Chapter 305: Twenty Minutes of Sky

No one truly rested during the twenty-minute stop.

They simply stopped moving.

There was a difference.

The forest around the ventilation outlet was dense enough to hide most of the Caldera slope from view, but not its presence. Black volcanic stone broke through the soil between roots. Several trees leaned at unnatural angles where the ground beneath them had shifted over the years, and ash clung to the upper surfaces of broad leaves despite the cooler air. Every few minutes, a faint vibration traveled through the earth and made loose pebbles tremble beside the stone vent they had escaped through.

The healers claimed the flattest ground immediately.

Tovin remained the priority.

His litter was placed beneath a cluster of trees where the roots formed a natural barrier on two sides. Derren lay several paces away, close enough to see him but far enough that the healers could move freely between them. Lysa sat beside Tovin despite repeated instructions to rest, her injured ankle stretched in front of her and one hand still wrapped carefully around his.

Kael stayed close.

Not because he could do much more for Tovin.

That was becoming increasingly clear.

The older healer had reopened the bandaging around his shoulder and was checking for renewed bleeding while the second healer counted his breaths. Tovin’s skin looked wrong—not discolored, not visibly corrupted, but too damp and too pale for the temperature around them.

Kael focused.

[Detailed Living Target Analysis]

Tovin Marr

Physical condition: critical

Circulatory stability: fragile

Foreign magical residue: active

Mana-channel stress: elevated

Integration status: unstable

Immediate catastrophic failure: not detected

That last line was the only part Kael liked.

Not detected did not mean impossible.

It meant not now.

The System continued.

[Observed Pattern]

Foreign residue activity increases during physical stress

Circulatory strain increases mana instability

Mana instability increases physical stress

Feedback cycle detected

Kael frowned.

Milo had dragged himself closer and was sitting with his back against a tree.

He noticed.

"What?"

Kael looked toward him. "It’s feeding itself."

Milo’s tired eyes sharpened slightly.

"Explain."

"When his body gets worse, the foreign mana becomes more unstable. When the mana gets worse, it strains his body more."

Milo stared at Tovin for several seconds.

"That is unpleasantly efficient."

The older healer looked up.

"Can you break the cycle?"

Kael shook his head.

"Not directly."

She clearly disliked that answer.

So did he.

"I can stabilize his circulation again if it drops too far, but I can’t keep doing it continuously."

"Why?"

"Because it costs me too."

The healer looked toward the faint traces of dried blood at Kael’s sleeve.

She understood enough.

"Then don’t waste it while he is holding."

Kael nodded.

That sounded obvious.

It was still useful to hear.

Milo leaned his head back against the tree.

"Sometimes the best spell is apparently not casting one."

Kael glanced toward him. "You told me that earlier."

"I am pleased you retained the lesson."

"You’re barely awake."

"And yet wise."

Sera walked past them before Kael could answer.

"Drink."

Milo opened one eye.

She held out a waterskin.

"I drank."

"When?"

"Recently."

"When?"

Milo thought.

Sera shook the waterskin once.

He took it.

"Authoritarian."

She continued toward the tree line.

Milo drank anyway.

Kael looked around the temporary camp.

The combined group no longer resembled two sides standing on the edge of violence.

Not completely.

Rask’s people remained mostly together near the western side of the clearing, weapons still close at hand. Mara had moved between groups twice already, first helping the healers find clean cloth and then directing several workers toward a shallow depression where they could refill containers from rainwater trapped between rocks.

Darius stood near the vent.

He had not sat again.

Kael suspected he wanted to.

Galahad was with Iris several yards downhill, looking over the slope and discussing possible routes east.

There was still distrust everywhere.

It simply had competition now.

Exhaustion.

Injuries.

The need to survive.

Lysa shifted beside Tovin.

The movement drew Kael’s attention.

She was watching Rask’s group.

Not all of them.

Specific people.

Kael followed her gaze but could not tell which faces mattered.

"You recognize someone?"

Lysa took a moment before answering.

"Maybe."

Kael waited.

She looked toward him.

"You’re not going to ask who?"

"I thought you’d tell me if you were sure."

That seemed to surprise her.

Lysa looked back toward the group.

"I know voices better than faces."

"Because of the cells?"

A faint nod.

"They moved us mostly at night. Or underground. Lanterns behind them."

