She took a deep breath and let the fire fade, plunging the basement into semidarkness. Ahead of her, the tunnel entrance loomed like a black maw. She touched the Thing again.

Tanax, you ass, you’d better listen to Streza. Maya stepped forward, fingers white-knuckled on the hilt of her haken.

*

The tunnel was long and twisting, so low Maya had to stoop to continue. A light would give her away, so she groped her way along in the dark, one hand on her haken. Dirt crumbled around her outstretched fingers, cascading down into her hair. Long, outstretched roots of plants growing above blocked her path like a stubborn curtain, and she had to push through them.

She was starting to wonder how far it could possibly go when a faint light filtered around a curve up ahead. It wasn’t much, but she could make out dim shadows. Maya crouched, moving more slowly, and stopped when she could see out into a larger space.

It was a cave, roughly circular, with a wider tunnel at one end that ended abruptly in a wood-and-canvas barricade. Crates were piled three-deep in the center, with a lantern on top of the pile providing a flickering light. Around the edges of the room, Maya could see long, rectangular boxes with iron-banded sides and metal grates at the front. Cages?

Three figures worked near the central pile, prying open a set of crates to examine the contents. One of them, slim and blue-haired in a heavy waterproof coat, stood a few paces back, keeping an eye on the others.

So these are the smugglers. Maya wasn’t exactly sure where she was, but they couldn’t be too far from Litnin. Listening closely, she could hear the sound of running water. We must be near the river.

The important thing was to figure out if Reese was here. If he wasn’t—or if he was dead, a possibility she had to force herself to consider—then the thing to do was retreat the way she’d come and return with backup. But if he is here …

Jaedia’s chiding echoed in the back of her mind. Maya pursed her lips. What am I supposed to do? Let people die?

“Plague it,” one of the figures said. “It’s not here. I still say that bastard shorted us.”

“I counted the lots myself,” the blue-haired figure said. It was a woman’s voice. “It’s here. You shitheads just put it in the wrong crate.”

“We haven’t got time for this,” another man said. “Just put it in the next load.”

“No guarantee we’ll have a buyer,” the woman said. “Find the fucking thing.”

Another voice cut across the cavern, a young girl’s, and Maya’s blood went cold. “I’m hungry.”

There was a chorus of whispers, like someone was trying to quiet the girl, but the woman in the coat had already heard. She stalked away from the crates.

“Did I not already tell you to shut the fuck up?” she said. “Next word I hear out of any of you, I’m going to turn you inside out.”