Cole leaned around the bend with his lamp held ahead of him. The scraping stopped.
He stayed there long enough for Eli to feel the straps cutting into his shoulders again. Then Cole eased back and raised two fingers. Jory moved up beside him. They exchanged a look, stepped around the corner together, and vanished from sight.
“Don’t follow until they call,” Corvin said.
The order was sensible. Eli wished it made the wait easier. Tessa held her bag against her leg to keep its contents from rattling. Anton’s fingers moved against the seam of his jacket, counting something silently. Vera stood at the rear, her lamp angled down the passage they had crossed.
“Clear,” Cole called.
The group advanced. Eli rounded the bend and found another corridor, wider than the last but still too narrow for everyone to pass comfortably. Its left wall rose in a series of ridges like folds in thick cloth. On the right, a stone support extended from floor to ceiling. A shallow crack ran beside it.
Cole tapped the wall with his weapon. “Probably heard rock settling.”
Jory pointed toward the far end of the corridor. Light reflected off a patch of pale mineral there. Corvin lifted his detector. The needle strained toward the reflection, and the hum grew steady.
“We’re close,” he said.
Eli set one boot forward and stopped. The crack beside the support had changed. At least, he thought it had. The line had been straight when his lamp first crossed it; now a thin branch extended toward the ceiling.
He focused on the stone, letting Weak-Point Sight come into view. Lines of strain appeared along the support. The branch was brighter than the rest, and its lower end shifted almost imperceptibly while he watched. A grain of stone fell from it and struck the floor.
“Hold on,” he said.
Corvin did not turn. “We just checked it.”
“The crack’s moving.”
“Cracks don’t move.”
“They widen.” Eli pointed. “Watch the upper edge.”
Tessa aimed her lamp where he indicated. Cole came back two steps. The others paused behind them, crowding the bend. Eli could feel Anton’s pack touch his own.
For several seconds nothing happened. Then another grain fell.
“It’s dust,” Corvin said.
“Something could be pushing from behind the wall,” Vera said.
“Or it could be settling. We’ve made enough noise to shake a house.”
Eli could not prove which explanation was right. The lines revealed a weak section, not the shape of whatever lay beyond it. He wanted to say that the old expedition had not reported a creature here, but that would be another argument from information he could not substantiate. The present crack was enough to act on, if Corvin would let them.
“Move away from the center,” Eli said. “If the wall gives, it’ll fall across this part of the corridor.”
Corvin looked at the pale reflection again. “If you think every stone is about to fall, you should have stayed outside.”
Tessa stepped between him and the crack. “He’s not asking us to leave yet. He’s asking us to make room.”
“We’re losing time.”
“And if we get trapped behind that load, we’ll lose more.” She pointed at Eli’s packs. “He can’t get past the others as we are.”
Eli looked behind him. The narrow bend had compressed the group. If he turned quickly, the pack on his chest would catch Anton; if Anton stepped back, he would collide with Vera. They had followed the formation without leaving space for anyone to reverse it.
“Let me put the equipment against that wall,” Eli said. He indicated a recessed section opposite the crack, past the point where the floor narrowed. “The route back stays open.”
Corvin checked his phone, though there was no signal in the dungeon. “One minute.”
Eli moved forward carefully. The water had settled into its new position, but the metal pack shifted as he turned. Cole took the far strap without being asked. Together they lowered the load beside the secondary wall.
“Your contract doesn’t say you get a rest every ten steps,” Cole said.
“No,” Eli said. “It says I get paid even if I don’t hit anything. I was hoping we could test that.”
Cole snorted. “I wasn’t criticizing.”
“You sounded like you were.”
“Habit.” He glanced toward Corvin. “He likes people to think the job is harder than it is.”
Eli checked the release on the medical kit. “Is it?”
Cole looked at the crack. “I don’t know yet.”
They separated the packs so each could be grabbed by one handle. Eli left the medical kit nearest the route, its buckle facing outward. The metal tools stayed against the wall. He moved a coil of rope off the top of the water containers and set it where a passing boot would not catch it.
Tessa guided Anton and Jory toward the rear of the group, where they could retreat without pushing through the fighters. She placed herself beside the medical supplies, not so far back that she would be unable to reach someone at the front.
“Why me?” Jory asked. “I’m carrying the spear.”
“Because Cole has more room to use his weapon here,” Tessa said. “You can still reach the front if he needs you.”
Jory looked unhappy, but he took the position. Anton joined him at the bend.
Corvin stayed near the center, his detector raised. “We move together. Cole, left wall. Jory, come up when I tell you. Eli, bring the lamps.”
Eli picked up the box of spares. The lid had a leather handle, but the bottom was damp from the stone. He tested it before lifting. It held.
The detector hummed in Corvin’s hand. He held it up to the mineral at the end of the corridor, then closer to the crack. The needle swung toward the mineral again. He showed Cole the face as though it settled the question.
“It tells you where the reading is,” Vera said. “Does it tell you what else is between us and it?”
