The rapid descent of Vera’s Revenge had left Yeger’s stomach twisted. As soon as they’d received the signal that Klara and her party had reached the meeting point, Trubnikov had sent the airship plunging to the tundra. Yeger suspected he was all too eager to be away from Kosgrad. He couldn’t blame him. Even being miles out from the haven of Alchemists made Yeger’s skin crawl. As much as he longed to soak the tundra with their blood, he was also realistic about how many he could fight at a time. A city full was slightly beyond his abilities.

  He stomped down the rattling steps to the hold as five hooded and half-masked figures stepped through the rear doors. His blood boiled as his gaze fell on a man in a black Alchemist soldier coat. What were they doing with an Alchemist soldier?

  “Yeger,” Klara said, ripping her half-mask off, “fetch Nika and Elana and meet us in the lounge, all right?”

  Yeger continued to glare at the Alchemist soldier a moment longer, then turned and stalked back up the steps. Was that the man Trubnikov sent them to find? An Alchemist soldier? Unease settled in Yeger’s gut. That man was dangerous, and he couldn’t be trusted.

  Ten minutes later they all crowded into the glass-fronted lounge. Yeger sat with Matvei and Nika on the left of the table, opposite Trubnikov and the Koskovs. All of them wore tan Air Trader coats. The Alchemist soldier, introduced as the pilot’s brother, Ruslan Adamov, stood with his back against the railing at the head of the room, his arms crossed, relaxed yet wary, the midnight sky framing him. Yeger suspected by now he’d already made plans on how to kill everyone in the room.

  “Now,” Trubnikov said, “as discussed, breaking into the uzhas mine will not be easy. Indeed, impossible without the information Ruslan can give us. Before I let him talk, I need to confirm one thing: you’re all gonna see this mission through? End the Alchemists’ control over the uzh… Sila?”

  Yeger nodded. He couldn’t care less about what they did in the mine, so long as the Alchemists paid. Then he’d turn his attention to the Warrior Guild. The memory of Maria’s white, sweat-soaked face and shallow breathing as she hung limp in his arms, crossbow bolt protruding from her chest, haunted him. He blinked the image away.

  Around the room, everyone else nodded.

  Trubnikov turned to Adamov. “Guess it’s your turn.”

  Adamov stood silently for a moment, running his tongue over his teeth. Suddenly he pushed off from the railing and paced down the room. “All right. I won’t pretend to understand why you are so set on attacking the uzhas mine of all places, but your deaths are in your own hands.” He reached the back of the room and spun on his heel, retracing his steps. “The first thing you should know is location. The mine is set high in the mountains at the northern end of the Gromadnyy range. The mine itself is made of four sections. The first, at the surface, is a military compound. An entire battalion of Alchemist soldiers are stationed there at all times. The only way to access the rest of the mine is through the compound. It’s one of two compounds. I’ll get to the second in a moment.

  “The third section—the mine itself—where most prisoners end up, is accessed by a shaft that descends half a mile into the mountain. Most of the prisoners work there to maintain the machinery used to extract the uzhas from rock, and the pumps that send it to the surface.

  “The forth section is where I assume you will want access if you plan to take the uzhas. It’s accessed through the second compound, which is not far beneath the surface off of the main shaft. It is a separate shaft that plunges a mile straight down. It’s that shaft that takes you directly to the largest reservoir of uzhas. That shaft is very, very heavily guarded with multiple layers of security.”

  “So there is no other way into the mine?” Yeger asked.

  “No,” Adamov said. “The only way into the mine is through the main entrance.”

  “What do the machines run on?” Koskova Alchemist asked. “Gas?”

  “They run on coal,” Adamov said.

  Koskova Alchemist twisted to look at Adamov as he walked by. “Where do they get the coal from?”

  “Good question.” Adamov raked a hand through his hair. “They get it from a nearby coal seam and send it via train to a storage depot the base of the mountain. From there it’s carried up in what they call a vertical train, or ver-train. It runs a twisted course up the mountain on a special set of tracks that prevent it from rolling backwards or derailing.”

  “The coal goes through the main entrance and through the compound, too?” Mikhail asked. He sat next to his mother, but leaned on the arm of the chair opposite her, his body angled away from her.

  “No,” Adamov said. “It’s taken to a building nearby and dropped down a chute into a metal box on the mine floor. Miners shovel the coal from there into the burners for the steam engines. There are also several narrow ventilation shafts, but they’re lined with fans to control airflow.”

  Koskova Alchemist pursed her lips as she sat, pulling at her knuckles until they popped.

  “Regarding coal building on the plateau,” Adamov continued, “they lower the temperature of the uzhas in the mine to liquify it before it’s pumped into tanks which are stored in the coal building until they’re transported via ver-train back down the mountain. Back to the storage depot—”

  “Where do they take the uzhas after that?” Yeger interrupted.

  “Two locations,” Adamov said, annoyance flickering across his face as he glanced at Yeger. “A small percentage they transport via airship to Kosgrad. The rest, they keep at their storage depot.”

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  Klara frowned. “Why store so much there?”

  Adamov rubbed his stubbled chin. “I heard a rumour that there’s an underground factory beneath the depot that they build all their heavy weapons in. It’s not a widely publicised location, I only know because of someone’s loose tongue. He disappeared soon after.”

  “They also experiment on Sila there,” Koskova Alchemist said. “I was originally to be stationed there while researching the telepathy extract, but because of family and my… exceptional skills. They allowed me to continue my research at the guild hall in Kosgrad.”