Kael sat on a root nearby.

"Don’t force it."

She gave him a skeptical look.

"You people say that and then ask twenty questions."

"Galahad asks twenty questions."

"You were there."

"Fair."

Lysa looked at Tovin.

Her expression changed.

"Tovin remembers people."

Kael glanced at the unconscious man.

"When he wakes."

"If."

The word came out before she could stop it.

Kael did not answer immediately.

He was not going to tell her Tovin would survive when he did not know.

Lysa’s fingers tightened around Tovin’s.

"He always remembered faces."

"Better than you?"

"Much."

A faint smile appeared.

"He’d see someone once at a tavern and remember them three months later. Rellan hated it."

"Why?"

"Because Tovin remembered people Rellan owed drinks."

Kael laughed softly.

Lysa’s smile became real for half a second.

Then disappeared.

"Rellan would pretend not to know them."

"That worked?"

"No."

"Sounds effective."

"It was terrible."

The memory hurt her.

Kael could see it.

He did not change the subject immediately.

Sometimes that was worse.

After a while, Lysa asked, "Did you really find him under a collapse?"

Kael’s chest tightened.

"Yes."

"Was he alone?"

"Yes."

"Did he have his sword?"

Kael thought back.

The crushed frame.

The cloak.

The boot.

The position.

"I don’t remember his sword."

That was the truth.

Lysa nodded slowly.

"He would’ve lost it before he stopped."

Kael looked toward her.

She did not explain.

Maybe she did not need to.

Galahad had told them enough about Rellan through the mission itself. Stubborn enough to go deeper. Loyal enough to come back for his party. Skilled enough to survive longer than he should have.

Not skilled enough to make it home.

Derren called weakly from the other litter.

"Lysa."

She turned immediately.

He lifted one hand.

"Come here before you make yourself worse staring at him."

She looked offended.

"You’re lying down."

"Yes."

"You were trying to get up an hour ago."

"I learned."

The healer beside him said, "No, you didn’t."

Derren ignored her.

Lysa shifted carefully.

Kael stood to help.

She looked at him.

"I can move six feet."

"You can fall six feet too."

"That doesn’t even make sense."

"It does enough."

Mara approached before the argument continued.

"I’ll help."

Lysa looked at her.

There was still hesitation there.

Less than before.

Mara offered one arm.

Lysa accepted it.

The two moved slowly toward Derren.

Kael watched them until Lysa was settled.

Then he went to find Galahad.

The Guild leader and Iris had moved onto a low ridge where the trees thinned enough to see farther east.

Kael joined them.

The view did not give him hope.

The forest descended from their position in a long uneven slope broken by dark stone shelves and dense stands of trees. Beyond that, the land rose again toward another ridge. There was no visible road.

No settlement.

No Guild perimeter.

No easy line out.

Galahad pointed east-northeast.

"Iris thinks that ridge may connect to one of the old charcoal roads."

Iris corrected him.

"May."

Galahad looked at Kael.

"You’re all becoming irritating."

"Good."

Kael focused on the terrain.

The System responded.

[Terrain Analysis]

Known Guild perimeter: east-northeast

Direct distance: unresolved due incomplete map coverage

Elevation loss required before perimeter approach

Potential route hazards:

unstable volcanic shelvesdense root systemsash accumulationpossible drake activity

Recommended route confidence: low

Kael frowned.

"No direct path."

Galahad looked toward him.

"Useful version?"

"East-northeast is still right, but the slope is bad. The System can’t give me a clean route from here."

Iris nodded.

"That matches what I see."

Galahad looked downhill.

"With healthy people?"

"Maybe three hours to the old road if it’s where I think."

"With this group?"

Iris looked back toward Tovin.

"Double."

Galahad did not like that.

Neither did Kael.

Six hours inside the deeper western forest with injured people and limited supplies was a long time.

Especially when the Caldera was still unstable.

Kael looked toward the south.

The distant ridge hid most of the volcanic interior.

Still, smoke rose beyond it.

Not enough to be an eruption.

More than before.

"Does that look heavier?"

Iris followed his gaze.

"Yes."

Galahad did too.

"Could be wind."

"Could."

None of them treated could as comfort anymore.

A voice came from behind.

"It wasn’t doing that this morning."

Mara.

She had followed them up the ridge.

Galahad turned.

