Chapter 78: Hope Once Lost

“How many do you think you can make?” Balethon questioned the older inventor.

“I... I have no idea. I need to take this higher up the chain. This is astonishing. How did you come up with all this?” Tink responded, clearly still awestruck.

“We didn't, we are just middlemen,” Dakota answered for them.

“I suppose I don’t get to meet the genius behind this then?” Tink responded in a slightly hopeful tone.

“Perhaps in time, but for now I’m afraid not. He has too much to do already.”

“I understand, a mind like this must surely never be at rest.” Dakota and Sapphire just looked at each other with slightly pained expressions at just how accurate that statement was.

“What would you even sell something like this for?” He went, looking at the designs for the lighter.

“I say make the nobles pay a shit ton for it. Then, when they all got one, make them cheaply for everyone,” Dakota replied. ‘Solid plan,’ Sapphire thought to herself.

“It shouldn’t even cost that much to make. It’s so simple. You could make it out of gold though, that should jack up the price.” Sapphire was almost afraid he might drool on the precious pages, if anything he was being extremely careful with them though. “I’ll schedule a meeting with the craftmaster as soon as possible. Junior, go see if you can go find some of that nasty powder they used for the play. That sounds like exactly what we need.”

“On it!” Junior replied enthusiastically as he bolted out the door.

Sapphire shivered a bit at the notion that someone had agreed to be doused in a powder that made you look like a darkling. She guessed it was some desperate souls trying to please the higher-ups, hoping to get a proper role at some point. It certainly showed dedication, that was for sure.

“Now I have most of what we need. I’ll get the rest, and put together some prototypes. Though I might need some time for that naggnet thing… I can’t believe that would work… but I don’t have anything that is, what did he call it, naggnetic.”Sapphire didn’t blame him, it sounded like magic without magic being involved. Then again, that was applicable to most of the things Tom had brought.

“Yeah, he speaks weird,” Dakota replied dismissively. It wasn’t their fault no one short of Esmeralda could make those stupid lip sounds.

“Maybe just the lighter and the dencil for now then,” Dakota went, looking down to the pages.

“That should do for now, yes.”

“Oh sure, those are amazing in their own right. I want some of those dencils immediately. And you say you can make the lines go away with that strange soft thing?”

“Yeah, he calls it a rudder.”

“Wasn’t that for steering with?” Sapphire questioned. She was fairly sure rudder in English was the thing ships used to steer, she could be wrong though.

“I can’t say it the way he does, okay? We're calling it a rudder. It makes corrections anyway, it’s mostly right.”

“He also called it an eraser,” Sapphire added, Tom had definitely used that before.

“That sounds sinister. I vote for rudder,” Tink went, putting his hand in the air, being joined by Dakota. Sapphire just shrugged, she didn’t care either way. Balethon eventually put his hand in the air, too, after Dakota stared a bit at him.

“That’s decided then, the lighter, the dencil, and the rudder. I want you to make copies of these. I'm keeping the originals.”

“Of course, follow me,” Tink went, waving them along to another room full of parchments and drawing implements.

It had taken until after sundown to get the plans and all the instructions for how to make it all copied over. It really didn’t help that some of the stuff was clearly written by Tom. He really needed to work on his handwriting in Draconic. Tink Junior had returned with a small bag of the strange grey powder, which apparently turned everything it touched grey. Sapphire made sure to steer well clear of that bag. That stuff could likely get you killed in some of the less nice parts of town.

Now though they were once again sitting at the tavern enjoying the fairly nice meal. They hadn’t discussed prices with Tink, since this was likely going to be a deal stuck with the entire guild rather than just the lone inventor guy. Dakota had also told them not to talk too loudly about the sums of money likely involved. It was bad enough they had people lined up at the tavern asking for stories about Tom. They didn’t need to be robbed as well.

Sapphire didn’t mind much, but she could see the problem. Besides, Haiko had gotten some of his friends to come over and say ‘Hi,’ so they sort of ended up with a shell of people around them who could keep the annoying ones away. It almost felt like the old days for Sapphire before she had left for Bizmati Keep. She had eventually grown tired of all the attention, but it was rather nostalgic to once again be the center of conversation in a tavern even if it wasn't strictly her being talked about.

Dakota had stayed with them tonight as well, so they all three ended up having a pleasant evening; Canabrera of course also showed up again to hang out with her new boy toy.