  “What kind of experiments?” Klara asked, her brows pinched.

  “If they can decipher my notes,” Koskova Alchemist said, “which by all accounts they’ve been able to, then likely they’ve been trying to replicate what I did and but with more domination over the Sila.”

  “This is all useless speculation. We need facts if we’re going to have a chance of surviving.” Yeger said and turned to scowl at Adamov. “Have you actually been in the factory or not?”

  Adamov shook his head. “I served in the mine only. What I do know for certain though, though, is that they do something with airships there. Occasionally I’d see airships being taken into the storage depot—and never leaving. I counted at least three in my time at the mine. The depot is only large enough to house one airship—especially considering the size of the Machtvoll ships they were bringing in.”

  “But ultimately,” Klara interrupted, “it doesn’t matter what happens in the factory, our target is the mine. So how’re we going to get in?”

  Everyone fell silent for a moment, mulling the question over. An idea struck Yeger. A really, really stupid idea. He opened his mouth to suggest it, but Mikhail spoke up first. “Can we acquire soldier coats?”

  “It’d do you no good,” Adamov said. “When I served there, they checked your face against very accurate sketches when coming and going.”

  “What about down the coal chute?” Yeger blurted.

  All eyes turned to Yeger, and his face warmed.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Klara said. “The half-mile drop would kill you.”

  The corners of Yeger’s mouth twitched down. “How wide is the chute? What is it made of?”

  “Metal,” Adamov said. “It’s two yards square. But she’s right, the drop would kill you.”

  Koskova Alchemist pursed her lips. “Actually,” she said slowly, “it may not… Blinov might be onto something. Let me work on some ideas.”

  Yeger stifled a groan. Great, of all people an Alchemist agreed with him. Klara was right, it must have been a stupid idea.

  “Even if you can work out a way down the chute,” Klara said, “it doesn’t lead to the Sila.”

  “That’s a good point,” Adamov said.

  Koskova sighed. “How do the Alchemists access the Sila? What’s their routine?”

  “Every half-day,” Adamov said, “four prisoners are sent down with rumble cannons to clear any rock monsters and maintain the pipes.”

  “Rock monsters?” Klara asked, cutting Adamov off.

  “Stone that the Sila has bonded with,” Koskova said. “Like we did at the gate, but permanent.”

  “Huh,” Klara said, and motioned for Adamov to continue.

  “First, the prisoners are let into a caged section to be checked for any smuggled weapons or equipment. Once cleared, they’re moved to another section in which two are given rumble cannons, the other two are given toolboxes. Finally they’re allowed to move into the third section, which is simply a lift that takes them straight down.

  “That shaft is why the place is known as the depths. No light is allowed down there for fear that prisoners may try to burn the uzhas. The shaft opens into a cavern filled with craters and sinkholes. Rock monsters roam down there. The prisoners need to feel their way along the steel pipes and ensure there is no damage to them—that the stone monsters haven’t broken them. And make sure the pipes are sitting in uzhas itself.”

  Yeger shivered. He knew Alchemists were cruel, but this was beyond what he’d imagined. He couldn’t imagine stumbling around in complete darkness, waiting to fall to his death or be beaten to death by a lump of uzhas-infused stone. “How do they decide which prisoners go down?”

  “The soldiers choose,” Adamov said.

  “How many did you send down?” Yeger asked.

  Adamov’s face hardened.

  “Enough, Blinov,” Trubnikov said, shooting him a warning look. “Ruslan can be trusted.”

  No Alchemist could be trusted. Before Yeger could voice that, though, Klara cut in, “If we go to the mountains, Adamov, could you lead a small team to the peaks near the mine to scout and check nothing has changed? I also want to see the mine in person.”

  “Certainly,” Adamov said.

  The muscles in Yeger’s jaw spasmed. Just like that they were trusting an Alchemist soldier, someone who built a career on destroying others. And had turned traitor on his Guild. What stopped him from betraying them?

  “All right,” Klara said. “Elana, you, Mikhail and Yeger explore the idea of getting down the chute, I have an idea for how we might use that, but I need to see the mine for myself first. Nika, you’ll come with Adamov and me to scout.”

  As everyone nodded at their orders, Matvei stretched and yawned, running a hand through his greasy black hair. “While you lot go do your incredibly important and detailed jobs, I’m going to sleep. Wake me when you need some good looking muscle.”

  Klara stood. “Matvei is right, everyone get some rest. We’ll need all we can get for what’s coming.”

  Yeger remained seated, eying Adamov as the others left the room. Adamov caught his eye and paused by the door as the others filed out.

  Trubnikov, the last of the others to leave, raised an eyebrow at Adamov, who gave a slight nod. Without a word, Trubnikov left and Adamov shut the door and turned to Yeger.

  For a long moment the two men stared at each other, each searching for something in the other’s eyes.

  Finally, Yeger spoke. “You’re a murderer. Just like Voronina. You stand against everything I live and fight for. If you betray us, I will find you, and I will make you regret the day you were born.”

  Adamov snorted, pulled the door open and strode out.

  With a growl, Yeger stood. He needed to keep a close watch on Adamov. No one just walked away from the Alchemist Guild. Mikhail, an apprentice, had tried that, and they were still hunting him. But Adamov claimed to have been a guard in the depths? The Guild would never stop searching for him, and there is no way he could hide under their noses in Kosgrad without being caught, not if he’d spoken the truth and they had detailed sketches of every soldier.

  This was wrong, and apparently only he saw through Adamov.