"You were here this morning?"

"Not this vent. North slope."

"How much smoke?"

"Some. Normal for the vents."

She looked south.

"That is more."

Kael watched her.

"Do you know another route east?"

Mara hesitated.

"Yes."

Galahad’s expression changed.

Iris immediately asked, "Why didn’t you say so?"

"Because it isn’t a route I would choose with injured people."

Galahad folded his arms.

"Describe it."

Mara stepped closer to the edge and pointed northeast.

"There is an old service road between two ridges. Used to move stone and timber before the lower works expanded."

"Still maintained?"

"No."

"Drakes?"

"Sometimes."

Milo’s distant voice floated up from the clearing.

"I heard that."

Mara looked back.

"How?"

Sera answered for him.

"He listens when something is bad."

Milo called, "Survival trait."

Galahad returned to Mara.

"How long?"

"To the charcoal road? Two hours if the old bridge still stands."

Iris looked toward her.

"What bridge?"

"Ravine crossing."

Galahad closed his eyes for a moment.

Of course.

Mara continued, "If it’s gone, we lose more time than we save."

"Can we scout without moving the wounded?"

"Yes."

Iris had already turned.

Galahad raised one hand.

"Not alone."

She stopped.

Galahad looked toward Kael.

Then Darius.

Then the camp.

The expedition had already made one dangerous split.

They did not need another without reason.

"Twenty minutes becomes thirty."

The healer behind them shouted, "Good."

Galahad looked annoyed.

Mara almost smiled.

"We use ten of that to scout the road entrance. No farther than we can return quickly."

Iris nodded.

"Me and Mara."

Rask had walked up behind them without Kael noticing.

"No."

Everyone looked at him.

Rask pointed toward Mara.

"She doesn’t go alone with them."

Mara stared at him.

"I’m not a prisoner."

"I didn’t say you were."

"You implied it."

Rask looked toward Galahad.

"She knows the old roads. I know the upper crews."

Galahad considered him.

"Why do you want to come?"

Rask’s expression hardened.

"Because some of my people are still below."

Mara looked at him.

"That doesn’t answer him."

Rask exhaled.

"If we get out, I need to know where we are. If we don’t get out, I need to know why."

Galahad studied him.

Then nodded.

"Iris, Mara, Rask. Ten minutes out. Ten back."

Iris said, "If the road is blocked before that?"

"Come back."

"If we find fresh tracks?"

"Record them. Come back."

"If we hear fighting?"

"Come back."

Rask frowned.

Galahad looked at him.

"This is reconnaissance, not a rescue."

Rask clearly disliked that.

Good.

He needed to understand whose operation he was joining.

The three left.

Kael watched them disappear downhill.

Galahad remained on the ridge.

Darius came up several moments later.

His armor had been adjusted again, though he had not put every piece back on.

Kael looked toward the bruising along his side.

"You should sit."

Darius looked toward him.

"You have become very concerned with sitting."

"Milo is influencing me."

"A dangerous development."

Galahad glanced between them.

"Both of you sit."

Kael frowned.

Darius looked at Galahad.

Galahad pointed toward a fallen trunk.

"You are both injured. There is nothing currently attacking us. Sit."

Darius looked mildly offended.

Kael sat.

Darius looked at him.

Kael shrugged.

"Mission lead."

Darius eventually sat.

Galahad remained standing.

Kael looked up at him.

"You too."

"No."

"Why?"

"Someone must preserve standards."

Darius almost smiled.

For several minutes, none of them spoke.

The quiet was strange.

Birds existed here.

Kael had forgotten that.

Not many.

A few distant calls moved between the trees. Insects buzzed beneath the leaves. Wind passed through branches.

Normal sounds.

After hours underground, normal felt unnatural.

Darius looked toward the south.

"Something is pushing the drakes."

Kael turned.

"You think so too?"

"Yes."

"Pressure?"

"Possibly."

Galahad looked toward him.

"Not the hatchery?"

Darius shook his head.

"The hatchery explains some movement. Not all."

Kael thought of the mature drake tracks in routes where the guide said they should not appear.

The lower attacks.

The Ash-King’s repeated presence.

The earlier statement that thermal pressure had been increasing before the hatchery alarm.

The pieces still pointed toward something larger.

Galahad asked, "Could the Ash-King be causing it?"