“Damn I’m glad we could afford two rooms,” Dakota went as the two lovebirds retired for the night.

“I think he is too,” Haiko added in, bringing up his mug for a cheer. They hadn’t been party drinking like the first night, just having a good time. That was all.

Sapphire hoped they weren't having too bad of a time back home. Hopefully they wouldn’t find anything at the keeps, go home and go about things like normal. They had already been attacked twice this year. It would be pretty fucking bad luck if it happened again.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Anyone here?” Jackalope tried after they had been searching around for about ten minutes. Not finding anything. Not even a dead chicken. There were trails of animal blood around the pens, and the doors had been busted in using something very nasty. The thick metal-reinforced doors had been reduced to splinters on the lower level. The keep didn’t sit high on a cliff-like Bizmati Keep, so it was possible someone could just have walked up with a battering ram and knocked them in. The massive claw marks on the stone would suggest otherwise though.

“Hello, we’re here to help!” Unkai went, bracing his shield, but receiving no response.

Tom and Jarix were holding positions at the edge of the buildings. Jarix facing away, ready to bolt, while also keeping an eye out for anything approaching. Tom was sitting on his back, rifle at the ready, keeping an eye on the dragonettes as they searched. Going inside had not been an option, the woodwork having collapsed into itself, leaving just the husk of the walls.

“Jarix, give it a go will you?” Zarko went before getting back to rummaging through one of the empty stables with the other two.

Jarix swung his head around bellowing out, “I am Jarix, dragon of the Royal Guard. We mean you no harm, please come out if you are hiding.” Tom just sighed, there wasn’t a soul here.

“Right, let’s get moving, they might be scouting out the next keep. Maybe we can help them instead.” Tom went, reluctantly looking around at the devastation.

“Shhs!” Jarix demanded, head swinging around, ears perked. Tom did as instructed, going quiet as a mouse.

The dragon turned around and began to walk in between the buildings, stopping periodically and clearly concentrating.

“Found something?” Zarko went, walking over. A hint of optimism in her voice.

“Quiet,” Jarix demanded, bringing his head down low to the ground, like the world's largest sniffer dog. Eventually ending up right next to the keep. “There you are,” he went, as he began digging.

“What is it?” Zarko tried again.

“There’s something making noise down there.”

“They made a hidey-hole?” Jackalope questioned, coming over at a jog. Jarix didn’t respond as he just kept digging, shoveling great big chunks of earth out of the way.

“Come on, where are you?” Jarix questioned, looking around a bit before continuing to dig. Eventually, the sound of claw on stone was heard as Jarx backed out of the hole panting, which was now at least two meters deep. Tom wanted to comment on just how effective a digger Jarix apparently was, but this was a lot more important. He still had a job to do, so he remained on Jarix’s back looking around for signs of trouble.

“What is that?” Jackalope questioned, looking into the hole.

“It’s cut stone that’s what it is. Jarix we need to crack it open,” Zarko responded looking in, optimism in her tone.

“But what if someone is inside?”

“Not blow it up,” Zarko protested. “Dig it out, man.”

Jarix breathed deeply, moving around the big hole a bit inspecting it, before getting back to it. “It looks like a tunnel or corridor. Why aren't they saying anything?” Jarix questioned as he began to unearth what looked to Tom almost like an air raid shelter made out of stone, the tunnel leading out from the keep.

It took a fair few minutes of digging to uncover the stone arch that made up the roof of the tunnel, but eventually they found the end.

“If anyone is in there, go towards the keep,” Jarix tried shouting at the bunker, not receiving a response.

“They should be able to hear us right?” Jackalope questioned.

“Definitely,” Zarko responded, looking at Jarix, expression turning worried.

“I swear I heard something. They must still be alive,” he went, a hint of desperation in his voice as he began clawing at the stone looking for a place to grab hold. The sound of claws scraping across stone was truly a horrible one, and Radexi was likely also going to be pissed that the time he put into sharpening and polishing Jarix claws was being wasted like this. Eventually, Jarix managed to get a grip on one of the keystones. He moved to get some better leverage before Tom felt him tense and strain under him. The stone sliding out slowly. “Fuck that’s heavy,” Jarix protested as the block came free and the arch crashed into the tunnel.

“Anyone home?” Jackalope shouted down the hole. Tom brought up the rifle. There was no telling whether it was friend or foe inside. No one came out though. “Do we go in for a look?”