“It tells me the strongest concentration.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Corvin put the instrument away. “You have extraction experience. I hired you because I don’t have it. Let me do my job and I’ll let you do yours.”
Vera did not apologize. She checked the cord tied to her walking stick and pulled a pair of gloves from her pocket. “My job starts before someone’s trapped.”
Eli understood Corvin’s impatience better than he liked. Every minute reduced the time available inside the gate, and a failed expedition would cost more than the permit. The members had all taken risks to come here. Eli had counted the possible value of the crystal against the clinic’s order until the numbers had begun to feel solid, though he had neither seen the crystal nor spoken to a buyer.
Tessa knelt beside the kit and checked the supplies again. Eli handed her the clean water from his side pouch.
“That’s yours,” she said.
“If you need it for a patient, use it.”
“I’ll ask.” She tucked it into the outer pocket of her bag. “Did you see something in the crack?”
“Movement in the stone. Not what caused it.”
“Can you tell whether it’ll come through?”
“No.”
She looked at the others and lowered her voice. “Then keep saying what you can see. I’ll work with that.”
It was a modest request. He had wanted to give her certainty when they argued at the clinic, and had nearly made the decision for her because he could not. Here she was asking him for an honest observation and room to make her own judgment. He could manage that much.
He watched the crack. The fine branch toward the ceiling held still while he counted his breaths. A small part of him hoped Corvin was right, that they would reach the mineral and come back with enough to pay for supplies. Then the lower edge of the fracture moved again.
Another scrape sounded. This time it came from behind the wall.
Cole swung his lamp toward the crack. “That wasn’t water.”
The line of strain brightened. Eli saw a pressure point move beneath the surface, a small section flexing against the surrounding stone. He could not see the creature itself. He could only follow the pressure as it traveled upward and paused beside the support.
“Everyone back from that wall,” he said.
Corvin finally turned. He watched the crack while Eli counted to five. At six, the stone bulged outward by the width of a finger.
“Back,” Corvin said.
The word came just as Jory moved forward to see what had caught their attention. Cole grabbed his arm and pulled him against the opposite wall. The box of lamps blocked the space between them and Eli; Eli lowered it and pushed it toward the recessed packs.
A narrow stone splinter fell from above and shattered near Tessa’s boot. She stepped away, eyes on the ceiling.
“Don’t hit the support,” Eli said.
Cole lifted his weapon. “If something comes out, I’m hitting it.”
“The support above the crack. If you strike that part, the ceiling may come down.” Eli pointed at the meeting of two fractures. “Here.”
Cole followed the gesture. “How do you know?”
“I can see where it’s under strain.”
Corvin gave him a sharp look. “Your card says Gravekeeper.”
“I have a way to notice damage. I can’t tell you what’s behind the wall.”
It was not a complete explanation. It was enough to warn them. Tessa glanced at him but asked no question. She had seen the ability at the clinic and knew there was more to its origin than he was saying.
The crack widened with a sound like a plate breaking under a cloth. Anton backed into Vera. She caught him by the shoulder and moved him toward the bend.
“Keep that route open,” she told him. “If we have to bring someone through, we’ll need the space.”
Jory planted the butt of his spear against the floor. “Should I block the opening?”
“Don’t put it under the support,” Eli said.
Jory shifted the point lower. His hands shook, and he tightened his grip until the shaft stopped moving.
Corvin drew a short blade. “Whatever comes out, we push it back. We can still reach the chamber.”
Tessa looked at the unstable wall. “If it comes out, we assess injuries and retreat if necessary.”
“If necessary,” Corvin repeated.
A stone the size of Eli’s fist dropped from the crack. It hit the floor between Cole and Corvin. Both men stepped away. Dust spilled after it, drifting down the wall in a thin gray curtain.
Eli tried to trace the lines above the support. Several joined near the ceiling, where the stone narrowed. If the creature struck there, the support might break. If it struck lower, the wall might give first. He could not tell which would happen, and the sight was beginning to make his eyes ache.
“Eli,” Tessa said, “can you move the lamps farther back?”
He bent for the box. The handle tore free in his hand. Lamps spilled across the floor, rolling toward the center of the passage. One struck a stone and went dark.
“Leave them,” Vera said.
The others were still burning. Eli pushed two toward the wall with his boot, then picked up the nearest by its frame. Light swung across the crack. For an instant he saw a dark shape through the opening, pressed close against the stone.
He dropped the lamp and moved.
“Down!”
The wall burst outward. Stone fragments struck the opposite side of the corridor. Cole threw an arm across his face. Jory stumbled backward, his spear skidding along the floor. Something heavy forced its way through the opening, grinding against the stone as the support shuddered above it.
Eli hit the floor beside the scattered lamps. A fragment struck the metal pack behind him with a sharp clang. He covered his head and heard Tessa shout for everyone to move away from the breach.
Through the dust, a jointed limb reached into the corridor and found purchase.