“Come on.” Obviously drawing the same conclusion, he led the way toward the other side of the cavern and the next dark tunnel.

She crawled after him. This time the passageway slanted down. It was steep enough that they had to slide slowly and almost step their way down. At the bottom of the incline, the tunnel seemed to open up into a level room, but the blackness was too encompassing to see anything but the faintest of outlines.

The strike of a match was followed by a yellow glow. Jericho held up the match from the stash he carried for his pipe, giving them a better view of where they were. The room had definitely been inhabited at one time. The charred circle of a firepit sat at the center. A line of stones was pushed up against one wall and the dry, empty carcass of a deer against another.

Jericho crossed to the pit and retrieved a half-burned stick. He touched the end to the match, igniting a dangling piece of the bark. As the stick began to burn, he shoved together the remnants of the old fire.

She knelt and helped him, finding another charred stick and lighting it on fire as well. Within minutes they had a small blaze going. By adding the dried bones in small increments, they could buy enough light for an hour or two. If they got lucky, they wouldn’t need more time than that before the forest fire moved on and it was safe to leave the cave.

“Hope Hance and Otis are okay.” She pressed a hand to her forehead to ward off the frustration with herself for putting their lives in jeopardy.

“Where did you leave them?” Jericho crouched low and blew on the flames.

“On the other side of the summit. They were too tired to hike to the top.”

“Let’s pray the wind didn’t blow the flames that way.”

At the very least she prayed they’d been able to take refuge in the cave they’d passed.

“Might as well sit a spell.” She lowered herself to the ground—a mixture of granite and dirt. While the floor was mostly smooth, the walls were jagged, as if they’d been hacked at to make more room. The rocky remains of such hewing had long ago been removed, leaving no debris behind except the line of stones.

Jericho stood and paced around, studying the walls and crevices.

“See anything?” Her eyes followed his every move. He was much too dashing in his suit coat and trousers.

“It hasn’t been occupied recently.” He swiped at a spiderweb dangling across the ceiling. “But from the remains of the fire and bones, I’d say people have used the cave within the last five years at least.”

“Maybe Irregulars during the war?”

“It’s possible.”