“Yes, we do. Keep an eye out for us,” Tom went, sliding down and taking off his goggles to make room for the NVGs. “On my lead, I can see down there you can’t.”

“Good luck down there,” Zarko replied. “Remember, we need to hurry, sun's getting low already.”

“Tom the tunnel rat, down we go,” Tom whispered to himself. “Right you follow me, might want to keep your warhammer at the ready,” He went, looking to Jackalope who reluctantly holstered the revolver. Tom took a quick breath psyching himself up. There was a very good chance that this was not gonna be a nice experience.

Before they could start descending a hand grabbed the side of the stone. A very young-looking dragonette dragged its head out into the stone, gasping for breath, shaking like it was freezing to death.

Tom slid down the slope, Jackalope following close behind. “They’re alive!” she let out excitedly.

‘Yes, but how many?’ Tom thought to himself bleakly as his feet hit the top of the stone arch.

“Come on, buddy,” He went, grabbing a hold of the dragonette, it appeared to be a male. Tom guessed he wasn’t much older than ten. The dragonette coughed and sputtered all while trying to hyperventilate as Tom lifted him up. “Form a chain, get him up, and lie him down,” Tom went, handing the boy over to Jackalope who took him, handing off to Zarko further up the bank.

Tom peeked inside, but couldn’t see shit through the darkness. Flipping the NVG’s down he was met with bodies lying on the ground and slumped up against the walls. Not one of them older than the one who had clambered out. Tom just froze staring at what was in front of him. ‘They tried to save the kids… I’m gonna- No. Get them out, get them out, get them out!’

“Jacky, I’ll send them up, get them out and get them breathing!” Tom went, discarding his rifle in the dirt as he scrambled to get inside. The air was more stale than he had ever experienced, and it reeked. He rushed over to the first body, it looked to be a girl of around Anastasi’s age, and she wasn’t breathing. “Take her, go go go!” She shouted at Jackalope handing the kid up going back for the next one.

There were four more kids inside, and the smallest was younger than he had ever seen. Likely not even a year old yet. It was wrapped up in a blanket, sitting in a woven basket being clutched by one of the older kids.

Tom took the basket, dragging the older kid along. When he returned she was still standing there looking at the girl, tears in her eyes. “I said get her out! NOW!” She snapped to it, frantically handing the girl up to Zarko and turning back to take the boy as Tom handed him up. She made an involuntary gasping squeak upon seeing the baby as she took it, staring at it for a second before passing it on.

The last two kids seemed to be siblings of maybe six or seven who were sitting wrapped up around each other. They looked like two drops of water, even entangels as they were. Tom picked them both up, carrying them to the hole Jarix had made. “That’s everyone,” He went, looking up to Jackalope, the light blinding him. He felt her take one of them as he held the kids up, then the other. With the last kid out, he turned back to see if the door led anywhere. He would shoot himself if he left one down here.

There was a door at the far end, which he guessed led to a basement of some kind. Grabbing the handle it wouldn’t budge. He ran at it, shoulder checking it with no success. He walked back to have another run when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder spinning him around.

“They aren't breathing! Do something!” Jackalope screamed at him, shaking him by the shoulders.

Tom glanced back at the door before turning back to Jackalope, his mind snapping back to what meager training he had in first aid. ‘Enclosed space, fire nearby. CO2 poisoning and or asphyxiation. Give oxygen and assist breathing.’ “Same as with Dakota,” He responded to the distraught Jackalope, making his way past her to the entrance. He gave her a leg up and she held an arm up for him to grab. As he grabbed hold she pulled him up in one motion, catching him by surprise for a second.

The two of them scrambled up the side of the hole, throwing dirt behind them. In the grass above, the six kids were laid out. The one who had crawled out by himself having crawled over to the youngest, bawling his eyes out.

“How many are breathing?” Tom demanded as he got out of the hole. The panicked expression on Unkai didn’t bode well.

“One of the twins, the boy who climbed out, and the one who had the basket,” came the desperate-sounding response. ‘No no no, right focus.’

Tom moved over to the girl he had dragged out first to demonstrate. “Blow into their mouth and let them breathe out, then compress their chest like this,” he went, demonstrating the basic maneuver. “Press hard, if something cracks keep going. Do not stop,” The others spread out between the kids trying their best to do as Tom had shown.

