Only one explosion.
Red didn't want to consider what that meant. If even one part of the plan failed, they were in trouble. The pirates would simply send backup from the caves to the central camp. Zara would likely be able to fight off all the pirates, but doing it while also saving the prisoners would be improbable at best and impossible at worst.
Red could already imagine what sorts of thoughts Zara was having at the moment. She would be deciding between giving up on the plan altogether and going for it. She didn't seem like one to take unnecessary risks, but at the same time, this was likely their only chance.
He didn't want to consider the ramifications of failing this mission. Zara hadn't wanted to make any moves against the pirates for a reason. The prisoners would be the ones paying the price. Maybe they'd be tortured or simply killed; regardless, it was something they could not allow to happen.
"What do we do?" Vizim cut his thoughts off, "The bombs down in the cavern never went off."
"I noticed Vizim," Red grimaced, "and I have no idea. Without that second explosion, our entire plan is screwed."
"What do you think happened?"
"How should I know?" Red glanced at him with a scowl. "The pirates likely found the bomb somehow, or perhaps the mist pulse simply was unable to reach through all the layers of ground. That would be my guess. Whatever the case, the why doesn't really help us in this situation now, does it?"
"We have a few more bombs left over. Maybe we could use those for something?"
Red shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He shouldn't be acting irritated with Vizim, not when he was trying to help.
Finally, he nodded, "Do the bombs have your cooling timers hooked up to them?"
Even as he said it, Red knew they didn't. He'd helped build those extra bombs after all. Of course, they hadn't hooked up the timers, and Vizim hadn't made extra. He was panicking and wasn't sure what he needed to do. Red hadn't made any promises not to head into the island; however, that didn't mean he wanted to go out there alone.
"No," Vizim shook his head, "I don't have any extra stuff either. We might just have to blow them manually."
His mind raced as he tried to piece together the possible ramifications of such an action. It would be easy enough to throw some of the bombs into the jungle and blow them. However, that wouldn't draw the pirates' attention, at least, not enough. They would be far more focused on their cannons than on some random explosion in the middle of the jungle.
If they were going to do anything, they would need to hit the pirates at a key point. Their only option was the caverns. However, Zara was the only one who actually knew what the underground looked like. She may have shared more information with Derrin, but that didn't help them at the moment.
Red wasn't sure how long they had. A few hours, maybe, but even that seemed to be pushing it. Unless they could split the attention, it would all be for nothing. Taking too long to set another bomb would ruin everything. However, everything could already be ruined. What was to say Zara hadn't simply left after the bombs failed?
"Damn it!" Red cursed as he leapt to his feet, "We've got to do something."
Vizim followed as they entered their makeshift engineering shed. Parts were strewn across the tables, and Vizim's latest creation sat in the center. Red grabbed the remaining bombs that had been stashed on a nearby shelf. That was probably an unsafe decision considering how heavy they were, but engineers weren't really known for safety.
"You want to connect them together?" Vizim asked.
"Yes."
Red was glad he had someone with the same thoughts about engineering. It saved him a whole lot of trouble trying to explain what he wanted to try. In less than 5 minutes, they had wired the three bombs together. The bombs had originally been about the size of one's open palms put together. Now, the tri-bomb was about the size of a pizza.
The pair stumbled back into the sunlight in the courtyard. Red, hauled the massive device weighing an uncomfortable amount. The idea was that a bomb this big would certainly draw the attention of the pirates.
"Do you need me to come with you?" Vizim asked hesitantly.
His friend clearly hadn't gotten over the crazy jungle excursions. He still would much rather remain in the safety of the fort. Red considered their possibilities for a moment. They certainly couldn't just leave the fort completely undefended. At the same time, the chances of him sneaking this massive bomb anywhere alone seemed highly unlikely.
"No, you'd better stay here…" Red turned and very nearly dropped the bomb.
A figure was striding across the open expanse. He had barely caught the glint of brown hair in the sunlight. It seemed that Derrin had returned. Just in the nick of time as well.
"The other bomb didn't go off, did it?" he stopped in front of them, giving the massive bomb a quizzical look.
His friend looked ragged from the journey across the island. His clothes were dirty, and he looked tired. It didn't seem like he had been harmed in any way, but that could easily be hidden beneath his clothes.
"Yeah. We were about to do something about that," Red proffered the bomb in front of him.
"You planned on sneaking that all the way down to the underground caverns?"
"That was the idea, yes."
Derrin nodded, "Alright, well, I am coming with you."
"I'll take the assistance that's for sure. I don't even know where I'm going at the moment."
"That's fine. Zara told me about the caverns beneath and how to get there should we need to." Derrin paused and glanced at Vizim, "Will you be fine holding down the fort?"
"What other choice do I have? The bomb needs to be planted, and I sure as hell don't want to do that."
"We need to go," Red cut in, "I doubt we have much time to get this planted."
He smiled, "Oh, you don't need to worry about that."
"Why not?"
"We can get down there in just a few minutes, as a matter of fact."