Darius took his time.

"Perhaps indirectly. A dominant creature moving through territory changes lesser beasts."

Kael looked toward him.

"But?"

"The ground itself is changing."

Exactly.

No one explanation solved everything.

Galahad looked toward the smoke again.

"Good."

Kael frowned. "Good?"

"I prefer several bad problems to one impossible one."

Darius looked at him.

"That is questionable logic."

"Yes."

Galahad rubbed his face.

"I am tired."

That was the first time Kael had heard him admit it.

No joke followed.

They sat with that.

Then a branch cracked behind them.

Everyone turned.

Milo stood halfway up the ridge.

Sera was behind him.

Galahad stared.

"Why are you walking?"

Milo looked offended.

"I have been walking for most of the mission."

"You were supposed to rest."

"I rested."

"For how long?"

Milo thought.

"Several emotionally complete minutes."

Sera said, "He got up because Tovin twitched."

Kael stood immediately.

"What happened?"

Milo raised one hand.

"Not worse."

That stopped the fear from becoming motion.

"His mana surged again, then settled."

Kael started downhill.

Milo continued.

"The healer said not to drag you down unless it stayed bad."

Kael stopped.

"Then why are you here?"

Milo pointed toward himself.

"I wanted air."

Sera folded her arms.

"He followed me."

"I was independently traveling the same direction."

Galahad looked toward Sera.

"What?"

She pointed toward the western tree line.

"Tracks."

That changed everything.

Darius stood.

Kael forgot about sitting.

Galahad asked, "How close?"

"Edge of the clearing."

"Fresh?"

"I’m not Iris."

"Then why do you think they matter?"

Sera handed him something.

A strip of dark hide.

Cut cleanly.

Not natural shedding.

Kael took it.

The System analyzed.

[Material Analysis]

Treated leather

Heat exposure: moderate

Blood residue: trace

Age since deposition: recent

No insignia.

No name.

Nothing convenient.

Sera said, "It was hanging from a branch about shoulder height."

Milo added, "Which means either someone walked through there recently or the trees have begun dressing themselves."

Galahad looked west.

The vent.

The tunnels they had escaped.

Possible survivors from below.

Possible workers.

Possible pursuers.

Possible anyone.

"How fresh?" Kael asked.

The System could not give exact time.

"Recent. That’s all I have."

Darius looked toward the clearing.

"We should not remain beside the vent."

Galahad nodded immediately.

That changed the rest period.

Not end it.

Changed it.

"We move the wounded fifty yards east to the lower tree shelf. Same stop."

Good.

Not panic.

Not running because of one leather strip.

Just no longer resting directly beside the most obvious exit from the tunnels.

Everyone moved carefully.

Tovin first.

Derren second.

Lysa refused to be carried until her ankle buckled on the third step.

Then she accepted help without another argument.

Progress.

The new position was better.

A broad fallen tree and two stone shelves created partial cover without trapping them. The ground sloped gently east. From there, Sera could watch the west while the healers worked.

Rask’s remaining fighters spread out more naturally now.

Not as a wall.

As security.

Galahad allowed it.

Ten minutes after Iris’s scouting team left, they had not returned.

At twelve minutes, Galahad started watching the slope.

At fifteen, Darius stood.

Kael’s System scanned.

[Directional Scan]

Three humanoid signatures approaching from northeast

"Three coming."

Galahad waited.

Iris appeared first.

Mara behind her.

Rask last.

No one was running.

Good.

Iris reached them.

"Road exists."

Galahad’s shoulders lowered slightly.

"Bridge?"

"Exists."

Better.

Mara looked less optimistic.

"Damaged."

Of course.

Galahad looked at Iris.

"How damaged?"

"Passable on foot."

"Litters?"

Iris hesitated.

Galahad stared.

Milo whispered, "That pause is becoming a villain."

Iris ignored him.

"Maybe."

Galahad sighed.

"Explain."

"The bridge is old stone with timber reinforcement. One side has dropped. Center is intact. The eastern approach has a crack running through the support."

Kael immediately focused on the problem rather than the word bridge.

"How wide is the ravine?"

"Forty feet, maybe more."

"Depth?"

"Enough."

Milo nodded.

"Excellent measurement."

Rask said, "You don’t want to fall."

"Thank you."

Galahad looked toward Mara.