Tom moved to the baby who the oldest kid was caressing with a hand, trying to say something while crying. Tom couldn’t make it out nor did he have time to try. He picked up the little one, ripping off his helmet and putting his ear to their chest... nothing.

He put his mouth over its snout and blew gently, filling its chest with air. After repeating it a few times, he put them on the ground and started to gently massage their chest as firmly as he dared. Trying desperately to coax some life into the little one. To his credit, the older kid seemingly understood Tom was trying to help, as he just sat there, on his knees, watching Tom work.

“Are they okay?” Jarix questioned, voice quivering at what he was seeing. Tom didn’t answer, instead of giving the young one another few breaths before continuing. The little guy refusing to take a breath.

Finally, a new cough was heard as the twin Unkai had been working on took a breath by themselves. Tom looked over to see Unkai hugging the kid like two old friends meeting again. ‘Okay this will work, this has to work,’ Tom thought to himself, returning to the little one. She was so tiny, hell he could probably make a nest on a laptop and she'd be perfectly comfortable.

He kept just working away. ‘Come on little one, come back to us you ain't done yet.’ The older kid didn’t leave Tom’s side, watching intently, his crying having subsided to a sob as he looked at the little one with all the love in the world.

“Come on sissy, you can do it,” he sniffed out. ‘You better fucking live,’ Tom cursed the child. Yet she stubbornly refused to breathe.

“Why won’t you live!” He heard Jackalope desperately scream out from behind him, he turned to see her still pounding away on the chest of the young girl he had gotten out first.

He turned back to the little kid, he couldn't press any harder or he would break her, she was so little, so fragile… she was broken. Tom cursed his vision again, he could hardly see anything. He took a second to wipe his eyes, gloved hand coming away wet. ‘Just keep going it will work.’

“She will live right?” The older kid asked, clearly starting to cry again. “She’s doing good. You’re doing good, sissy. You're gonna make it.” Tom didn’t respond, he didn’t know what to say. He had no idea how long she had been going now. Nor when the girl had stopped breathing to begin with.

“He’s doing his best,” he heard Zarko go from behind him, tone calm and soothing unlike he had heard from her yet.

‘Do not make the promise, I mustn't lie,’ He heard Jackalope scream out again, in frustration, he could hear the pain in her voice.

“She’ll live right! Please!” the older kid went again, nearly screaming at him, tears flying as Tom worked. More breaths, more compressions, more breaths, more compressions. Had this been an adult he would have been worn out by now. Eventually Zarko put a hand on his shoulder.

“Tom, does she have a chance?” She asked very gently, leaving her hand on his shoulder. Tom looked up, glancing around. The sun was starting to hang low in the sky. The building's shadows growing longer. He looked back down at the little girl. She didn’t deserve this. To die like that. To die yet...

‘No, she doesn’t,’ he had to force himself to think. His shoulders sagging as he leaned back covering his face. The older kid broke down crying delicately, running a finger along his little sister's cheek, before planting his face in the ground and screaming as tears streamed down his face.

Tom just clutched his hair, glancing around desperately. Unkai had taken over working on the girl. She wasn’t gonna make it either. They had been too slow.

“You can fix it, right?” Jarix tried from overhead, voice filled with false hope. “You fix things.”

“She’s dead, Jarix,” Zarko responded, getting to her feet, Jarix letting out a distressed whimper. She left Tom sitting there as he looked at the miserable scene. The twins were embracing each other looking at him, the boy with the basket buried his face in Unkai as he toiled to no avail.

Tom stared back down at the baby, then picked her up, wrapping her gently in the blanket and placing her in the basket. ‘We got four Tom… we saved four,’ he repeated to himself.

The older kid finally looked up at him, tears still streaming, “Where are the others!? Is there anyone one else!?”

“Where’s mum ‘n dad?” It came from the twins, it didn’t sound like they hadn’t quite grasped the situation yet, Zarko going over to them. Tom moved to the older kid, taking him into an embrace. Tom probably needed it as much as the kid did.

“I'm so sorry, little guy. I’m so sorry, I’m so very sorry.” The kid buried his face into Tom, sobbing softly. ‘He knew; he had known for some time,’ Tom thought to himself. That was just the last bit of hope. Tom patted him on the back for what fucking good that would do.

‘Two dead kids, and four who got damn close. Dead kids. Why did it have to be kids... Kalestine!’