warned.
Seconds later, the first raider appeared, and Cin clotheslined the man, then sank a blade into his throat when he hit the ground. Lanie used her short sword to slash open the stomach of one, then spun around and threw herself between two others, striking out with both weapons. Cin had already dispatched the other two and helped Lanie finish off hers.
Taking off down the hallway, Cin decapitated several raiders as they ran past until they reached a door. Lanie knew without a doubt this was where Niama and other elves were held and prepared her weapons for the coming battle.
“There are seven inside the room,” Cin warned. “Four I can take out with the computers they are in front of and shut down the faraday cage at the same time.”
“I’ll hold off the other three.” Lanie was already manifesting a short sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.
“On three,” Cin warned, then counted down to one.
When the door opened, Cin turned to the