"Any other route?"

"Yes."

"How much longer?"

"Two to three hours around the ravine."

With Tovin unstable.

Not ideal.

Galahad looked at Kael.

"We inspect the bridge."

Kael nodded.

"When?"

"After the healers finish this stop."

No rushing.

Kael liked that.

Iris added, "There’s something else."

Everyone focused again.

"Tracks on the service road."

Galahad’s eyes narrowed.

"Human?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Large group. Maybe fifteen."

Rask stepped closer.

"Direction?"

"East."

His expression changed.

Mara noticed.

"You know who?"

"No."

"That was quick."

Rask looked toward her.

"I said no."

Iris continued.

"Drake tracks too."

Kael frowned.

"Following them?"

"Some overlap."

"Same direction?"

"Yes."

Galahad looked toward the road.

"How fresh?"

"Hours. Less than a day."

That was enough to matter.

Not enough to interpret.

Rask asked, "How large are the drakes?"

Iris looked toward Kael.

She had made a rough measurement.

"Mature. At least two."

Kael’s System would have helped if he had been there.

He had not.

No need to magically know.

Galahad rubbed his jaw.

"A group of armed people moved east along the same road we need. Mature drakes also used it."

Milo lay back against the fallen tree.

"I retract my earlier praise of outside."

Sera looked at him.

"You begged for outside."

"I lacked information."

Darius looked toward Iris.

"Signs of a fight?"

"No."

That was interesting.

Galahad caught it.

"No blood?"

"Not where I checked."

"Running?"

"Human stride looked controlled."

"Drakes?"

"Harder to tell."

Mara looked toward Rask.

Rask stared east.

Kael noticed.

"You’re worried."

Rask looked at him.

"Yes."

Direct.

Finally.

"Why?"

"Because fifteen is close to the size of one of the upper field teams."

Galahad’s attention sharpened.

"Your people?"

"Could be."

"Would they be moving east?"

"If someone ordered them to."

"Who?"

Rask hesitated.

Then shook his head.

"Several people could."

No name.

Not yet.

Galahad did not force one.

Instead he asked, "Would they travel beside mature drakes without fighting them?"

Rask stared at him.

"No."

Mara looked toward him.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

That was firm.

Kael thought about the tracks again.

Same road did not mean same time.

Overlap did not mean cooperation.

Important.

"We don’t know they were together," Kael said.

Iris nodded.

"Correct."

Rask exhaled.

Some tension left him.

Not all.

The healers finished with Tovin several minutes later.

His condition had not improved.

It had not worsened enough to stop movement.

That was their standard now.

Galahad gathered the senior members again.

No grand council.

Just a circle around the fallen tree.

"We use the service road."

Nobody objected.

"We reach the bridge and inspect it before putting a litter on it. If it cannot take the weight, we do not improvise over a ravine while carrying Tovin unless we have no alternative."

Darius nodded.

Iris nodded.

Mara too.

Galahad looked toward Rask.

"You and your people stay with us?"

Rask glanced at the western slope.

Then east.

"For now."

"For now is enough."

Milo looked toward Kael.

"I appreciate how inspirational everyone has become."

Kael smiled faintly.

Then the System flashed.

Not danger.

A broader update.

[Regional Environmental Analysis]

Geothermal activity: continuing escalation

Surface vent output southwest: increased

Draconic movement probability: elevated

Recommended prolonged stationary activity: unfavorable

Kael looked toward the smoke beyond the trees.

The Caldera did not care that they had finally found the missing adventurers.

It did not care that Tovin might die.

It did not care that the Iron Vanguard was divided.

It was still changing beneath them.

"We should go."

Galahad looked at him.

"System?"

"Yes."

"Immediate?"

"No."

Galahad nodded.

"Then we move correctly."

Not quickly.

Correctly.

The litters were lifted.

Lysa took Mara’s arm.

Milo stood slowly and pretended nobody noticed how much effort it required.

Sera took forward overwatch until Iris resumed the lead.

Darius moved near the first litter.

Kael stayed near Tovin.

Behind them, the stone ventilation outlet disappeared between the trees.

Ahead waited the old service road.

The damaged bridge.

Human tracks.

Drake tracks.

And somewhere deeper across the Caldera, questions they had deliberately chosen not to chase yet.

For now, getting the living home remained enough.