Chapter 175
Dron didn’t know if it was night or morning.
There was no light coming in from the outside at all.
Everyone around him was sleep, all in uncomfortable positions.
Dron hadn’t been able to sleep a wink. He simply kept looking up at the ceiling, waiting for it to give way from the weight of the sand being dropped on top of it.
Turns out his construct was better than he gave himself credit for. It creaked and groaned, but it stayed in one piece.
He didn’t know how long they’d been down there, but he knew it was much longer than he wanted to be.
He couldn’t sit there any longer. His internal clock was telling him it was near midday. So much time wasted. Time that they could’ve been on the road.
He didn’t want to wake anyone up yet, not until he knew the extent of the problems they were facing.
Dron stood up, moving slowly so he wouldn’t disturb anyone. He slid around Krex who was sitting with his back up against Ureny, both of them using the other’s momentum to stay straight up and still get some sleep.
Dron reached up to the crafted ceiling but before he could touch it, Mikael spoke.
"What’s wrong?"
Dron was shocked. He didn’t realize the kid was awake.
"Nothing. I’m just checking to see what the damage is up there and if it’s safe for us to get out of this hole."
"Oh okay." Mikael got up and stood next to Dron. The child was becoming like a pet. Following him around everywhere. Dron didn’t mind.
As bad as it sounded, it was how squab was back at home. He wondered briefly what Tempest had done with the small animal. He knew she wouldn’t just leave it there alone for all this time. She wasn’t cruel like that.
The only exception was Mikael wasn’t an animal. He was a young man full of questions that he could actually express through words.
Dron tried to push up on the edge of the ceiling. It didn’t budge. He tried again. No movement.
Dron squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head. It was what he’d feared. The sand had settled on top of the long slab of trees. It was like trying to push up on a mountain.
"Are we stuck?" Mikael asked.
Dron didn’t want to lie to him but he also didn’t want to scare the young one any more than Dron was sure he already was.
"I’m still checking." Dron replied. He moved a little faster, less concerened with waking people up, to the other side. He pushed up on that side of the ceiling with the same result. It wasn’t budging.
He pushed hard using all his might. In fact, he pushed so hard the force was expelled through both ends of his body. Instead of the ceiling going up, a smaller rock broke off and went tumbling into the dark.
The loud crash of rock echoed in the small area.
People quickly jerked awake, probably fearful that they were all about to fall to their doom.
Dron shared that fear.
Another component of the problem. Using all of his strength would just cause the rocks under his feet to give way.
"Chief?" Kraznek called out. He was already getting to his feet.
"The sand above has us trapped." Dron said, there was no use beating around the bush. It wasn’t like he could hide it. "I’m not sure if there is any other debris. We have to figure out a way to relieve the pressure so we can get out."
At once people starting talking, some griping about how it would’ve been better if they stayed out in the windstorm, others offering suggestions on how to remove the ceiling, most just murmuring things Dron couldn’t hear.
This was quickly going from something to be celebrated to a failure.
"Complaining will get us no where." Dron raised his voice and everyone quieted down. "This is the situation we are in now. Either we are going to work together to find a solution or we are going to be stuck down here. I for one don’t intend to be here longer than I need to be. We’re here to work. Let’s get to it."
Verux nodded and went to where Dron was standing. "Maybe if we all try to lift at once."
"No, that won’t work. Too much force on the ground. The rocks will give way."
"Should we wait to see if the sand will be removed by any other winds?" Krex said.
"No, we don’t know when the next storm will come. My device isn’t set up to check the weather in this area."
Mikael hummed softly as if there was something on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t speak.
Dron was getting frustrated, but he understood the young man might not feel it’s his place. Children were often told not to get involved with grown up affairs. Dron felt different. Mikael was as much a part of this team as anyone else. He’d already proven his value at the last altercation and the fact that he was the first one to see the spy.
"What is it, Mikael. Speak freely." Dron looked down at him.
"It won’t work."
"What won’t work?" Kraznek urged the boy to go on.
"I was just thinking, if we need to relieve pressure from the top, why don’t we just bring it down here? Little by little. If we take off one tree at a time, then only some of the sand should fall down. We’ll make sure the ground remains steady before we move the next one. And keep going until we are able to push it off or climb out."
It was a good idea. Better than anything Dron had thought of.
Ureny shrugged his shoulders and then bent so he was closer to Mikael’s face, eye level. "You have to trust your instinct, young man. If you don’t believe in what you know, no one else will either. It’s a good idea."
Mikael brightened a little before his eyes jerked to Dron as if he were waiting for his approval. Dron nodded and pulled out his knife.
"I used my cord to lash the trees together. If we can cut at the knots we should be able to move the trees one by one." Dron looked over to his men before looking to the rest of the group, "The rest stay as far back as possible. There’s no way to know how much sand will come down and if any of the rocks are swept away it’ll be the ones closer to this side."
It didn’t take any more than that to get everyone else to move to the back.
"Mikael, go with them."
"I can help."
"You’ve already done your share. Now I need you over there with them. It’s an order, young man." If he wanted to be a soldier, he would have to take orders like one. Without question.
Mikael moved back while Dron and his men got to work. Slowly they did their best to wedge their knives in between the first row in the trees. Dron had done a better job than he thought. The knot was tight. He slid his knife where he could and began cutting away at the knot. It was a slow process. But it worked. The first tree came loose and rolled just enough that some of the sand on top of it came tumbling down.
The sand rained on Dron and the men standing next to him. He stayed still and listened for any distress from the rocks underneath him.
Not only did the above tree come tumbling down, but the movement disturbed the sand that was covering the thin opening in the ground that continued on from where Dron and the rest of the people were. During the sandstorm, it was covered by sheets of sand until it was blanketed. With the disturbance, the rest of the sand came tumbling down into the crevice.
Dron could see the sky again. His internal clock was right. The sun was high in the sky. He’d been in there the whole night and most of the day. He fought the urge to check his wrist device and check where Tempest was. He had to finish this first.
With the sand no longer blocking the sky, the heat in the small space where Dron and the rest were quickly began to rise.
They quickly moved to the second one when it was evident the rocks weren’t about to give way. The same thing happened, more sand dropped down.
Third.
Fourth.
By the time the fifth one had been removed Dron was ready to try and lift the entire ceiling again. He went to one side and pushed up. It lifted maybe the width of a finger or two up from the ground.
"We should all go towards the edge and push up to get the sand to relocate." Kraznek offered up.
Dron raised his eyebrow. His inner alpha bristling a bit. It sounded like an order. With one look at Kraznek Dron realized it wasn’t the man’s intention. He was simply offering advice. Advice Dron took.
He nodded his head, and the rest of the men from his group went to their positions.
"On three." Dron called out as everyone got themselves situated.
Dron counted, and once he got to three, everyone pushed up. Dron could hear the stone groaning loudly under his feet, but he could also feel the ceiling getting lighter and lighter as they pushed up on it like a hinged door.
Then the weight just gave way, and they were able to fling the flimsy ceiling off. A loud round of hoots and applause broke out from the surrounding people.
It was a small victory.
But to Dron it meant that he was one step closer to Tempest.
Quickly, they all crawled out of the space, Dron being the last one. Just as he reached up to grab the lip of the wall, gravity disappeared.
A loud, thunderous noise echoed through the chamber, and Dron felt his body falling down.
The rocks beneath had given way.
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⏸ PAUSE■ STOP